Worship 101 Liturgy of the Word

The first part of a worship service at St John Lutheran Church is called the "Liturgy of the Word." This section of the worship grounds us in scripture and calls for our response in song, prayer, and declaration of belief. 

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Scripture quotations from the COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. © Copyright 2011 COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Hello and welcome to another edition of Facets of Faith, the Worship 101 series. Today we are going to quite literally walk through the first half of worship. Keith is going to join me in just a moment, but we are going to start with the very beginning as people are gathering into this space, and then we are going to move through the worship that leads us to the liturgy of the word, which is where we hear scripture read and we respond to scripture through a statement of belief known as the creed, and then ultimately with prayers for the people and the world around us. So worship begins. Actually, it begins before worship even begins. Because if you recall from last week, we talked about the five uh elements or the five sections of worship. And the first one was actually preparation. And this starts really as people are coming into this space. As soon as someone steps onto the grounds of this institution, they are preparing for worship. And so as people are sitting in their pews, as they're checking in with one another, talking with one another, as the organist or the musician is playing the prelude, all of that is starting to prepare things for worship. But then, at some point, usually right about nine o'clock, because our music director is phenomenal at keeping me on time, I will stand up here and I will begin with a few announcements. There's different traditions and practices of where you put announcements in a congregation. I do them at the beginning, partially because that's the tradition I inherited from here, but also because I think as we are preparing to worship, as we are preparing to enter into this space, that's a great time for me to kind of step in and say, here are some notes for the community of what we're what's going on for worship today, what's going on in the life of this congregation, all that kind of stuff. And then I'm gonna put you on the spot, Keith. And as soon as I kind of finish announcements and I pause for people to remind me of things I forgot, I will typically say a phrase.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

And so I say that very specifically. Um years ago, I used to say, um, let's quiet our hearts and minds, but I realized typically we're not quiet necessarily. Um, and you don't have to be quiet to worship. And so I decided to shift it to prepare, because that's what we're doing, is we are preparing, we're continuing to prepare for the act of worship and all that it entails. And so I give a moment of silence for people to quietly prepare their hearts and their minds in silent prayer or to you know settle the kids with some extra snacks or whatever. And then after that, then we begin uh the official formal preparation, if you will. And that begins uh oftentimes with confession and forgiveness. So I've done a lot of talking now, so I'm just gonna actually turn around a little bit and start asking you questions. Yikes. Surprise! But when we get to confession and forgiveness, I'm curious from your perspective in the pews, what is confession and forgiveness?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

From my perspective, forget uh confession and forgiveness is the opportunity for um me and uh the congregation to reflect upon what we've done that separates us from God, our actions that separate us from God, to be mindful of them, and then to ask God's forgiveness for those for those for those sins, for those actions. I recognize that it is already forgiven. I have already been forgiven. There's nothing that I have done that I have like stored up and like, whoo, I got this off my plate now. Like that's not how it works, but it is a it is a recognition, it's a formal recognition of uh of me falling short of God's law or falling short of God's plan for me and then asking for his help and guidance moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, exactly. And that's crucial before we enter into worship to recognize what that relationship we have with God is. We're not meeting God as equals by any means. Uh instead, we are coming into the space of worship recognizing that we were humans and we have screwed up and messed up and we have uh really struggled with the law of God to love God and love our neighbor. Um and so we confess. And typically, because this is a corporate confession, uh, we feed words to people to say. Um instead of asking for individual confession, we at the Lutheran Church do what's called corporate confession, which means that we all confess a general confession, and we all have a general line of words that we say, and that changes seasonally usually here, just to kind of keep us remembering what we're doing, and so that those words don't just become rote in our minds, in our hearts. But there's always also a little bit of silence in there, and that little bit of silence is meant for people to have those individual reflections also of how have I fallen short, how have I been prey to sin? How have I uh lost sight of God's intention for me? And so that all is there. And then, of course, like you said, forgiveness is part of baptism, that's part of God's plan and promise for us is redemption and forgiveness. But before forgiveness has to come the repentant heart, the heart that says, I know I need forgiveness. So we start with that down here. And after all of that, after we have confessed our sin, after we have confessed the power of sin, after we have heard God's word of uh grace and forgiveness and mercy for us, even in our death to sin, then we can kind of start to lead our minds towards worship a little more. And that's here at the here at Lou St. John, we um we shift things around a little bit depending on just logistics, if I'm being perfectly honest. And so right now we're going straight from confession and forgiveness into the gathering hymn. Now, last week, before we move on in the service, last week I mentioned um that sometimes we don't start with confession forgiveness. Sometimes we start with a thanksgiving for baptism. So typically we begin worship with a thanksgiving for baptism during the season of Easter, because baptism at its core is all about Easter. It's about dying with Christ and being resurrected to new life with Christ. And so that is then during the season of Easter, how we prepare for worship is we remember our baptism and we give thanks for it. We could do that with just words and do it in the center, like we do confession and forgiveness. But you were asking last week, two weeks ago, about keeping it fresh, right? One of the ways we try to do that is by remembering where the font is and remembering that in the font is water. And this water is splashy and messy and full of everything that is good and wonderful about God's grace. And so we start with the Thanksgiving for baptism at the baptismal font so that we can remember the water and have this as kind of the beginning of where we go in worship. So whether we begin worship with confession and forgiveness or thanksgiving for baptism, we then continue our preparation as we move into the official stage of gathering, um, and we have what is called a canticle of praise. Like I said, churches love big fancy words. And the canticle of praise is um there's two of them that we use a lot, glory to God, or this is the feast. Not to dive back into history again, but historically, this is the feast was used on Sundays when you had communion, because the feast that was being referred to was communion, and we didn't used to have communion every week. Now we do. So rather than just throwing the glory to God out the window, we use it during certain seasons as kind of an alternate. We use this as the feast on like festival seasons and things like that. Now, you might remember at other times we sing something called the Kurie. Um do you know what currier means?

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Uh you put me on a spot. I'm going to say, I'm going to say no.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

That's fine. And I think that's a good, honest thing, because one of the things we need to learn to do as church is admit when we don't know things, because if we don't admit we don't know things, we never, A, we never learn. And B, I never know what people know and don't know. And so I can't teach. So it's helpful to know these things.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

I sometimes have my phone hidden behind my bulletin, so I can. What is this? I have actually done that. What is this word mean again?

SPEAKER_01 9:31

You can just be like Nick, raise your hand. I have a question. So the curiae is just shortened from form of saying kyrie iliazon, which is a Greek phrase that means Lord have mercy. Um and then that's a song that gets sung. We have Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. We have many different versions of these songs. They don't always use the word curiae. Sometimes we just speak it in English or sing it in English, I should say. But that comes after the confession and forgiveness because we have the confession, we receive God's forgiveness, and then we pray for God's mercy on us and also the world. And so we're kind of already thinking about what's happening outside of just these four walls with that curier. So we have the curier, and then having prayed for God's mercy and song, we sing the song of praise, the canticle of praise. Glory to God, this is the feast. During those songs, that's usually when I, as pastor, will take the opportunity for a bit of uh liturgical logistics, because I can't do all of worship here because at some point I need to be back there. So when we move and how we move is usually during songs, just for simplicity's sake, smoothness's sake, all that stuff. So usually during the canticle of praise, that's when I'll invite the assistant minister, who is a non-ordained person who helps to lead worship, and our acolyte, who's typically a young person who helps light candles, collect offering, things like that. So I will invite them forward. We will, before we step up into the chancel, you'll notice we're on the floor right now, the same level as the congregation. Before we step up into the chancel, which is this elevated section from where I lead worship, we will reference or reverence the altar with a bow or a pause. So we will just kind of do a quick bow, reverence, recognizing that we're going into a holy space. So then once we're done with the canticle of praise or the hymn of the day, or not the hymn of the day, the gathering song, depending on how the specifics of that day are flowing, I will then invite people to join me in what's called the prayer of the day. The prayer of the day is a scripted prayer, meaning it is in the bulletin for everybody to say together. Different churches do that differently. Here at St. John, the whole congregation reads the prayer of the day together. And the prayer of the day is usually pulling from some older sources, some uh mystics, some ancient fathers and mothers of the church, things like that, or it could be just a prayer that was written for the sake of that lectionary day. And the purpose of that is to kind of perk people's ears a little bit into what they're about to hear from scripture. So we pray to God that God might move in and through us in a way that is in alignment with the themes of the scripture. This helps us then shift into the section of the service that we call the liturgy of the word, um, which is where then I sit back for a moment and the assisting minister takes over. So, assisting minister, take over. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

So at this point, then um we I I I would approach or the assistant minister minister would approach the the pulpit. Um we actually have a book here that has the lectionary in it, which I'm holding up. Um typically though the words uh my eyes are 53 years old, so my eyes are can't read this without glasses, so I bring my I bring my um bulletin. Bulletin. Geez, thank you. I bring my bulletin, and then we will read the uh the readings that are in a lectionary, right? The first reading then is obvious or is always an old testament reading, followed by a psalm, followed by a new testament reading. So the question, or one of the questions that I have uh, as I often do, and I have like literally no idea, sometimes we sing responsively the the psalm, and sometimes the assistant minister will just read like one verse, and then the congregation will echo a you know the following verse, and then we just go back and forth. What is the the the the seasonal difference or the seasonal requirement of when we sing or chant and when we just talk?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

So there's actually no guidelines on when to sing, when to speak, when to do we sometimes use something called the metrical psalter, which is when everybody sings the the psalm in a paraphrase that then fits with a hymn tune. And we make those decisions individually here as a congregation. Remember when we said last week that there's a conversation that happens and how we try to kind of hear how people prefer things in worship and hear how people can respond best to things in worship, and we try to kind of balance things. This is one of those spaces, and so we just pretty much cycle through. And sometimes it depends on the timing of the service, sometimes it depends on the vibe of the season. Easter's a festal season, and the um the hymn tune version, the metrical Psalter oftentimes feels a little more celebratory, so we might shift it to there. But the psalms were originally thought to be pieces of music, and we have that idea because at the top of some of them there's descriptions for the music leader or things like that. And so we don't have those tunes anymore, and so in keeping with the ancient traditions of psalms, we chant them or sing them as a way to kind of pull that back, and that also helps carry us into that pattern we've we're developing throughout all of worship, where there's a bit of spoken word, and then there's song, spoken word, song. And that carries through the liturgy of the word too, where we have the Hebrew scripture reading and then a sung psalm, typically, and then the uh the epistle reading or a letter reading or something from the New Testament that's not a gospel reading, and then we sing as we begin to move into the gospel reading, and then we have the gospel reading. So it's kind of that back and forth thing, also. But some people have a hard time singing and paying attention to the words at the same time, so we will do a responsive reading to help those people at times too. So it's a balancing act again.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Thank you. You're welcome. Well, and then usually at this point is when I turn it back over as the assistant minister is when I turn it back over to the pastor to read the gospel. So I would step away, we sing a um an allelujah, um, where you then get up and walk over to the to the pulpit yourself.

unknown 16:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Switch places. And we we start, we we introduce the gospel with what's called a gospel acclamation, and it typically includes allelujah, which is a celebratory word that um recognizes that the gospel is the word of life. Um the story of the word incarnate Jesus in those gospel uh books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then also in many of the Alleluas, not all of the gospel acclamations that we sing, but many of them, there's the phrase, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And that's kind of again picking our ears so that we are ready to hear the words of eternal life that Jesus has for us in those gospel readings. So I will read the gospel and then before and after each of these readings, there's some level of introduction. We usually just introduce the word by a reading from Ezekiel or what have you. The gospel gets a little more pomp and circumstance, um, as I will proclaim that the the holy gospel according to Matthew, and everyone else responds with their response. And then similarly at the end, I'll say the gospel of the Lord, or people will say, Herein's the reading, and everyone says a response. We do that not just to make sure people are still awake, but we do that so that way people have a participatory level even in the readings where they're sitting and listening, that listening is still participation. Then, once we've done all of that, we've done the readings, now it's time to kind of unpack them. And this is uh a tricky thing because it is, I'm tasked with the goal, with the purpose of hearing these ancient words, these words that have been around for thousands of years, quite literally, and somehow helping to bring them to life anew for the people in 2026 or whatever year this is. And uh it's tricky, and there are many times when before I get up, I will say a little Jesus take the wheel, and I'll pray that the Holy Spirit will help turn whatever I say into a message of life and good news for the people who are hearing it. Um, because ultimately that is what is happening, is I am doing my best to prepare and to um understand what is being said in the scripture as best I can so that I can unpack it, I can explain it, but ultimately the message that people receive is not one that I have to give. It is something that the Holy Spirit is is lighting up in people's hearts. And because it can be hard for people of different um ages and experiences of life to hear me sit here and talk for 10, 12 minutes, um, I also do what we call a children's sermon. And I will usually sit down on the floor, I will invite all the younger worshipers up, and how you choose to define younger is totally up to you. If you're a young 99, you're welcome to come up. And I will try to have some way of connecting the scripture to something they might have experienced in their life. Like I used a ukulele last week to talk about being in tune with God. Now they were tired and they didn't quite get it, but I try. And then I will release them back to their seats. We say a prayer, we remember that God loves them, God loves people in the congregation, God loves all the people of the world, and then I will um start my sermon off with a prayer that I've developed as God breathe your spirit into us so that we don't just hear words with our ears, but hear the message you have for us this day in our hearts. Once again, kind of focusing on the idea of I need to get out of the way. This sermon is not about what I have to say, but this is about what God is speaking to us anew through these scriptures. Sometimes I'll speak it from the pulpit or the ambo. Uh, usually if I have a manuscript, which is where I've written out all the words, I'll come up here because then I have somewhere to put my papers. Like I said, some choices, some choices are very logistical in nature. But I also like to preach sometimes down from there when I can preach with just a few notes because I feel like that way I can visually connect with people a little better sometimes. So that then all culminates in the hymn of the day. Now you're on worship planners, Keith, and I'm gonna come down to your level because I feel weird speaking to you from out of the pulpit. But you're on worship planners, so why don't you speak a little bit to how we pick the hymn of the day?

SPEAKER_00 20:46

So the hymn of the day is chosen primarily based on the the gospel reading or specifically whatever you were preaching on. Because you don't always preach on the gospel reading. Sometimes you preach from the Old Testament or the New Testament reading, but it is a reflection of the sermon and w whichever one of those three readings that you know we chose to be highlighted for that particular day. Um and then there is uh as as we had discussed in previous sessions, there is there is a process in in which we we we are able to choose that particular hymn.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yeah, and then during that hymn, um this is something very unique to this congregation. During that hymn, I will grab a basket and I come through the congregation and I collect prayer requests. We have little cards, they're blue, we like to designate things by color, um, and on those blue cards, people will write a prayer that they would like to be lifted up in this space on this particular day. So I will collect all of those and I'll leave them on the altar because they're prayers that we were offering to God, and they're also prayers that I'm gonna be reading from that space. So again, a bit of a logistical choice there. And then after we go through the hymn of the day, and then I kind of go back to my seat where I will lead us all in the creed. Typically during green seasons, it's the Apostles' Creed, during festival seasons, when there's white on the altar, it's the Nicene Creed. There's other points where we shift one versus the other depending on what's happening. But we say that kind of as a response also to having heard the word of life from Scripture, we hear that word and then we join our voices, borrowing faith from our neighbors as we need to in this creed that says, This is what I believe, and this is why I have gathered in this space, because I subscribe to these beliefs. This is my connection to what I've just heard.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

You mean like I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son?

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yes, exactly. And uh and the Nicene Creed's a little longer, the Apostles' Creed's a little shorter, but they both cover the same basic concept where we go through uh God the Creator, God the Son, and God the Spirit, and different elements of each we expand upon depending on the creed. So once we go through that, then we shift into what's called uh the prayers of intercession. And so intercession means that we're praying on behalf of others. And these prayers, some churches have people writing them every single week. We tend to use the prayers that are offered by um a publishing company that's owned by the ELCA uh just for ease's sake, and these prayers follow a specific format. And I've talked with people many, many times, maybe you've had the same struggle, of we pray for all these things every single week. Every single week we pray for peace and we pray for people to be fed and we pray for healing. But what's happening? We why why do we keep praying for the same things over and over again? Um and I say that not to make fun of that thought process, but because that's a very real wondering. Um, we can get into the the power of prayer and all that stuff another time, but we pray these things because we believe that prayer matters and prayer makes a difference. And so when we pray for these things, we are praying for God to make a difference in the world in these areas, but also make a difference in these areas through us. And so each of the petitions of prayers follows the same pattern, and I don't have it memorized, I apologize. But there's a prayer for the world and creation, there's a prayer for uh leaders of church and life, and there is a prayer for those who are ill or unwell in mind, body, and soul, there's a prayer for the life of the church, there's a prayer for giving thanks for those who have died in faith. Um there's a whole collection of these prayers, and they follow the same pattern every single week. Then at the final pro final petition, which is the final chunk of prayer, after each chunk, the congregation responds with something to kind of again invite their participation in all of this. At the final chunk, I will start saying the prayers. Because normally the assisting minister reads the majority of them. It kicks over to me, partially so that I have the prayers that the people have offered me in this space, and so then I have a little space in my book that says blue cards. And so I will then read through those blue cards so that people can participate in the prayers of intercession by literally offering their own intercessions of prayer. And then we say amen.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Thank you for joining us this week for Facets of Faith, where we have walked through our first three sections of our worship plan. So we went through the preparation, the gathering, and the liturgy of the word. Next week, we will be starting picking up at the meal, the liturgy of the Eucharist.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Which happens right here at the altar. So I hope you will join us again next week as we conclude our walkthrough the worship service as we go through the liturgy of the meal or the Eucharist and the sending, which sends us out into the world. So until next time, this has been Facets of Faith, our Worship 101 series.