Name: Retta Assefa

Date: 17 March 2020

PGD Worship
Summary of Chapter 9

The Historic Liturgy as Divine Service – The Liturgy of the Word

The Divine Service is where the world is made new in Christ as He comes to his people with the gift

of Himself through which we are forgiven, joined to His life, and saved from our enemies and caused

transformation. Our Lutheran liturgy traces its heritage back to the New Testament and Early Church

which in turn comes from the OT practices as were followed by Jesus Himself. Jesus’ table

fellowship with sinners sets the pattern of Christian worship as one of teaching and eating, and His

ministry of teaching and miracles become manifest in the Church’s historic liturgy of Word and

Sacrament. Luther also summarized perfectly the essence of 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.” The indicative operative form reinforces faith

and assurance for those whose consciences are most troubled in ways that no other form does (As

Lord instituted it in John 20).

The Word prepares for the Meal by causing burning hearts, that eyes might be opened in the breaking

of the bread, as happened in Emmaus(Luke 24) The Word cultivates the soil and plants the seed for

the growth that continues with the eating and drinking of the body and blood of crucified and risen

Savior. The Church’s rite of Word and Sacrament is the most central part of liturgy. Christ stands not

only as the giver of gifts in the Word and Sacrament but also as one the one whom we respond back

to the Father with eager thankfulness and praise. Here the Kyrie(Cry for peace – the condition of

“wholeness and well-being”) is a prayer for grace and help in time of need right in His presence

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through His Word. Proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Meal instituted in the night of

betrayal, both of these executed with invocation and adoration of Triune God-that comprises the

entire worship of the church beyond the line of Baptism.

The liturgical structures of Word and Sacrament are the stable cornerstones of the liturgy that have

not changed since the time of the New Testament. The liturgy of the Word (known as the liturgy of

catechumens) contained readings from the Old Testament, and New Testament - the Epistles, and the

Gospels. As liturgy properly begins with the Entrance Rite, the destination of the first part of the

Divine Service is the reading of the Holy Gospel. As the clergy processed in, it became popular for

the psalm-singing to shift to liturgical hymns like the Kyrie and Gloria in Excelsis that marked the

final stages to the Liturgy of the Word.

The Liturgy of the Word

The first major structure of Divine Service that is part of the table fellowship pattern of Word and

Meal is the Liturgy of the Word. Here is a mystery which Christ comes to us from the voice of the

pastor (as the living voice of Jesus) to our ears through which He is present for us and for our

salvation. A Word that has created power-power to cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, and

releases us from our sins. The reading and preaching of the Scripture in our churches today closely

follow the pattern of the synagogue liturgy as celebrated by Jesus and the apostles, or even by the

ancient Church. The quick adoption of a three-year lectionary will help the congregation to hear more

of the scriptures over a three-year period. The Word service of the reading, the Hymn of the Day, and

the sermon including the creed should take at least two hours. The flow of the Divine Service is

always toward the Gospel (as the OT prophets look forward to Christ), which is the climax because it

is the very word of Jesus.

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