What do you need to know about our Divine Service before attending so that you might get the most benefit from the gifts of God? Let’s continue examining the various parts so that we might better understand from where each part comes and how it connects to the next.
We began the service being reminded of our baptism. We continued by confessing our sins and being given forgiveness. Now that we are forgiven, we move into the Lord’s presence as we speak or chant the Introit or the entrance Psalm. Following the Introit we beg our Lord for mercy (as Luther reminds us, “We are all beggars it is true!”) in the Kyrie, the Lord have mercy! We rejoice in His presence as we sing the Hymn of Praise and then we speak the prayer of the day called the Collect. The Collect speaks God’s Word collected in one (or two) sentences what God speaks to us today in His Word.
Thus, as we believe, so we worship. As we believe that God comes to us through the means He has given, the Means of Grace (His Word, Holy Baptism, Confession and Absolution, the Lord’s Supper) so our Divine Service is permeated with these means. So, we believe we are brought into the church through faith given to us through the waters of Holy Baptism, our service begins with the Invocation; as we believe the Lord forgives us our sins as we confess our sins, through confession and absolution; so we are cleansed and ready to move into His presence as we enter speaking and chanting His Word back to Him(Introit); and so we beg for His mercy (Kyrie); we sing praise for His mercy (Hymn of Praise); and we speak back to Him the very Words He has given us to speak as we pray the thoughts of the Words of Holy Scripture of which we are about to hear (Collect).
As we understand and explain these parts of our Divine Service, so our service becomes a blessing filled with the joy of being given the gifts of God.
29 of 52 © Rev. Dr. Ronald A. Bogs (2018)
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