Our
Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says.
Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the
gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise. Music
is drawn into this thankfulness and praise, enlarging
and elevating the adoration of our gracious giver God.
Saying
back to him what he has said to us, we repeat what is
most true and sure. Most true and sure is his name, which
he put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are his.
This we acknowledge at the beginning of the Divine Service.
Where his name is, there is he. Before him we acknowledge
that we are sinners, and we plead for forgiveness. His
forgiveness is given us, and we, freed and forgiven, acclaim
him as our great and gracious God as we apply to ourselves
the words he has used to make himself known to us.
The
rhythm of our worship is from him to us, and then from
us back to him. He gives his gifts, and together we receive
and extol them. We build one another up as we speak to
one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our
Lord gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink.
Finally his blessing moves us out into our calling, where
his gifts have their fruition. How best to do this we
may learn from his Word and from the way his Word has
prompted his worship through the centuries. We are heirs
of an astonishingly rich tradition. Each generation receives
from those who went before and, in making that tradition
of the Divine Service its own, adds what best may serve
in its own day - the living heritage and something new.
Trinity
Lutheran Church embraces this viewpoint and it is reflected
in all our worship services.
Colossians
3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as
you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and
as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude
in your hearts to God.
(The
quote is taken from page 6 of Lutheran Worship-Concordia
Publishing House, ©1982.)
