“Leviticus, with its prescribed rituals for God’s Old Testament people, is too easily passed over. After reading The Great Works of God by Valerius Herberger, skeptic readers will come to see Leviticus as valuable in coming to terms with what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. Within the detailed ceremonies required by God of the Israelites are aspects of Christ’s atonement. Laity will find Matthew Carver’s translation of the 70 devotions of a 17th-century German pastor easy reading. Pastors will find themes to be developed in sermons and Bible classes. Highly recommended.”

Dr. David P. Scaer
Professor of New Testament and                   Systematic Theological
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

“Long before churches were built, the church’s worship was carried out at or around an altar. In Gen. 8:20 we read that ‘Noah builded an altar unto the Lord.’ Even before that, ‘Cain brought of the fruits of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof’ (Gen. 4:3, 4). These sacrifices must have been offered on an altar. Therefore, the altar was the place of worship before there were church buildings, and the altar is more than an ornament or piece of furnishing in a church. It is a monument or object around which and in which the church’s worship is centered.

“We may regard the altar as: 1. the Lord’s table, 2. an emblem of sacrifice, and 3. a symbol of God’s presence.

“In one of its aspects the Holy Communion Service is a fellowship meal in which we are united with Christ and all fellow believers in a holy union or communion. As such it is celebrated at a table. This table is the altar, which for that reason is called the Lord’s table (1. Cor. 10:21).

“The altar is also an emblem of sacrifice. The word altar itself indicates this. It comes from the Latin altare ara, which means an elevated place for sacrifice. In the church’s worship the altar represents by association Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for the redemption of the world, and the place where the benefits of this sacrifice and all the blessings of God are conveyed to the believers. But the sacrificial aspect of the altar does not end there. It is the monument on which we offer in response to God’s mercy our sacrifices to God, that is, our sacrifices of prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and such material tokens of the offering of ourselves with all we are and have as money, bread, and wine.

“Thirdly, the altar is a symbol of God’s presence. It symbolizes the place where God and His people meet. Our Lord Himself refers to the altar as a symbol of God in Matt. 5:23 and 23:18-20. The altar stands for God as our flag stands for our country. That is why we direct our worship to the altar and reverence it by bowing, genuflecting, and kneeling. That is also the reason why the altar itself, and not any of its surroundings or ornaments, such as crucifixes, reredos, pulpit, or any other object, is in matter of location and all other considerations the focal point and center of the church’s worship and the church building.”

-Paul H.D. Lang in Ceremony and Celebration

We are pleased to announce that The Conduct of the Service, an invaluable resource for conducting the liturgy of the Church, is back in print. This book was first published by Redeemer Press in 2003, then reformatted and updated with pictures and diagrams in 2006. In 2012, Emmanuel Press assumed the management and distribution of the remaining copies, and we now offer this new printing with the same cover and content as the 2006 edition. This excerpt from the Preface written by Pr. David Petersen and Pr. Michael Frese explains its origin:

“Most of Piepkorn’s students had little experience with the ceremony, reverence, and decor that flowed from him so naturally. They recognized in his liturgical actions something of the Church that they wanted to imitate. Fortunately for us they continued to press him, until finally he relented and produced The Conduct of the Service, revised in 1965. It was printed by the Concordia Seminary print shop in St. Louis and sold in the seminary bookstore. He wrote it for his students, at their insistence. He never promoted it. And thus, it never enjoyed widespread dissemination and was quickly lost to the Church. Over the years it has been much sought after and much photocopied, but the copies that still exist are mostly torn and dog-eared.

“When he finally acquiesced to their demands, his training and preference for
systematics showed itself. He came at the description of ceremonies in a unique and
systematic way. He went after the rules. The rules he used are the rubrics prescribed in The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 and in the companion volume for that hymnal, The Lutheran Liturgy. We have reproduced the latter in an appendix for easy reference. Incidentally, those rubrics have never been replaced by the LCMS. Unless they are explicitly contradicted, replaced, or restated in new Rites provided by the Commission on Worship, they are STILL the guide for the conduct of the Services in our churches. Where they have been updated and revised, Piepkorn’s descriptions and explanations tend to make even more sense. Thus, this is the best work up to our day on the practical execution of liturgy in the LCMS…

“It is our prayer that these words would again serve the Church and help unclutter Her Services from things that hinder and distract God’s people from His gifts.”

Read the full prefaces and take a look at the Table of Contents here.