Not just for the altar guild…
“The service which the altar guild can render is valuable as an aid to extol the beauty and greatness of God and to awaken the response of His people in all forms of beauty, care, and reverence. Beauty in the church is not a matter of indifference….Why do we want to make the house of God and our worship of God as reverent and beautiful as possible? Such a desire is of God and for God. He is present in our churches. Through His Word and sacraments, Christ comes to us as we are gathered together in His name.” (p. 11)
In What an Altar Guild Should Know, Paul H.D. Lang gives detailed information about church services and rubrics, liturgical terms, everything related to the altar, sacred vessels and linens, paraments, and other topics related to liturgical worship.
However, this is not just a How To manual for altar guild members and their pastors. Lang offers keen theological insight into why reverence and beauty and the externals of worship matter. Anyone interested in liturgical worship would benefit from
reading this book (especially in conjunction with Ceremony and Celebration) In addition, we have switched to a Wire O binding so that it can now lay flat.
Preparing a setting for the Gospel: “By making God’s house and the services of the church more beautiful, we provide the Gospel a setting in which it is more attractive to people and puts them in a more receptive frame of mind for worship….Of course, God’s Word and sacraments are not dependent on human embellishment for effectiveness. They are in themselves ‘the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth’ (Rom. 1:16). It is only fitting, however, that we should present them in surroundings that are as attractive as we can make them.” (p. 11-12)
Externals not essential, but important: “God has not given Christians of the New Testament era specific laws governing the outward forms of worship. Christianity is not essentially a matter of externals but of faith and life….Where the Word of God is rightly taught and the sacraments are rightly administered, there is the Christian church….Nonetheless, externals are invariably associated with Christian worship. Therefore they are important. Christian doctrine, faith, and life are never merely theoretical, barren, or lifeless. They express themselves in outward acts.” (p. 12-13)
Last chance: FINAL YEAR of Christmas card sales
“Reverence matters”: An endorsement from Dr. Geoffrey Boyle
Regarding The Conduct of the Service by Piepkorn and McClean:
“Everything we do in the liturgy teaches. But does what we do actually teach that it matters? Both Piepkorn and McClean call their contributions ‘manuals,’ convenient handbooks offered to clarify how we do what we do in the liturgy. The detail, care, and precision they offer assume that what we do matters. Reverence matters—not to earn salvation, but to extol Christ and His gifts. They call for a humble, prepared, and calm reverence and describe what that looks like at every point in the Divine Service. Relying on The Lutheran Hymnal and its accompanying The Lutheran Liturgy, they highlight the rubrics and offer suggestions based on the historic practice of the Lutheran Church. This continues to serve parish pastors, even as Lutheran Service Book fills our pews. At the Seminary, we work hard to train our future pastors to know why we do what we do because we believe that it matters. This book provides the much needed ‘how,’ tying all that we do in the liturgy to Christ and His care for His people.”
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Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Boyle
Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions, Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Rise Again, Ye Lion-Hearted
Comfort in Sorrow
The Word Remains is a collection of excerpts comes from Wilhelm Löhe’s extensive writing on mission, pastoral theology, history, and liturgy. Originally published in German in 2008, this English translation of a delightful book that gathers his profound wisdom into one small volume, offering devotional reading on the church year, the Word of God, and matters related to the Christian life: faith, prayer, fellowship, worship, creation, and hope.
Seed-Grains of Prayer: Prayer for our Pastors
“Everlasting, gracious, heavenly Father, for my pastor I pray; grant him to speak Thy word with joy, fearlessly against every error, false doctrine, and abuse; that he may declare and make plain to us the mysteries of the Gospel, and remove from our hearts all delusions. Keep him steadfast in the true doctrine and Christian life, that he may be unto us a leader unto everlasting life. Guard his body against sickness, that to our great benefit, he may for a long time go before us and preach Thy divine word without fear or hesitation, without hypocrisy, not of favor, hatred, jealousy, or for self-advantage, but proclaim the truth in all its purity and fullness, and denounce evils as becometh them, that I and many more may be won for Thy kingdom.
“Open my heart and ears that I may listen to Thy word with desire and love, with reverent mind, and hearty attention; to walk in accordance thereto in true faith, and bring fruit unto Thy divine glory. Save me from becoming tired of hearing and from slothfulness of soul; and instill in my mind a great hunger and earnest desire for the inestimable riches of Thy grace, which is tendered to us in the sermon. Grant me grace to know and esteem my pastor as a servant and steward of the divine mysteries, that I receive Thy word from him without offence, unto the bettering of my life, the abhorrence of sin; and not let correction pass me by unheeded, nor, that I offend, or despise him by whom the correction cometh. Preserve us all in the true faith and a Christian life, that we may daily grow and increase therein, remaining steadfast unto our end, and be eternally saved; through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Wilhelm Loehe, Seed-Grains of Prayer, #330.
A Prayer for Blessing and Prosperity in One’s Calling
“My Lord, and my God, I realize that man’s work does not depend upon his own powers nor is it in any man’s province to ordain his walks and ways. So rule and govern me at all times, by Thy Holy Spirit, that I may keep mine eyes straight before me in my calling, and faithfully perform my duty. Guide me evermore in the right paths, that I turn neither to the right nor to the left there-from.
“Direct me always by Thy good pleasure, and let Thy Spirit lead me in the true paths, for Thou art my God. I realize also that Thou hast called me to labor in Thy vineyard, and how, even in my Baptism, I promised Thee that I would labor. To this end, I beseech Thee, grant me a healthy body, and strengthen me, O Lord, cheerfully to bear the heat and labor of my calling, always ready and faithful unto Thee. And since I know not the hour when my labors shall cease, teach me to be ready at all times unto a blessed departure, willingly to leave this world, and to fall asleep in peace and joy; that I may celebrate the eternal day of rest with Thee and all Thine elect. Amen.”
Wilhelm Loehe, Seed-Grains of Prayer, p. 67
Recommended: The Lutheran Kantor Project on YouTube
In Passion-Book, Friedrich Lochner includes a few hymn stanzas at the beginning and ending of each of sixty-six devotions on the different stages of the Passion History. Musical settings appended by Lochner for less common tunes (in his context) are also included in the book, engraved by Lutheran musician David Schotte.
We have recently been made aware of Schotte’s YouTube channel, The Lutheran Kantor Project, which “aims to provide recordings of the great Lutheran chorales which are lesser known among English-speaking Lutherans. These recordings are designed to increase familiarity with tune and text.”
You can listen to David Schotte play the setting on organ and then sing acapella one of the hymns found in Passion-Book: “Christus, der us selig macht,” or “Christ, Who Saves Us by His Cross.” In the book, the melody and Stanza 8 of the hymn are included in Devotions 5 and 59 while the melody is suggested for the hymn stanza in Devotion 13.
Here is a PDF of the hymn with additional information below from The Lutheran Kantor Project:
Text: Michael Weiße, 1531; tr. composite, sts. 1–7, alt.; st. 8 Moravian Hymn-Book, 1819, st. 8, alt.
Tune: Michael Weiße, 1531.
Based on Patris sapientia, an ancient Latin office hymn traditionally sung on Good Friday, this hymn, originating in Weiße’s Bohemia, became popular in Lutheran Germany. It is most famous for its use by Bach in the St. John Passion, though Bach was only following the lead of Heinrich Schütz in his own Johannespassion from the century before.
This hymn is also notable for its references to the events of Christ’s passion at specific hours of the day, following Scripture’s own record of them. Here, they are translated as the names of the canonical prayer offices, as shown below:
Terce = third hour = 9:00 a.m.
Sext = sixth hour = 12:00 p.m.
Nones = ninth hour = 3:00 p.m.
Vespers = evening = 6:00 p.m.
Compline = bedtime = 9:00 p.m.
A helpful video series with commentary on the Divine Service
For those who want to learn more about why we do what we do in the Divine Service, we always recommend Ceremony and Celebration and The Conduct of the Service. Additionally, we want to call your attention to resources found on the YouTube channel of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Along with recorded services and Bible classes, there is a series of videos from 2018 in which Pr. David Petersen describes historic practices and ceremony within the context of Divine Service 3. The videos combine parts of a recorded service with his commentary. As Pr. Petersen states, “All Lutheran rubrics, in a sense, are ‘may’ rubrics. That is to say, everything in this is adiaphora.” His helpful explanation of these “ceremonies, particularly how they’ve been modified and in practice at Redeemer,” will be of interest both to pastors, who are the primary audience, and also to parishioners, who will benefit from deeper knowledge of the reverence and history of ceremony in the Divine Service.
*Watch the series on YouTube: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.