About Our Liturgy

The Kyrie and the Gloria in Excelsis

Kyrie is shorthand for the Greek, Kyrie eleison, which means, “Lord, have mercy.” This prayer is found throughout Scripture, for example, the blind beggar Bartimaeus who called to Jesus on the road, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). We are all beggars before God, having nothing of ourselves to offer Him. It is most fitting then, that having entered into the presence of God and having begun the Service of the Word, the first words on our lips are the oldest prayer of the faithful, the cry of the beggar, “Lord, have mercy.”

The Kyrie does not have a penitential function nor is it a continuation of the confession of sins. It is a prayer for help in all times of need. The earliest forms of the Kyrie that appeared in the liturgy were similar to the Litany that we are using as the Prayer of the Church on Sunday mornings during Lent. We still use this form of the Kyrie in Divine Service I, which is sung responsively between the pastor and the congregation (LSB p. 152). In the sixth century, the Kyrie was simplified to the threefold, “Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy,” which is the form we use in Divine Service III (p. 186). In the Kyrie, we ask that the Lord would prepare our hearts rightly to receive Him as we also pray for His mercy to be shown to the whole world. It is a confident prayer grounded in Christ who intercedes for us that we might be shown mercy for His sake.

The Gloria in Excelsis—Latin for “Glory [to God] in the highest”—is the hymn of praise sung in answer to the Kyrie. The Gloria begins with the song of the angels that announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds (Luke 2:14). Just as the angels proclaimed that God has come to rescue His people by taking on human flesh, so also in the Divine Service the Gloria proclaims that God is coming to His people for our salvation, now in Word and Sacrament. The Gloria confesses that Christ is truly present among us with His mercy.

The Early Church expanded the Gloria into a creedal hymn of praise in response to this proclamation. We honor and glorify God along with the shepherds for sending the Savior. Then we call upon Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, to have mercy on us. We ascribe to Him the honor bestowed on Him by the Father—that He is the holy Lord of all who is seated at God’s right hand. Finally, we close with a confession of the Holy Trinity. This hymn of praise proclaims that the glory of God is manifest in the work of Christ to bring peace (absolution) on earth, for which we thank and praise Him.

The Gloria is omitted during Advent and Lent as we focus on repentance and preparation for the feasts of Christmas and Easter.

Join Pastor and Kantor for Bible class on Sundays at 9:00 AM in Parker Hall where we are studying the Divine Service. Summaries of the class are posted on this web page each week.

The Introit and Chanting in the Divine Service

Introit (pronounced in-tro-it) comes from the Latin word introitus, which means “entrance.” The Introit is the Psalm sung at the beginning of the Service of the Word as we enter into God’s presence. This entrance is signified by the pastor’s movement as he walks up the steps of the chancel and approaches the altar for the first time in the Divine Service.

The Introit contains three parts: the antiphon, Psalm verse(s), and the Gloria Patri. The antiphon is a Bible verse or liturgical text that announces the theme of the Scripture readings for the day, specifically pointing to the Gospel reading. The Psalm verses that follow the antiphon expand and reflect on this theme. The Gloria Patri (Latin for “Glory be to the Father…”) points us again to the name of the Triune God given to us in Baptism and proclaims that everything done in the Divine Service is done to the glory of God. The antiphon is repeated at the end to reiterate the theme we are about to hear in the readings.

The Introit has its roots in the Old Testament. Synagogue worship began with the singing of the Psalms, and the priests and Jewish pilgrims sang the Psalms of Ascent as they traveled to Jerusalem and ascended the steps of the Temple for festivals. Likewise, in the Early Church, the people gathered before the Divine Service and sang Psalms as they waited for the service to begin. When the pastor arrived, he led the people into the nave while chanting a Psalm. Specific Psalms were appointed for certain days of the Church year by the 5th century.

The practice of chanting the Psalms and the liturgy (as opposed to speaking) has been part of worship since the Old Testament. Chanting was retained in the Early Church and by Martin Luther in his reforms of the liturgy. Chanting marks worship as being holy; the Divine Service is not an ordinary or casual thing but it is set apart from the secular world. The practice of chanting the liturgy confesses that something is happening here which commands our reverence and full attention. Chanting also assists in proclaiming God’s Word. Chant is elevated speech which causes us to sing and listen more deliberately to the text. Chanting, like other forms of music, aids in learning and memory. Psalm tones and antiphons are simple and repetitive so that they are easy to learn and help us call to mind the Psalms throughout the week. Likewise, many parts of the liturgy are sung to allow for participation across all ages as we join our voices together as one body of Christ.

Confession and Absolution

 “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven” (Small Catechism, LSB p. 326).

Confession and Absolution is a rite of preparation for the Divine Service. The Greek word for confession is homologeo, which means, “to say the same.” When we confess our sins, we are simply speaking back to God what He has already spoken to and about us in His Word. God has declared in His Law that we inherit the original sin of Adam and that we ourselves daily commit sins of thought, word, and deed (Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3). We acknowledge and accept His righteous judgment for sin, that we deserve “present and eternal punishment” (LSB p. 151). When we confess our sins, we recognize that we cannot approach God on our own and expect to live. Confession points us to our need for Christ as we turn to Him in repentance and plead for mercy. By using the rite of Confession and Absolution in preparation for the Divine Service, we acknowledge that everything that happens in the Divine Service is by virtue of God’s grace toward us, not by any merit or worthiness in ourselves.

The absolution pronounced by the pastor is more than a mere reminder that we are forgiven. Forgiveness is declared “in the stead and by the command” of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave the power of the keys to the Church, which has entrusted it to the pastor (John 20:19-23). When the pastor speaks in this manner, he is declaring on behalf of God Himself that we are forgiven on account of Christ. The peace and reconciliation that Christ won for the whole world by His life, death, and resurrection is given to us in the words here spoken through the pastor, “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit” (LSB p. 151). The absolution sets the tone for the Divine Service where the Gospel is delivered through the liturgy, preaching, and Lord’s Supper.

As in the invocation, the congregation may make the sign of the cross at the words of absolution as a reminder that in our Baptism we were crucified and raised with Christ. Being covered with Christ’s robe of righteousness in Baptism and having received the absolution, we poor sinners can stand in God’s presence to receive the gifts which He so freely bestows upon us in His Word and Sacraments.

Interested in learning more? Join us for Bible class on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. in Parker Hall taught by Pastor Schaaf and Kantor Magnuson. We are exploring the questions: What is worship? Where does the liturgy come from? Why do we do what we do in the Divine Service?

Summaries of the class will be posted here each week.