The Lutheran Liturgy, Pt. 4

As indicated in the title, this is my 4th in a series on the old Lutheran Liturgy, from the 1958 Service Book & Hymnal that I grew up with.   As I explained in the first post in the series, I’ve been away from the Lutheran church since the mid 70’s, but recently obtained a recording of the 2nd Setting of that liturgy.   Even before getting the recording, I had begun to recall parts of the liturgy.  I dug out my old hymnal and began using the liturgy on occasion for meditation.   I now find that I’ll have parts of the liturgy running through my mind at various parts of the day; or, more accurately, it’s playing somewhere internally… at time it just seems to resonate.

I have visited a couple of local Lutheran churches over the past couple of years, and have not been impressed at all with what they are currently using as liturgy (every week it seems to be different, like they’re afraid of actually memorizing one… or, perhaps they don’t like any of them, either).  I do really appreciate the Episcopal liturgy, however; in spite of the problems in the EC, I can relate to the Book of Common Prayer. I hope in the near future to analyze and compare the liturgies, and would appreciate any input you’d care to give.

Now, on to the Liturgy. Following the sermon, is the Offertory.  There are 2 optional offertories; this is what our church used:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit
a broken and a contrite heart O God, thou would not despise.
Do good in thy good pleasure onto Zion
build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness
with burn offering and whole burnt offering.

The alternate is

What shall I render unto the Lord
for all his benefits toward me?
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and will callupon the Name of the Lord.
I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the Name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his peoiple
in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee O Jerusalem.

As the offering is brought forward, we sing:

Create in me a clean heart O God
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of they salvation
an uphold me with thy free spirit.

I question using Psalm 51, as it doesn’t seem applicable in the context of the New Covenant, especially as I under Lutheran theology.  Possibly this crept in during the pietistic movement, which also seemed to ignore the core of Luther’s (and Paul’s) theology.

After the offering comes the Prayer of the Church, which I won’t include here due to length.  The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod site has a good explanation of the Prayer of the Church.  Essentially, it is corporate prayer for the needs of the church, the country, the sick, and so on, and is typically followed by The Lord’s Prayer (we used the “trespasses” language).

At this point, the service could close with a hymn and the Benediction, unless it was Communion Sunday.  Our church had Communion once a month, so it always seemed odd to me when churches would do it every Sunday.  I’ve come to appreciate the Lord’s Supper – Eucharist – in a more profound way, so now I look forward to it every Sunday.  As with the Orthodox, RCC and Anglican churches, Communion now seems to be the high point of the service, rather than something tacked on to the end to extend the time (which I always hated as a kid).

I’ll conclude with one more post on the Lord’s Supper, as the old liturgy was a bit more involved than anything I’ve experienced recently in either the Lutheran or Episcopalian churches.

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7 Responses to The Lutheran Liturgy, Pt. 4

  1. me says:

    j, I think you’re a bit confused, and off topic.

  2. j israel says:

    INTERESTING…I was raised a Lutheran, confirmed…etc….so “rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, with burnt offerings and whole burn offerings”…Yeshua (Jesus Crist) was the Hamachia…Messiah..He was a Kosher Jew…
    are we willing to say those words today…or are we going to go against the Torah and the words of YHVH that gave this land to the descendents of Abraham thru Issac and Jacob?

  3. James Sucha says:

    Hi!

    I am the author of the hymnal and the CD-Rom recordings.

    The Setting 2 came from the SBH intro LP vinyl record from 1958, so the sound was not that great back then on that setting. Mono and scratched.

    And, it’s Regina H. Fryxell playing the organ on her own setting with the Augustana College choir. Simply glorious mono sound!

    You can get a copy still at http://www.servicehymnal.com

    We have also published Mrs. Fryxell’s Kyriale Setting from Sweden. She was a gem at Lutheran liturgy.

    James

  4. Toni Dudley says:

    Where did you locate a recording of the 2nd setting? I also grew up with the red hymnal – have obtained a copy and refer to it frequently. I totally agree with your comment about the liturgy used today in the Lutheran churches. If they hadn’t switched hymnals, I might still be Lutheran. My Congregational UCC church uses a very traditional liturgy and has a strong music program. Much like the Lutheran churches that I grew up with. I thought I was the only person in the world who missed this – my friends think I have gone over the edge!!! Thank You!

  5. me says:

    Steve, I’d be very interested in your thoughts, comparing what your church uses for liturgy with this older version. What is similar? Is anything missing, or been added?

  6. Steve Martin says:

    Alden,

    Thanks very much for these posts on the Lutheran liturgy. I am learning a lot from them.

    I love the liturgical form of worship (I believe that it is the way our Lord worshipped an I believe it keeps us grounded and centered on God’s work for us and not the other way around). Although I do not know a whole lot about the variences of liturgies (I have only been a member of one Lutheran congregation).

    We change our liturgy now and then to keep things fresh, but other than that I plead ignorance as to the most of reasons for the particular content.

    I’ve always trusted that my pastor has good reasons for using or modifying ceratin liturgies in our worship service.

    I think after your posts here on the subject, I will pay a little more attention to the content and order. I think that will be a benefit for me.

    Thanks!

    – Steve

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