So far in the divine worship service the congregation has been the primary speakers, opening their lips in prayer and praise. At this point the congregation falls silent and our Lord himself speaks to us. We open our ears and hearts to his life giving words spoken through the Lessons.
Do we need instruction about how to read narrative stories? It seems like that should be easy. When most people read a Bible story, they might just dive in and expect Bible stories to be exactly like modern stories. But they aren’t.
The hymn “The Day of Resurrection” is one of the oldest hymns in our hymnary—written more than a thousand years ago by Saint John of Damascus. At the Easter Eve midnight service it is customary in Eastern Orthodox churches for worshipers to carry unlighted candles which are lighted on signal while this hymn is sung.
Sometimes people walk away from the Bible confused. We don’t know why a character did what they did, or what they looked like, or even what the “moral of the story” is. Bible stories often lack the amount of detail and clarity that modern readers are accustomed to. And this is frustrating to us because we like lots of detail. But what if a glaring lack of detail in a Bible story is there on purpose?
The Salutation marks a new and different part of the divine service. The Collect is a brief but significant prayer related to the theme for the day, preparing the way for the reading of the lessons.
In the year 1535, Peter Beskendorf—Martin Luther’s barber and friend—asked him for suggestions concerning prayer. Luther responded with a letter titled, A Simple Way to Pray.
Next week is Valentine’s Day, named for a Christian martyr from the third century. Almost nothing is known about this man except that he was killed for his faith on February 14th, A.D. 269 and buried in Rome.
The words 'covenant' and 'testament' are little-used words in modern English. But the two major divisions of our Bible are called "Old Testament" and "New Testament." We should know why!
The hymn "How Lovely Shines the Morning Star" (hymn #167 in our Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary) is one of the monuments of Lutheran hymns and is called the Queen of Chorales. It was used so extensively at weddings, that the idea really became common that if this hymn were not sung at the wedding, the persons were not properly married.
After confessing our sins and receiving assurance of our forgiveness, the Rite II liturgy in our Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary continues with the Introit, the Kyrie Eleison, and the Gloria in Excelsis. In these steps we enter in to the presence of the Lord for worship, ask for his help in earthly needs, and praise him with the song of the angels.