Introduction

The word "Liturgy" is used to describe the order of the proceedings during the Church's Service, also called Divine Service. It is from the Greek word leiturgia, which means service.

Immediately one can ask, "Who is serving whom in Divine Service?" The Lutheran Church's understanding of the Sacraments. Because Baptism is administered "in the Name" of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Triune God is actually baptising the person. In the Lord's Supper, Jesus Christ (who came from God and is God [John 1]) gives us His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sin. He is present in the midst of His people. Also, He has promised that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in their midst (Matthew 18,20). For these reasons it is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who is doing the serving in the Divine Service. Even the Congregation's response to God's Service with the Word and the Sacrament, e.g. prayer, is motivated by God the Holy Spirit, who calls us to faith in Jesus Christ through the Gospel. Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." (John 15,5)

All of this means that the Congregation has been gathered by God and is in the Presence of God. The minister is therefore not just a teacher telling people how to find God, e.g. in nature, or through a certain lifestyle. He and all who proclaim and administer the Word and Sacraments to the believers are in fact the mouth-piece of the Triune God who is present here on earth and who wants to have fellowship with us where He has decided that we should meet Him, i.e. in the Word and Sacrament. Consequently, salvation is to be had only where God wants to give it, viz. through Word and Sacrament. Trying to find God through one's own efforts, apart from where He wants to be found is therefore an insult to God.

Although many modern Churches do not have bells because most people have clocks and watches and the Service times are published in the Congregation's newsletter or in the local newspaper, the ringing of the bell can be understood as the call to worship. God Himself is calling us into His presence. Naturally, He is also calling us into His presence trough the newsletter and the advertisement in the newspaper.

The Organ Prelude, as well as the Postlude, is not just a way of drowning out the noise of the Congregation, entering and leaving the Church. God, our Creator, has given us many gifts, including the gift of music. Through the music that the organist plays, He wants to prepare His people for the Service. And so, a joyful message about Christ's resurrection from the dead. One can also understand the music as a response. We use God's gift to praise Him for His various gifts to us.

The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the word "invoke" means "to call on (God, etc.) in prayer or as a witness." In non-church usage, lawyers invoke this or that law in support of their case.

The question then arises as to who is being invoked in this part of the Liturgy. Is it the Triune God or the assembled Congregation? Understood as an invocation, the Pastor and Congregation are making the following confession to the Triune God, "By your authority, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are gathered here. You have called us together." In prayer to God, they affirm that they believe His promise that "where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18,20). Understood like this, the invocation is devotional in character. Therefore, the minister faces the Altar. Luther understood it in this sense when he made this recommendation as to how one might conduct one's private devotions, "In the morning when you get up make the sign of the cross and say in the name of the Father . . ."

But these words are also used in the proclamatory way. At a baptism, in the Absolution and at the marriage, they declare that what the minister is doing, is really God's act. He is only God's instrument. God has now baptised the person into the body of Christ. God has forgiven this person all his sins. God has joined this man and this woman in marriage. Understood in this way, these words, at the beginning of the Service, are proclaiming to these people gathered here that the Triune God has gathered them and is in their midst. From this point of view, they should not be called an invocation. When God speaks, He calls on on one for authority.

Many Church fathers, e.g. Tertullian, who became a Christian in the year 195, witness to the use of the sign of the cross while saying the invocation; but not only at the invocation. Tertullian says, "In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, . . . we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross." One 'crossed' oneself.

By the time of the Reformation, the use of this sign was excessive and infected with superstition. Luther and the Lutheran Church Orders kept it, but restricted its use to significant occasions such as Baptism, Absolution and the Lord's Supper.

Making the sign of the cross together with these words interprets them. It effectively links the cross of Jesus Christ and the Triune God reminds us that our faith in unthinkable without Christ's death on the cross. While it is a stumbling block to those who want God to reveal Himself to them in, and save them through, spectacular miracles in the natural world, and to those who want God to reveal Himself in things that make sense to our human reason and by which, God chose to save us, i.e. through the death of Christ (I Corinthians 1). At baptism, the sign of the cross links those words with the fact that in baptism we are buried with Christ, baptised into His death (Romans 6).

Because the Service actually begins with the Introit (which means: Entrance) the Confession is optional. It properly belongs to the private proclamation of the Gospel. But at the present time, when Private Confession and Absolution have been almost altogether forgotten, this General Confession and Absolution can serve to keep this method of proclaiming the Gospel alive in the Church. Nevertheless, its place in the Liturgy of the Lutheran Church does have pre-Reformation roots. As the importance of Private Confession and Absolution was realised, the priest also made a personal confession before the Service. About the 11^th century, it became customary for the priest to say prayers at the foot of the Altar in preparation for the Service. From its understanding of the priesthood of all believers, the Reformation then made confession into a congregational act, instead of a priestly one. Having a corporate confession of sin and a declaration of its unconditional forgiveness as a preparation to the Service can also emphasise the fact that the individual sinner is part of the communion of sinners who have become the communion of saints through forgiveness and who dare to come into the presence of God only as forgiven sinners.

The Absolution, as found in the Service with Holy Communion, and in the Order for Confession and Absolution in the Australian Liturgy, is very definite and clear and in accordance with the directive of Jesus, viz. "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven," John 19,23. The Gospel is unconditional. Therefore, the Absolution proclaims this fact without reservations; e.g., "Your sins are forgiven you. In the name . . ." No-one need have any doubt about it.

In order to make it clear that this is a preparation to the Service, the minister may conduct this part of the Service while standing before the first step of the Altar.

The word "Introit" means "entrance" or "beginning" and marks the actual beginning of the Service. It consists mainly of verses from the psalms, which announce the theme of the Service. For example, the Psalm for Easter Sunday is Psalm 118, which contains the words, "I will not die but live." Add to it words from Luke 24, i.e. "He is risen," and one has a wonderful introduction to the Service that is celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The introit for Christmas Day could not begin more appropriately than with the words from Isaiah 9, "To us a child is born." Some Sundays during Lent and after Easter actually got their names from the first word of the Latin introit for the day. For example, the introit for the Sunday, "Oculi" begins with the words, "My eyes are ever on the Lord." "Oculi" means my "eyes."

The introit always ends with the words, glory to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forevermore. This hymn to the Triune God at the end of the Psalm makes it clear that Christians use the psalms and other Old Testament texts in the light of God's revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It particularly emphasises the divinity of Jesus Christ.

The introit was originally sung by the Choir as the minister entered the Church. It is a hymn to the Triune God. Therefore, if the minister speaks it he should face the Altar, not the Congregation.

The English version of these Greek words is, "Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy."

In the pre-Christian world; rulers, gods and even, the rising sun were acclaimed with the words Kyrie eleison. This is how people greeted their "lords" from whom they expected help, mercy, in their troubles. In the New Testament we find that Jesus called Kyrios, Lord (I Corinthians 12,3), and that people ask Him to have "mercy" on them, e.g. Matthew 9,27. By calling on Jesus Christ, who is present amongst us, we are saying that we expect help from Him, not from our political rulers or the gods or even from nature. By adding Christe eleison to the call Kyrie eleison we draw a very sharp line between the "lords" from which most people expect help and our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom we expect help. The Kyrie clearly expresses our faith that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord . . . " (Philippians 2,10f). And so, the Kyrie anticipates the explicit statement in the "Glory to God in the Highest," viz. "You alone are Lord."

It should be clear that the Kyrie is not another confession of sin, but a strong and confident cry of faith, based on the forgiveness of sins, announced in the Confession and Absolution. The creature wants to be dependant on its Creator, in contrast to defiant Adam and Eve, who want to be "like God."

Again, the Kyrie is addressed to the Lord who is present. If the minister sings it responsively with the Congregation, he faces the Altar. In view of its character, he should sing it confidently.

As has already been indicated, the "Glory to God in the Highest" is really an explanation of the Kyrie. It is a "Sermon" based on the Kyrie! It is a response to the Kyrie. We praise and thank "God, the Father Almighty . . . the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ . . . with the Holy Spirit" for His great glory. This "glory" consists in the fact that He has saved and redeemed us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that it is from this Lord alone that we have received mercy. It is no accident then that it begins with the words the angels used to announce Christ's birth to the shepherds (Luke 2,14).

The sentence "Glory to God . . ." is to be understood as "God is glorified in the highest" and not as "May God be glorified in the highest." In the original Greek, this sentence is not a wish. It is stating a fact.

If the minister has been standing at the Altar, he faces the Altar during the singing of the 'Glory to God' because it is a hymn addressed to God. At the end of the 'Glory to God', he turns to the Congregation to greet them with the words, the Lord be with you and thereby demonstrates that a new section of the Liturgy is about to begin.

From the "Introit" to the "Glory to God" the Congregation has been speaking to God. Now a new section of the Service, in which God speaks to His people, is about to begin. As the minister and the Readers are the mouth of God, it is fitting that they and the Congregation prepare themselves to speak and give the Word of God to the people in God's name and to listen to and to receive it from God Himself. As this is the first time the minister speaks to the Congregation since the Service began with the Introit, he greets them, with what is essentially a Hebrew form of saying "good morning, good day, etc." In the book of Ruth (2,4) Boaz greets the reapers in the field with the words "The Lord be with you." The content of this greeting has the thrust of "The Lord is with you and gives you His gift of salvation as He speaks to you." With the words "And also with you," the Congregation assures the minister that the Lord is also with him and that he may speak the Word of God to them. This greeting is therefore far more than a "hello" which merely acknowledges the fact of the other's presence. By saying, "And also with you," the Congregation is also commissioning the minister to pray for all of them. Therefore, in response to, "And also with you," he says, "Let us pray!"

This brief prayer before the Congregation hears the Word of God being read from the Scriptures and explained in the Sermon, is usually related in thought to the readings for the day, selected from the Old Testament, the Epistles and the Gospels. For example, in the Gospel for the Sunday Judica, Jesus makes it clear that He has come to serve and not to be served. In the light of this word, the chief thought in the Collect is: Give to us also the desire to serve one another with love and humility. It can be described as a word of man addressed to God, based upon a Word of God to man. Its chief function is to prepare the minds of the believers for the Word of God that is to speak to them.

The Congregation responds to this prayer with "Amen." By saying "Amen," they agree that this is their prayer too and since this prayer is made "through you Son, Jesus Christ our Lord," they are sure that their prayer will be fulfilled. For example, they will be given the desire to serve one another. "Amen means: Yes it shall be so" (Luther's Small Catechism).

Clearly, this prayer is addressed to God, as are all prayers. Therefore, the minister faces the Altar when praying it.

From the Altar or the Lectern, the pastor or the reader, reads the appointed readings while facing the Congregation. The Lord Himself is speaking to His people. The Gospels are, after all, a record of God's Word as He spoke it through Jesus Christ, who is the Word become flesh (John 1,14). All else in the Bible points to this Word and supports it.

The meaning of the word "Epistle" is letter. This reading is called by this name because it is always taken from one of the letters of the New Testament as well as from the Acts of the Apostles. The English word "Gospel" comes from the Old English word "godspel" which means: good tidings or good news. Afrikaans and German use the word "evangelie" and "evangelium," a word derived from the Greek word euangelion, which originally was the word for a gift given to a messenger, who brought good news. In Christian usage, the word simply means "the Good News of Jesus Christ."

The Hallelujah sung after the reading of the Epistle is "a song of passage" from the words of the servants of Jesus to the words of the Lord Himself. It is the Hebrew word meaning, "Praise ye the Lord." Before and after the reading of the Gospel, the Congregation fittingly gives glory to God for speaking to us through Christ and praises Christ for His Word. Whereas the Congregation may sit during the reading of the Old Testament and the Epistle, it always stands for the reading of the Gospel as a special mark of respect for the Words of Christ.

Coming after the Readings, the Creed is our response to what we have heard God saying to us through His Word. And that response is basically this: I believe! As a Congregation, we stand up and say what we believe about God, about Jesus Christ and about the Holy Spirit. By saying that our faith is not different from the faith of the first Christians. We, together with Christians of all ages, belong to the one Church of Jesus Christ, which lives from only one Gospel.

A freely formulated testimony of one's faith, as is popular in "free" churches, is alright as long as it is in line with the Gospel. Unfortunately, these testimonies often degenerate into testimonies about one's moral conversion and how much the converted person now loves the Lord, whom he has accepted into his heart. There is a clear shift away from what God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have done and still do and will do to what I have done, viz. my acceptance of the lord. But moral conversion is not yet faith in the forgiveness of sin for Christ's sake. For example, the moral improvement of alcoholics does not depend upon faith in Christ. People of other faiths are morally improved without explicitly calling on Christ. Also, here lies the reason for many splits in the Church. Because one person has not had the same experiences with the Lord, as another, the one judges the other not to be Christian, and so a split occurs. When I confess what God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has done, still does and will do with the Words of the Creeds together with you, we are united by Him. That He has created me, is not peculiar to me. That He has called me to faith in Christ is not peculiar to me. The degree of my response to and love of the Lord is peculiar to me. If that is used as a basis for unity, there will be no unity.

The Sermon is so much a part of our Liturgy that it is difficult to imagine a Service without one. Yet a Service during which only the Scriptures are read and the Lord's Supper is celebrated cannot be described as inferior. The Sermon is really necessary because not all of us can immediately deduce what a Reading from the Scriptures means for us now. On top of this we may not want to know what a text means for us. Hearing it can be an uncomfortable experience because "not one of you keep the Law" (John 7,19). We need to be reminded of this Law, which none of us keeps.

When the Law is preached, a general reaction is to attack the one who preaches it. When Jesus told the Jews that they did not keep the Law, they said, "You are demon-possessed," (John 7,20); in other words, "You are mad." Another reaction is to declare that there is no God; in which case there are no consequences for breaking the Law. In spite of the hazards, the Law is a necessary part of the Sermon. Without it, none of us know that we have "sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3,22). Without the knowledge of sin, the Gospel of God's grace is quite meaningless. The words, "Take and eat, this is the body of Christ given for you; take and drink, this is the blood of Christ shed for you for the forgiveness of sins" - these words are Gospel or Good News - which we hear when we receive the Lord's Supper, comfort only those who have been made conscious of their sin by the Law. And so, the Law is a necessary part of the Sermon.

At the same time however, a Sermon that only preaches the Law would not be Christian. Once the Law has roused our consciences, Jesus wants to give us the Gospel. We need to hear that God accepts us unconditionally for the sake of Christ's death and resurrection. This is what "preaching Christ" is. Only He can comfort anyone who realises what power sin, death and the devil have over him.

In the ancient Church, at this point in the Service, the people brought food and other gifts for the poor and the support of the clergy. They came in procession and placed their gifts on a table near the Altar. Bread and wine for the Lord's Supper were then selected from these gifts by the clergy. A prayer of thanksgiving, much like "Grace" at meals, was said. The whole character of this offering was one of thanksgiving for God's gift of Christ to us. But by the 14^th Century, the offering had become an offering for one's sins. The central prayer of the Offertory was that God should receive this gift "for my own countless sins . . . for (the sins of) all here present . . . for all Christians living or dead . . . that it may avail for my own, and for their salvation unto life eternal." Because of his faith that Christ has done everything for the forgiveness of our sins, Luther rejected the idea of a sin offering being made by the priest and the people at this point. This offering is made by people who are grateful for the forgiveness of their sins for Christ's sake and who want this Gospel to be preached to all people until the Lord comes. For this reason, the Lutheran Liturgy differs most significantly at this point from the Liturgy of the Roman Church. Otherwise the two are much the same.

In our Liturgy the Congregation sings, "Create in me a clean heart, O God . . ." words from Psalm 51, as the offering is placed on the Altar. Other prayers or hymns are possible. These words remind us that we exist as God's people only as people forgiven for Christ's sake and that our gifts are acceptable to Him only when He has put this "new and right spirit" within us. The joy of His salvation is everything, not our offering.

The Congregation, which is gathered in the presence of God, now brings its concerns to Him in this prayer according to Paul's exhortation that "requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone" (I Timothy 2,1). Justin (died C165) witnesses to the fact that the Congregation prayed for people "on all the earth." This prayer disappeared from the Roman Mass during the 6^th Century. It was restored by the Church Orders of the Reformation, particularly that of Bugenhagen. This prayer has mainly three concerns, namely the Church (preservation, growth spiritually, diaconic and mission outreach), the world order (government, peace, creation, industry), and people in general (marriage, family, the sick, poor, lonely, etc.).

This prayer has the world in view, not just the concerns of the local Congregation. This does not mean that local concerns should not appear in it. Provision is made in it for "special petitions and thanksgivings." Its frequent repetition is not a bad thing. After all, the advertising world knows the value of repetition. Only through repetition does something become a part of a person.

There are three traditional forms in which this prayer is made: God is addressed directly, or a deacon enumerates the topics for prayer and the minister then brings them before God, or the deacon names the prayer concerns and calls on the Congregation to pray; they respond with the Kyrie eleison.

The last form in which the Congregation actively participates with its Kyrie eleison emphasises the priesthood of all believers. Having been incorporated into Christ, our High Priest, through Baptism, our prayers of intercession are joined to Christ's prayers of intercession for us before the Father. Our prayers are only acceptable to the Father when we pray "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

What has gone before can be described as the Office of the Word, in which Christ comes to us through the spoken Word. Now the words, "The Lord be with you," introduce a new section of the Liturgy, viz. the Office of Holy Communion. This is not a separate Service, but is built upon the Word. The Word gives the Sacrament its power.

This oldest - the Liturgy of Hipolytus, c215, already has it - and least changed part of the Liturgy has a strong note of thanksgiving and has connections to the Jewish Grace before meals, "Let us give thanks to Adonai (Lord) our God." The call to give thanks (Let us give thanks to the Lord) and the prayer of thanks (It is truly fitting . . . that we . . . give thanks to you . . .) goes over the adoration and praise and culminates in the "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts" the song of the Seraphim (angels and archangels and all the company of heaven) before the Father's throne. This note of praise and thanksgiving becomes very specific with the words, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest," words used by the crowd that greeted Jesus as He entered Jerusalem; Jesus Christ is the object of the Church's praise here on earth and in heaven. This note of thanksgiving also gives us one of the meanings of the Sacrament, viz. that the Lord's Supper is a "thanksgiving" for the Divine gifts of grace which flow to us from the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Roman Liturgy, the so-called Canon or Prayer of Consecration begins immediately after the "Holy, holy, holy" and ends just before the Lord's Prayer. Of all the Reformers, Luther denounced the Canon most vehemently because it clearly interprets the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ by the priest, "for my own countless sins . . . as also for all faithful Christians living or dead." Luther, therefore, cut out everything in the Canon except the Words of Institution. In his Latin Mass, Luther placed the Lord's Prayer after the Words of Institution and before them in the German Mass. Most Lutheran Orders of Service have placed the Lord's Prayer before the Words of Institution.

Voices are heard pleading the restoration of a eucharistic prayer in the Lutheran Liturgy. But whether one has a eucharistic prayer or not will be determined by one's understanding of the Consecration. When do bread and wine become the bearers of the body and blood of Christ? Luther's opinion was this 'This is my body,' His body is present through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit (WA 19:491). In other words, the original Institution by Christ is the effective Consecration. His Words in the upper room potentially included every subsequent celebration and administration. In contrast to the Roman Mass, which fits the Words of the Institution in the form of a relative clause into human prayer (which fits in with the Roman view that the creature co-operates in its redemption), all human prayer is silent at this point in the Lutheran Liturgy. Only is speaking now: Jesus Christ. Since the 4^th Century, in the Eastern Church, the epiclesis and the Invocation of the Holy Spirit change the elements into the body and blood of Christ have been understood as the actual Consecration in place of the Words of Institution. Human prayers do it! For Luther and all who believe Christ to be the one who makes His body and blood to be present in the bread and wine, this is intolerable. For this reason also, only the Lord's Prayer is acceptable at this point. Only ONE is praying now: Jesus Christ. At this point, the Lutheran Liturgy is unique. It clearly reflects the faith that Christ alone effects our salvation.

It also now becomes clear why it is better to have the Lord's Prayer before the Words of Institution. The danger of it being understood as a consecratory prayer is reduced and the distribution is brought closer to the Words of Institution.

Since it is Christ who Consecrates the bread and wine, the person of the pastor or Layman, who has been given the authority (for the sake of good order) to celebrate the Lord's Supper, is irrelevant. No-one, whether morally perfect or imperfect, whether he has the co-called "apostolic succession," as it is understood in certain denominations, or not, has the power to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ or even to cause them to be the bearers of the same. Jesus Christ alone makes Himself present in the Sacrament. To the objection that no Sacrament would be celebrated if human beings did not do it, one should not that they would not "do" it if the Holy Spirit were not calling, gathering, enlightening and keeping them united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

On the other hand, there are those who deny that Jesus is present in the bread and wine with His body and blood altogether, e.g. the Baptists, Assemblies of God, etc. For them, the Lord's Supper is nothing but a way in which we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross two thousand years ago. One is not receiving the forgiveness of sins from God here and now. It is a pure human action, not God's action at all. Since one is not participating in the body and blood of Christ, according to their view, which is in contrast to I Corinthians 10,16-17 and John 6,32-70, their ceremonies are not Holy Communion at all.

After the Words of Institution, the minister gives a short blessing with the words, "The peace of the Lord be with you always." The Congregation answers with, "Amen," and proceeds to sing, "O Christ, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us . . . grant us you peace."

In some Orders, the Peace follows the Lamb of God or even the Distribution. As it is found in the Liturgy of the Lutheran Church of Australia, it announces the Peace of the Lord, which is present in the Sacrament. The Congregation then adores Him who "takes away the sin of the world," and who is present in, with and under the bread and wine, and prays that He would give Himself (His peace) to them. The peace of the Lamb of God is then distributed to them. While this is happening to the various groups to whom Christ is being distributed, the rest of the Congregation sings hymns of praise and adoration.

In dismissing the communicants, the pastor says, "The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and His precious blood strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life eternal. Go in U peace." The body of Christ "given for you" and His blood "shed for you for the forgiveness of sins" is a healing gift, not only for our souls, but also for the body. The Lutheran understanding of Christ's salvation "has the resurrection of the body" (Apostle's Creed) clearly in view. Salvation is for the whole person!

The simplicity of the Lutheran Liturgy, with its emphasis on the fact that Christ's presence does not depend upon who is or is not in the Congregation, but only upon His promise to be present, assures people of their salvation by Christ and for his sake alone, like no other. Each communicant can say to him or herself, "I am saved. Jesus Christ has given Himself to me for the forgiveness of sins." Even the person who does not believe that Christ is really present with His body and blood in the bread and wine, but who, for whatever reason, goes to the Lord's Supper, receives Him. Therefore, there is a possibility of receiving Him unworthily, i.e. in unbelief. A worthy person is one who is conscious of being a sinner and that Christ is giving Himself to him or her right there in the Sacrament for the forgiveness of his or her sins.

The dominant note in all that follows the Distribution of the "Peace of God" is thanksgiving. Armed with this peace, one can go out into the world and face life, and even death itself. The believer can do this because "my eyes have seen you salvation" (Song of Simeon). It is for this salvation that he or she thanks and praises the Lord whose "love endures forever" and who "causes His wonderful works to be remembered." God be blessed and praised for refreshing His people through His "healing gift!" Within this song of thanks, is a prayer that God would also strengthen faith in Him and love toward "one another." Here it becomes clear that a Christian's love of God and his neighbour is understood from, and integrated in, the Gospel.

As the Congregation is about to leave the presence of the Lord who has been with them through Word and Sacrament, He gives them a final blessing. Jesus also blessed His disciples before He ascended into heaven (Luke 24,50). The use of the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6, 22-27 is a unique Lutheran feature.

The benediction is more than a prayer for a blessing. To Moses, the Lord says, "So they (Aaron and his sons) will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them" (Numbers 6,27). Through these words, God's name is being put onto each worshipper, the name given to men by which they are saved (cf. Acts 4,12).

Back to Home Page