The Fifth Sunday of Easter (Cantate) – Pr. Faugstad

A Study of the Parts of the Divine Service
The commentary below was given throughout the service. The attached recording is of the homily only.

The Divine Service is primarily God’s service to us. He imparts His holy gifts to us through His Word and Sacraments. These are the sacramental parts of the service—from God to us.

In thankfulness for these gifts, we also respond in service to Him through our faithful confession of His truth, our prayers, and our singing. These are the sacrificial parts of the service—from us to God.

The way to tell these apart is to watch which way the pastor is facing. If I am facing you, those are generally the sacramental parts of the service—from God to you. If I am facing the altar, those are generally the sacrificial parts of the service—from us to God.

I. The Service of Preparation

The Service of Preparation beginning on p. 41 is the part of the service that prepares us to hear God’s Word and receive Holy Communion.

We begin the service by returning in faith to our Baptism. We drown the old Adam in us with all its sins and evil desires as we humbly acknowledge our sins and confess them. Then we take hold again of the forgiveness and righteousness that is ours through faith in Jesus. We confess our sins to our heavenly Father, knowing that “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Then we sing the Kyrie Eleison, the “Lord, have mercy.” Traditionally this was not directly tied to the Confession of Sin, but was a general prayer for God’s grace and help for every part of our life.

Having confessed our sin, we now hear the absolution. This is not a wish for your forgiveness, and it does not come from any special power I have as your pastor. The power of absolution comes from Jesus, who breathed on His disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; and if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23).

With our sins forgiven, we join the angels in their Christmas song, “Glory be to God in the highest,” praising God for the sending of His Son to save us.

Now we are almost ready to hear the lessons from God’s holy Word. But before we do, pastor and congregation remind each other in the Salutation of their callings in the Christian congregation.

Then on behalf of the congregation, the pastor “collects” their requests for the day in prayer to God.

Let us bow before the Lord and confess our sins….

II. The Service of the Word

Now we are prepared to hear the holy Word of God. The lessons build from the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, to the apostles’ application of Jesus’ work in their epistles, to an account from the life of Jesus in one of the Holy Gospels. We rise for the reading of the Gospel in humble recognition of God sending His Son to save us sinners.

In the first half of the church year, we also sing a Psalm responsively in the service. The Book of Psalms is God’s own hymnbook. These Psalms have been sung for thousands of years. Since these Psalms are about the Triune God, the Christian Church concludes each Psalm by singing “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost….”

After the lessons have been read, we confess our holy faith in the words of one of the three ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’ Creed when there is no Communion, the Nicene Creed when there is Communion, and the Athanasian Creed on special occasions. We speak back to God what He has taught us about Himself through His Word.

Then we sing the chief hymn. This hymn matches the theme of the day and is typically based on the Gospel reading. In today’s hymn by Martin Luther, you will hear a summary of the work of God’s Son to save us. We will sing the first half of the hymn before the sermon and the second half after the sermon. In the second half, you will see how Luther directly based his hymn verses on the Gospel reading for today.

The Old Testament Lesson for the Fifth Sunday of Easter…

Homily on James 1:16-21:

In Christ Jesus, the good and perfect Gift whom God the Father sent down from heaven to save our souls, dear fellow redeemed:

In our study of the Divine Service today, you can see that there is an order to the way the parts are put together. You also see how the Divine Service is saturated with God’s Word. That is just as it should be, since it is through the Word that God serves us with the forgiveness, righteousness, and life of Jesus.

In the sermon, we hear a specific passage of the Bible explained and applied by the pastor. This is an important moment in the Divine Service and an essential exercise of our faith. The sermon is the time when you, the parishioners, are the least active. You get to sit and listen, to receive what God wants to give you.

Our epistle lesson for today emphasizes the importance of listening: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” God wants us to be patient with one another and to care for each other. But we don’t do that perfectly.

We come to church with various burdens due to the sins we have committed. We come with various hurts inflicted on us by others. We come with heavy hearts of sorrow. God is not disappointed to see us come. He does not give His gifts to the people who have it all together, as though His gifts were a prize for our self-sufficiency or our self-righteousness.

We are not righteous before God by anything we do. He gives His gifts to us through the Word, because He loves to give us these gifts. James writes by inspiration, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” That is what happens every Lord’s Day as we gather together. God the Father, “the Father of lights,” sends down His good and perfect gifts to us sinners.

These gifts are brought to us by the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught about the Spirit in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus said, “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you” (Joh. 16:14-15). What Jesus has is righteousness, forgiveness, and life, which He obtained through His obedience to the Father. These are the gifts the Holy Spirit brings you right here, right now.

The Triune God is present here with us. How do you welcome His presence? Just as you got cleaned up on the outside to come to church, so you must also be cleaned on the inside. The epistle lesson says, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.” This is not about empty actions. This is not about empty words. You can’t fool God. Putting away “all filthiness and rampant wickedness” means repenting of your sin from the heart and having the intent to change your sinful ways.

But you know that you do not have the power inside yourself to make these changes. This is why our reading continues, “and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” We are not saved by any strength or goodness that is naturally inside us. We are saved by Jesus’ work outside us, accomplished 2,000 years ago. That saving work is applied to us today by the external means of Word and Sacrament.

The Holy Spirit comes from outside us to inside us through these means—from the pages of the Bible to your eyes, from my mouth to your ears and into your heart. That is where God plants His Word; He plants it in the very center of you, in your heart, your mind, your soul. There His Word grows in you; it comforts you; it gives you strength.

The entire Divine Service is saturated with His Word, which means that you leave here with your faith well-watered and well-fed. You leave here with your sins forgiven, with Jesus’ righteousness covering you, and with His holy light shining in you for the benefit of others.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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Our Lord urges us “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). This is why we pray the Prayer of the Church on p. 48 for the needs of all people. We also add extra petitions to this prayer, special requests for our fellow believers.

III. The Service of Holy Communion

Having received God’s blessings through His Word, we now receive further blessings from Him through His Holy Supper. We don’t rush forward. We want to be properly prepared.

We sing back and forth in the Preface using words that can be traced to the Passover celebration. In the General Preface, we join with “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven” in honoring and praising our gracious God.

We sing the Sanctus with the angels of heaven, their never-ending song of praise to the Triune God, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa. 6:3). This song in our liturgy is combined with the Benedictus, the “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!” This is the victory Psalm that the people of Israel sang to welcome Jesus on Palm Sunday, and it becomes our song as we welcome Jesus here in His Supper.

The Exhortation to the communicants is a more recent addition to our liturgy. It teaches us about what we receive in the Sacrament and prepares us to receive it with blessing.

Then we pray the prayer our Lord has taught us, a prayer with seven petitions. These requests are answered by the blessings Jesus imparts to us through His Supper.

Now our Lord’s own words are sung over the bread and wine. Through these Words of Institution, His body and blood are joined to the bread and wine for us Christians to eat and to drink for the remission of our sins.

We welcome Jesus’ presence with the words of John the Baptizer, “O Christ, the Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us” (Joh. 1:29). We sing this three times, ending the final line with “grant us Your peace.” That is exactly what Jesus is here to do, bring us the peace of His forgiveness and grace toward us.

After humbly receiving His body and blood with faith in His Word, we give thanks to Him with a hymn and a prayer.

Now we are well-fed with every good gift of God’s grace. The pastor speaks a final blessing, a Benediction that God told Aaron and the priests to speak. This three-fold blessing places God’s promise on you as you prepare to return to your homes and carry out your callings to the glory of His name.

We continue with the Service of Holy Communion, beginning on p. 50….

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