Hallowed Be Thy Name

At church this pre-Lent and Lenten-tide, we are going through the Lord's Prayer and memorizing the corresponding section from Luther's Small Catechism. For Sexagesima (second Sunday before Ash Wednesday, for those who are unfamiliar with the historic one-year lectionary), our focus was the first petition:

First Petition

Hallowed be Thy name.

What does this mean?

God's name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.

How is God's name kept holy?

God's name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God's Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!

This comes at an apropos time. Reading and studying God's Word has been very comforting as I struggle with certain events in my personal life. As sinful humans, we get caught up with things that happen around us. We are concerned with where our country is headed, with wars and rumors of wars abroad, and with the struggles, both physical and mental, of our family and friends. We think that there are things that we can do, no, that we must do, to help remedy these situations.

But guess what? We are sinful! There is nothing we can do. There is nothing I can do.

We pray that's God's Word be kept holy. Not that we keep it holy, as if our actions, our works, can do anything, but that it be kept holy.

Isaiah 55:10-13 (ESV)

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

God sends out His Word among us. The Word become flesh and fullfilled the Law, taking upon Himself our sin, becoming sin for us, to cleanse us of it. And now we pray that this Word of Truth may be kept holy among us also. We pray, and that is all we can do.  God has done and will do the rest.

Thine over all shall be the praise
And thanks of ev'ry nation;
And all the world with joy shall raise
The voice of exultation.
For Thou shalt judge the earth, O Lord,
Nor suffer sin to flourish;
Thy people's pasture is Thy Word
Their souls to feed and nourish,
In righteous paths to keep them.
                      LSB 823 stanza 2

Preparing for Lent

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:

-  What is Pre-Lent

-  Lex Orandi:  Pre-Lent

-  One Year Lectionary and Pre-Lent

-  more about Pre-Lent

-  Hymnary:  Savior When in Dust to Thee

-  Hymnary:  Robert Grant

-  more about  Robert Grant

Print Resources:

-  Lutheran Service Book

-  Gathered Guests, 2nd ed.