Our closing hymn today, #98 Of The Father's Love Begotten, is one of the great treasures of the holy Christian religion. Here is an a capella version with words displayed. The combination of text and tune reach heights of theology, and depths of emotion, not often experienced. The hymn began its life as a poem by the 4th century Christian poetAurelius Prudentius Clemens. ...

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! For the next two Sundays, December 31, and January 7, we will familiarize ourselves with the Divine Service as it is written in the Lutheran Service Book (LSB), Divine Service 3 (DS3) on page 184. A printed copy of the entire Service will be distributed to each person as you enter God's House. You will also receive th...

In the first chapter of Genesis we hear the refrain six times: "And there was evening and there was morning, the first day" ... "There was evening and there was morning, the second day" etc. Based on this refrain the church follows liturgical time, which is different than calendar time. For liturgical purposes the new day begins at sunset, and runs through to the next. Su...

Our study of the history, theology and practice of Christian worship has been a great boon for all, including the teacher. But the whole congregation benefits in that the storehouse of knowledge and understanding of our faith and worship is increased. Like a healthy bank account it sees us through lean times. Today we will continue our discussions on the reading and heari...

Once again the discussion was lively last week. When a person who has been praying the church's liturgy his whole life, looks under the hood so to speak, his amazement and appreciation of Christian worship is trebled. We have started each class with the order of Responsive Prayer I (p. 282) or Responsive Prayer II (p. 285). Take the time to look at those, and to pray them...

If you are a Christian, and if you send out Christmas cards, and decorate your house and yard for this holy season, let those efforts reflect your faith. It's too late for this year, but think about it for next Christmas. If you're going to go to the effort and expense, let your preparations say something. Christmas is not about our kids, grandkids, dogs or cats so why fe...

Properly speaking there is only one true Liturgist: Jesus himself! He is the "liturgist in the Holy Places, in the True tent that the Lord set up, not man." He is "the High Priest who offers (prosphero) gifts and sacrifices." (Hebrews 8:1-3) This means that Jesus himself is the actual liturgist at every Eucharist the church celebrates. That is not to say that our actions ...

What does it mean to assert that Scripture is, first, a liturgical text: and not a catalog of doctrines as it is so often conceived of? It means that the Gospels were written forthe church,to be read by the church, to the church, in the church. It means that the Gospels are not only information about our Lord's earthly mission, and the world's salvation -- they certainly a...

It was our intention to learn about the Salutation and Collect last week, but we got side-tracked into a fruitful discussion about Eucharistic Sacrifice instead. We will visit that subject again when we get to the Liturgy of the Sacrament. Speaking of which let us take a moment to remember that there are two major divisions in Christian worship. The earlier part of the Se...