Biblical Worship of the One True God

The information in this book comes from a lifetime of experience as a Lutheran, from many Lutheran pastors who have taught me over the years, from commentaries, books that I’ve read over the years, and from the internet. This project has evolved and expanded beyond the original idea. Initially I intended to write a short summary of each part of the Divine Service. But as I worked on it, it became more and more detailed. Having begun only as a summary, I did not start out citing my references, although now I wish I had. I have gone back and tried to cite my references, but have found it hard to do at best. To those who I have borrowed from but have not cited, I apologize.

At the end of this booklet I have listed all of the internet sites that I used. The only exceptions to this are those sites where the links have become dead links. That is one problem with the internet. If the address to an article is changed, you’ve lost your link to it without much of a chance of re-finding it.

All scripture quotations are taken from the ESV (Enlish Standard Verion) by using the Bible Gateway website: http://www.biblegateway.com/. When the bible verses were looked up and copied, they contained cross references to other parts of the Bible. [By the way, it's kind of neat to use this feature when studing the Bible online.] So within the Bible verses you will see capitalized letters with parentheses. There were also footnotes in the text, which were marked with lower case letters with parentheses.

Quotations from the Divine Service were taken from the Lutheran Service Book (LSB), which is published by Concordia Publishing House (CPH) in 2006.

1. Divine Service or Worship Service?
. . .What is the church service all about?
. . .In Worship are we there for God or is God there for us?
. . .Holy Ground
. . .Faith, the Highest Form of Worship

2. The Old Testament Divine Service
. . .The Origin of the Divine Service: How God Deals with Sinners
. . .God’s word determines the OT divine service
. . .The OT pattern for the NT Divine Service
. . .Synagogue Worship Develops

3. The New Testament Framework
. . .Worship at the Beginning of the NT
. . .Jesus Ministry Defines Christian Worship as Divine Service
. . .Christian Worship after Jesus’ Ascension
. . .Worship in Heaven

4. The Order of the Divine Service
. . .The Order of the Divine Service
. . .The Benefits of the Divine Service Liturgy
. . .Why We Use the Historic Liturgy

5. Sights, Sounds, Actions, and Space In the Divine Service
. . .The Sign of the Cross
. . .Processions
. . .Silence
. . .Body Postures
. . .Colors of the Church Year
. . .Robes, Dress For Worship Leaders
. . .Sacred Space, the Layout of the Church
. . .Chanting, Liturgical Dialogue

6. Preparation for the Divine Service
. . .Prelude
. . .Processional Hymn
. . .Invocation
. . .Confession and Absolution

7. The Service of the Word
. . .Introit
. . .Kyrie
. . .Hymn of Praise
. . .Salutation and Collect of the Day
. . .The Reading of God’s Word
. . . . . OT Lesson
. . . . . Gradual
. . . . . Epistle Lesson
. . . . . Alleluia Verse
. . . . . Holy Gospel
. . .The Hymn of the Day
. . .The Creed
. . .The Sermon
. . .The Offering and Offertory
. . . . . Offering
. . . . . Offertory
. . .The Prayers

8. The Service of Holy Communion
. . .The Preface
. . .The Sanctus
. . .The Pre-Communion Prayer or Lord’s Prayer
. . .The Words of Institution
. . .The Peace
. . .The Agnes Dei
. . .The Communion Distribution
. . .The Post-Communion Canticle
. . .The Prayer of Thanksgiving
. . .The Benediction

9. Divine Service Summary Outline

10. The Foci of the Divine Service
. . .Focus on Jesus Christ
. . .Focus on The Triune God
. . .Focus on The Gospel (The Good News of God’s Actions For Us)

11. Conclusion