Lutheran Essentials meets in the undercroft of the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. You can reach the undercroft by going around to the back parking lot of the church and descending the staircase to the kitchen. Knock on the door if it is closed and some one will let you in. Our current study is on “The Fire and the Staff” by Klemet Preus and the Historic Liturgy. If you do not have a copy of the “The Fire and the Staff” or the Book of Concord we are providing them for free.
The Psalm for this week is Psalm 48. The Small Catechism lesson is the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
The first half of the class we will be reading through “The Fire and the Staff”. We will continue with Chapter 5: The Church’s Staff (pg. 137-183). We will pick up with Hymns and Learning (pg. 143) and discuss the catechetical role of hymns. We will also discuss why we use hymns instead of praise songs, why the style of music matters in the service, and why we use the liturgy.
For the second half of the class we will continue our study of the Divine Service Setting III in Lutheran Service Book with a discussion about the Gradual (LSB 190). We will talk about where the name for the Gradual comes from and its role in connecting the Old Testament Reading to the Epistle. We will close our discussion with the hymn “O Worship the King” (LSB 804).
We will then discuss the Epistle lesson (LSB 190). We will talk about the importance of the writings of the apostles and how we should not drive a wedge between the apostles and Christ. We will sing the hymn “O Love How Deep” (LSB 544)
Next we will discuss the Alleluia (LSB 190). We will talk about the meaning of this Hebrew word and the Gospel Processional. We will close with singing the sequence hymn “Christians to the Paschal Victim” (LSB 460)
As always new people are always welcome to this study at any point during the class. Please talk to the Pastor, Elders or Paul Edmon if you have any questions.
