Necessary Roughness

After dedicating the congregation’s LSB hymnals and corporate confessional and absolution, Our Savior used Luther’s 1523 Formula Missae et Communionis (Form of Mass and Communion) for Divine Service this Reformation Day morning. I was asked to be the Cantor for the service, the first time I had soloed for Our Saviour.

The use of Formula Missae brought an interesting twist. OSLC usually speaks the Introit and Gradual, then sings through the communion liturgy out of the hymnal. This time, we chanted through the Introit, Gradual, Verse, and Alleluias while speaking the Service of the Sacrament.

For the Introit, Pastor Gau would sing the first half, while I sang the second half. The congregation jumped in as it picked up the melody.

For the Gradual and Verse, there was a triple alleluia, the Gradual, another triple alleluia, the Verse, and another triple alleluia. I soloed the Gradual and Verse, and the congregation joined me on the alleluias. There was a scoring error in our music on the second two alleluias which would have thrown the congregation, so we fixed that. It was a little chaotic because the Psalm tone wasn’t chosen until 15 minutes before the service, but we managed.

For the sermon Pastor Gau read an excerpt from Luther’s sermons on John 8:31-36. It was a tribute to the Word that the sermon text was as applicable today as it was nearly 500 years ago.

Again be advised on the audio, this may be a little loud. I’ve already turned it down about 40%.

The first triple alleluia. The second and third didn’t have the lead-in:

A portion of Psalm 48, the Gradual, which was spared from wrestling with sheet music: