The Corporal

I recently came across a document which wrongful claims that the fair linen is the most important of all church linens. I respectful disagree with this assertion and yield to the words of Dr. Richard Hoefler, the author of Designed for Worship.

"The corporal is considered by many scholars to be the oldest linen of the ancient church now in use. It symbolizes the grave cloth of Our Lord's entombment, and hence the sacrifice of Calvary." (Hoefler 39)

Some parishes lay the corporal out at all times on the altar which is poor practice. Quiet frankly, nothing should sit out on the altar when not in use for the sacrament. When the sacrament is being celebrated only those things necessary for the sacrament should be on the altar. All the vessels containing elements that is to be concreted – properly speaking – should be placed on the corporal. The corporal when not in use should be folded into nines and placed in a burse for protection. It should be washed like all church linens are and it should never be starched.

Ascension

This Thursday is known as the Ascension of our Lord. Now many churches will not celebrate the day, but perhaps move the occasion to the following Sunday, or simply omit it completely. Both are second rate options compared to observing it its entirety on this Thursday. Many would say that trying to get a congregation back to the church mid-week is too much to hope for. Yet the LBW has placed enough significance on this day to have its own propers, including a proper Preface. If we lack interest in this particular feast, do we not devalue it? Do we diminish the importance of the fact that Christ "was taken up into heaven and in power intercedes for us"? Indeed yes, if we choose not to observe this celebration of our Lord's Ascension we choose not to place value in what it means. While it is likely to late to ask for your congregation to observe it this year, there are many lesser feasts that can still be observed this year, and there is always next year to try to make a liturgical difference.

Those notes in red

If you have ever thumbed through the hymnal, perhaps you have noticed little notes printed in red. Sometimes they are numbered, sometimes they are italicized, and sometimes they recommend we do something a bit different within the liturgy then what we normally do. No matter what, they tell us what to do and how to do it. These are rubrics.

These little red notes have been important since the liturgy has been written down. Sometimes you can almost find more rubrics then actual things that are sad in the service – or that just may be the way it feels. No matter what, these little notes can be helpful in telling us what to do and how to do it.

These notes on the liturgy have been extended overtime to not only include the liner-notes for the liturgy, but also to include more extended and general notes found in the forward sections of the service book. The LBW has 26 pages of such notes. The ELW has as much (though substantially lacking – a post for later on). Famously is the GIRM or General Introduction to the Roman Missal. This document – which is itself one great big set of notes (rubrics) – encompasses nine chapters of notes on the liturgy of the Mass. No doubt, the Romans have a distinct way they want the Mass to be done.

A Trinitarian Hymn

Here is the text to a Trinitarian hymn I wrote a few years back. It can be sung to the tune "Puer Nobis"

O Trinity great Three in One, your presence like the rising sun, reveals to us your saving grace, which give us strength our fears to face.

Creating God, the word you spoke, and thus the light with praise awoke; from this alone came all that's good: the rolling streams, the mighty wood.

O Son divine, the Lord of lords, this very day you loosed the cords of sin and death that had us bound. Your vict'ty is your glorious crown.

O Holy Spirit, come this day, and find in us a place to stay. With blazing fire your people fill, to make us bold to do your will.

With thanks we praise the Three in One: the Father, Spirit blessed Son. From dawn to dusk God holds us fast; our God-with-us, the First and Last!

Settings versus Occasions

The new Lutheran hymnal – Evangelical Lutheran Worship – contains three times the number of settings for Holy Communion that the Lutheran Book of Worship does. These settings are usually distinguished not by the order of worship or its particulars but instead by music styles. There is a gospel setting, a Latino setting in Spanish, a chant setting, and others. In many ways the usage is designed only for topical worship particular to a specific congregation; that is to say the Latino setting is designed for a Latino parish, the gospel setting for an African American parish and so on and so forth. Some may disagree saying that this is not the purpose of the settings. However I must point out that most congregations which consist of white Americans use only about three of the settings from the new book, and none of them being what most would consider the multi-cultural options. Now I think infusing the liturgy with music from different cultural sources is good in many ways, but an entire liturgy which the congregation must learn can be a bit much. And certainly using all of the settings is not a viable option. For example, if each was cycled so that setting one was sung one Sunday and then the following Sunday setting two was sung, it would take about two months to cycle though all the settings. This hardly allows enough time to learn a setting.

I would humbly suggest an alternative. What if instead of providing music settings which very so much why don't we proved settings which are designed for difference uses? Why not have a setting of Mass used for daily worship, a Mass used for Sunday worship, and a setting of Mass designed for festival use? Each of these could be augmented with different music so that the same setting could be used just with different music. I don't think it would be too difficult to do; the ELW already has a "Service Music" section in the hymnal and service book which allows other music to be used with any other setting. Why not take this attitude instead of having a new and separate setting of the liturgy for each subset of worship styles. Indeed if we tried to include all particularities of worship styles in the Lutheran church we would find ourselves using a hymnal with hundreds of settings instead of just three.

Good Music for the Pope (and for us?)

It has come to my attention that on Sunday 31 May of this year – Pentecost Sunday – that the Pope's Mass in Rome will be an orchestral setting of a Mass by Franz Joseph Haydn. Now so may say that we should not care what the Roman Catholics do, but I do care very much.

How often do we as Lutherans present a Sunday worship service with genuinely special music? I am not talking about lessons and carols commonly done during Advent or Christmas nor hymn festivals – both which are valuable and good. Nor am I devaluing the quality of the music performed in weekly anthems or voluntaries. However, what I am really talking about is a choral Mass or a cantata, something substantial musically which can link us to our theo-musical background as Christians. So many of the works of Bach, Buxtehude and the like are seen by some as too hard for the parish choir to perform. A mass by Palestrina or Haydn suffer the same fate. Why is this? Why can't we have good music in the Church? The reality is that we can, even if it is hard. See – if the Pope asks for good music, he gets good music. So too can we in the parish, we only have to ask for it.

Ask yourself what is the quality of music you want in your parish. I do believe that we all want the best for God and so we want the best music. If we give good musicians in the parish the power to give God good music and we do demand it of them, we are on the path to better music. It won't happen overnight, but can we not strive to someday have a Bach cantata performed once a month or a choral setting of the Mass sung a all the festivals of the year? I think it can. I comes back to us giving the power to good musicians and demanding good music.

Dressed for Success: Norms for Clerical Dress

Overtime, more and more Lutheran pastors have deemed it fit to minister to parishioners in a secular form of dress – that is to say wearing jeans and a t-shirt or the like. I have to ask if this is really appropriate. Many pastors who wear just casual secular dress would certainly not be thought of as a clergy member by those whom they pass on the street. This can be a good thing or a bad thing.

On one hand, the anonymity of the clergy allows for him or her to live a life in which the burdens of the priesthood are not felt all the time. On the other, people can visually see a dedication to Christ in a clergy who wears a collar when going about everyday business, which may foster and encourage their own Christian devotion. Regardless of the pros and cons of each, there does seem to be some norms when it come to what clergy wear.

It is my opinion that all clergy should at all times wear clerical dress. For me that means a cassock and a collar. For others that may mean a shirt and collar. Regardless, black is the color of the priesthood and these styles of having several different colored clerical shirts seem to over emphasize the fashion tastes of the individual. As stated above, the cassock and collar seem to be the best form of clerical dress for me and is likely what I will wear when I start my parish visitations. It may be a little much for some people, but I feel that wearing it will alter the way I act. If I thing about the fact that wearing this clerical dress clearly and definitively denotes me as a Christian leader, I will be more conscious of my actions, the fact that my actions – good and bad – will point to Christ. It is by this notion that I feel I can better minister to others if I do wear a cassock and collar.

In general, this is part of a larger issue when it comes to vestments in the Lutheran church today – a topic I am sure I will spend a lot of time on later.

Needs of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Parishioners

Just a short post today since I am in the thick of exams…

Here at Lenoir Rhyne University, we have an extensive deaf community on campus. This means our worship services have interpreters who sign the service. Sometimes this is a paid professional, other times, just the campus pastor. Perhaps we shall save a discussion of signing the Mass for later on, but for now, let us think about what we can easily do.

Since deaf and hard of hearing parishioner lack the use of one of their senses, we should perhaps find ways to highlight the other four for them. Here are some ideas

Smell

Use incense

Taste

Offer communion every Sunday

Touch

Hug, shake hands, or kiss at the peace

Use a sprinkling rite at the beginning of Mass

See

Wear brightly colored vestments

Use brightly colored paraments

Use lots of symbols on vestments and paraments

Adorn the worship space with stained glass, icons, statues, paintings, et cetera

Celebrate Eucharist at a nave facing altar

These are just a few ideas on how to extend the worship experience for all, but especially for deaf Christians.