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                                     Pastor's Page

Dearly beloved in Christ,

Last month, we started a brief look at some of the features of our hymnal. This month, let's look at some of the services the hymnal contains.

Lutheran Service Book has a number of different orders of service, suitable for Sunday morning, daily chapel, prayer offices, home devotions, and more. There are five different settings of the Divine Service:

   Setting One (pp.151-166) is the same as Lutheran Worship's Divine Service ll, First Setting (p158). This is the Divine       Service we are using for Communion services during this Eastertide.

   Setting Two (pp.167-183) is also from Lutheran Worship, where is was called Divine Service ll, Second Setting (p.178)

   Setting Three is familiar to us, as we used it from Christmas through Lent, and are using it on non-Communion Sundays    during Eastertide; it is the 'Page 15' service from The Lutheran Hymnal.

   Setting Four is a newer setting of the Divine service, which uses more hymnal-like melodies for the canticles.

   Luther's Deutsche Messe (German Mass) is the basis for Setting Five. Hymns are used in place of the Kyrie, Gloria in     Excelsis, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and the post-communion hymn. (Remember, if you are not sure what all those          terms mean, there is a glossary on pp. xxiv- xxv of LSB.)

The daily offices of Matins (p. 219) and Vespers (p. 229) are similar to their predecessors in The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Worship. The Benedictus in Matins marks the return of the majestic musical setting from The Lutheran Hymnal.

The services of Morning Prayer (p. 235) and Evening Prayer (p.243) are inclided, with some modification, from Lutheran Worship. These are simplified, shorter forms of Matins and Vespers, and work well for chapel services or opening and closing devotions or Bible classes. The musical settings are somewhat challenging, but rewarding when learned.

The office of Compline (p.253) is a fine way to end the day. A service of prayer and preaching (p.260), which was introduced in the Hymnal Supplement '98, is also included.

For home devotional use, very short orders of daily prayer are inclided (pp. 294-298), along with a daily lectionary, or Bible reading schedule (pp. 299-304   0. Also helpful for home and devotional use is the inclusion of Luther's Small Catechism (p.321)

I hope this brief introduction to the hymnal has been useful in making you aware of the treasures contained therein.

Christ has risen, Alleluia! He has risen indeed, Alleluia!

                                                                             Pastor Keuning