The Manual on the Liturgy (page 310) quotes J. Gordon Davies from his book Holy Week: A Short History (John Knox Press, 1963, p. 65):

"The purpose of Holy Week … was to set the facts of the Gospel before the worshippers; but it must be emphasized that this should not be taken to mean that Holy Week is merely an occasionfor pious remembrance. It is or should be more than a series of commemorations of past events recalled to mind; it is or should be the means whereby the worshippers participate in the saving events. We should not think of it as a number of ceremonies, at which the faithful are present, but as a unified sequence of sacramental acts whereby they commit themselves afresh to Christ and share anew in His death and resurrection.

"Unless the Church can learn to identify itself with Christ in His death and resurrection, unless it can, on Palm Sunday, approach His victory through death, die with Him on Good Friday and rise with Him at the culmination of the Paschal Vigil, it cannot accomplish its mission, which is not only to proclaim the good news but to embody it and to make it the pattern of its corporate life, even as Christ Himself not only proclaimed the Gospel but was and is the Gospel."

Holy Week is the richest and most dramatic week of the liturgical year. Each liturgy is filled with drama that invites the assembly into the passion of Christ. The liturgies are passion play and living cross, celebration and lament all poured into one baptismal event. In this issue are some thoughts and resources for your celebration of the Great and Holy Week.

Also in this issue are some last minute helps and reflections on Lent and the Lenten discipline. This includes an article by Fred Jordan, Interim Pastor at Holy Trinity in Lafayette, Indiana, that invites us to consider the role of fasting for this Lenten season. Marcus Felde, pastor at St. Paul in Versailles, Indiana, contributes an article about congregational hymns. He suggests that congregations have a "repertoire" of hymns that should be honored by singing them, and that ignoring a congregation's repertoire will leave them with no beloved hymns.

Since the last Sanctus the Renewing Worship Project and Augsburg Fortress have published a spiral bound edition New Hymns and Songs, an accompanist version of the Renewing Worship Songbook. This edition may be ordered from Augsburg Fortress or from the Renewing Worship website, www.renewingworship.org. Volume 6: Holy Communion and Related Rites is due out in April. Another recent publication by Augsburg Fortress is Presiding in the Assembly: A Worship Handbook, by Craig A. Satterlee (ISBN 0-8066-4299-8). It is a guide to "gracious, hospitable, and careful worship leadership." It may be ordered at the website, www.augsburgfortress.org.

The next issue of Sanctus will focus on the Feast of Pentecost, and your contributions/ideas are welcome.

The Drama of Holy Week + + +

For Holy Week, the congregation's worship space represents the places of the Passion:

Sunday of the Passion: worship space is Jerusalem
Maundy Thursday: worship space is the upper room and Gethsemane
Good Friday: worship space is Calvary
Vigil of Easter: worship space is the tomb

The gathered assembly plays the roles of the people of the passion:

Sunday of the Passion: pilgrims, the crowds, the disciples
Maundy Thursday: the disciples
Good Friday: the crowds, the disciples
Vigil of Easter: the people of Israel, those who have died, the catechumens waiting for resurrection life, the whole creation waiting for the Lord's Passover

There are props for this drama:

Sunday of the Passion: palm branches
Maundy Thursday: a wash basin, bread and wine
Good Friday: the cross
Vigil of Easter: candles, stories, water, bread and wine

There are scripts for this drama:

Sunday of the Passion: Procession with Palms (0-80660-0576),
Passion Narrative according to St. Luke (0-8066-0569-3)
Maundy Thursday: The Maundy Thursday Liturgy (0-8066-0575-8)
Good Friday: The Good Friday Liturgy (0-8066-0577-4)
Passion Narrative according to St. John (0-8066-0570-7)
Vigil of Easter: Vigil Liturgy (0-8066-0578-2)
Vigil Readings (0-8066-0580-4)
Vigil Music (0-8066-0579-0)
[All numbers refer to Augsburg Fortress order numbers. Liturgies may also be downloaded from the LBW Liturgies CD-Rom [(0-6-4001-4)]

Sunday of the Passion

On Passion Sunday, where conditions permit, the congregation gathers outside of the worship space. Palms are distributed for the journey into "Jerusalem". The Gathering time may include joyful anthems, words of instruction about the day, and a joyful pilgrim song for entrance into "Jerusalem". Congregational reading of the Passion according to St. Luke invites attention and participation. Normally the sermon is omitted, as earlier instruction and the liturgy of the day provide for that; the Creed - a festive element - is also omitted.

Maundy Thursday

The major focus of the Maundy Thursday Liturgy is the "new" command to love one another. The love of Christ that empowers us to love one another is experienced in absolution, in the washing of the feet, and in the eucharist. The sermon, placed at the beginning, serves as the homily for the Triduum, and is not so much explanation - that is for the mystagogical preaching of the Easter season - as alerting folks to the richness of the Three Days. Gethsemane was not simply the place of prayer, but also of betrayal and arrest. The stripping of the altar remembers that Jesus was arrested and stripped of everything - not just clothes, but followers who betrayed, denied and deserted him.

Good Friday

Good Friday takes place at Calvary, where Jesus is crucified between two thieves. The Passion according to John may be read by the congregation, which emphasizes that Jesus' death is for the whole world. We act that out in the Great Bidding Prayer, where we pray for the whole world - a model for our regular prayer and life.

The Vigil of Easter

For many congregations, the Vigil of Easter is the highlight of the liturgical year. If you don't do one, you might contact a congregation that does. The liturgy is like sitting around a campfire. Against the backdrop of darkness and silence, the stories of our ancestors are told, catechumens experience the rite of initiation, and we share the meal of the resurrection.

The Vigil is a four-part liturgy. The Service of Light begins outside by a fire. The Paschal Candle is lit and the light is passed as each worshipper lights his/her candle. The Lux Candle Co., Inc. Box 365, Ipswich, SD 57451, Provide 100% beeswax candles. You may order a plain one and have it painted by one of the members of the congregation. Church supply house catalogs will provide some guidance for the art work, which should include a cross, the alpha (?) and omega (?), and 2-0-0-4. Start the liturgy late enough for the worship space to be dark. Choose a good cantor to sing the exultet, one who will practice ahead of time.

At the words, "We sing the glories of this pillar of fire, the brightness of which is not diminished…" acolytes light candles at the reading desk from which the stories of faith may be read. At the end of the Exultet, when the assembly extinguishes their individual candles, the only light left should be that of the paschal candle and the light for the reading desk.

The Service of Readings is a collection of salvation stories about our ancestors in the faith. They include the creation story, the flood story, the sacrifice of Isaac, the Exodus, the institution of the Passover meal, and readings from the prophetic literature. Twelve readings are offered in the lectionary, and it is suggested that you read 4, 7 or 12. Whatever local custom and tolerance dictate, the pace should be relaxed and rich with opportunity for silent reflection. There are suggested musical responses - Psalms and canticles - for each reading. You may choose a response for each lesson, or do every other one. You may have the choir sing them, or the whole assembly (which will mean relighting their candles).

The Service of Holy Baptism is the rite toward which the whole Lenten season has been rushing. In those waters, the catechumens are joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the assembly witnesses this holy moment, they, too, reaffirm their baptism and celebrate the new life they also have in Christ. It may take some pastoral counsel and courage to lead folks to have their children baptized at the Vigil, but it is well worth it. The more the merrier!! If there are no baptisms, then you might have the assembly renew its vows and sprinkle them with water from the font.

The Service of Holy Communion is the meal of the risen Lord. It begins with the Litany of the Saints, found in Welcome to Christ: Lutheran Rites for the Catechumenate (0-8066-3395-6 from Augsburg Fortress). The Hymn of Praise is sung and the lights are all turned on. Some parishes encourage worshippers to bring bells to ring at this time. For the rest of the liturgy, "let the festivities begin" and "Alleluias" should abound. You might have one of the "bakers" in the parish bake sweet bread for the eucharist.

Many congregations have a special Vigil feast following the Liturgy. Folks bring rich and sweet foods, with well-aged wine (or wine punch). A full Vigil requires a lot of work and preparation. Again, if you haven't done one before, you might contact a congregation that has. You may want to start small and grow the Vigil as interest and participation grow.

The Liturgy and the Lenten Discipline

An annual rite for baseball players is to gather for spring training. There they practice doing what they already know how to do, so that they may continue to do it well. An annual practice for Christians is the Lenten discipline. We are invited to practice for 40 days what we already do, so that we may continue to do it well. Often the focus of the Lenten discipline is on our individual participation (or not) in it. The Liturgy, however, does provide for a coporate discipine.

+ Repentance The Maundy Thursday Liturgy assumes that the entire season of Lent has been one long time of Confession. It assumes that there has been no absolution, but only an announcement that God forgives sins. How then might the liturgy focus on the "confession" part of the Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness?

+ Fasting The Liturgy fasts from the Alleluia during Lent. It also fasts from the Hymn of Praise, as only the Kyrie is used during Lent. The Liturgy may also fast from processions, banners, and distribution hymns. Often the organist will play only to accompany the singing of the assembly, with no postlude.You might consider fasting from sharing the peace. If we are omitting the absolution to remind ourselves that we have broken our relationship with God, we could also remind ourselves that our relationships with our brothers and sisters are also broken by sin and its effect.

+ Prayer While all our liturgies involve prayer - both corporate and individual, most congregations add additional time for prayer by adding another liturgy. Mid-week Evening Prayer liturgies give congregations the opportunity to hone its prayer life, just as Lenten devotional booklets give individuals the same opportunity. Besides the LBW Evening Prayer liturgy, you might also consider a Taize style liturgy, or one of the three evening prayer liturgies on page 194 of the Augsburg Fortress catalog: "Joyous Light", "Stay with Us Lord, for It Is Evening", and "Holden Evening Prayer".

+ Almsgiving Many congregations target a service project, organization or institution to support during Lent. Special envelopes may be made available, or a second offering may be taken. Some congregations call their second offering a "noisy offering". They use a metal bucket and encourage folks to empty the coins in their pockets.

In all these ways the liturgy lifts up the corporate nature of the discipline. Individual participation in the discipline of Lent is then the reflection of the corporate journey of the congregation from the ashes of Ash Wednesday to the font of the Vigil of Easter.

+ Farewell to the Alleluia +

On Transfiguration Sunday the church bids farewell to the alleluia. Normally, the next time the assembly gathers is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Here are a couple of ideas for saying farewell to the alleluia.Use the Children's Sermon time to "bury the alleluia."

If you can, have the Sunday School classes make alleluia drawings - either earlier that morning or the previous week. You could roll out some newsprint in Sunday School and let the kids draw and color alleluias all over it. Then in the Children's Sermon, put all the drawings (or large newsprint, folded up) into a box and seal it. Tell the kids you are going to "bury" it someplace in the worship space, and on Easter morning they can hunt for it and open it up. You could sing one of the alleluias from WOV - 609, 610, 612, 613, 677; or a folk song version.

At the end of the day's liturgy, following the blessing, you could use the following
Farewell:

P We are an Easter people. C And Alleluia is our song.

P Alleluia! Alleluia! C Alleluia! Alleluia!

P The author of Ecclesiastes writes:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

A A time to be born and a time to die.
C A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.

A A time to break down and a time to build up.
C A time to weep and a time to laugh.

A A time to mourn and a time to dance.
C A time to keep silence and a time to speak.

P As a sign of our repentance, we now say Farewell to the Alleluia
until our rejoicing at the resurrection of our Lord.

Hymn 654 (WOV) - "Alleluia, Song of Gladness" is sung during the recessional.After the hymn:

A How good it is for us to be here.
C Amen! Alleluia!

A And we have seen the glory of the Lord.
C And we are all being transformed from one degree of glory to another.

A It is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, so go in peace and courage to love and serve the Lord. Alleluia, Alleluia!
C Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Fasting our Way to the Feast
by Fred Jordan

In the cacophony of public discourse little makes more noise than food. There are ubiquitous restaurant ads, countless articles on obesity, and continuous proclamations on the legal liability of fast food chains. All of it is summed up with the seducing claims of the diet and exercise industries. On less land than used to be necessary, with far fewer people and copious quantities of diesel fuel, the farms bring forth a prodigious amount of food. It is a good thing, for the hunger is insatiable.

Those farms feed not only the fat of our land, but the needs of countless others, more than in any time ever in the history of this round earth. On top of its role as the glue keeping body and soul together, the food of those farms attempts to fill the simply bottomless pit of the soul's nagging need.Alexander Schmemann, the noted Orthodox Theologian, may he ever rest in peace, said with simple eloquence, "All hunger is a hunger for God."

Talk about job security! The farmers of the world could quintuple their production tomorrow and not remotely scratch the surface of such need. No wonder obesity dooms many! No wonder the restaurant industry booms and Bowflex profits! No wonder!And while we gleefully espouse the image of the Kingdom of Heaven as a marriage feast, and joy forever in the Biblical promise of the feast of fat things and the milk and honey of the Promised Land, the solid fact is we aren't there yet. And we might better pause for perusal of those passages that wisely speak of the spiritual discipline of fasting.

Little casts a pall over our Lent quite as effectively as encouraging the fast. Dump ashes on me, head to toe and side to side. Weave me a garment of sack cloth. Send me into the throws of contrition and repentance. I'll even pick up self-flagellation once a week. Just don't ask me to do what the Bible clearly speaks of my doing. Don't ask me to fast. I'll tithe, at least of the net after expenses. I'll give up chocolate or go that extra mile and eschew beer for the season. I'll promise to be good, and mean it from the bottom of my overworked heart. Just don't speak of fasting. Do not "should upon" me with that one.

And we recoil wisely. Fasting is dangerous. The hunger does come, and you can feel it in your body. It has a real presence. It gnaws. It reminds. It tempts and pesters. It has a substance to it. It cuts into your social life, your meeting schedules and your persona as one of the world. It is a visible piety hard to hide. It also validates Dr. Schmemann's statement on our hunger for the divine.

We fast at great risk. We could be changed by it. We could be sanctified thereby. We might even flirt with purging. Resist. Resist also the thought that fasting from things like anger or TV is the fasting about which Jesus spoke. Resist the thought that offering money to World Hunger (which is almsgiving) instead of buying candy bars is fasting.

Fasting is going without food. We often give up watermelon or potato chips for Lent; if those are vices it may be a good thing. You set your fast using the foods or meals for which you hunger and turn your hungers toward God. If you have not done this before, you may start this year with choosing one day a week - Wednesday (to remember Ash Wednesday) or Friday (to remember Good Friday), for example - and do not eat that day till the evening meal. You may wish to simplify lunch and eat only clear broth soups.Or, beginning on Ash Wednesday, at dawn, don't eat until sundown.

And keep on not eating from dawn until dusk throughout the Season of Lent, except Sundays which are always Easter, until you get to the Paschal Party following the Easter Vigil or the break fast of Easter morning. Do that, and when the growls begin let them be your prayer as well as prompt your prayer. You will know penitence. You will talk seriously to God. And it will be dialogical: from your stomach you will hear divine mysteries and holy things. And it will be good.

Choosing Hymns with an Eye to Repertoire
Marcus Felde

Pastors and worship committees have various ways of choosing hymns for the people of God to sing each Sunday. The Sea of Hymnody is so broad that we are glad to have navigation charts in the form of guides and indexes, some of which are published by our church's publishing house. In addition, we all have our own stock of favorites, as well as-how can I put this delicately-hymns to which we are averse.There isn't space here to discuss all the principles that should be considered in choosing hymns.

If you care enough to be reading this, you already have some idea of what makes a hymn good or great, as well as what makes a hymn appropriate for a particular use.One principle that is often overlooked, however, is respect for the repertoire of a congregation. When we think of the hymns as a part of the service that belongs to the "laos," the people in the pews, we will be less likely to take every opportunity to teach them by choosing hymns we think they ought to want to sing.

Ideally, when the congregation sings a hymn, the hymn should constitute part of their confession of faith, and they should know it does. It should express their praise of God. (We may think of the hymns as bearing a similar relation to the Creed as the Sermon does to the Readings.)A congregation only has the capacity to hold a limited number of hymns close to its heart. What this number is, or how one might determine it, would be worth investigating. There are many variables: size of congregation, rate of turnover of members, diversity of backgrounds, level of musical education, musical leadership, and so on. But the capacity is definitely not six hundred, nor is it ten.

When you keep in mind that church attendance averages thirty percent in our church body, there is a good chance (for example) that a young person going away to college will have sung "A Mighty Fortress" only six times in their life. (They will have heard most of the current top 40 songs more often than that in the previous week.)

The hymns that constitute the core repertoire of a congregation can only gain and keep their value to the congregation by being sung. And not just once every three years. People need to sing hymns they love more often than that.I do not advocate finding the congregation's most popular fifty hymns and singing them over and over for twenty years. Nor do I believe it is wrong to introduce new hymns. In setting the repertoire for use one ought to consider both hymns that are already well known and well loved as well as the hymns which pastoral judgment says deserve to become well known and well loved.

How often does a hymn need to be sung for it to be internalized to the extent that it begins to shape how the Christian believes? Just because there is no definite answer to this question does not mean the question should not be weighed. I suspect that the reason our members request "What A Friend We Have in Jesus" or "In the Garden" for funerals has a lot to do with the patina these songs have gained through much singing, much hearing, much mulling over.I am not going to leave you with a formula. I don't have one.

But hear my protest: Through index-guided use of 300 or 400 hymns in a congregation, I believe it would be possible over several years to leave them with no repertoire, but only the ability to find and sight read whatever is chosen.But if a congregation knows its repertoire is being respected through frequent enough use of favorite hymns, they will perhaps be more open to learning and loving new hymns.

 

The Institute of Liturgical Studies

at Valparaiso University: Announcing the Fifty-Sixth session -- April 19 to 21, 2004
Saying and Doing the Gospel Today: Mass, Ministry, Mission

This year the Institute begins a three-year cycle of programs which will provide a concentration on the basics of the vitality of the parish: Mass, Ministry, and Mission. The three sessions will examine each of these basic elements of the living parish in relation to the other two. The 2004 session will look at the Mass, the assembly of believers gathered around the holy things of gospel and bath and meal, in relation to Ministry and Mission.

The center of the church's life is its gathering for the Sunday assembly around word and sacrament. Here the baptized recall their identity as people of God, are energized by the gospel proclaimed in their midst and by the meal of communion in the body of Christ, and are sent from ambo and table to their tasks of raising up signposts to the realm of God's mercy in the places where their vocation takes them. Imagine what a different thing from "going to church" it is to think of the Sunday assembly as "gathering to be the church"! The gospel of the crucified and risen Jesus makes church as that gospel is proclaimed in readings and homily and is enacted in meal and bath. This Institute will focus on what it can mean for the parish to focus on the Sunday assembly as the baptized people gathering around the good news of the crucified and risen Jesus.

The trio of sessions over the next three years aims to take a very fundamental look at the church's worship and ministry so as to expose more clearly and vividly the essential connection between the gathered assembly and the mission of the community, suggesting that the sequence is not "engage in mission so as to enlarge the assembly," but rather "enliven and strengthen the assembly by means of its ministry so that it may engage in mission."

This year's keynoter is Bishop Robert Rimbo. The Plenary presenters are Richard Fabian (the life and work of the assembly) and Eileen Crowley (art and media in worship).

There will be Master Classes and Seminars presented by Foy Christopherson, Marian Dolan, Randall Lee, Rebecca Rojcewicz, and Craig Satterlee. The Institute will include two concerts, more than twenty group sessions and workshops, and seven liturgies and prayer offices.

Registration materials will be sent out later this month. To receive materials, please contact Jan Rubsam at ils@valpo.edu or 219-464-5309.