I realized the other day that in my haste to get to the Gloria in Excelsis, I skipped right over the Kyrie! In the 1958 SB&H, they kept the old titles, and I find it interesting that they are a mixture of Latin and Greek. One of these days I’m going to pull out my copy of St. John Chrysostom’s Divine Liturgy and see how closely they align.
Kyrie is a Greek word meaning, “O Lord,” from the phrase “Kýrie, eléison,” or “O Lord, have mercy.” You might recall the phrase from the 1985 Mr. Mister song. Here’s the 1958 Lutheran version (congregation’s response in italics), which is generally sung:
In peace let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the peace that is from above, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the peace of the whole worlds, for the well-being of the churches of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For this holy house, and for them that in faith, piety and fear of God offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
Help, save, pity and defend us, O God, by thy grace.
Amen.
I should mention that the music for the liturgy was adapted by Regina Fryxell from various sources, including older Lutheran liturgies and 10th Century plainsongs. In my opinion, it has much more character than any of the recent Lutheran liturgies I have heard, which in my opinion are really quite horrible. This past Sunday I attended a Lutheran church who sung the 5th setting from the new, 2006 hymnal. It was actually unnatural to sing; for example, they used a familiar tune to “Create in Me,” but changed the phrasing so that it actually interrupted the natural rhythm of the lyrics. Strange. I don’t think I’ll go back any time soon.
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