Introduction

Top  Previous  Next

Introduction

Top Previous Next

APPROVED WORSHIP SERVICES

of the Lutheran Church of Australia

The Commission on Worship

Lutheran Church of Australia

Edited by David Schubert

Formatted by Graham Harms

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Computer format

A  Holy communion: the divine service

A01        Outline of the service

A02        The service with communion (including all variations)

A03        The service with communion (without variations)

A04        The service—alternative form (form A)

A05        The service—alternative form (form B)

A06        Sing the feast (setting 1)

A07        Sing the feast (setting 2)

A08        Sing the feast (setting 3)

      Sing the feast: Additional resources

A09        Modern liturgy (revised ‘Worship Today’)

A10        Service with communion (simplified spoken form)

      Hymnic services with Holy Communion for festival days:

A11  Christmas

A12  Easter

A13  Pentecost

B  The three days to Easter

B01        The first service: Maundy Thursday

B02        The second service: Good Friday

B03        The third service: Easter vigil

C  Baptism, marriage, and funeral

C01        Holy baptism

C02        Marriage

C03        Funeral

D  Other service orders and resources

D01        Service without communion

D02        Service of the word

D03        Brief service of the word

D04        Matins

D05        Morning praise (revised ‘Worship Today’)

D06        Vespers

D07        Prayer at the end of the day: Compline

D08        Confession and absolution

D09        Responsive prayer:

general

morning

evening

D10        The litany

D11        A festival of readings and carols

D12        Service with the Christmas story

D13        Midweek Lenten devotional service

D14        The passion of our Lord according to St John

E  Appendix

E01        Antiphons and seasonal responses

Opening responses

      Opening sentences (two sets)

E02        Blessings

E03        Canticles

E04        Collects for special occasions

E05        Confession of sin and absolution

E06        Creeds

E07        Eucharistic prayers

E08        Holy, holy, holy

E09        Invitations to receive sacrament

E10        Lamb of God

E11        Lord, have mercy

E12        Lord’s Prayer

E13        Offertories

E14        Post-communion prayers

E15        Prayers of the church

E16        Seasonal prefaces

E17        Symbols for sitting, standing, and kneeling

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge the following:

Augsburg Fortress Publishers for use of parts of the communion service from Lutheran Book of Worship: the words, ‘This is the feast’, ‘Let the vineyards be fruitful’, and  ‘Thank the Lord and sing his praise’.

Openbook Publishers for the words of the Modern Liturgy and Morning Praise services; Holy baptism, Marriage, Funeral, and the Three Days to Easter services from Church Rites; and Luther’s morning and evening prayers from Luther’s Small Catechism (1996).

The English translations of the Lord’s Prayer (with the exception of the line ‘Lead us not into temptation’, the Gloria in Excelsis, the Nicene Creed, the Sursum Corda, the Sanctus and Benedictus, the Agnus Dei (alternative version), the Te Deum, the Benedictus, the Magnificat, and the Nunc Dimittis prepared by the English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), 1988.

The following Scripture versions for miscellaneous quotations: Bible for Today’s Family: Contemporary English Version, copyright© 1991, 1992 American Bible Society; Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society; New Jerusalem Bible,© 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Company, Inc; Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, copyright© 1989 the Division of Christian Education, National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA; The Revised English Bible,© Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press 1989; Good News Bible (TEV), © American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992, 1994 (Australian usage text).

Aub Podlich for his song ‘May the feet of God walk with you’.

John Kleinig, John Pfitzner, and David Schubert for translations/paraphrases as indicated, and David Schubert for words of Modern Liturgy and Morning Praise.

Note: Music for the services may be found in publications available from The Open Book.  The Open Book also has available sheets with musical settings by Alan Collyer of paraphrases of Isaiah 12 and the Beatitudes, and by Sue Collyer of the Song of Mary and ‘Saviour of the World’.

INTRODUCTION

The compilation of Approved worship services of the Lutheran Church of Australia was requested by the General Church council (GCC) of the LCA.  In 1996 the GCC established a task force to investigate the question of a new hymnal for the LCA, and the provision of worship resources.  One of the recommendations was ‘that the LCA produce a compilation of its authorised services’.  The task force emphasised that these materials should be available on computer disk.

The production of this compilation was entrusted to the Commission on Worship, and its Department of Liturgics has been responsible for most of the work.  Discussions indicated that it would be desirable to include as wide a variety of approved services as possible, together with resources for these, and to present them in a simple easy-to-read format with revised language where necessary.  A glance at the contents will reveal that the orders range from the regular synod-authorised services to materials produced within the Department of Liturgics for occasional use.  In each case a brief introduction indicates the origin of the order or rite and its status within the church.  We hope that the release of these materials will lead to further field-testing and feedback.

We have followed the model of clear layout for the orders and rites in Church Rites (Openbook, 1994), but have further simplified the layout by reducing the rubrics.  We have also excluded most alternatives; those who wish to use the alternatives that are not in the orders here will find them in the appendix.  We envisage that the main need is for these materials to be practical, for pastors and congregational office secretaries to use them in a cut-and-paste way in preparing their own worship orders and bulletins.  We have not indicated the options in the actual orders, except for an occasional ‘may’ rubric, assuming that users will make their own selections.  Likewise, we have omitted ‘stand’ and ‘sit’ rubrics or symbols, as well as the ‘may kneel’ indications for confession of sin and for the reproaches on Good Friday, both to save computer space and to allow for maximum flexibility (see ‘Computer format’).  Users can see our suggestions for posture and for options in the service orders in Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement, Church Rites, and Sing the Feast.  Options are also indicated in the outlines at the beginnings of the orders and rites (see below).

In keeping with past publications, we indicate the parts to be spoken by the minister or leader in ordinary (roman) type, the parts for the congregation or responses in bold, and rubrics in italics.  We have introduced many of the orders with notes, giving guidelines for usage, as well as additional ideas and variations.  In some cases, where the service is well known and widely used, we have given no notes; in other cases, where there are many possibilities, such as in the Service with the Christmas story, we have given extensive notes, and pastors may find these helpful in suggesting further adaptation.  We have also provided outlines for the various orders and rites; we hope these will be helpful in indicating their contents and structure, as well as parts that may be considered optional (shown by a small vertical line on the left).

References to hymns are given by the number in Lutheran Hymnal (LH) or Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement (LHS).  Songs are from All Together Now (ATN), All Together Again (ATA), All Together Everybody (ATE), All Together OK (ATO), and Together at Christmas (TAC).

This compilation reflects the understanding of the Commission on Worship that what we have called ‘Holy communion: the divine service’ is the main and central service of the church.  We give it here as the first service; after the basic outline are the different forms of the communion service, including various elaborations or simplifications and according to various musical settings.  Each form follows the same general outline.  But within this given ecumenical and historical structure a considerable amount of variation is possible, and we encourage users to ‘mix and match’.  Even if you do not wish to use a particular form as a whole, it is possible to take a variation from it and use it in another form of the communion order.  For instance, you could consider a different form of the confession of sins on occasions, or use the optional opening sentences, or one of the invitations to receive the sacrament.  We have produced revised forms of the seasonal prefaces for the Sing the Feast services, and these can also be used more widely.

To help you select some of these options more easily, we have added an extensive appendix of these ‘spare parts’.  Some parts are given in various layouts.  In some cases the service orders themselves provide alternative formatting.  Although it takes more space to print out parts broken up into shorter lines, it does help the congregation speak them in unison, especially if the wording is unfamiliar.  The approved modernised forms of the creeds and the Lord’s Prayer appear in all the rites and orders, but the traditional forms are in the appendix and can be easily substituted where desired.

Many of the non-communion orders and rites can serve as models, and again various parts, such as canticles or blessings, can be interchanged.  We do advise, however, that pastors take care in introducing parts from elsewhere into the communion service, or omitting parts.  While encouraging flexibility and enrichment, the Commission on Worship does not wish to make any change to the communion service which obscures its function or disrupts the sequence of the service.

COMPUTER FORMAT

All materials in these files have been formatted to the following specifications:

File names:

File names begin with a code consisting of a letter and a numeral, corresponding to a code listed in the Table of Contents.  The name of the order or rite follows, but will be only partly visible if you are not using Windows 95.  Generally, when you view the list of files on the diskette, they should appear in the same order as on the Table of Contents.

Page size:        A5 (14.5 x 21 cm) portrait

Font:                Times New Roman 11 for the body text

Paragraph:

We have used a standard set of paragraph styles for various headings, rubrics, minister’s parts and congregation’s parts — the same as were used for Church Rites.  Detailed specifications for each can be found by using the Format…Style command on your word processor.

These specifications can easily be changed to suit your needs.  If you are not sure how to do this, the following notes may be of some help.  Experienced and advanced users will probably not need them.

TO BEGIN WITH…

Make a copy of your diskette before you use it.  If one copy fails to operate in the future, you will have your spare available.  It is also a good idea, if you have enough disk space on your computer, to copy all the files from this diskette onto a new directory on your hard drive (usually the C drive).  The increase in operating speed gained in this way will save you much time and frustration.

PAPER SIZE

If you print any of these files ‘as is’, you will need to use A5 paper — this is half the size of A4 paper, and can be obtained by carefully cutting A4 paper in half.  If you use A4 paper in your printer, you may receive an error message — press ‘Continue’ or the equivalent on your printer — or it may print the pages in the top left corner of the paper.  You will then need to cut them to the correct size.

The A5 size was chosen because most congregations will probably print their service orders onto folded A4 paper.  You can easily achieve this result by arranging these A5 pages in the correct order before photocopying them.

If you want to use a different size paper (eg A4 or F’scap), you can simply change the page setting on your word processor to the correct paper size, and these files will immediately adjust to the new paper size.

FORMATTING AN ORDER OF SERVICE

For most congregational use, the orders and rites provided here will need to be adapted in some way, either to alter the content or to customise the layout.  If you have not done this before, you may find the following suggestions helpful.

Open the file containing the rite or order which has most of what you will need.  Without changing it, save it as a new file, with a suitable name.  To do this, choose the commands File…Save As…, then select the directory you want to save it in, and type the new name.  The file name might be the date of the service you are planning (may18.doc) or the name of the Sunday (pent12.doc).  If you are using Windows 95 you are able to use a longer name.  Now you will find that the original file which you received from us has been closed, unchanged.  You will now make whatever changes are necessary to the identical file you have created.

Now go through the file and delete whatever parts you do not need — for instance the notes at the beginning, unneeded headings and rubrics, options which you are not going to use.  You will probably still have an order which requires more paper than you would prefer to use.  There are a number of ways to reduce the amount of paper used, including:

1.

Eliminate or abbreviate the minister’s parts.  You can print one copy of the whole order for the minister to use.

2.

Reduce the margins at the sides, top and bottom of the page.  Be sure to leave as much space as your printer and photocopier need to complete the job properly.

3.

Reduce the size of the font, but it needs to be large enough for the congregation to read.  You could experiment with different fonts as well — not all 11 pitch fonts require the same space.  Also note that some fonts are more easily read than others of the same size.  Try one of the plain fonts, if you have them on your computer, such as Arial, Courier, Moderne, New Zurica, Nova, OCR, Palatia or Tribune.

4.

Replace the creed, Lord’s Prayer and any other parts which are set out in lines, with the simple prose versions from the appendix.  You will need to balance the need to save paper with the need for the congregation to follow the words.  If that part of the order is new to the congregation, or you are expecting a large number of visitors, this measure may not be desirable.

5.

Project longer parts, such as the creed, on an overhead projector.  A simple heading can be used in the printed order to alert the congregation — ‘Creed (OHP)’.  You can easily make an OHP slide by printing off the selected text in a large font and then copying it onto a blank OHP sheet on your photocopier.  Check that you use a sheet made for photocopiers.  The font size should be no smaller than 18 for OHP use.

SYMBOLS FOR SIT/STAND/KNEEL

We were not able to include all the symbols for sitting, standing, and kneeling in the orders, because of the large amount of disk space involved.  However, we have made it easy for you to insert them, if you want them.  One copy of each symbol is included in a separate file in the appendix (E17).  In addition, wherever a symbol is normally applicable in any of the rites and orders, we have inserted a table gridline, with a box to receive the symbol of your choice.  This gridline will not appear in any printout, but is a guide for the screen only.  If you cannot see any gridlines, you may need to switch that option on in your word processor.  The command is Table…Gridlines.  A check mark will appear next to that command on your menu when the option is selected.

In order to add a symbol, open the file containing the symbols, select the symbol you want (with mouse or F8 key) and copy it (CtrlC).  It is now on your clipboard and can be copied as often as you like.  Find the grid in your service order and click in the box where you want to insert it, then paste the image (CtrlV).  If you wish, you can copy it into the other places where you want that symbol.  Then return to the Symbols file and copy the next symbol required and repeat the procedure for inserting it wherever you need it.  If the top of the symbol seems to be cut off, you may need to add a blank line before the line in which the symbol stands, or you may find that a smaller space is enough.  To try this, place the cursor on the correct line, then use the commands Format… Paragraph… and type a number in the box labelled ‘Before’.  One line equals 6 pt, so you might try 3 or 4.

Each symbol uses more disk space than the total service order without symbols.  Unless you intend to use the same order again soon, you may prefer to eliminate the symbols before storing the file permanently.  After printing out the order, simply delete each symbol and then save the changes.