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Weekly Devotional

October 1, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all.

Psalm 95:1-7  O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!  ² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!  ³ For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  ⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.  ⁵ The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.  ⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!  ⁷ For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!

            Many of you know that this past week I spent time at the General Retreat of the Society of the Holy Trinity (STS).  One of the things I really appreciate about this retreat is the amount of worship that we have.  We begin with Matins before breakfast, followed by Terce, Sext, Vespers, and then ending the day with Compline. 

Check out the Wikipedia entry for Canonical Hours  for more info

            One thing about praying the Prayer Office as it is known is that all the titles are written in Latin, which is an old time church tradition.  In the Lutheran Book of Worship (the old green hymnal) that was especially true, although our current hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, leaves some of these Latin titles out.  For example, many of you probably know what the Kyrie is in our service.  But do you know what the Sanctus or the Pax Domini is? Wikipedia has a great page solely only the Lutheran Service (also called the Divine Service, its official title for several hundred years).  I invite you all to check out this page when you get a moment, and see some of the great traditions that we still hold to in our denomination.  As always, I hope you learn a thing or two.

See also the Wikipedia entry for Lutheran Divine Service

In our prayers this week: Bobby, Ann, Jim A., Jerry V., Mike C., and Gere

God’s Peace,