Contents Introduction Making it Simple For the Detail-Minded Extras Introits for Advent Advent Wreath Liturgies Preparatory Service: An Alternative for the 4th Sunday of Advent Lessons & Carols

Introduction

This page covers liturgical matters related to the Season of Advent. The page is divided into three main sections:

• Making It Simple
• For the Detail-Minded
• Extras
  

If you have not reviewed the general information on planning liturgy, worship appointments, etc., please do so at our Worship Aids page.

If you are looking for matters related to worship appointments (e.g., colors, candles, decorations, etc.), visit the Appointments for Advent page.

Making It Simple

We provide here downloadable MS-Word templates of the liturgy that you can easily cut & paste into your own bulletin, fill in, and modify for local usage. These templates have the names of the elements of the worship service accompanied by their respective page numbers. They are not fully-printed services, as providing that would be a copyright infringement. This format can be used in accompaniment with your hymnals. If a fully-printed bulletin is preferred, we direct you to the "For the Detail-Minded" section of this page. If your congregation is not using either LBW or ELW, you can easily modify by conferring between the resource named and your worship book in use. N.B., when doing so, be mindful to use the coordinate resources (e.g., With One Voice keys to the LBW; All Creation Sings keys to the ELW). Caveat: When a layperson leads the worship service, some modifications are required; these can be reviewed on our Liturgical Modifications for Lay Leadership page (and also in the "For the Detail-Minded" section).

For the Detail-Minded

The liturgies for Matins, Service of the Word, Ante-Communion, and Holy Communion provide plenty of options. Some of these options are spelled out clearly in the rubrics printed in the orders of service; others are buried in the general rubrics and in more advanced liturgical manuals. For those looking for these options, details, etc. whether responsible for planning worship or just curious, visit our Advent Sunday Liturgies for the Detail-Minded page. You will find there three orders of service for Sundays without Holy Communion and one order for a service of Holy Communion.

Extras

Introits for Advent

Because we've received questions about the names of the candles/Sundays of Advent, we've added a discussion of the matter on our Worship Aids: Appointments for Advent page. We've also added here the introits and tips for use in liturgy (if you want to go the extra mile). Let's begin with the texts.

The translation provided is a modern English rendering of the Novus ordo. For those that would like to root in the Lutheran tradition of the Common Service, you can find the English translations beginning on p.75 of the Service Book and Hymnal (1958). The publishing house at the time of the SBH also sold introit books with music for choir. These introits continue to have music composed for them. You can search the web and find everything from unison singing for the congregation to SATB arrangements for choir. You can also find several historic arrangements that are in the public domain on the web with a little effort. It is also possible to set them to the psalm tones.

You'll note a character that might be unfamiliar: ℣. This is a symbol indicating a versicle, a short line said (or sung) in the liturgy. In an introit, the text one sees prior to the versicle is the antiphon. The antiphon forms bookends around the versicle. Additionally, the Gloria Patri follows the versicle immediately. If one is singing or reciting the introit (e.g., the Populus Sion), it would be sung as follows:

People of Zion behold, the Lord is coming to save all nations;
and the Lord shall cause you to hear his majestic voice for the joy of your heart.
O Shepherd of Israel hear us, you who lead Joseph like a flock!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and every shall be, world without end. Amen.
People of Zion behold, the Lord is coming to save all nations;
and the Lord shall cause you to hear his majestic voice for the joy of your heart.

The introit was the first liturgical element of the historic western mass form. Literally, the Latin introitus means entrance. During the introit, the worship leaders would process into the sanctuary. Luther retained the introit in the 1523 Formula Missae (his reworking of the Latin mass) but replaced it with a hymn (based on the introit psalm if possible) in the 1526 Deutsche Messe (his German mass). Muhlenberg's 1748 liturgy followed the pattern of the Deutsche Messe and this remained standard among General Synod and General Council Lutherans until the Washington Service was introduced in 1869. The Common Service, introduced in 1888, made the use of the introit explicit but, at the same time, retained the singing of an opening hymn. This strange doubling of the introit/entrance hymn was eliminated in the LBW (1978) when the psalm, which was embedded in the introit, was given its own place between the first and second reading. The entrance hymn remained, the introit was functionally moved to a place among the lessons, and, at the same time, the first reading from the Old Testament was added (as the earlier form only had an epistle and a Gospel).

If one wants to reintroduce the introits for Advent, one might consider the following:

• Use the introit in place of the entrance hymn. Even if one does this to a simple psalm tone, it can add to the solemnity of the service, especially if used in procession.
• Have the choir, a small group of singers, or a soloist sing the introit as the last prelude piece before the service.

If you would like to hear some examples of the introit, check out the following renderings of the Ad te levavi:

• Gregorian chant
• A simple chant in modern English
• Ludivico Balbi (1545-1604)
• Franz Xaver Witt (1834-1888)
• Service Book and Hymnal (1958) — coming as soon as we find some additional singers.
  
• Christoph Tietze (b.1956)
• James Grzadzinski (b.1989)
• Simple psalm setting employing LBW/ELW psalm tones — coming as soon as we find some additional singers.

Advent Wreath Liturgies

For a fuller discussion of the Advent wreath in the church, including its placement and various usages, visit our Appointments for Advent page. Here, we only want to address liturgies surrounding the Advent Wreath. The immediate predecessor of the Advent wreath, the Adventzkranz, had no particular ceremonies attached to it. Devotions connected with the lighting of the wreath developed over time. None of them can claim long lineage in the church's practice.

Light the wreath each service either well before the service begins or when the altar candles are lit (or, if during vespers, at the lucernarium). No liturgy (e.g., hymn, versicles, prayers, etc.) would be employed in this approach. Devotional exercises related to the lighting of the wreath are best employed in Sunday School openings, Bible studies (or other educational sessions), fellowship meals, council/committee meetings, etc.

If some ceremony is associated with the lighting of the wreath during the mass or prayer office, care should be taken that the text (including hymn text if any) and action are both theologically sound an liturgically appropriate. N.B., texts that refer to the various candles as love, joy, peace, hope, etc. are an introduction in living memory. There is also inconsistency across the church as to what the names are and in what sequence they fall. If one wants to have names for the Sundays (and, by extension, the candles), click here.

Dedication of the wreath is appropriate when a new wreath is acquired by the church. It is also appropriate if the wreath is reconstructed as would be the case when the wreath involves new greens, assuming those greens are substantial. The rites for dedication of church furnishings or items intended to foster devotion are appropriate.

The Preparatory Service: An Alternative for 4^th Sunday of Advent

We've heard some talk about the weirdness of Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday. What does one do with Sunday morning when Sunday evening will be a big worship event? Let us suggest bringing back the preparatory service. In 18^th- and 19^th-century America, when communion was infrequent, the Sunday service to be held with Holy Communion was preceded by a few days with a preparatory service. If you would like to see what this looked like in the second half of the 18^th century, check out the Muhlenberg Liturgy (1748). This has come down to us today in the LBW (1978) service for Corporate Confession and Forgiveness (pp.193-195) and, in modified form, in the ELW (2006) service for Corporate Confession and Forgiveness (pp.238-242). Using Corporate Confession and Forgiveness as a stand-alone service provides an alternative to the mass and enriches corporate devotional life.

Lessons & Carols