A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Thanksgiving and Collect

Encore Post: [Twenty-Fifth post in a series on the Divine Service] Upon the completion of the beautiful Nunc Dimittis, the pastor or the assistant chants, “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good,” and the congregation respond with the rest of verse one of Psalm 107, “and His mercy (ESV translates: steadfast love; the Hebrew is חֶסֶד transliterated CHESED) endureth forever.” However, the hymnal committee could have easily put Psalm 136, 2 Chronicles 20:21, or even Jeremiah 33:11 as the biblical reference. These later two bible references, 2 Chronicles and Jeremiah 33, both imply worship taking place with the singing of this verse.

And in the same manner of the worship of the people of God in the Old Testament and those whom Jeremiah prophesies, we sing our thanks to our Lord who has manifested his mercy and steadfast love toward us in this Sacrament which we just received. It is as if each time we receive the Sacrament, we are participating in the fulfillment of the Lord’s word to Jeremiah: “For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first.” If you keep reading Jeremiah, you learn the fortunes are restored by the Righteous Branch, whose name is: The Lord is our righteousness.

The fortunes which we see restored is God’s mercy upon sinners. He forgives us, for Christ’s sake. He has made abundantly clear to us by the giving of His Son at the cross for the sin of the world in order that the world might be saved through Him. So we give thanks to our gracious Lord, and then address Him with the prayer that follows.

The typical prayer said is Luther’s collect, which he penned for his German Mass. This prayer is beautiful in its simplicity as it gets to the point of the Sacrament we just received from Christ. However, it might serve the congregation well if the pastor expand the prayer for catechetical purposes, or if he takes time in bible or confirmation class to explain the petitions embedded in this simple prayer.

The salutary gift for which we give thanks is the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. Then we literally ask the Lord that having received into our bodies the body and blood of Christ, we be made to trust in the Triune God. In other words, we are praying that we be made holy, sanctified by the eating and the drinking of Christ’s body and blood. We do not just ask that we fulfill the first table of the Law in this prayer but we also pray that by the same body and blood, we also love our neighbor in ways that are pleasing to our Lord.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana 

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Nunc Dimittis

Encore Post: [Twenty-Fourth post in a series on the Divine Service] During the time of Distribution the congregation will more than likely sing hymns and spend time contemplating the tangible grace of their Lord Jesus Christ that they just received or will receive in the near future. Once the members of the congregation receive the Body and Blood of Christ, the pastor likely will consume whatever remains of the Sacrament. At that time, the congregation will rise to sing the beautiful song known as the Nunc Dimittis or the Song of Simeon.

St. Simeon originally sang these words when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple forty days after his birth. For the year 2025, the 40th day after Christmas fell on a Sunday, and the church celebrated the festival known as the Purification of Mary and Presentation of our Lord. The event is recorded for us by St. Luke and is the final canticle of the Divine Service.

We should not miss the richness of the event when Simeon first uttered these words, which we now sing after receiving the Sacrament. Simeon had been promised he would see the Lord’s Christ before he would die. We don’t know how long he had to wait for this to happen, but if was anything like the Old Testament, Simeon had been expecting Jesus for a good long while. And finally, he finds Jesus right where He ought to be found, in His Father’s house! And it is with joy that Simeon sings, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

And with what joy you also can sing the same words! For you (in the congregation) have been waiting for this moment. In the Service of the Sacrament we are preparing for the coming of the Lord’s anointed. We sing of his coming in the Sanctus. “Blessed is He who comes!” We sing of seeing him at the altar, In His Father’s House, doing His Father’s Work, as the Lamb of God, in the Agnus Dei. And now we rejoice, for we have not only seen Him and the salvation He brings for all people, but we have received and we are ready to depart in peace.

Luther does a masterful job in his hymn based off the Nunc Dimittis (LSB 938 In Peace and Joy I Now Depart). The Sacrament prepares us to die well. For in the Sacrament we have been granted forgiveness of our sins, which leads us to have confidence in Christ. “Serene and confident, my heart; Stillness fills it. For the Lord has promised me that death is but a slumber.” There is also the tradition of singing this hymn at the deathbed, and if the saint dies, the verbs are then said in the past tense. Let us sing the Nunc Dimittis with confidence and joy upon receiving the Body and Blood of Christ as well as all our lives in Christ, for our salvation has been hand delivered by Christ Himself! Depart in peace!

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

To Block Post Series

©2019 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Distribution

Encore Post: [Twenty-Third post in a series on the Divine Service] As the congregation sings the beautiful Agnus Dei, the pastor likely takes his place at the rail or near the altar to welcome up members of the congregation to take part in the foretaste of the feast to come. But before that, it is customary for the pastor and his assistants (if he has any), to receive the body and blood of our Lord before distributing to the congregation. There is some debate whether the pastor can “commune” himself or if an elder of the congregation should “commune” him. Generally, this is best left up to each individual congregation. In the days of Covid-19, you might actually see the pastor wait until the very end of the distribution to commune, since he might be wearing a mask, etc.

In some congregations, there is a communion rail where congregation members kneel to receive the body and blood of their Lord. In others, members come forward and stand in a semi-circle “table”. In others, you might see a more continuous flow of people and less of a “table” experience.

However, the church “does” distribution, the pastor is given the direction (rubric) to speak very specific words concerning the body and blood. Likely, some pastors conflate the two and maybe say a bit more. LSB recommends two options: “Take, eat, this the true body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, given into death for your sins.” “Take, drink, this is the true blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, shed for the forgiveness of your sins.”

There also has been debate from time to time about how one should receive the Body of the Lord. Should one hold out their hand and take the host to their own mouth? Should the recipient allow the pastor to place the Body of Christ into their mouth? Both are fine ways to receive the Body of Christ. Some early church fathers actually wrote rather long theological treatises on how one is preferred over the other. Some said that it was better for the pastor or priest to place the Host on the tongue, as this was the best picture of pure reception. For the other side, some argued your hands became the throne on which the Lord Jesus sat and so they offered directions on how to make your hands ready to receive such a gift.

The same can be said concerning receiving the Blood of Christ. In today’s age, many people use the individual cup rather than taking a drink from the common cup. However, the reasons for using individual cups seem less theologically based. Some churches actually have a chalice in which there is a spout to allow for a person to receive into an individual cup the blood from the “common” cup.

However, one receives the Body and Blood of the Lord, may it be done in all reverence, acknowledging the fact that the Lamb of God, Who Comes to Save, is what we receive in the bread and wine given to us by the Pastor at the Distribution.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Agnus Dei

Encore Post: [The Twenty-second post in a series on the Divine Service] In early posts, we talked a little bit about the terms Ordinary and Proper in terms of the Divine Service. Today we come to the final Ordinary hymn: the Agnus Dei. The hymn itself came into the Liturgy around the beginning of the 8th Century.

In light of the Sacrament of the Altar which the congregation is preparing to receive we get to actually “look upon the Lamb of God”, Jesus Christ, present in his body and blood on the altar, calling us to eat and drink it for the forgiveness of our sins. The hymn also picks up nearly all the other themes of the Divine Service liturgy.

The title “Lamb of God” comes from the statement by John the Baptist in John 1:29. However, the image of the Lamb of God is something that is everywhere in the Old Testament. The work of atonement is prominent. The Lamb led to the slaughter now has now been slain and been sacrificed at the cross. Christ, says Paul, is our Passover Lamb. Now alive again, He gives us the very things that were a sacrifice. The Lamb stands at the throne and gives his faithful people His gifts, namely forgiveness of sins and his peace.

The hymn typically has 3 stanzas, three petitions, where the congregation asks for Christ to have mercy on them in the first two stanzas. In the third, the congregation asks for the peace of Christ, which they just heard in the Pax Domini. Again, like the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer is answered in receiving the Sacrament of the Altar.

In some churches, the congregation sings this hymn while kneeling. In others congregations, they stand. As a pastor, I look directly at the chalice and paten, adoring and pondering the very mystery over which I am a steward. Christ’s body is there and His blood is there. We all get to set our eyes on the “Lamb of God, who has come!” The petition of the Sanctus is fulfilled. The One who comes in the Name of the Lord is with us and we not only get to behold Him, but we get to now come forward to His table to be fed His body and His Blood. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Pax Domini

Encore Post: [Twenty-First post in a series on the Divine Service] Upon chanting the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ over the bread and wine on the altar, your pastor if not already facing the congregation will pick up both the chalice and the body of our Lord, turn towards the congregation and chant, “Peace of the Lord be with you always.” The congregation responds, “Amen.”

The peace which our Lord Jesus Christ gives is a tangible peace when thinking of the Sacrament of the Altar. You actually get to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” The body and blood of Jesus Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins brings you true, tangible peace. And remembering the Lord Jesus Christ and his teaching is “refreshment to your bones.” In other words, it brings you peace!

In the days of Covid-19, there is nothing more rock solid to hold on to than the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, which Christ gives to his people freely. All this is done in order that we might receive His Peace. Peace with God and with one another for the sake of Jesus, who died to reconcile us to our heavenly Father in Heaven and to one another.

There are some amazing photos of bombed out church buildings in which the Sacrament is still being received. Those pictures convey the truth that no matter what is happening in this world, by Christ’s presence in his body and blood for you, He grants you peace. You do not need to live in fear, but be at peace. The Lord knows and remembers you in all your afflictions and anxiety and grants you his peace, knowing that Christ goes with you because Christ is literally about to go inside you by your eating and drinking of his body and blood with the bread and the wine.

Be at peace knowing that for Christ’s sake, your sins are forgiven. Be at peace, knowing that in this beautiful Sacrament that Jesus gives you that forgiveness. Taste and see the Lord is indeed good and is faithful to His Word. His peace is with you, for He is with you to endure the unknowns of this world, pressing ever onward to the feast which is to come in His Kingdom forever.

With the singing of the Amen, “Yes, yes, it shall be so,” we confess our belief in the promise Jesus gives to us in giving us his body and blood. Liturgically speaking, we the congregation turns to the great 7th century hymn Agnus Dei, which we will talk about in our next Walk Through the Liturgy.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Words of our Lord Part 3

Encore Post:[Twentieth post in a series on the Divine Service] The Words of our Lord concerning the cup of His Sacrament are now front and center for us in the Liturgy. The contents of the cup is the primary focus. What we receive is His blood, for He says it is.

Just as we have been walking through the liturgy and have already heard a couple of times in the great Gloria that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, now we see the blood of the Lamb of God given to us to drink for the forgiveness of sins, and immediately following this we will sing the beautiful Agnus Dei.

Let us remember again that these words are spoken first by Jesus on the night before his death on the cross. He is about to pour out his blood as our redemption price. He is about to drink the cup of God’s wrath for the sin of the world at the cross, in order for this cup which He gives us to be a blessing for us. He accomplishes our salvation at the cross and participating in this meal, we receive that salvation.

At the end, Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” What does this mean? How should we hear this and understand this? Is receiving the Sacrament a work that we must do? Let us remember this: God is being gracious in giving us His gifts. He remembers His people for the sake of Christ, who poured his blood to save us. But by receiving this gift from God for the sake of Christ, we remember our Lord’s suffering and death, as St. Paul says, “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

As far as the Liturgy goes, the Words of our Lord are the climax of every Divine Service. These words are the Gospel in the purest sense. Likely out of honor and reverence, you are kneeling as the Pastor chants these beautiful words. He likely bows in reverence and awe, as Christ does exactly what He promises. He says of the bread, “This is my Body.” Of the cup He says, “This is my Blood.” Christ is there giving to us the salvation accomplished for us by his cross. But let us not just look upon the body and blood of Christ and adore it, but let us now come to the feast our Lord has prepared for us, a feast of fatness and well-aged wine well refined, the food that is the medicine of immortality, as He has commanded in His Institution.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana  

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Words of our Lord Part 2

Encore Post: [Nineteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] In today’s installment of our walk through the liturgy, we will spend some time talking about the first part of the “Words of our Lord” namely the words concerning the bread.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”

We should remember that this was a Passover Meal, commemorating God’s greatest act of salvation to date for Israel. However, on this night, the meal between Jesus and His Disciples would begin to unveil the act of salvation to which the Passover points and is fulfilled once and for all by his all availing sacrifice at the cross.

Dr. Arthur Just, Jr. in his fabulous book Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service, lays out the events that take place during a “Passover Meal”, for a sketch of the events of the Passover meal liturgy see pages 59-62. We learn that there is eating, then teaching at the table, where the story of the exodus would be retold and the food interpreted accordingly, followed by more eating, etc.

Luke is the most thorough Gospel concerning the events of Jesus’ Last Supper, telling us about two cups of wine (See Luke 22:17-18 and 22:20). They are not the same cup, according to Passover Liturgy.

As part of the Passover Meal Liturgy, the food itself would be interpreted by the host of meal. This is where the words of institution come into play. Jesus interprets the bread concerning himself! And it is given up “on behalf of you” (Luke 22:19). In the other accounts, there is no atonement language spoken over the bread. Thanks be to God for multiple accounts from the Gospels, catching and pointing out each detail so that our theology may be as rich as possible. Christ’s body is part of the sacrifice for our atonement!

Let us also note: Jesus’ words concerning the bread being his body. Is means Is! There is no way around what Jesus says. There is no other way to interpret Jesus’ own words. This is My Body. What we get when we receive the Sacrament is exactly what Jesus says we get: His Body. This is the same body given up for you at the cross, buried, and raised on the third day. This is the same body as the body which ascended to the right hand of the Father.

How it literally happens, we will never know on this side of heaven. That is why it is called a sacrament — a mystery. We will look at the second part of the words of our Lord concerning the cup next.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana  

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Words of our Lord Part 1

Encore Post: [Eighteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] The Lutheran Service Book has the heading of “The Words of our Lord” but I imagine many of you also have heard them called either “The Words of Institution” or “The Words of Consecration,” or just the “Verba”. In all cases they the titles refer to the same thing: The words our Lord said on the night when He was betrayed, concerning the bread and then the cup. With this we have reached the climax of the Service of the Sacrament.

The pastor has removed the veil from over the chalice and moved the hosts to the paten (liturgical name for the plate which holds the bread), if they were not there already and either will speak the Words or will chant them. Unfortunately, fewer congregations hear the Words chanted. During the time of the Reformation, chanting the Verba was the way many people distinguished the Lutheran Church from the Catholic Church. In my congregation, the altar is set up and attached to the wall, so the words of our Lord are chanted over the elements facing away from the congregation. In some churches, you will see a free standing table/altar, where the pastor can go to the other side and say the words toward the people.

Every Sunday, we rehearse the night of Jesus “being handed over.” That word for being handed over or betrayed is παραδιδωμι which also means tradition/hand down. Jesus says to do these things in remembrance of Him, so the Church has always done it and continues to “hand it down to the next generation of the faithful” just as Paul says when he gives his account of the night in 1 Corinthians 11. By participating in the Sacrament, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

But who do we hear when those words are spoken? You hear Christ’s living voice. Just like the Gospel reading being the “high point” of the Service of the Word, so also the Words of Christ concerning His Supper are the high point of the Service of the Sacrament. So you actually hear the living voice of Jesus in these words, for they are not the Pastor’s words but Christ’s words.

Next time, we will dive into the words themselves but we can know for certain that they are Christ’s words for us, bidding us to come to eat and drink the very things through which He redeemed us and now through gives us life everlasting.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana 

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: What’s Not There

Encore Post: [Seventeenth post in a series on the Divine Service] In my last post about the liturgy, we talked at length about the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer being fulfilled by the forthcoming events of the Service of the Sacrament. However, I failed to mention anything about the doxological (giving of praise) ending of the Prayer. With this post I am going to attempt to talk more about the conclusion of the prayer in the context of the service as well as discuss something that is no longer found in our Divine Services: The Eucharistic Prayer.

If you noticed at least when following the 3rd Setting of the Divine Service, in the Lutheran Service Book, the petitions are pointed for chanting by the Pastor and the ending is to be sung by the congregation. Some congregations forego the chanting altogether and speak the Prayer aloud. We ought to remember that Matthew and Luke do not record such a conclusion, “For thine is Kingdom and the Power…” That addition, while a good and right addition, came out of the wisdom of the Church. For with those words, the Church confesses of the Father that He is able to bring all these petitions to actualization. And perhaps that is why the entire congregation is encouraged to sing joyfully the conclusion. They confess with own voices the whole Church’s belief in the Father to whom the Pastor just prayed on the congregation’s collected behalf.

Now to the prayer that no longer shows up in Lutheran Divine Services: The Eucharistic Prayer. In the Early Church (and still found in The Roman Catholic Church) the Eucharistic Prayer came right on the heels of the Lord’s Prayer. Eucharist means “Thanksgiving” so in a way this prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving recounting and rehearsing the deeds of salvation the Lord has done on behalf of His people. Many of the ancient Eucharist prayers rehearse the stories of the Old Testament stretching into the story of Jesus and also including the night of Christ’s betrayal (the Greek word, παραδίδωμι, means betrayal as well as handing down a tradition), which as Jesus says should be remembered.

However, these Eucharistic Prayers began to get quite long, and unfortunately, poor theology crept into the prayers. With that came poor and bad practice from the priests and the believers. In particular, the Eucharistic Prayers because to weave in the idea that the priest was actually “re-sacrificing” Christ on the Altar as an “un-bloody” sacrifice. And this sacrifice was not just a sacrifice of thanksgiving, but a sacrifice given to God that was considered to be propitiatory (See Council of Trent Sess. XXII, can. iii; also see The Apology of the Augsburg Confession about this HERE.) Let us remember there is only one sacrifice for the propitiation for sins: Jesus Christ. Also inside the Eucharistic Prayer was the oblation and intercession for all living as well as all those dead (see a contemporary document concerning oblation and intercession HERE.)

On top of all that, the Words of our Lord were prone to get lost in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayers because of all the extra stuff that came after the recounting of the deeds of the Lord (oblation, intercession, etc.). With that, you should begin to see why Lutherans have shied away from the use of the Eucharistic Prayer within the Divine Service. However, there are some pieces of the concept which still are found in our Liturgy of the Sacrament. For instance, it is good and right that we should recall the works of God, and we in the Proper Preface. The Words of our Lord from the night of his betrayal take center stage, and next time will pick the service with those precious words of our Lord. Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

A Walk Through the Liturgy: The Lord’s Prayer

Encore Post: [Sixteenth post in a series on the Divine Service] On the heels of the Sanctus, the pastor leads the congregation in the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. The Lord’s prayer, being the prayer of the baptized, takes its place in the Service of the Sacrament. And below, I suggest many if not each petition of the prayer gets answered by the Sacrament of the Altar the congregation is preparing to receive.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be on earth as it is in heaven. We will discuss the introduction and the first three petitions together. We are calling out to our Heavenly Father as Christ has instructed us to do. He is our Father who desires to give us good things, and He has given us the very best thing: His very own Son that we might be reconciled to him by the blood which is poured out for us. God’s Kingdom is coming, we just sang about it in the Sanctus: “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! And He comes to save, which is His will, that all call upon the name of the Son and be saved. Also eschatologically speaking, we are eating a foretaste of the meal that is in His Kingdom that will have no end.

Give us this day our daily bread. Luther spends more time talking about our physical needs here with the 4th petition, but in connection to the Sacrament and Jesus calling himself the bread of life in John 6, we can see the connection between this petition and the Sacrament we are about to receive. It is what truly gives us life and encouragement for the days ahead.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We will be going to the rail and kneeling to receive, with the body and blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins which He won for us by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Having received forgiveness from God in the Sacrament, we are strengthened to forgive one another. Christ did not just die for my sins, but also for the sins that my neighbor committed against me. Having been forgiven and shown mercy by Christ, we, too, should show mercy to one another. We are strengthened to do that by the Sacrament of the Altar.

Lead us not into temptation. By the very eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood, we are taking into ourselves the very person who is our advocate and fighter against every temptation of Satan, the world, and our own flesh.

Deliver us from evil. Christ promises in John 6: “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live.” Jesus does not lie, and it is the will of His Father to raise up to eternal life those who believe in the one whom was pierced and out of whom blood and water poured out.

This is a bit longer of a post, but I do pray that this has given you a different way to say the prayer our Lord Jesus has taught us to pray when you say it right before receiving the Sacrament of the Altar. See in the Sacrament the answer to the prayer.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, Indiana

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com