The Burr in the Burgh

Recently, I read that the Roman Catholic Church will soon be revising the wording of bits of their liturgy. The discussion then ensued about whether liturgical language should be lofty or more colloquial.

I noticed from the examples I read online that a number of the "updates" actually bring the new Roman mass closer to our Lutheran worship texts. So I asked our seminary Dean of Chapel, the Rev. Dr. Paul Grime, to comment. Prior to coming to teach at the seminary a year ago, he was the chief architect of our synod's newest hymnal.

His comments are found on our seminary blog here.

Prospective Students! How would you like to win a copy of the Lutheran Service Book, the Personal / Gift edition and become a published blogger in the process?

We are inviting Concordia University students as well as other prospective seminary applicants to submit brief answers to this question: "What is your favorite hymn in LSB and why?" The answers must be between 300-500 words. A person may submit an entry no more than once per week. A person will only be selected once.

Twice in the month of February (10th & 24th), we will publish on this blog what we believe are the best two responses. The winning writers will receive this handsome resource.

So put on your thinking caps and tell us what you love about the LSB.

The entry form can be found on the seminary's new blog here.

The other day in chapel, we prayed the litany. One of the lines in this wonderful prayer is our petition asking God to save us from a sudden and evil death.

Have you ever thought about that? Don't most people actually want to die suddenly? What's the alternative? A slow and lingering death?

I have a hunch that this is a petition many pray, but simply don't mean (but never think about it either).

What exactly is the problem with a sudden death? We might be able to understand what an evil death would be, but why do we wish to be spared a sudden death?

You know Shakespeare's Hamlet. One of the prince's greatest sorrows at his father's death is that he was murdered while he slept. They poured poison in the poor king's ear. Prince Hamlet explains that the murderers killed his father twice because not only did they slay his body but by killing him unexpectedly, he had no occasion to shrive himself (g0 to receive private absolution).

Are you prepared to die? How does one become prepared? A sudden death suggests that one has not had opportunity to ready oneself to meet the Maker. I suppose this would be a more pressing concern if I feared thousands of years in purgatory.

A Christian finds great comfort indeed from making personal confession and receiving God's gracious absolution from the pastor. And it is a joy and consolation w/o comparison to partake of the Holy Eucharist. As a congregational pastor, I had the opportunity to stand at the deathbeds of many people and offer them God's grace and mercy. Not only was this a comfort for the dying person, but certainly also for the family.

Should this mean, however, that a Christian who is baptized into Christ and faithfully makes use of the means of grace throughout his life, relying on God's mercy, should be overly distressed at the prospect of a sudden death, as if the eternal outcome were are at urgent risk?