What the Ceremonial Acts of the Liturgy Confess, Part
II
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s I preparee further for the workshop I am to give at the
Synod's Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music at
While on
the one hand ceremony says something by its very nature, even apart from the
words that accompany it, as I wrote last month, the structure of the liturgy is
also informative, as the ongoing series I put in this newsletter over many
months (and which is also in The New
Testament in His Blood) also explains.
The fact
that we must approach the Almighty God in humility, and according to His word,
is confessed first by the "entrance" we make in the Introit: while
singing words from the Psalter, and second by the words we utter when we
"arrive": Lord, have mercy.
These words (of the Kyrie) are immediately followed by the Gloria in
Excelsis, because we know that the Lord is
merciful in the sending of His Son to be our Redeemer. The Gloria is the song of the angels at
Jesus' birth, and an expanded canticle whose basis is these words. This, too, confesses that we know God is
merciful, only through Jesus. Thus the entire opening sequence of the Mass is a
confession: only through Jesus, we have a merciful God, and may approach Him
with boldness.
Next we
hear the readings, confess the Creed, and hear the Sermon. The sermon is supposed to highlight the
fulfillment of all the Scriptures in Christ.
It is the preaching of Him crucified and risen the third day
("according to the Scriptures"), and is therefore a predominant New
Testament phenomenon, as the Gospel of Mark declares: "And they went
forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs
following" (St. Mark 16:20).
So therefore,
since the fulfillment is proclaimed and manifested in the sermon, as soon as
the sermon is complete, it becomes time to receive the fulfillment, to become
united to it. Hence the Holy Sacrament
follows logically. First, there is
further preparation (in a sense, everything up to this point is prepararation),
in the Preface and Proper Preface, and then, in the Sanctus. The Sanctus is a magnificent canticle
highlighting fulfillment, as it begins with the vision of Isaiah and blends it
with Jesus' triumphal entry. That is,
the thrice-holy One, of whom we sing, "heaven and earth are full of Thy
glory," is now Himself mentally pictured riding into Jerusalem amid cries of "Hosanna in the
highest," as he prepares his holy week movement toward the cross.
Then comes
our participation in His cross. For
although He died once for all, the effects of His death are ongoing: we receive
the elements of His sacrifice in the Supper.
Here, then, is the heart of who we are as Christians: direct recipients
of His atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world. The Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world (of whom we sing in the Agnus Dei just prior to our
approach to the altar) here personally takes our sin away, because we receive
His crucified Body and His shed Blood.
The holy
liturgy is a treasure that confesses the Gospel by its very structure. It shows us the Gospel and delivers to us the
Christ of the Gospel.
+ Pastor Eckardt
Sunday Mass Moves to 8:30 a.m. beginning July 6th
By a
unanimous vote at a special voters’ assembly meeting in May, the congregation
has opted to change our time of Sunday Masses to 8:30 a.m. The vote was actually provisional, depending
on agreeability to our organist Ryan Van Wassenhove. Ryan has been juggling two
service times, since he plays at another church later in the morning. The voters were happy to accomodate him,
since everyone agrees that he is a great asset to our congregation. In addition, some expressed the agreeability
of an earlier start in the summer anyhow, due to the summer heat. Since Ryan has agreed, the provisional vote
went into effect, and our new time of Mass becomes a reality the first Sunday
in July, on a permanent basis.
Bible class
and the Sunday School hour consequently will be moving to 10:15, providing an
extra fifteen minutes for people to have breakfast. The morning classes will end at 11:00 a.m.,
fifteen minutes before the current ending time of 11:15.
Birthday Party for Otis Anderson July 13th
Members of the congregation are all invited to stick around
after Bible Class on Sunday, July 13th, to help Otis Anderson
celebrate his 80th birthday party.
It will be a barbecue lunch, as an ‘open house’ running until 3 p.m.
Jim Watson Hearing Set for July 16th
If you’ve been following the trial of Jim Watson, you are
aware that he was acquitted of the Class X Felony charge against him, but
convicted of the lesser class 2 Felony counts against him. Jim has been in the
county jail for several months, and we are hopeful that the judge will sentence
him only to time already served. I wrote
a letter to the judge to vouch for his character. If you also would like to support him, you
could do so by simply showing up in the courtroom for his sentencing
hearing. His attorney has indicated that
the presence of friends can help persuade a judge not to be too harsh in
sentencing. The hearing is set for Wednesday, July 16th, at 1 pm, at
the courthouse in Cambridge .
+ Pastor
Institute
on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music
From July 28th to the 31st, a
Synod-wide Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music is being held on
the campus of Concordia University in Seward ,
Nebraska Nebraska .
He will not be available for Bible Class that day, but we may have plans
for a film in lieu of class. Stay tuned.
First Tuesday events
July’s
Altar Guild and Elders meetings are set for Tuesday, July 1st, and
Tuesday, August 5th.
July
Ushers: Steve Peart, Grant Andresen, Larry Campbell
Shut
ins
Mary Hamilton at home; Anna Baker at home; Emmy Wear at Williamsfield
Home in Williamsfield.
July, August Anniversaries
July:
7/1/1951 John and Emilie
Ricknell
7/23/1955 Donald and
Carol Kegebein
August:
8/1/2009 Chris and Trista Dooley
8/2/1975 Raymond and Carol Robinson
8/21/1998 Daniel and Jill Powers
July
and August Birthdays
July:
7/2 Jean Russell
7/2 Dana McReynolds
7/4 Sarah Kraklow
7/5 Sandra
Verplaetse
7/7 Stephen Harris
7/10 Otis Anderson
7/10 Dale Baker
7/13 Gayle Beauprez
7/14 Pastor Eckardt
7/16 Robert
Schoen
7/20 Julie Janik
7/23 Donna Harlow
7/20 Anna Baker
7/30 Peggy Janik
August:
8/2 Shania
Kraklow
8/2 Joyce Long
8/9 Donald Kegebein
8/11 Sam Fisher
8/11 Judy Thompson
8/13 Donald Murphy
8/16 Trista Dooley
8/17 Steven Peart
8/21 John Sovanski
8/24 Becky Russell
8/27 Steve Peart
Save Your Metal
Linda Rowe is collecting metal to take for cash, to help pay
for church repairs. Please save yours,
and let her know.
Choir Rehearsals
Regular choir rehearsals will resume Wednesday evening, August 13h,
as we prepare for Oktoberfest. Our choir
is small, of course, but we hope to get some reinforcements when Pastor's
family members arrive for that weekend.
Meanwhile we need to be preparing in month and a half till then. Mark
your calendars and do your level best to make all rehearsals.
Altar Guild News
Beginning in July, Sunday masses are at 8:30 a.m.
No mass Saturday, June 28th (unity service June 29th):
SS Peter and Paul (color: Red)
Wednesday, July 2nd: The Visitation (color: White
Color reverts to Green after July 2nd. Green throughout the rest of July and August,
except for these Wednesdays:
July 23rd,
St. Mary Magdalene, obs (July 24th) Color: White.
August 13th, Dormition
B.V.M., obs (August 15th). Color: White
August 27th, Beheading of
St. John
No mass Wednesday, July 30th (Pastor at Nebraska conference)
St. Laurence (Aug. 10th) and St. Bartholomew (Aug 24th)
fall on Sundays, and are not observed except with a second collect.
In
Our Prayers
Our
current list of prayer intentions at mass includes the names on the lists here
following. To update the list, please
inform pastor.
In our parish:
Emilie Ricknell, John Ricknell, Linda
Rowe, John Sovanski, Jean Russell, Lucille Kemerling
And all of our shut-ins.
And also:
Anna Rutowicz [re Harris]
Julie Ross [Svetlana Meaker’s daughter, cancer]
Caleb Cleaver [Ricknell]
Christian Johnson [re Kemerlings]
Madison Lindsay [re Andersons
Jill Matchett [re Shreck]
Anthony Strand [re Murphys]
Edna Day [Chris Harden’s mother-in-law, cancer]
Carolyn Lewis [re Campbells
Barb Fornoff [re Russells]
Lorene Foglesong [re Kraklows]
Susan Gehlbach [re Eckardt]
Corbin Gonzales [re Russell]
Harold Harfst, [re Murphy]
Nancy Eckardt, pastor’s mother
David Wexell, Verplaetses’ friend,
cancer
Kathy Van Wassenhove, Verplaetses’
friend, cancer
Pastors Don Chambers, [Manito]
Brian Feicho [E. St. Louis ]
Glenn Niemann [Pekin
Arthur Baisch [cancer]
Adam Jacobsen [Mattoon
and Klemet Preus
[Minneapolis
In the military:
John Eckardt, Donny Appleman [re Ricknell], Thomas Kim [re Shreck, Jaclyn Harden Alvarez,
Michael Creech [re Murphy], Richard
Heiden [re Eckardt]
In trouble
especially any unborn children in danger of abortion,
and those suffering from unrest, persecution, and imprisonment in Iraq, Sudan,
Nigeria, North Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
Some persecution details. Website: www.persecution.net.
As
a ruthless militant group sweeps across the country and leaves devastation in
its wake, Christians are urgently seeking prayer for their homeland. Militants
from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), an extremely violent
offshoot of al-Qaeda, have gained full control of Mosul Nineveh ,
the city is the traditional heartland of Iraq Iraq Nineveh Iraq ISIS has
"totally taken control, destroyed all government departments, allowed all
prisoners out of the prisons, killed countless numbers of people...." The
resulting devastation is heartbreaking, for he adds, "There are bodies all
over the streets." Hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis have fled to Kurdistan to escape this humanitarian crisis.
At
11 p.m. on June 9th, several hundred people -- including police, government
officials, civil defense authorities and hired thugs -- raided the Mennonite Bible School
The
attackers finally dispersed about two hours later. Despite the intimidation,
Pastor Quang is determined to continue the work of the Bible school.
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