21 March 2013

Easter Lessons and Carols

I had an inquiry come into the office about such a resource. I don't have one, but the more I thought of certain hymns in our LSB, the more I realized how simple it would be to construct such a service. Here is a suggested outline of the core part of the service:

Hymn: LSB 475 Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing

Psalm 118 prayed responsively or antiphonally

Matthew 28:1–8 LSB 478 The Day of Resurrection

John 20:11–18 LSB 459/460 Victimae Paschali

Luke 24:13–35 LSB 476 Who Are You Who Walk in Sorrow

John 20:19-31 LSB 470/471 O Sons and Daughters of the King or LSB 472 These Things Did Thomas

John 21:1–14 LSB 485 Long before the World is Waking

John 21:15–25 LSB 681 Send, O Lord, Your Holy Spirit (a prayer for your pastor)

Luke 24:36–53 LSB 466 Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia

Meditation (Homily of St. John Chrysostom or some such)

Kyrie

Our Father

Collect

Blessing

Hymn: LSB 482 This Joyful Eastertide

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Or better yet, Lutherans could just stick to the traditional and historical offices and Liturgies which have come down through the Western Rite instead of just making up stuff as they go along. Why not have some humility towards that tradition? --Chris

Anonymous said...

Chris -

Fr. Weedon was not lacking humility in any direction, least of all, if you knew him, toward the historic offices and Liturgies of the Western, or Eastern rites (which belong to us as well).

If you pay attention to the rubrics, you will discover that much of what Fr. Weedon posted here fits Luther's Deutsche Messe/Divine Service, Setting Five quite well!

Pax - jb

William Weedon said...

Chris,

Take to heart these words of Schmemann: "In spite of a deeply rooted common opinion, liturgy always changes because it lives." (Liturgy and Tradition, p. 29). Think on this!

Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr. said...

Chris--

I'm resisting my urge to be snarky (my Lenten fast), and so I ask most sincerely, where is the line? What, in your opinion, is too much? Do we drop Divine Services 1,2,4 and 5 along with Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer as we have them in LSB? Can we no longer have the Advent Service of Lessons and Carols? Do we need to go back to the liturgy of Chrysostom? An earlier form?

Heaven forbid we add another opportunity for the hearing of Scripture and the singing of hymns. This does not seem like someone is looking to replace the Vigil or the Mass, but rather to supplement it.

Jonathan said...

I think Pr. Weedon's order looks great on its own. But the Vigil—of all liturgies—doesn't need a supplement. Cf. the Advent Lessons and Carols situation: the prevalent form of Advent L&C originates in the King's College service, which was formed "to bring a more imaginative approach to worship," according to their web site. Sounds a lot like what the CoWo crowd says today. The fact that the order is very popular (and rightly so, on account of its loveliness) doesn't make it "liturgy" per se, or a fitting replacement for the three Divine Services of Christmas—but many churches offer an L&C service in place of a real Christmas Eve Divine Service, and that means many Christians are deprived of what the liturgy has to offer on that day.

Given that far fewer churches hold an Easter Vigil than offer a Christmas Eve liturgy, if an Easter L&C were to take off, it would have to be arranged so as to not take anything away from the Triduum. Such an order could be scheduled during the second or third week of Easter, or maybe the fourth. Any further and you start to encroach on Ascension and Pentecost (does LSB provide for a Pentecost Vigil?)... and you start to see that the historic liturgy already gives us everything we really need in that regard.

Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr. said...

So every time Christians gather, it must be for the Mass? Don't get me wrong: I'd be over the moon if my congregation moved to every-Sunday Communion. But gathering for a hymn sing is somehow an encroachment on the historic liturgy? Did I miss something? I didn't see Will suggest that this would supplant the Mass.

William Weedon said...

For context: a pastor had asked if there was anything like Lessons and Carols that could work for a Sunday in Easter when he would not be able to be present with his flock (i.e., no Mass). My own thought was that it would work also on one of the weekdays of Easter.