One of the classes I'm taking this semester is all about preparing soon-to-be Directors of Parish Music to enter the field. One of the topics we recently covered in class was newsletter and bulletin inserts. As we as a church prepare to enter the season of Lent, a meditation on our own sinfulness and Christ's saving work done to redeem us, I wrote these informative sample blurbs for my class assignment.
What is a Tenebrae service?
The word Tenebrae
is Latin for “darkness.” In the Middle
Ages, Tenebrae services were held in
the evenings during Holy Week, prior to the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday, and Easter Vigil). Today, Tenebrae services are held on Good
Friday. The service usually includes
seven to ten Scripture readings followed by silent time for reflection and the
singing of all or part of a hymn. Readings
from the Passion Narrative are typically used, although traditionally the
readings were taken from various Psalms.
After each reading, a candle is extinguished. Once the sanctuary is dark, the service
concludes with the strepitus, a loud
noise (often a book slamming shut) representing the tearing of the Temple
curtain and the closing of Christ’s tomb.
In some churches, one candle, the eternal light, is carried out of the
sanctuary until the Easter Vigil. The
people then leave in silence.
What are the Pre-Lent services?
Although in the three-year lectionary the Transfiguration
is celebrated at the end of the season of Epiphany, the one-year lectionary
celebrates it several weeks earlier to allow for three Pre-Lent Sundays. These Sundays are in preparation for the
Lenten season and include Christ’s foretelling of His death and resurrection
from Luke 18. We often call these Sundays
by Greek terms, Septuagesima
(“seventy days”), Sexagesima (“sixty
days”), and Quinquagesima (“fifty
days”). While Quinquagesima is fifty days before Easter, the other two Sundays
are not exactly seventy or sixty days from Easter.
Hymn of the Month: LSB 419
This month we explore the Lenten
hymn “Savior, When in Dust to Thee” by Robert Grant, a British hymn writer who
spent much of his life in India. The
text of this hymn poetically depicts Christ’s saving work for us in the midst of
our hopeless sinfulness. God calls to us
to repentance (Ezek. 18:30–32) and so we implore at the end of every stanza
“[h]ear our penitential cry!” Thanks be
to God that He has sent His Son to redeem us and wash away all of our sin!
In the
first stanza, we sing of our repentance “in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable who
“would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,” we sing of how “to the skies
scarce we lift our weeping eyes” (Luke 18:13; stz. 1).
Christ, who
is God, began His redeeming work of us sinners from the moment He came down to
earth. In stanza two, we remember the
humility of His birth at Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–7) and His temptation in the
wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11).
Stanza
three has us recall the events of Holy Week.
We reflect on Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane (Mark 14:32–42) and His
crucifixion and death (Mark 15:21–39; John19:31–37).
At the end of this stanza we, with David, humbly say “be
gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day” (Ps. 86:3). How wonderful it is that He has heard our cry!
The final
stanza of this hymn gives us a glimpse forward beyond the crucifixion. Here, we sing of Christ’s death (Luke 23:46),
His burial (Luke 23:53), His resurrection (Luke 24:5–6), and His ascension into
heaven (Luke 24:50–53). While our focus
during Lent is on penitence and remembering that Christ came down to bear our
sins, we cannot forget that He rose, and because He rose, we too shall rise!
Online sources:
- Lex Orandi: Pre-Lent
- Hymnary: Savior When in Dust to Thee
- Hymnary: Robert Grant
Print Resources:
- Lutheran Service Book
- Gathered Guests, 2nd ed.
