Encore Post: I pray that you are being spiritually fed by the Word and Sacrament of our Lord Jesus Christ. The last time I talked about the sermon and its importance, and so today, we are turning our attention to the Offertory.
Depending on the Divine Service Setting one uses (again, I am speaking of the Lutheran Service Book) you might see a couple different set of Offertories. But they, at least in my mind, serve different purposes. The Offertory of Divine Service 3 appears to serve more as a response of the congregation to the sermon that was just preached as it follows directly on the sermon’s heels.
The Offertory of Divine Service 3 comes from Psalm 51:10-12. We know the history behind Psalm 51 because the superscript tells us. Psalm 51 was written, prayed by David when Nathan the prophet confronted him concerning the murder of Uriah the Hittite and taking Bathsheba for himself. Those events are well documented in 2 Samuel 11-12.
Psalm 51 is a psalm of acknowledging one’s sin and thus repenting, pleading with God to be merciful to the sinner. The first verse of the Psalm says as much, “Be mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” What we sing as the Offertory comes later in the psalm, in a way a prayer that God again “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
The sermon should have confronted us with our sins. Yes, we have sinned and have fallen well short of the glory of God. Indeed, we deserve everlasting death for our offenses against Him. But also in that sermon, we should have heard the Gospel that God has shown us mercy in sending Jesus Christ, who has taken upon himself our sins.
David’s prayer as well as our own of Psalm 51 is answered in Christ Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and resurrection from the dead with that forgiveness and everlasting life being applied to us via the preaching of Christ’s Word and the Administration of His Sacraments. Joy, even in the midst of suffering, is restored for God’s mercy is made manifest among us by Jesus Christ, who upholds us, giving us the promised Holy Spirit, Who comforts us with things which are Christ’s and delcares them to us and makes them our own.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana
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I was drawn to this blog post because our little congregation is always looking for selections in the liturgy that are singable, accessible, and meaningful for a small group. We do use DS3 offertory because it is a very singable tune — and LCMS provides a vocal accompaniment which we use in conjunction with a video screen. We don’t want to use the DS3 offertory every Sunday. That is why I read this post. But, this post stopped after talking about DS3. I really am interested in finding musical versions for an offertory that work for a congregation. Keep going, Pastor Hercamp. Help us, if you are going to make commentary on this topic. I am not sure what your end point is.
Hi Gerry,
Thanks for reading this blog post. I wrote this series with what is commonly referred to as “The Common Service” or “TLH 15.” I had not even considered writing a walk through the liturgy for the other service settings. I thought/hoped that this would be enough to make people think about how the worship services flow. Concerning “Offertories” DS 1 and DS III are radically different. Read them and see if you come to a similar conclusion. I do not have any additional “offertories” to offer you to sing. Personally, I find it nice to sing the same service nearly every Sunday for the purpose of memorizing by heart. I know it helps my shut ins as I visit. I generally try to sing different pieces of the liturgy with them. More often than not, my older shut ins know DS III and these pieces too.
I am sorry I can’t be of more help to you right now though.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Hercamp