Fourth Sunday in Lent: Scripture and Liturgy

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Scripture and Liturgy

On Wednesday evenings in Lent, a small group of FLC members has been gathering to discuss the topic of worship, using a resource titled “Worship Matters.”  At our last session, the chapter explored the scriptural basis of our liturgy. 

I find it quite reassuring and helpful to realize that many of the words we speak or sing on Sunday morning or in other liturgies actually are scripture.  Through our weekly encounter with these words and by their repetition, they are internalized and become part of our being. 

For example, on Ash Wednesday we sing this Gospel Acclamation from the book of Joel:

Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
[and relents from punishing.]  (Joel 2:13)

Several settings of Holy Communion in ELW extend this Gospel Acclamation through the entire season of Lent, keeping these Ash Wednesday words close to our hearts for the season of 40 days and 6 Sundays.

This year, since we are using ELW Setting One, we sing in Lent: “Let your steadfast Love come to us, O Lord.  Save us as you promised, we will trust in your Word.”  This text has its basis in several Psalms, such as Psalm 33, verse 22, and Psalm 119, verses 41 and 76. 

One of the study resources related to ELW is a book titled The Sunday Assembly.  This text addresses the scriptural basis of worship by asking:

“How far back does our own liturgical tradition reach?  It reaches fully and deeply back to biblical roots, both Old and New Testaments.  Beginning with the biblical witness, our liturgical texts combine words of scripture with other Christian texts to form the tapestry we now hear as the familiar prayers, responses, and songs of worship.”  (14)

For an in depth look at this scriptural basis, take a look at a brief section in the back of the ELW that lays out these texts in liturgical order.  This outline is on pages 1154 – 1159.