Nicene Creed Video

Here's the scoop on this from Cyberbrethren...

Here is a beautiful YouTube video of the reading of the Nicene Creed which dates back over a 1,000 years in the the Christian church. This recitation was done at Trinity Lutheran Church, Klein, TX during the March 4, 2012 church services by three members of Trinity as part of Lutheran Schools week. These three members, and students (former and present) are: Mr. Erich Klenk, 97 years old, confirmed in 1928, past Chairman of the congregation, charter member of the Men’s Club in 1946, and Trinity’s oldest member. Lyle Lovett, great grandson of Trinity founding father Adam Klein, confirmed in 1971, singer/songwriter, and winner of four Grammys. Erin Pali, class of 2016 and current 4th grade student of Miss Marilyn Peterson/ Erin’s Dad Brett also had Miss Petersen in 4th grade during his years at Trinity. This video was posted to YouTube by Pat Blake.

Learning a New Setting of the Divine Service

From Messiah Lutheran Church's June newsletter

During the summer months, our congregation will learn a new musical setting of the Divine Service in Lutheran Service Book. Our congregation already knows Divine Service 1 very well. We also know Divine Service 3 (especially those of us who have been Lutherans for a very long time). Setting 4 has become a favorite, too, ever since it was introduced in Hymnal Supplement ’98. Once in a while, we will also use Divine Service 5 with some modifications. But most of us may have never learned Divine Service 2.

Why learn a new musical setting? Some people may feel that it’s unnecessary, even overwhelming, since we already know four settings (not to mention Matins, Vespers, and Evening Prayer which we use at other times). But there are other congregations around our synod that use Setting 2 as their primary setting of the Divine Service. You may happen to visit them when you are on vacation. Or suppose you move to a different part of the country, and you transfer to another congregation that uses Setting 2. It would be helpful to have at least a minimal familiarity with this particular musical setting so that you can join in worship with a certain measure of comfort.

Setting 2 will already be partially familiar to us. The text of this setting is identical to Setting 1. However, the music of Setting 2 will be new to most of us (unless you learned it in a previous congregation, as I did; two churches of which I was a member in California used it as their primary setting). Both Setting 1 and Setting 2 of the Divine Service were written in the 1970’s when the LCMS and the predecessor bodies of the ELCA were jointly working on a new hymnal. The LCMS eventually withdrew from the joint project and produced its own hymnal, Lutheran Worship, in 1982 (the blue hymnal which was replaced by Lutheran Service Book in 2006). Both new musical settings were included in the publication. They retained their popularity and were therefore included in our current hymnal. Prior to that, the only musical setting that was familiar to LCMS congregations was what we know now as Setting 3 (contained in The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 and even earlier in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book of 1912, the first official English language hymnal of the Missouri Synod).

As we learn Setting 2, you will find some challenging sections to be sure. For the most part, you will find it very singable. I have full confidence in our ability to learn it together. You are a very musically talented congregation. You love to sing (one of the things I love about you!). You have learned many new hymns over the years. Eventually, perhaps we will be able to say that we have learned all of the musical treasures that are a part of our hymnal.

In Christ’s Service and yours,
Pastor Onken

P.S. For further reading on the history of hymnals in the LCMS, here are few links for you…

Sing to the Lord a New Song: A Brief History of Our LCMS Hymnals

A Brief History of LCMS Hymnals

A Brief History of Hymnals in the LCMS

Or, if you are really ambitious, here are some books you may be interested in…

God’s Song in a New Land (Carl Schalk)

Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church (Timothy Maschke)

Lutheran Worship: History and Practice (ed. Fred Precht) (also available in our church library)

Worship: It's not merely about the pastor's preferences

From Pastor Weedon's blog...

A Conversation Today reminded me of a conversation held many years ago with another friend. He was opining that pastors really just gravitate to the sorts of services that they themselves prefer. They shape their congregations that way, he thought. I told him that I disagreed, and he was surprised. He assumed that the way we worship at St. Paul's was the way *I* preferred to worship. Actually, it is not. If I had my druthers, we'd swing incense every week and all the music would be like Rachmaninov's heavenly stuff and believe it or not - no organ.

But as I told him, I'd choose over my preferences to worship instead according to any of the orders in our hymnal with their sweet incense of the Gospel shining through in the words of our liturgy. It's a better choice to me to go with music I don't find nearly as appealing as Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil but which delivers the Gospel solidly to me than to ask Mary to save me, however sweetly it is sung.

You see, I follow the Liturgy of LSB not because it is my preference; it's not. I follow it because I know now matter how badly I may screw up in the sermon, the liturgy will still clearly deliver to the congregation the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. "For You alone are holy, You only are the Lord, Forever and forever be worshipped and adored!"

I can't trust my own preferences; I've found from experience I can trust the liturgies and hymns in our Hymnal to deliver the Gospel itself, the one thing needful.