Our Evening Prayer tonight was really beautiful. Not being in full voice yet, there was no danger of me bellowing. But more importantly, instead of providing the outline in the bulletin (as was done last week), this week I used Lutheran Service Builder to produce the bulletin that was then exported to Word and tweaked (YES, I still use Word on the exports of the LSBuilder - but that's the only thing!). The entire order was printed out and the difference was night and day. It helps enormously with the flow (i.e., not interrupting the prayerful atmosphere) when you don't hear panicked paging and hunting down of hymns. Also, thanks to some very good advice, I backed down on the amount of new music that I was throwing at the people and used basically the opening from Evening Prayer in Hymnal Supplement 98. We still sang Psalm 141, the Magnificat (though Cindi did the verses) and the Litany. I couldn't get over the difference once the congregation was back in their comfort zone and had the service right in front of their noses to pray along. Sooner or later we'll learn the Phos Hilaron in Evening Prayer - but it has some tough competition in the people's hearts with the paraphrase "O Light Whose Splendor." They also do the Magnificat a bit grudgingly because they absolutely love David Haas' "Holy Is Your Name" and think it is the ONLY way the Magnificat should be sung. I persist in trying to broaden their horizons. It's probably a hopeless case on that one. Truly Evening Prayer is an oasis of peace. In the hectic holiday rat race, it's a place of calm to come, be still, and remember who is God: the Child in the Manger, the Man upon the Cross, the Victor over sin and death, the One from whose love nothing in all creation can separate us. We need more time for Evening Prayer in our lives.
But next week we will observe the beautiful service hijacked from the Anglicans: A Service of Lessons and Carols. That has become a bi-parish tradition, featuring the musical ensembles from St. Paul's and Trinity. More on that one later.
11 comments:
So no toes got stepped on :) (reference to liturgy being a dance)
I have yet to be in a service that used either Morning Prayer, Matins, or Evening Prayer from the LSB. We used Responsive Prayer 2. We use Divine Service setting 3 even on Sundays with no Communion.
Morning Pastor!
I wondered what had happened to the Phos Hilaron. But I like them both, so no complaints. See ya 6ish! Darcy
Pastor Weedon,
Glad to hear that Evening Prayer went better for you last night. It did for us, as well. We fumbled through it last Wednesday, but it was much better last night, except that my attempt to burn incense failed once again. I attended Higher Things this past summer with some of our youth and the highlight of the conference for them were the Evening Prayer services with the burning of incense during the singing of Psalm 141. They thought that was the coolest thing and asked if we could do that sometime. I told them we would do it during our Advent midweek services, prepared the congregation for it (believe it or not, there are some here who believe that burning incense is "a Catholic thing":), borrowed a censer, charcoal, and incense from a brother in my cicuit and thought I was all set. Having never done it before, I even did a practice run in the sacristy during the day last Wednesday. It worked great! I lit the charcoal briquette and let it burn till it turned grey, applied the incense, and it was a beautiful thing! So, I prepared the censer for the service that evening, lit the charcoal and placed it on the altar. But, when I went to apply the incense as we were beginning to sing Psalm 141, the charcoal had gone out. It was a bit of a let down since everyone was expecting it. Bound to not let that happen again and being out of charcoal, I ordered some self-lite charcoal from an EO supply company. I prepared the censer last night, lit the charcoal and placed it on the altar. But, again, when I went to apply the incense it had gone out. It was a little frustrating, to say the least. Evidently, I did not apply the flame to the charcoal long enough to get it going, but this stuff is supposed to self-igniting and the directions call for you to simply light the upper edge of the briquette and let it burn. I think I have it all figured out, so hopefully it will work next week. We'll see! In any event, the main reason I'm sharing all of this with you is because of the picture of the smoke flowing beautifully out of the censer you included with your post, and I just wanted to say, "Thanks a lot for rubbing it in!" :)
In Christ,
Pastor Messer
Darcy,
I LOVE no complaints. That's not my usual life! :)
Pastor Messer,
Oh, we didn't light any last night. And the reason why is exactly what you point out in your post. It takes TWO people to really make sure it works. Someone needs to tend the coals. And you can't do that if you're leading the service! But I would love for us to see the incense rising as we sing "Let my prayers rise" - that is indeed a wonderful thing. And leaving it on the altar also helps in cutting down the complaints from those who think they can't breathe with it.
I've always had a very wicked inclination to fill a censor with dry ice and smile as the people coughed away at that awful incense! ;)
Steven,
The Evening Prayer liturgy is truly one of the most beautiful in LSB. I hope you get to experience it one day soon!
I am sure there are more experienced folks who read this blog than I on the subject but it has been my experience that the self-igniting charcoal is fairly hygroscopic and has to be protected from moisture in the atmosphere or it loses its ability to self ignite and even stay lit. I find charcoal from a newly opened package lights right away and stays lit with no problem. An opened package that has not been open too long (days as opposed to weeks)requires a little more encouragement (I blow on the coal until the entire coal glows red) to get it fully lit, but once lit stays that way. The ones where the whole coal fails to ignite entirely even with blowing (unburned areas) are pretty much toast and the remainder of the package gets tossed.
Pastor Weedon!!! How can you sing "Let my prayer arise like incense" without incense!!! I bet you sing "Stand up, Stand up for Jesus" while sitting down, too! ;)
Rose,
You know me better than that. I don't sing "Stand up, Stand up for Jesus." What an atrocious song! As for the incense - patience is a virtue. :)
In a world that is full of artificial altar candals, electric eternal flames, and projector screen hymnals, the ultra-liturgy nut inside of me is actually relieved that incense censors have been abandoned rather than receiving the "modernized" facelift that other items have. The thought of someone piously spraying Fabreeze in the air during a church service makes me shudder.
As one might guess, I am a huge fan of censors. The picture on this post made me wish that we had one. ...it may be time to start leaning on people.
believe it or not, there are some here who believe that burning incense is "a Catholic thing"
Weeellllll -- actually it IS a "Catholic" thing (not to ignore the Orthodox, high church Anglicans and probably some parts of the Church of Sweden).
I never encountered censers in any LCMS congregation I worshipped with (actually, in ANY Lutheran congregation I worshipped with) and had my Prussian Lutheran mother encountered it in Europe in her congregations she would have been utterly dismayed at such a "Catholic" practice.
Nevertheless, if a Lutheran congregation is going to pray Evening Prayer, especially the Phos Hilaron, incense is most appropriate.
Myself, I can't get enough of it at my parish -- "worshipping with all the senses" and all that.
Pr. Messer,
If you leave the cover on the censor, the charcoal does tend to go out if left alone. Try leaving the cover off, and then stand the coal up on it's side if it will stay there. Then when you are ready to pour on the incense, nudge it over.
Karl
(one of Fr. Weedon's former vicars)
Dixie and Karl,
Thanks for your helpful suggestions - blowing on the coals and leaving the cover off. I did a couple of practice runs yesterday and am confident that we'll have incense at next Wednesday's Service. :)
Christine,
Regarding my "Catholic thing" comment, surely you meant what I knew. :) If not, I'm sure others did.
Pastor Weedon,
I agree that using dry ice must needs come from a wicked inclination (and imagination), but man would THAT be funny! :)
In Christ,
Pastor Messer
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