O_come_let_us_worshipO Come, Let Us Worship!I. The Church ServiceII. The Church SongA Study in Lutheran Liturgy and Hymnodypresented to the 78th Annual Convention of theEvangelical LutheranSynodJune 1995© Copyright by Mark E.DeGarmeaux (gargy@blc.edu) My home page Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Appendices Bibliography and discography Christian music on earth is nothing but a foretaste of or a Prelude to everlasting life, since here we only intone and sing the Antiphons until through temporal death we sing the Introit and the Sequence, and in everlasting life the true Completory and the Hymns in all eternity.Nikolaus Selnecker Dedicated to my mentor, teacher, and friend, Bruce R. Backer, Professor, Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MNI. THE CHURCH SERVICE O come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us make a joyful noise to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen. (Psalm 95, the Venite from the Office of Matins)God created our world perfect and in harmony with Himself and His holiness.All the earth was to serve man and glorify God, so "let everythingthat has breath praise the LORD" (Psalm 150:6). All God's creationfrom the beginning sings His praise and announces His glory, as He saysin Job: "To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted forjoy?" (Job 38:6-7). "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow,of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the gloryof God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).The history of Christian worship begins in the Garden of Eden, whereAdam and Eve at first lived in perfect harmony and communion with God ourMaker. Cain and Abel worshipped God with sacrifices of thanksgiving forHis blessed promises; Cain in hypocrisy, Abel in true faith. In the daysof Seth, Adam and Eve's third son, we are told: "Then men began tocall on the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4:26), indicating what mostpeople consider the beginning of public worship. Already the first humanfamily was attending the Service of the Church and singing the Song of theChurch, exhorting one another: "O come, let us worship!" WORSHIPThe word "worship" is used about 185 times in the Bible. TheEnglish word "worship" comes from worth-ship; in worship we proclaimGod's worthiness to receive our praise and reverence. The English word "worship"in Scripture usually comes from Hebrew and Greek words [1]which mean to "bow down." When the Lord God appeared to His peoplein the Old Testament, they bowed before Him to show respect and reverence-whetherHe came in the strangers who visited Abraham, in the burning bush, the pillarof cloud and fire, as the Angel of the LORD who appeared at various times,or in the still small voice which spoke to Elijah.God still comes to us today in the Divine Service, the "WorshipService", in His Word and Sacraments. We too worship God by bowingdown. Most of our churches have the custom of kneeling to receive the Lord'sBody and Blood in the Sacrament; some also have kneelers for the pastorduring the Opening and Closing Prayers of the Service and during the Confessionof Sin. Our liturgies use the expression: "Let us bow before the Lordand confess our sins." These acts of bowing and kneeling acknowledgeour complete dependence upon God, our submission to the Almighty Lord, ourutter unworthiness before the One who alone is worthy "to receivepower and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!"(Revelation 5:12). But this is not a forced submission or a self-righteousobedience as one finds in other "religions"; with it we acknowledgeGod's glory, and we bow to receive God's Word in all its marvelous graceand undeserved forgiveness.We bow our hearts, just as did the blessed Mother of Christ: "Letit be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). She was overwhelmedby God's grace, bowed herself in lowliness, and received its wonder withall humility, joy, and faith in the Savior promised to her and all sinners.The angel Gabriel had come to her in the service of God and proclaimed thewondrous message of the Gospel. When visiting her cousin Elizabeth, Maryresponded to God's Word with a Song of the Church that the Lord inspiredher to sing. We still sing that beautiful hymn, the Magnificat, thankingGod for these promises and for His wondrous grace. She sang this song ofpraise first and foremost because she was filled with the Holy Spirit, butalso because the word of Christ dwelt in her richly as she had learned somany of the hymns of the Church at her time, the Psalms. The Magnificatis filled with the words and images of the Psalter: "My soul magnifiesthe Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior" (Luke 1:46-47).Mary's hymn, like the Psalms, invites us: "O come, let us worship!" OLD TESTAMENT WORSHIPWorship in the Old Testament involved resting from work on the Sabbathday to hear God's Word. At first that Word was proclaimed by word of mouthwith no written Scriptures. Adam taught Seth; Seth taught Enosh; Enosh taughtCainan; Cainan taught Mahalelel, and so on. The Word and promises of Godwere faithfully transmitted from generation to generation. Early Old Testamentworship also included sacrifices or offerings to God: as thanksgiving forGod's blessings, and as pictures of the one perfect sacrifice of Christyet to come. "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrificethan Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, Godtestifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks"(Hebrews 11:4). These sacrifices were offered not to appease an angry God,but to show the believers' faith and trust in God who forgives all sinsthrough the Promised Savior who appeased God's wrath once for all. The patriarchsbrought offerings and sacrifices to God in response to His words and promises;Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built altars to God and worshipped Him.They bowed down before Him because He had redeemed them, had called, gathered,and enlightened them, and had given them His Word. God served them withthe Bread of life; they responded with songs and prayers of praise and thanksgiving.When Israel came out of Egypt as a great nation, God told them how theywere to worship Him and how He would come to them. "In every placewhere I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you" (Exodus20:24). Later the Lord commanded Solomon to build a temple for Him and promisedto hear the prayers of His people wherever He put His name. At the dedicationof the temple, Solomon prayed: Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, "My name shall be there", that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place (1 Kings 8:28-29). The worship service, the divine service, of the Tabernacle in the wildernessand later the Temple in Jerusalem was a liturgy of sin and grace, confessionand absolution, Law and Gospel. The sinner came before God and confessedhis sins; the sacrifice was made and the blood sprinkled on the altar, andthe priest pronounced God's forgiveness and grace to the believer. Thisis shown in how Moses instituted the first covenant: "For when Moseshad spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he tookthe blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, andsprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, 'This is theblood of the covenant which God has commanded you'" (Hebrews 9:19-20).All these foreshadowed the one perfect sacrifice of Christ for the sinsof the world and the forgiveness which He gives to all who believe. So wesay of all believers, Old and New Testament: "The blood of Jesus ChristHis Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). The liturgy of theOld Testament brought to the people the benefit of Christ's work centuriesbefore it was done; the liturgy of the New Testament brings to us the benefitof Christ's forgiveness centuries after it was finished. Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:11-12,24). Luther also comments on this: We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways. First, how it is achieved and won. Second, how it is distributed and given to us. Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross. But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world. For inasmuch as he had determined once to achieve it, it made no difference to him whether he distributed it before or after, through his Word, as can easily be proved from Scripture... If I now seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ, as Dr. Karlstadt trifles, in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross. Therefore, Luther has rightly taught that whoever has a bad conscience from his sins should go to the sacrament and obtain comfort, not because of the bread and wine, not because of the body and blood of Christ, but because of the word which in the sacrament offers, presents, and gives the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for me.[2]The services of the Temple were elaborate and detailed, beautiful andglorious, as our God is exalted and glorious. The most beautiful treasuresof God's creation adorned His Temple: gold, silver, fine cloth, embroideredcurtains and robes, and jewels on the robe of the high priest. Glorioussounds filled the Temple from trumpets and cymbals, psalteries and stringedinstruments, flutes and other wind instruments. Skilled and trained choirssang lovely settings of the psalms, the inspired hymns of the Church, someof them dating back to the time of Moses (Psalm 90). Memorable aromas ascendedto God as a sweet-smelling savor from the offerings of incense and animals,the lighted lampstand, the anointing oil perfumed with myrrh, cinnamon andcassia (Exodus 30:23-25). Even the sense of taste was sanctified for holyuse as parts of the sacrificial animals were eaten by the priests and sometimesby their families (Leviticus 5:13; 7:9; 21:22, Deuteronomy 18:3). The wholebelieving family ate the Passover meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread,and bitter herbs to remember that the Lord had miraculously delivered Israelfrom bitter slavery in Egypt, as He delivers us from bondage to sin forjoyful service in His kingdom (Exodus 12).God does not command us to use all of these things today, for the OldTestament sacrifices and festivals were "a shadow of things to come,but the substance is of Christ" (Colossians 2:17). Yet the heritageand precedent of using only the best in the service of the Church is clearlyset forth in Scripture itself for the Church of all the ages. When the Israeliteswere to build the tabernacle and bring gifts for its construction, theirgiving of gold, silver, fine cloth, and precious stones so overwhelmed Mosesthat finally he had to tell them to stop: The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded us to do. So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary." And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done-indeed too much (Exodus 36:5-6). In the same way our churches and the services of God's House among ustoday are the very best that we are able to give. Not every church can bean ornate Gothic cathedral, but neither is it to be an ordinary house ora make-do building; it is a temple fit for our heavenly King, a memorialto the greatness of our God, a house consecrated for the preaching and singingand praying of the divine oracles of the King of heaven. The Divine Serviceof God's House transports us out of the sinful and corrupt world into theholy dwelling of God Most High. The church is not a lecture hall |
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