Worship Notes—The Prayer of the Day & the Lessons
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You can pick
out the Lutherans at Star Wars movies.
They are the ones who obediently respond to “May the Force be with you,”
by answering, “And also with you.”
Every society has a kind of blessing and response. In the Old Testament story of Ruth, we learn
that “Boaz said to the reapers of his field, ‘The Lord be with you.’ They answered, ‘The Lord bless you’” (Ruth
2:4). We continue this very ancient
practice of beginning our corporate prayers by exchanging a blessing before
saying, “Let us pray.”
The
Prayer of the Day is also known as the “Collect”
[cahl – lect], because it is
meant to collect all our hearts into one prayer. It also summarizes and opens our ears to the basic teachings of
the lessons that we are about to read.
Every Sunday and holy day of the Church year has at least one Prayer of
the Day attached to it. You can find
them on pages 13-41 in the green Lutheran
Book of Worship.
Also
on those pages you will see the appointed “pericope.” That is, the Bible lessons appointed for
each day, listed under years A, B, and C.
All together, the pericope lessons make up the three-year “Lectionary.” (Actually, the Lectionary has been somewhat revised since the
printing of the LBW. Our new Lectionary is shared with the Roman
Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and other denominations.)
For our
Contemporary service, we usually pick the scripture text/s from the pericope
list. The Traditional service reads
each lesson, while sometimes omitting the psalm.
A
few weeks ago, Pauline and I worshipped at St. Brigidda’s Catholic Church in
Rome. That Sunday we heard the same
scriptures that you would, thousands of miles and nine hours later …though ours
were spoken in Italian! So, amid all
the diversity in the Body of Christ, the Lectionary gives us a world-wide point
of unity with most of the Christian Church.
As
a preacher, I am thankful for the Lectionary.
It confronts me with different scripture texts I might otherwise
overlook; and it keeps me preaching Biblically, where I might be tempted to
concentrate on my personal agendas.
I’ve
mentioned Justin Martyr in this series before.
He wrote about Christian worship in the 2nd Century, and
noted that the scripture lessons were read for “as long as time permits.” We complain when a small font is needed to
fit all the texts on one page! In
Justin Martyr’s day, the amount of time given to the lessons described their
importance.
Truly,
the scriture reading is the first of two summits in our liturgy: “Word and
Sacrament.” Even the sermon is only
commentary following the Word of Scripture.
As important as it is, Dennis R. Fakes in his book, Exploring Our Lutheran Liturgy, admits that it is challenging to
remain focussed during the lessons. He
says, “I suspect [the lessons] get switched off in most hearers’ minds. That is why so many Lutheran churches not
only read the lessons, but encourage listeners to follow along with the lessons
printed on the back of the bulletin or in an insert.”
Personally,
I do a variety of things to help me during the lesson reading. If I feel focussed enough, I put down my
bulletin and try to listen to the reader.
If I’m less “in tune,” I will read along. Finally, if I really want to get something out of worship, I will
use a pencil/pen and underline words and phrases that seem to stand out.
Regardless
of whether I am focussed or not, this I know: that God’s Spirit is present and
speaking through the reading of the scripture!
The question is: Am I
present?
Next
“Worship Notes” – The Sermon --by Pastor Greg Kaurin
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