worship

Prayer of the Church

The prayers are a time when the congregation brings its burdens before the Lord, and often before each other. Prayers are shared for the sick and dying, the grieving, the hopeless and the helpless. These are the prayers most often requested in my experience. Prayers about an upcoming surgery, recovery from illness, the death of a loved one.

But prayers are also made in thanksgiving. People often request prayers as they celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions. They give thanks when healing has occurred, when jobs are found, when life is good.

Prayers are made for leaders in the world and the church. Prayers are offered that relate to the Scripture readings for the day.

The prayers I hear the least, and the prayers I pray the least, are when life is neither good nor bad, when life is humming along at the status quo filled with stress and exhaustion, but lacking in crisis situations. People often don't request prayers to feel more rested, to have more energy, to have more satisfaction with their work, or to have a crisis situation come up so that they will appreciate the routine and status quo more.

Yet, if you think about the Lord's Prayer, what is it other than a prayer for an ordinary day. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us what we need to survive another day of the status quo.

One of the biggest lies the world tells us is that we are missing out, that we deserve more and better, that we won't be satisfied until we upgrade everything.

But this is a never ending striving after the wind. It depletes our satisfaction far more than enhances it. Such tireless striving robs us of the ability to enjoy what we have, to notice and appreciate, and pray for the mundane, for daily bread.

I'd love to see more mundane requests. Because, let's face it, what we consider mundane are some of the greatest blessings we have. Thank you God for my ordinary, mundane car. Thank you God for the technology to communicate with my friends around the globe. Thank you God for my health (even when I'm not taking the best care of my body).

Thank you God for roads and grocery stores and books and air conditioning and fingernail clippers and indoor plumbing and sunsets and music and stories and flowers and coffee.

You see, our prayers of thanks for and dissatisfaction with the mundane reveal the total and entire point of prayer: all things are dependent upon God.

Comedian Kathleen Madigan once joked about the USA's deficit and debt, saying that she'd be more likely to act if the deficit wasn't some astronomical number beyond her comprehension, but was something ordinary...like mashed potatoes. Ordinary things are taken for granted until they are taken away. Then, we don't know how to handle it.

So let us thank God today for mashed potatoes. Let us thank God for the ordinary. Because let's face it, ordinary just means things we have gotten used to, and every ordinary thing is an absolute marvel.
Preface

As we turn toward the Service of the Sacrament, we re-begin in a way with words of greeting as the pastor says:

The Lord be with you.

And the congregation responds:

And also with you.

Or...

And with thy spirit.

These words stand as a foreshadowing of what is about to happen. The Lord is coming down to be with us. The Lord is coming down to be truly present in bread and wine. The Lord is coming down to forgive our sins in His holy Supper.

Of course, the Star Wars franchise has stolen this sentiment as people are always saying, "The Force be with you." But notice it is said almost entirely as a goodbye in that world. It is a blessing, a benediction.

As we say "The Lord be with you" we are not offering a mere wish, some superstitious expression of protection. We are saying something very real. We are speaking to a personal God on behalf of other people, asking this personal God to be with and dwell with others.

The impersonal Force of Star Wars is nothing compared to the personal God who came down from heaven and was incarnate for us. He lived among us, healed us, proclaimed good news to us. He suffered and died for us. And He is risen from the dead and ascended on high for us. He promised after His resurrection and before His ascension to always be with us. Our proclamation of "The Lord be with you" is not a wish. It is a reminder that this is reality. The Lord is with you. And soon within the service He will come to be with you in a real and tangible way as we eat His body and drink His blood.
Proper Preface

The Proper Preface, much like other elements of the Divine Service, changes with the season and specific festivals of the church year. It always begins with these words:

"It is truly good, right, and salutary..."

And always ends with these words:

"...evermore praising You and saying:"

The Proper Preface is a time to locate the congregation's praise in the activity of the season or the day. The most common Proper Preface, used in the season of Pentecost, calls to our attention Jesus' resurrection as He overcomes death and the grave "on this day" meaning Sunday, the Lord's day.

Since God's saving action in Christ is a reality that has been given to us, we therefore join the heavenly host in praising God for all that He has done for us.

The Proper Preface answers the basic question: "Why are we here?" The answer is not complicated. To praise God for all He has done for us. To receive His good gifts.

The Proper Preface is like that moment inA Charlie Brown Christmas, when everything has gone wrong for Charlie Brown and he finally asks the big question, the why question, saying, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" And of course Linus stands up and tells the Christmas story from Luke 2, answering the question as to what Christmas is all about.

The Proper Preface answers the big, why question. "What is this all about?" It's about Jesus overcoming death and the grave and by His glorious resurrection opening for us the way of everlasting life.

That's the why. That's the answer to the big question.
Psalm/Gradual

If there's a piece of the Divine Service that gets skipped in any particular congregation, I'd bet on the Psalm/Gradual.

A congregation may have already used the Psalm for the Day earlier (in which case the Gradual can be used, a brief chant or spoken response), but if they chose theIntroit or Entrance Hymn for that slot, then the Psalm of the Day can be used here.

First Lutheran has typically chosen to use the Psalm of the Day as a preservice meditation for people to read and contemplate as they gather and wait for worship to begin.

In all of my lectionary research, the information I gathered on the Psalms was the most disheartening to me.

There are 150 Psalms. There are 156 Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle (not to mention common feast days like Christmas and Ash Wednesday). One would think the Psalms could get solid coverage through the lectionary.

One would think.

Of the 150 Psalms only 84 are covered in any portion. 66 Psalms are entirely absent for most congregations. If they celebrate every minor festival and feast day, they could touch upon an additional 10, making 94 of the 150 Psalms.

There are 2461 verses in these 150 Psalms. Only 1003 are used in the lectionary. That's 40.76%. We have an entire reading dedicated to this book of Psalms and we are ignoring nearly 60% of it.

Yet all that is insignificant to a greater problem: how few congregations even use the Psalm of the Day. I don't know how many congregations use the Psalm of the Day, but if that number reaches 50%, I'd be shocked. Truthfully, those in the LCMS shouldn't be surprised. If you look at the lectionary collection in our latest hymnalLutheran Service Book, you'll find the Psalm of the Day isn't even a category listed.

Not using the Psalm of the Day is a dangerous choice because the creators of the lectionary expect you to use this reading. They do not include the Psalms in the rotation of the Old Testament readings. This means thousands of Lutherans have never heard a sermon on the book of Psalms. I don't want to proclaim it as the most important book in the Bible or pit it against other books, but it's definitely top 10, probably top 5, maybe top 3. Remember, 11 books of the Bible get ignored by the lectionary. If you leave out the Psalm of the Day, you're relegating the Psalms to the same fate as Haggai, 2 and 3 John, Nahum, Judges, and Ezra. These books don't deserve to be ignored. How much less the Psalms.

The Psalms have been a part of the church's life since its inception. Jesus quotes Psalm 22 and fulfills Psalm 69 from the cross. Peter quotes Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 on Pentecost. Paul quotes or alludes to more than a dozen Psalms in Romans alone.

Psalm 23 is requested for nearly every funeral you will ever attend, yet it isn't read on Sundays unless we use the Psalm for the Day.

The Psalms are the church's prayer book and hymnal.

Imagine if someone bought the complete works of Shakespeare and they were given a selection of weekly readings from the histories, the tragedies, the comedies, and the sonnets. Do you think they'd get a full picture of Shakespeare if they left out any of these categories?

The Psalms can teach us how to speak to God when everything is going wrong. The Psalms can show us how to be faithful when we are in the midst of terrible suffering. The Psalms can help us confess. The Psalms always point us to Jesus.

We need to use them. We need to use more of them.
Sanctus

The Sanctus is the immediately response to the Proper Preface.

In the Sanctus we repeat the words spoken in Isaiah 6 by the seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Isaiah's response is one of total fear, for he knows that he is a man of unclean lips and he has seen the Lord of hosts. Isaiah truly and honestly believes he is about to die as he hears these words of the angels.

And here we are, centuries later, repeating the words Isaiah heard and they no longer cause fear and trembling. They are words of joy.

Of course we add on to them a bit. In many versions of the Sanctus we add words spoken on Palm Sunday by the crowds, "Hosanna (save us now) in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."

Again, this may seem an odd choice. After all, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem is an entry of peace (riding on a donkey as opposed to a warhorse), but it is not the peaceful entry we expect. Jesus makes peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20).

The Sanctus seems to be two random pieces of Scripture taken out of context and forced together in a rather odd spot in the liturgical movement.

It's like inThe Lord of the Rings films when they take quotations from some characters and give them to other characters. This should fail miserably, but somehow it ends up working out just fine. People who have not read the books probably have no idea these lines were re-assigned so to speak. The films take lines from Tom Bombadil and give them to Treebeard, lines from Gandalf and give them to Grima Wormtongue, lines from Faramir and give them to Eowyn. If you watch the appendices on the extended editions of the films, the writers will justify and defend these moves, noting the importance of Tolkien's language and wanting to use it somewhere.

I remember going to a Zac Brown Band concert where they played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It should not have made sense, a country band performing this 1970s rock ballad, but it was perhaps their greatest performance of the night.

Perhaps you really enjoy pizza with odd flavor combinations that should not make sense. I remember having one with asparagus and sausage that was pretty good.

In each case what doesn't seem to make sense at first glance ends up working quite well.

That's sort of how I feel about the Sanctus. The creators of the liturgy in centuries past wanted to use Isaiah 6 and they wanted to use the Palm Sunday "Hosanna" language. They decided to put them together at this moment of praise in the liturgy and it shouldn't work, but it does.

It is fitting for us to call holy, holy, holy in the moments before approaching the altar of the Lord. It is fitting for us to call for God to save us now (Hosanna) before we receive Jesus body and blood for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Sermon

Preaching is an odd task. I'm expected to deliver 60-70 sermons a year averaging around 15 minutes. Each year I deliver 15+ hours of memorized material that's different every week. I study and research. I pray about what to say. I write 1300 words give or take. I re-write, practice, polish, memorize, deliver, and repeat.

In today's world there are a lot of jobs that require public speaking, but few professions ask as much as the role of pastor when it comes to public speaking. Other professions probably have a similar amount of time of public speaking, maybe even quite a bit more, but probably not the level of variety of speeches. A lot of public speaking professions involve giving the same talk, speech, or presentation several times. Pastors aren't in the habit of recycling sermons. Well, they certainly shouldn't be. That's just lazy.

Stand up comedians, for example, spend much more time in front of audiences, but typically they use the same set with little tweaks here and there for several months in a row. They're always testing new material and honing their set so that the performance in Akron on Tuesday can be better than the performance in Indianapolis was on Monday.

Pastors don't often have such opportunity. I have one service. One shot. There's no honing a sermon once it is delivered. Pastors with multiple services get that chance, but they typically don't have time to think about what to change. Between the sermon at 8:00 and the sermon at 10:30, there's Bible study, no down time to re-write and consult with others on what to change.

Then there's the added pressure of this public speaking having the weight of being God's Word to the hearers. The pressure of finding the appropriate dynamics of Law and Gospel, the pressure of finding examples of application that mean something to the hearers. The pressure of not straying from the text and its message, but allowing the text to guide my words and structure and tone.

The sermon in the worship service can look very different depending on who the preacher is. Some sermons are all about how how people should be living. Some are a history lesson and little else.Some lead the congregation to praise and singing. Some lead the congregation to despair because of how terrible they are. Some kill and make alive through the words of Law and Gospel. Some speak to the Gospel of Christ's forgiveness, given to us by His blood. Some speak to the Gospel of Christ's victory over death in resurrection. Some do a combination of these things.

In Luther's Small Catechism, as he writes about the third article of the Apostles' Creed, Luther says the following:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified, and kept me in the one true faith, just as He calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

The work of preaching is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspired the Scripture each sermon is based upon and the Holy Spirit works where and when He will to guide preachers in their preaching. Yes, preachers are sinners and we make mistakes that we are to blame for, not the Holy Spirit.

I believe every sermon should aspire to do the Holy Spirit's work that Luther talks about, to call, gather, enlighten, sanctify, and keep God's people. Some sermons will do one of these things. Some will do more than one, perhaps even all.

As preachers, most of us tend toward one of these as our default. Some love to enlighten with explanations and history lessons. Some love to call with the Gospel, hoping people who are struggling to believe or who have not yet believed in Jesus will do so. Some love to sanctify, to speak to how to live a holy life. Some love to keep, to preach a word of encouragement that will nourish God's people and keep them going in their walk of faith.

There are many factors that go into good preaching, but perhaps the most important is variety. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of Gospel metaphors in the Scriptures. There are typically dozens, perhaps hundreds of different people in each congregation. Different metaphors hit home with different people. If the only word of Gospel you speak is that of forgiveness, you may never speak a meaningful word to the woman who is filled with shame after being abused by her husband for years. If the only Gospel you speak is victory over death in the resurrection, you may never connect to that adulterer who is racked with guilt.

Ultimately, the sermon is the time for God's Word to come to His people filtered through and applied by the Holy Spirit working in the preacher. Sometimes the preacher filters and applies poorly or wrongly, but I find oftentimes that even when I feel like a sermon has failed, the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in the minds and hearts of the hearers to distract them from my mediocre words and implanting His own Word of Law and Gospel on the hearts of my hearers.
Sunday School Change on Its Way

On Sunday at the voters meeting after church, the council introduced a change that we’ve been discussing for a few months now.

The proposed change involves the way we teach Sunday School to our children. Currently, the children leave the worship service after the children’s chat and come back into the worship service at some point during or after the offering. Starting in September, we’ll be trying a test run of having the kids remain in the worship service and holding Sunday School for the children at the same time as Bible study for the adults after worship.

The current plan is to try this from September through December, assessing if we should continue the practice into 2020 and beyond.

I know that this is a big ask. It is a lot to ask of parents, Sunday School teachers, and probably most especially of our Sunday School kids.

There are pros and cons to the current way we handle Sunday School. There are pros and cons to the change we will be making. I know I’ve spoken with several of you about this, but I haven’t reached everybody one-on-one, so I wanted to speak to this change here in the First Notes. Over the next few weeks I plan to lay out some of the reasoning behind the change and how the congregational leadership hopes it will better form and instruct the congregation’s children as we all seek to follow Christ together.

As Ellen noted in the meeting on Sunday, this began with a simple question from me wanting to know the history of how we came to have the current policy for Sunday School. Discussions with the council, the elders, other congregation members, and nearby pastors have led me to support the change as the best course of action at this time for First Lutheran Church and Preschool.

I know there are a lot of questions and a lot of logistical challenges to work through before we launch in September. I want to be as transparent about this change as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk with me about them. Let’s do our best to refrain from gossip. Let’s walk forward together into this change with hopefulness that this is where the Lord is leading our community.

God’s blessings on your week.

Pastor Andy
The Lord's Prayer

I have written several pieces on aspects of the Lord's Prayer (including the upcoming devotional we will go through together this Lent), but as we consider the Lord's Prayer's place in the worship service one of the things that stands out to me is how the prayer is introduced. The pastor says,

"Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:"

I always find the word "kingdom" fails to get across what it should. On the surface, this sounds like, "Lord, remember us up in heaven." But as Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven, He is not talking about a place. He is talking about an activity. We don't have a useful word for it in English. It is the kinging of God. How God reigns and rules.

As we introduce the Lord's Prayer, we are saying, "Lord, in Your position as King, as You rule and reign over the world, remember us and teach us to pray:"

It is worth noting that Jesus gives this prayer at the request of the disciples. They want to learn how to pray. The Lord's Prayer is what Jesus gives them. The disciples are like children with a parent. Can you remember a time when you asked your parents to teach you something? Can you think of a time when one of your kids asked you to teach them something?

I'm reminded of the scene in A Christmas Story, where Ralphie's mom suggests that he should go help his dad fix a flat tire. Ralphie's response is so earnest - "Really! Can I?" When Ralphie tells his dad, "Mom said I should help." His father's excitement is beautiful, "Oh yeah?!" The old man isn't the most patient teacher, but the prospect of teaching his son something so near and dear to his heart is evident.

As we are introduced to the Lord's Prayer, we ask the Lord to remember us as He reigns as King, and to continually teach us to pray. We ask for Jesus to teach how to do something so near and dear to His heart: to pray.
The Words of Institution

For nearly 2000 years the church has celebrated the Lord's Supper, a wonderful gift that Christ has given to us. Yet, how the church has chosen to celebrate the Lord's Supper has varied greatly. The church in Corinth around 51 AD had some issues in their celebrations. They had home meals to accompany their services, but the wealthy among them got to feast on all the food, including the elements of bread and wine, while the poorer among them were left with nothing at all and often went home not only hungry, but without having been given the Lord's Supper.

Paul shares with them that this practice is not good, and then he reminds them what he had taught them when he planted their congregation. In that reminder, Paul shares the words of Jesus that we refer to as the "Words of Institution." These are the words that Matthew, Mark, and Luke also share as they write their Gospel accounts of Jesus' life and ministry.

What I find fascinating is that Paul likely writes these words of Jesus down and sends them to the Corinthians before the Gospel writers compose their books. This teaching was passed down as an oral tradition before the New Testament was even composed.

Not every congregation throughout time and space has included the Words of Institution in their celebrations of the Lord's Supper. Some liturgies from the first few centuries of the early church include other ways of celebrating this sacrament. These ways are not more or less valid that what we do today.

The Words of Institution are not magic. They are not an incantation that turn bread into Christ's body and wine into Christ's blood. The Words of Institution are primarily Jesus' words of promise, words that He speaks in the first celebration of this meal, and words that we echo and repeat when we celebrate this meal. In these words Jesus promises His presence in the meal, a new covenant made by His blood, and forgiveness of our sins.

Our use of the Words of Institution is a bit like a the words a starter uses at a track event. Each time, the starter uses the same motions with the same words. One arm up - "on your marks." Both arms up - "get set." Gun fires. Race ensues.

Likewise when pastors speak the Words of Institution, we use the same words each time. We bless the bread and wine with the sign of the cross. And the celebration ensues.

The difference obviously is that those race directions were not passed down from God Himself. It's not like God officiated the first race and used those exact words. But Jesus Himself does preside over this meal and leads us in a way that we can celebrate it together again and again, always receiving the benefits He promised from the first celebration.
Three Words of Encouragement
This week we start an exciting journey. For the first time in about a decade, our Sunday School kids will be in the entire worship service with us. They will have time for a fuller lesson (with a new curriculum that I hear is stellar). There will be a few new Sunday School teachers.

The kids also will get the opportunity to listen to the Bible readings, hear the sermon, confess the Creed, and participate in the prayers and the offering. For many of these kids, this will be one of the first times they have been a part of these important moments of worship.

To help facilitate this change, I have a few words of encouragement.
1. Be patient.
When you do something for the first time, it is simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking. I don’t expect our kids to be perfectly behaved and neither should you. I expect them to be kids who are learning something new. They will probably have questions. As a congregation, let’s work together to teach them, lead them, and answer their questions with patience. Let’s try our best not to give parents or kids dirty looks or yell at kids for misbehaving. Let’s share with them the joy we find in worship as we get to hear the good news of God’s promises.
1. Help them follow along.
Some of our parents and grandparents have several children they are looking after. This is the first time in a long time they’ll have to do that for a full hour of worship. Don’t be afraid to sit with a family and help out a little bit. Some of our Sunday School kids may wish to sit with other families and build relationships with them (with their parents’ permission of course). That’s great! Worshiping together as a family is wonderful. Some parents and children really take joy in that experience. I know I did. My sister loved sitting with Grandpa Jack and Grandma Delores (not really our grandparents, just family friends). Sitting with family and sitting with others can both be great. Let’s be flexible with that knowing each family and each child is different.
1. Model what to do.
As humans, we often learn by observation. If you’ve ever been to a new church before, you know how this goes. You sort of wait and watch to see when other people stand and sit and sing. You react to those around you and follow their lead. Starting this Sunday we’ll have a page for sermon notes in the bulletin. Take notes. Draw a picture. Take that page home with you. Ask your kids what notes they took in the service.
Upcoming Small Changes

One of the things that has been on my mind a lot lately is how to help with the transition of having our Sunday School kids in worship throughout the whole service. I’ve had a lot of ideas, some of them better than others. I’ve heard several ideas from many of you which I have been grateful for.

One thing you will notice me doing with more regularity in the coming weeks is explaining parts of the service. These moments won’t be scripted in the bulletin, but they will hopefully be opportunities for the kids to get a down to earth explanation of what is happening, and perhaps the adults will learn a few things as well.

I also plan to have a time for prayer requests on the second Sunday of each month. Instead of writing out the prayers beforehand, I’ll ask the congregation if there are any prayer requests, write them down, and pray for them. I want to do this for many reasons, but one is to show that we are a community that cares for one another, that brings our burdens and our joys before the Lord and before each other so that we can share in those burdens and joys together. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

Finally, I plan to have an insert for sermon notes. I personally have a hard time listening to sermons without taking notes. As our youngest members begin listening to sermons for the first time, they may find it helpful to jot some things down or draw a picture. You may find that helpful too. And since it is an insert, you can take it home with you and maybe even hang it on your refrigerator.

Thanks again for your patience as we move forward together in faith.

God’s blessings on your week.

Pastor Andy
Worship Is for All God's People

In last week’s First Notes, I mentioned the proposed change to move Sunday School after the worship service, during the Bible study hour. This week, I’d like to share one reason I think this is important related to worship.

What is worship?

You may find different dictionaries use different phrasing, but in essence, worship is an individual or community showing adoration, praise, reverence, love to something or someone.

For Christians, worship is God’s people gathering together to adore, praise, revere, and love our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In worship services at First Lutheran, we show our love and praise of God with hymns and prayers and a confession of our common faith in God. We also offer back to God from the abundance of the financial blessings He has poured upon us.

In worship, we are also blessed by God’s good gifts coming down to us as God comes among His people in His Word and Sacraments. We receive God’s Word of forgiveness in the Absolution. We receive God’s Word of instruction and salvation in the three Bible readings and in the sermon. We receive the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.

In our current format, you will see that our children are missing out on some of these opportunities to love and praise God. Our Sunday School students and teachers miss the confession of faith in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. They miss the prayers of the church. They often miss the offering.

Our Sunday School students and teachers also miss some of the opportunities to receive God’s good gifts since they do not hear the Bible readings or the sermon.

The reason why I think it is wise for us to move Sunday School outside the worship time is simple: our children are God’s people. There is no age limit on worship. There is no age limit on receiving God’s good gifts nor on being able to love and praise God.

Sunday School itself is a great time to teach our children about the faith, to share the stories of God’s action in the world most especially through Jesus. But worship, worship is the time when we teach children and all new believers how to be God’s people, how to love and praise God in songs and prayers. Worship is where we teach each new generation how God comes down to us with His good gifts of forgiveness and life.

Our children belong in worship because they are God’s people.

God’s blessings on your week.

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First Evangelical Lutheran Church is a member of the California-Nevada-Hawaii District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a family of congregations focused on bringing Christ to the nations and sharing His unconditional saving Love within our community.

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