Holy Mass
The Divine Service or Holy Mass
Apostolic Teaching
Jesus instituted this holy Sacrament (Lat. sacramentum = mystery) on the night when He was betrayed, as recorded by the Gospel writers and the Apostle Paul.
This blessed meal was foreshadowed by the Paschal mystery (a.k.a. Passover), a festival established by the LORD to commemorate His rescue of the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery. But Jesus uses that Passover meal (ordained in the first exodus from bondage in Egypt) to introduce the greater deliverance and the new and greater Exodus by one greater than Moses.
This salvation is given by God to rescue all people from sin and death through the free forgiveness of sins which Jesus Christ has won for the whole world. Christ’s death became the propitiation and covering for the sins of the whole world, reconciling the world to God, in accord with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our Bold Confession Today
A summary and conflation of the verba domini (words of our Lord) as recorded by the three Synoptics and First Corinthians, which in this form together faithfully represents the full witness of the Holy Spirit to the words used by our Lord to institute this Blessed Sacrament, is today repeated verbatim in our churches during Holy Mass:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
It is the articulation of these words alone spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ (within the actions of the Holy Supper as Jesus performed them) which have the power of consecration. Without the verba domini, there is no Sacrament.
Indeed, it is Christ alone who exhibits His own power in the Sacrament. Prayers spoken by the priest cannot bring it to reality. The Word of Christ alone is powerful enough to make it what it is.
The mystery which pervades this Blessed Sacrament cannot be fully appreciated by human reason, and our church does not try to explain such a mystery by the theories of man (including the theory of transubstantiation or the theory of symbolic language, etc.). Christ alone can interpret and fully understand His own words, and we are called simply to believe them just as they are given.
Forget about what men may say about this Holy Supper of our Lord. Forget about what churches may say about it. Let Christ’s words alone guide all our understanding and belief. Any person who doubts that Christ means what He says should consider two things:
- the seriousness with which Christ Himself instituted this holy meal on the night when He was betrayed, and
- what promises He Himself (not the church) has attached to it through His own words.
Notes on Holy Communion
We receive Christ’s gifts in Divine Service each Sunday. This is the time and place where Christ comes to feed His people with His life-giving Body and Blood. This miracle happens every Sunday morning in the Nave of our church, where the Faithful gather to hear God’s Word and receive Christ’s precious Sacrament. If you want to learn more about our beliefs and practice with regard to the Lord’s Supper, please read our statement on Closed Communion.
After the Preparatory Service, there are two very ancient services which together constitute one longer service, traditionally called the Mass. The Service of the Word comes first, followed by the Service of the Sacrament.
The Preparatory Service
On any given Sunday this preliminary rite could be a Baptism or it could be the time when God’s people hear and receive Christ’s Absolution, spoken by the Pastor to all penitents, as we corporately and publicly confess our sins before God. The latter is not meant to replace private confession and absolution, which continues to be offered by pastors who serve in churches of the Augsburg Confession, and which stands as one of the three Sacraments given by Christ to the church, but this corporate confession and absolution has become more common among Lutheran churches in the past century.
The Service of the Word
The Service of the Word is for all people. It is sometimes called the Mass of the Catechumens for this reason, because it is intended even for those who are not yet confirmed in the Unity of Faith as taught by all churches of the Augsburg Confession. All people everywhere (but most importantly those who are being catechized) need the Word being proclaimed, sung, and preached, and so all are welcomed to receive the Word of God during this first part of the Mass.
Because it includes many common elements of Christian worship practiced by Protestant churches, this is the portion of the service that may seem the most familiar to you, if you come from a Non-denominational, Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian church, for example. Some elements will be very familiar to Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Greek Orthodox as well, as we love the Historic Liturgy and as we follow the common Church Year seasons and use a Lectionary tied to many of the same festivals common especially in the Christian West.
Readings, Prayers, and Preaching
We sing, pray, and hear the Word of God. Our pastor preaches a sermon. Hearing the Word of God is vital to your life as a Christian, and so we put great emphasis on the public reading of Scripture as well as what the pastor preaches, expecting him always and only to preach Christ Crucified among us.
Hymn Singing
We love singing the great hymns of the Reformation (and some that pre-date even the Reformation period). Some of them may be familiar, but some of these treasures have been left on the shelf for far too long. So be sure to bring your dusting mitts, and come ready to sing the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints! Over time, the hymns (of Luther, Crull, Gerhardt, et al.) will become easier to sing, and they will bless your faith, since they are steeped in the Word of God and inculcate pure doctrine.
The Word of God (External Word) and the Holy Spirit
The Liturgy is the public Service of the Word, and so one can expect to hear the Word of God in many and varied ways and never be disappointed with that Word, as the whole service focuses on the Word of God.
Indeed, God’s Word, or what we like to call it, the External Word of God, is what you will find in the Liturgy of the church. This is precisely where one can find God the Holy Spirit at work in today’s world, for He works through that External Word to bring change (and salvation) to the inner man.
Unlike what many false teachers say these days, we do not look for the Holy Spirit to be working apart from that External Word. The Liturgy, since it is grounded in the Word of God, is our firewall against the shallowness, the subjectivity, and the individualism that has crept into modern American forms of worship, and God the Holy Spirit uses this Liturgy to keep us in the one true Faith.
The Service of the Sacrament
Historically called the Mass, the Service of the Sacrament (also called ‘‘Holy Communion’’ or ‘’the Lord’s Supper’’) is celebrated after the sermon for our Communicant Members. It is also called the Mass of the Faithful to signify that it is this portion of the Mass which is intended for penitents (those who, returning to their Baptism, confess their sins and receive absolution by the Pastor) who are already catechized and confirmed in the Faith as taught by churches of the Augsburg Confession.
So, if you are not yet confirmed in our doctrines and practices, we encourage you to speak with the Pastor (after the Mass) while you’re here to gather additional information or to ask him any questions you may have. If you are not yet confirmed, you are invited to come forward (with arms crossed to signify that you are not receiving Holy Communion today) to kneel at the Communion rail with other penitents who will be receiving Holy Communion, and thus to ask for and receive a pastoral blessing.
Because our Communicant members believe that Christ’s true Body and Blood are distributed from this Altar, you will see that these penitents actually show great respect when approaching the Altar and may genuflect or kneel at the Communion rail in reverence to Christ.