Deacon v. Assistant Minister

In recent years, the new liturgical distinction of the "Assistant Minister" has emerged in our service books. However, in reality the liturgical role has been around nearly forever.

The assistant minister can be a member of the clergy or of the laity. There is little to no distinction between individuals according to age, sex, race, et cetera. It is however the title assistant minister that is new. The role and function of the deacon has been around since the first century. St. Steven – whose tale of martyrdom is found in Acts of the Apostles – is considered the proto-deacon, the first deacon. In those days of the Church, deacons had two main functions: (1) to serve as a worker for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and all the disenfranchised; and (2) to help assist in worship as a kind of worship leader halfway between an acolyte and the priest.

Unfortunately, Lutherans have continually divorced these two roles of the deacon. Today we have diaconal ministers, who play the social role of the deacon; and we have assistant ministers, who play out the liturgical function of the deacon.

I would love to see the state of the deacon restored in the Lutheran Church here in America, a role that once again combines the two roles into one person, one position.

Presenting the Chorale Mass

One of the greatest musical settings of the Mass is Martin Luther's so called "Chorale Mass." This setting of sorts was put forth by Luther in 1526 and in this work he suggests the substitution of German chorales for Latin chants of the ordinary. Unfortunately despite boasting ten settings of the liturgy, the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal does not have this as a setting. The "Chorale Service of Holy Communion" can be found on page 120 of the Lutheran Book of Worship hymnal.

While the chorale setting of the Mass is wonderful, it is a bit difficult to sing if you are sight-reading every single hymn. It makes things a world better if your choir knows the hymns well enough to help lead, but it is even more valuable for the congregation to know the hymns in advanced. That is to say that all the hymns that would be sung in the service are already known to parishioners. Here are a few ideas on how to teach these hymn to your congregation so the next time you want to do the Chorale Mass you are not afraid of the music.

First of all, each hymn corresponds to a part of the ordinary of the liturgy. A great way to teach one of these hymns is to simply substitute it for its corresponding song in the liturgy. Id est we might make the following substitutions:

Chorale Service	Regular Service
Kyrie! God, Father	Kyrie
All Glory be to God on High	Glory to God in the Highest OR This is the Feast
To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray	Alleluia
We All Believe in One True God	Nicene or Apostles' Creed (spoken)
Isaiah in a Vision Did of Old	Holy, holy, holy
O Christ, Thou Lamb of God	Lamb of God

This works well for most of the chorales. The exception is "We All Believe in One True God" which takes the place of a portion of the liturgy that is normally spoken and not sung. By substituting one of these for its equivalent on the normal service settings – say for a season – you will have a congregation which is better educated in the chorale Mass when it comes around.

Another way to teach these hymns to sung them as part of other portions of worship or for certain occasions or seasons. "Kyrie! God, Father" could be used to augment the Brief Order of Confession; "All Glory be to God on High" might be used during Christmas; "To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray" can be used during Pentecost; and "We All Believe in One True God" for Holy Trinity Sunday.

Regardless of the methods you use to help teach your congregation these hymns, you have little to no excuse not to use this wonderful setting of the liturgy which has fallen by the wayside.