So what is the state of the Common Service in your congregation? Please answer the poll at right and put in the comments any notes you think worthwhile for others to read - for example, did you reintroduce the service where you are now serving? Did some pastor come in and take it away from you? Did you leave it for a while but then come back to it?
The congregations I'm serving now began holding Divine Service in English in 1915-16. The Common Service has been the only order of Communion ever used here in these 95 years. Any others with that kind of history? Anybody out there serving or attending a congregation where it's never been used? If so, when was that parish founded?
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Mine was planted by another church that used a version of the CS only. In the 80s we were apparently using the LW update of the CS as well as LWI, and now it's LSB I-V on regular rotation (V on 5th Sun.), so once a month, essentially, excluding non Sun. services, which also seem to rotate. Funny, though, whenever there's guest pastors, it's almost always the CS.
ReplyDeleteWe only use the Common, (although apparently my predecessor had used the "Creative Worship" things. . . fortunately, I was told they used the hymnal, which was TLH at the time, so we have used only the hymnal these 6 years) although I don't think DS 1,2, 5, or even 4 are too off base. They are simply not known by this congregation. Whether the standard is simply the Common Service or simply one of the 5 LSB DS, either is fine with me. I also would gladly concede the use of 1,2,4, or 5 if not using creative orders were conceded in return.
ReplyDeleteWe use only Services from the Hymnal (LSB). On Sundays it is either DS Setting 1, 3, or 4. We use Matins or Morning Prayer on Tuesday-Friday mornings. For Advent and Lent Services we use Evening Prayer or the Service of Prayer & Preaching. We have Holy Communion ever Sunday but one per month (I am working on it) and on the one Sunday per month we do not have the Sacrament we use Matins or Morning Prayer or Service of Prayer & Preaching.
ReplyDeleteOne clarification - when I say "Common Service" I'm being specific to the Order that bears that name and appears in TLH p. 15, in LW as DS Setting I (gently edited), and in LSB as DS Setting 3. Christian Worship, the WELS Hymnal, also contains a gently edited version of the Common Service along the lines of LW Setting 1.
ReplyDeleteLW's DS Setting II = LSB's DS Setting 1 and is a post-Vatican II Lutheran order developed along the lines Roman Catholic liturgical thought at mid-century (the "Vatican II Mindset").
LSB's DS Setting 5 is a version of Luther's German Mass that largely replaces the ordinary with hymns.
An aside: are you confused yet by all this numbering and settings business? Another reason to favor the Common Service! :) In a previous discussion, I think it was the good Dcn. Muehlenbruch who pointed out that we really should use the word "setting" to refer to different musical arrangements while we should use "order" to refer to different words. LSB's Divine Service Setting 1 is actually a different order than Setting 3 (the Common Service), not merely a different "setting."
But, alas, the deacon's good advice will go unheeded and this the terminology we are stuck with.
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We have only used the Common Service here, except for the German Mass (in English) on the 5th Sunday of the month and when the Reformation is observed. So I guess I'm going to vote the alongside other orders, but the DM is really far behind in usage.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, we have used the common service at least since my great-grandfather was called here as pastor in 1896. We are still a TLH congregation, having rejected LSB, and have divine service every Sunday (at least at the 10:30 service).
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ReplyDeleteWhen the congregation went to every Sunday Communion it was semi-conditional on getting the new hymnal with the vareity of settings of the DS. The other settings have contributed to making the CS the most favored service of our congregation. We vary the settings by seasons or about a 2 month rotation. CS is always the setting for feasts.
ReplyDeleteWe use all the DS of LSB, sticking with one setting for most of the year, except that we use DS Setting 3 once a month and DS Setting 4 & 5 only very occasionally...
ReplyDeleteThis parish has been out of TLH since 1982 and only the old foggies truly remember and rejoice in the CS... I grew up with it and love it, too, but I also love the DS Settings 1 & 2...
The only deviations we regularly make... the sharing of the peace comes after the Absolution ala Charles Evanson at Redeemer where I was for 6 years through college and seminary... and we always include a Eucharistic prayer (from one of the published versions of the LCMS -- Peter Brunner, WS 1969, HS 98, LW (though pieced back together after it was chopped up and distributed throughout the prayer of the day and prayer of thanksgiving), and LSB...
Order vs Setting...
ReplyDeleteI am not so sure I would divide the two so clearly... the CS includes the strangeness of the Our Father prior to the Verba which I think is a Lutheran peculiarity that does not need to be continued... outside of the optional hymn of praise and some rearranging of the creed, Hymn of the Day, prayers, etc... Not really a radically different order... but not just a musical different setting either...
Our parish rotates between LSB's DS1 and DS3 seasonally.
ReplyDeleteIn the 80s, the parish switched from TLH to LW, and began using DS1 and DS2 in seasonal rotation.
The use of both the CS and the V2 orders is a compromise to satisfy people who prefer "page 15" as well as those who either "don't like all the thees and thous" or who prefer the music setting and option of "This Is The Feast" in DS1.
The unintended consequence of LW was to give us multiple wordings of the Mass. It would have been better to keep the same words and give different musical settings. What we have now is multiple sets of words, making memorization harder - and with LSB, we're now up to five "settings."
I'm wondering which we'll eventually have more of: blades in men's disposable razors, or settings of the Divine Service in our hymnals. I think right now we're tied at five.
" What we have now is multiple sets of words, making memorization harder - and with LSB, we're now up to five "settings.""
ReplyDeleteJust what Luther warned against when it came to teaching the Catechism.
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"What we have now is multiple sets of words, making memorization harder"
ReplyDeleteOn this, it's one thing if you introduce a new hymn that could be substituted in (like "This is the Feast") - it's another think when you have to remember if we are doing the DS1 Gloria or the DS3 Gloria. That's the main confusion -- that DS1 tried to be like the CS but. . . wasn't. Keep the lyrics but to a different tune, or just do a whole new hymn. The tinkering is what makes memorization difficult.
This holds true for hymns as well. Don't tinker with another man's poetry. If you want it to say something else, go write your own.
I serve a former English Synod Church (now English District) organized in 1899. It had used the ELHB and TLH when they were published. Since the introduction of Lutheran Worship, the parish has primarily used what is now LSB Setting 1.
ReplyDeleteLast year, I reestablished a modified use of the Common Service (LSB Setting 3) during the time of Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. The modifications are: (a) the Nicene Creed is confessed after the Sermon; (b) the Offertory is sung after the Prayer of the Church and Gathering of Offerings; and (c) the Culto Cristiano Eucharistic Prayer (translated by A.C. Piepkorn) with the Verba excised is used as the Prayer of Thanksgiving between the Lord's Prayer and Verba.
At St. Stephen's the order of Mass was changed, I think seasonally. Then a couple of years ago my pastor decided to go for consistency throughout the year. The order we use is extremely close to that of the Common Service. Some of the main differences:
ReplyDelete1. We have recatholicized the Creed. That is to say, "Catholicam" in our English Mass is "Catholic."
2. The preparatory rite is much different. It is essentially a traditional confiteor, with Psalm 43.
3. We have corrected the order of Gospel-Creed-hymn-sermon. For us, at Low Mass the order is Gospel-sometimes homily-Creed, and at Sung Mass it is Gospel-Homily-Creed, with hymn before the gradual & alleluia. I know that's out of wack for many of you, but it really makes no sense to slip things between the Gospel and the Homily. I'll have to make my argument in its own blog post sometime.
4. Also, there are things that are in our Mass which are not in the Common Service, but which do not, in my view constitute a real break from the Common Service, such as the washing of the hands & Lavabo, or the Munda cor meum before the Gospel, or the use of incense, etc.