Folks might ask: what does the Lutheran Divine Service actually look like and sound like? Well, check out this link and enjoy. This is from our sister parish, Trinity Lutheran Church, in Worden, Illinois, where Pastor Heath Curtis serves.
Lutheran Divine Service
13 comments:
Thank you for the link father! Now I can show non-Lutheran friends what a service both looks and sounds like.
When will St. Paul's have that so we can see how you conduct a service :-)?
I did find it somewhat humerous that everyone sat at the back of the church :-).
Chris,
Alas, I am a complete idiot about such things. I have not the foggiest how to upload a service for viewing on the net.
Can you really say this is what a Lutheran service looks like or a Lutheran-type service in this location? There is no standard ceremonial or ritual for Lutherans even within the US! Unless my Lutheran education fails me, ceremonial is a matter of adiaphora unless it is a point of confession.
Anyway, thanks for the link!
Dear Marco,
I think you are mistaken in this. The Symbols of the Lutheran Church set two boundaries, if you will, in AC XV and in FC X. We confess (among the doctrinal articles, note!) "that ceremonies ought to be observed that may be observed without sin." We also confess "that the churches of God in every land and at every time according to their circumstances have the power to change such worship ceremonies in a way that may be most useful and edifying to the churches of God." The Lutheran liturgy thus lives in the tension between those two: the faithful conservation of the liturgical patrimony and the shaping of that patrimony toward the community which uses it to receive God's gifts. Thus the retention of the Mass is not an adiaphora for us, but certain ceremonies in the celebration of the Mass certainly are (incense? processions? kissing the Gospel book? etc.).
Pr. Weedon,
Do you know which Divine Service Pr. Curtis is using? The confession sounded like Compline.
Along with what Fr. Weedon was saying about AC XV and FC X and boundaries....
The custom we follow in this parish is to utilize the Confiteor for the Public Confession of Sin during non-Penitential seasons. For most Lutherans (since LW) this is familiar from Compline, as Jim noted. But actually, this is an older form of the pre-service confession for the Divine Service that was restored to our use in Lutheran Worship (1982) as part of Compline.
Why do we do this here at Trinity? The Divine Service actually starts with the Introit, and thus, Lutheran services throughout the ages have been most flexible in the confession of sins since this is actually a preparation for the service - it seems that every agenda had a different one from the earliest days. Indeed, the 1941 TLH "I forgive you..." was the a novum at the time (the 1927 LCMS agenda had only the "Grant this, Lord, unto us all" declaration of grace).
So, since this part of the service is, properly speaking, outside of the Divine Service, and very flexible within our circles, we use the older form of Confession, the Confiteor. This is also fitting since the versicles in TLH 15 (LSB 184) are taken from the prayers at the foot of the altar and are historically connected to the Confiteor.
On penitential days (Advent and Lent) we use the long form confession (the Melanchthon authored one) from LSB p. 184.
In this we hope to show the proper flexibility of evangelical-catholic worship: there are options, flexibilities, room for local customs within established and historic norms. Legalistic agendaism and antinomian eeeevangelicalism (sic) are the extremes we seek to avoid.
Other local customs of our parish: we sing "We Give Thee But Thine Own" as a secondary offertory every week; we learn a new hymn out of the hymnal each month as the closing hymn; at our mid-week Divine Service we often use the Apostles' Creed; we sing the Gloria Patri after the Introit and antiphon instead of bracketing it with the antiphon. Some of these customs I encouraged, some were here before me. Each liturgical parish has its own list.
These are a strength to our worship I think and should not, in our zeal to uphold the liturgy, be discouraged. Local custom within historic, liturgical, reverent, churchmanly norms should be our watchword.
My thanks go to our member, Adam Roe, for his work in getting this up. Soon he will be posting a video of me vesting and explaining the vestments as I go. Visit his website: www.wordandsacrament.com
+HRC
--
Pr. H. R. Curtis
Trinity - Worden
Zion - Carpenter
One more thing...
On that website you can also see a text version of the Service which includes the Celebrant's rubrics (mainly taken from Piepkorn's _Conducting the Divine Service_)
+HRC
Pastor Weedon,
I would be happy to tape a service at St. Paul and post it on Word and Sacrament. Feel free to email me if that sounds like something you'd like to do.
Blessings in Christ,
Adam
Adam,
Super! I've sent you an email.
Pr. Curtis,
TLH did not represent a novum in that regard precisely. The absolution in page 15 was based on the Saxon Confession and Absolution that was actually the first liturgy the Synod offered in English - 1881. The Common Service came to predominate in English, however, and TLH's confession and absolution in p. 15 are the last bits of that original Missouri Synod liturgy in the English language!
Signficiantly, though, this confession and absolution in the Saxon practice came AFTER the sermon (as the intro do the prayers - only the Anglicans have it there now, I think), and though it did use the full "ego te absolvo" it still modified it appropriate to its use in a public setting:
"Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you who heartily repent of your sins, believe on Jesus Christ, and sincerely and earnestly purpose by the assistance of God the Holy Ghost henceforth to amend your sinful lives, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of God + the Father, God + the Son, and God + the Holy Ghost. Amen."
I know the Elevation was dropped and forbidden in the Braunschweig-Wolffenbuettel Church Order that Chemnitz prepared in 1569, and it was based on the Wittenberg Order, which Luther himself had a hand in. I believe there too the Elevation was banned.
So...it would be a bit inaccurate to say that the Elevation is actually, necessarily, part of the historic Lutheran Divine Service.
Perhaps in some places, but by no means, all, and significantly not in Luther's territory nor in Chemnitz' later.
Offered for consideration.
Not that I'm opposed, in principle, to the Elevation, it is just that we would do well not to imply it was, or is, somehow more Lutheran than not using the Elevation.
Paul,
It was indeed proscribed in Wittenberg, but as to whether Luther approved or not, there seems a bit of debate. I think he spoke one way and the other and it depends on what you want to quote from him. But do note that I did not describe the elevation as "necessarily" part of the historic Lutheran Divine Service. It certainly is not a necessary part at all - but it did show up in both FM and DM, and it was retained in other places too. In Brandenburg, for example, it became a tool for flushing out crytpo-Calvinists: they flat out wouldn't do it. In Saxony itself, more common than the elevation was the persistance of the sacring bell at the Consecration - as witnessed by Christian Gerber some centuries after the Reformation itself.
Speaking of Confession and Absolution, Luther argues that the Pax - the Peace of the Lord Be With You - is the appropriate absolution of the service, prior to receiving the supper. He posits this rather strongly in his commentary on his Latin Mass.
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