| |
| |||||
|
| |
|
| | ||
| |
|
| ||||
|
| ||||||
|
| - | | ||||
| |
| |||||
|
| | |||||
| Indiana-Kentucky
Synod |
Sanctus | ||
|
A
Newsletter of the Worship Committee of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod | ||
 |
October,
2006 The Advent-Christmas Cycle | |
Sanctus
is an occasional newsletter of the Worship Committee of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod.
It is mailed bi-monthly, as part of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod Resource Packet,
to to Rostered Leaders and Lay Congregation Chairs (presidents or vice-presidents).
Sanctus is also mailed to the Worship Planning Team chairs
in our I-K Synod Congregations. If you are a local worship planning leader and
would like to join this mailing, please contact Pr. Rudy Mueller, Rmueller@iksynod.org
|
October
2006 Sanctus Online: | ||
| | ||
As the history of the church progressed, the liturgy became more and more the domain of the clergy and religious professionals. The participation of the assembly decreased and there were even places and times where screens separated the assembly from the altar and those "doing" the liturgy.
The ringing of bells during the words of institution signaled to the assembly that the host or the cup was being elevated and they could look up front and see it over the top of the screen.
Such practices led Luther to counsel of receiving the eucharist at least 4 times. Unfortunately, this became a guideline whereby folks only received the eucharist 4 times a year.
So what's an assembly to do while the "professionals" are up front doing liturgy?
Rites and devotions developed that helped to shape the piety and daily life of the baptized. Examples of these include processions, passion plays, and devotions for home life (interesting, since in the early church, the liturgy was a home liturgy).
Lutherans are regularly familiar with two such practices - advent wreaths and Christmas trees. Today, these devotions enrich and deepen our understanding of worship and the seasons of the church year. They are also a good way to introduce children to worship.
In this issue we will explore some of the rites and practices that are used throughout the Advent-Christmas Cycle. These will include those that are used in the parish setting and those that may be used in homes. We do not intend to reinvent the wheel. Many of these are found easily on the web through searches such as Google and Ask.com.
You may also find some at such sites as http://members.aol.com/LiturgybyTLW, http://www.worship.ca, http://www.elca.org/worship/links, and www.textweek.com,
The web site, www.renewingworship.org, is still up and running. Stuff you will find there includes:
An
Augsburg Fortress ELW Web Site, which contains extensive information related
to ELW. Check this site for information about pricing, imprinting and free downloadable
samples.
With the Whole Church PowerPoint Files has been
prepared by Pastor Scott Johnson (Peace Lutheran Church, Barrett, MN) to accompany
With the Whole Church study guide and has provided them to be shared with
the church.
Settings One and Two Downloadable Files may be used
without further permission through April 30, 2007.
Templates for Bookplates
have been developed using MS Word.
The theme for the WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY 2007 is "Open our ears and loosen our tongues" (Mark 7.31-37). The Week is traditionally observed January 18-25. Resources for this Week are available at www.geii.org, and may be printed.
The theme and text for each year's observance are chosen by representatives of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and representatives from the World Council of Churches.
For
further information, contact:
Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious
Institute
Route 9 Box 300
Garrison, NY 10524-0300
Evangelical
Lutheran WorshipEach congregation and rostered leaders should have received by now the Introductory Kit for ELW.
The kit includes an introductory DVD, two audio CD's which have new liturgies on them, and a text CD filled with information and useable graphics. Specifically, the text CD includes:
A
summary of the ELCA Liturgical Review Process for ELWA
history of ELWAn introduction
to ELWAn article on
how to introduce children and youth to ELWAn
article about how to use ELW in a Contemporary Setting An
article exploring ELW section by section.An
article about the foundations of ELW Frequently
asked questionsAn
selected overview of the hymns and songs in ELWAn
article about how to introduce new music in your congregationA
narrative Holy CommunionAn
overview of the resources which will accompany ELWDownloadable
flyers which announce the ELCA's Worship Jubilee in Chicago in August 2007, and
an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Worship Conference in June 2008
ELW GraphicsA rite
for dedicated new ELW'sWith
the Whole Church" - the study guide for Renewing Worship
A
flyer for "Bread for the Day" a new daily devotional book
A
bulletin insert Order Form
A
flyer for "Kid's Celebrate", a new resource for introducing young folks
to worship lifeAn
order form
Whew!! And that's just the text CD.
Please note that the audio CD's "may be reproduced by the recipient of the Introductory Kit for non-sale use in teaching new music to members of the local worshipping community." These two CD's contain recordings of Settings 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Don't forget that all the liturgies in ELW are available at www.SundaysandSeasons.com, to which you may subscribe at www.augsburgfortress.org, or at 1-800-328-4648.
Finally, the Indiana-Kentucky Synod Worship Committee is sponsoring a series of workshops to introduce ELW. These Workshops will introduce participants to the liturgies and many of the hymns and songs in ELW. The cost is $25 per person, which includes lunch and a copy of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Download and print the registration form.
www.catholiceducation.org reports that the Advent wreath "is part of our long-standing Catholic tradition. However, the actual origins are uncertain. There is evidence of pre-Christian Germanic peoples using wreathes with lit candles during the cold and dark December days as a sign of hope in the future warm and extended-sunlight days of Spring.
In Scandinavia during winter, lighted candles were placed around a wheel, and prayers were offered to the god of light to turn "the wheel of the earth" back toward the sun to lengthen the days and restore warmth.
By
the Middle Ages, the Christians adapted this tradition and used Advent wreathes
as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas. By 1600, both Catholics
and Lutherans had more formal practices surrounding the Advent wreath."
Today the wreath is used both in our homes and in our corporate worship spaces. Sundays and Seasons (either www.sundaysandseasons.com or the book AF#978-0-8066-4940-5) provides a blessing of the wreath that can be used in corporate worship. Many congregations offer Advent devotional materials, and most church publishing houses offer such materials also.
In my family, we have always included the singing of one stanza of "Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel" at our devotions, and have used a different stanza each week. For more on the Advent wreath you may visit http://www.elca.org/worship/faq/worship_space/advent_wreath.html.
St. Nicholas died on December 6, 343. www.Wikipedia.org reports that Saint Nicholas "is the patron saint of sailors and is often called upon by sailors who are in danger of drowning or being shipwrecked. In his most famous exploit however, a poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably … have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man's plight, Nicholas decided to help him but being too modest (or too shy) to help the man in public, he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses filled with gold coins through the window opening onto the man's floor…People then began to suspect that he was behind a large number of other anonymous gifts to the poor, using the inheritance from his wealthy parents.
After he died, people in the region continued to give to the poor anonymously, and such gifts were still often attributed to St. Nicholas."
In many Euopean countries his feast day is celebrated in a way similar to our use of Santa Claus. In stockings gifts are given "good" children, with the emphasis often on fruits and nuts.
Santa Lucia is a Swedish festival that celebrates the life and ministry of St. Lucy. Her feast day is December 13, the day of her martyrdom. www.serve.com says that "as early as the sixth century she was venerated in Rome as a virgin martyr…"
A legend attributed to St. Lucia is that "… one time Sweden was in the grip of a terrible famine and at the height of winter when things were their worst a ship sailed across Lake Vannern with a beautiful young woman dressed all in white at its helm. She was so radiant that there was a glow of light about her head. It was St. Lucia with a shipload of food."
"Throughout Sweden the feast day of Lucia, or Lucy, is celebrated as a festival of lights. In the early hours of the morning of December 13 a young woman, dressed in a white gown, and wearing a red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles, would go from one farm to the next carrying a torch to light her way, bringing baked goods, stopping to visit at each house and returning home by break of day. Every village had its own Lucia.
Today many families have a Lucia-Queen in their own home, often the youngest daughter, who wakes the rest of the family with song. Lucia symbolizes light and growth for human and beast as she emerges out of the darkness. She is said to have been beheaded by the sword during the persecutions of Diocletian at Catania in Sicily… Many of the ancient light and fire customs of the Yuletide became associated with her day. Thus we find 'Lucy candles' lighted in the homes and 'Lucy fires' burned in the outdoors.
Before the Reformation Saint Lucy's Day was one of unusual celebration and festivity because, for the people of Sweden and Norway, she was the great 'light saint' who turned the tides of their long winter and brought the light of the day to renewed victory."
Many ELCA parishes with Swedish history celebrate the festival of lights. In the Indiana-Kentucky Synod it is celebrated at Gloria Dei, South Bend. I would suggest you contact them if you have an interest in this festival - which includes lots of sweet pastry!!
(By
the way, a recipe for these pastries, called Lussekattor, and other Yuletide recipes
may be found at www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7039/AshlinCE.html.
www.wikipedia.org reports that "the Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life.
In Roman mosaics from what is today Tunisia, showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek god…Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a life-death-rebirth deity), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree. Medieval legends, nevertheless, tended to concentrate more on the miraculous 'flowering' of trees at Christmas time.
"The modern custom, however, although likely related, cannot be proven to be directly descended from pagan tradition. It can be traced to 16th century Germany; Ingeborg Weber-Keller (Marburg professor of European ethnology) identified as the earliest reference a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day.
Another early reference is from Basel, where the tailor apprentices carried around town a tree decorated with apples and cheese in 1597. The city of Riga, Latvia claims to be home of the first holiday tree, an octagonal plaque in the town square reads "The First New Years Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight different languages. During the 17th century, the custom entered family homes."
Sundays and Seasons has a blessing of the Christmas Tree for corporate or home use.
http://experts.about.com/e/n/ne/New_Year's_Eve.htm reports that "many Christians, particularly in the Methodist tradition, gather on New Year's Eve for what are called Watch Night services.
During these sometimes three-hour-long services, hymns are sung and prayers offered in a rededication to God, as participants watch for the new year. John Wesley wrote and adapted services for Watch Night celebrations. The most famous of Wesley's Watch Night resources is certainly what is known as the Wesley Covenant Prayer, an adaptation of a pietist prayer (see The United Methodist Book of Worship, 1992, ISBN 0687035724).
According
to the National Council of Churches USA web site, some African Americans have
a Watch Night Service as part of a tradition passed on to them by their ancestors.
Southern slaves waited all night long on December 31, 1864, for word of the Emancipation
Proclamation. (Slaves in Texas did not hear this word until June 17, and so some
African Americans today celebrate Juneteenth Day.)
In some congregations, the liturgy on the Feast of Epiphany includes a blessing of the chalk. Families take the chalk home and write on their thresholds, 20 + C + M + B + 07. The letters remember the names of the Magi, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. The letters also stand for "Christus mansionem benedicat" or "Christ bless this dwelling." www.gbod.org, a web site of the UMC, and www.worship.ca/ have blessings that may be used in your home. If the chalk blessing is used as part of the congregation's corporate worship, it may come after the Post-communion prayer. The following blessing may be used:
Let us pray. Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation: by the guidance of a star you led the magi to your child, and by the light of faith you bring us to know Christ as Lord, the Messiah that you sent. Bless this chalk and those of us who use it to mark the doors in your honor with the names of your saints:
20 C(aspar) M(elchoir) B(althasar) 07
May the homes where this chalk is used in faith be dwelling places of goodness, humility, self-control, mutual respect for one another, hospitality toward strangers, and loving obedience to your word in this year of our Lord 2007. Amen.
In the December issue, we will take a look at Candlemas - the Feast of the Presentation, the day that brings the Christmas season to a close (and you thought it ended when you took the tree out!!).
________________________________________________________________
© 2008 Indiana-Kentucky Synod, ELCA | About This Site | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use |
