Notes for Lententide
Liturgical and theological rubrics worth consideration
On Ash Wednesday, the season of Lent began. I would like to share a few helpful, though obvious, liturgical rubrics for Lent, as well as suggestions and resources for personal Lenten devotions and piety. I hope you find the following suggestions useful and informative, and perhaps consider using some of them in your own personal devotions. The Church’s liturgical traditions are beautiful theological gifts that deserve considerable attention.
First, liturgical rubrics for Lent:
Paraments and vestments:
According to the undisputed custom in the Western Church, violet paraments and vestments are used during Lent. A notable exception to this rule is Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent. On this day, rose may be used. Like its Advent counterpart, Gaudete Sunday, Laetare is a break from the penitential nature of Lent. It is a day on which the Church may “momentarily” rejoice amid the somber character of Lent.
Additionally, any feast days that occur during Lent take their appointed liturgical color, usually red or white, until Holy Week. If a feast occurs during Holy Week, it is not typically celebrated. This affects, though rarely, the Annunciation of our Lord, celebrated on March 25, which occasionally falls during Holy Week. This is not a concern this year.
Gloria in Excelsis:
The Gloria is omitted from Septuagesima Sunday to the Easter Vigil. Thus, in the mass the Kyrie is followed by the collect of the day. Traditions vary, but some practices allow the Gloria to be sung if a feast day occurs within Lent, especially the Annunciation of our Lord. Local customs may vary.
Alleluia:
For those churches using the one-year lectionary, Alleluias were dispensed on Septuagesima, which occurred three weeks before Ash Wednesday. For those following the three-year lectionary, Alleluias were dispensed last Sunday. While the Lutheran Service Book (LSB) appoints a replacement verse for the Alleluia before the Gospel, the Alleluia may be replaced by a tract. A tract is a series of psalm verses that are sung or spoken without an antiphon or refrain. Different tracts are appointed for each Sunday in Lent. Here, for example, is the tract historically appointed for Reminiscere, the second Sunday in Lent:
Lord said to the woman of Canaan:
It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs to be eaten.
And she said: Truth, Lord:
Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.
Jesus said unto her: O woman, great is thy faith:
Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
For the Daily Offices, the following alterations are made:
Responses that contain “Alleluias” are replaced with Lenten rubrics, such as the opening versicles: “Praise to Thee, O Christ, [King of eternal glory]” in place of “Alleluia.” Additionally, Lenten responsories are appointed to be sung after the lections, though nuances exist that will be explained momentarily. Finally, the Suffrages may be sung or spoken after the Lord’s Prayer before the remaining Collects. A version of the Suffrages may be found here, though they are often included in daily prayer resources like breviaries and missals. The Suffrages are versicles reserved for use in penitential season like Lent and Advent, as well as Ember Days and other days of fasting.
The Gloria Patri is retained, though it is dispensed on Judica Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, on which Passiontide begins. An interesting dilemma occurs, however, for those using LSB, which appoints a single responsry to be used throughout the entirety of Lent which does not include the Gloria Patri. In keeping with the historic liturgical tradition, breviaries like the Brotherhood Prayer Book (BPB) appoint responsories that include the Gloria Patri to be used until Passiontide, during which a separate responsory is appointed that does not include the Gloria Patri.
A word on fasting, a common Lenten tradition:
Fasting is not commanded in Scripture, as expressed in the Lutheran Confessions—but it is certainly encouraged. Fasting teaches self-discipline and personal restraint. Jesus experienced fierce physical and spiritual temptation in the wilderness, and He fasted. We also face extensive persecution from the devil, against whom we must fight with the weapons of the Spirit. We must also fight with our bodies. To resist temptation and restrain the appetites—perhaps literally—of our sinful nature are commendable Christian traditions, especially during penitential seasons.
Fasting also follows the custom of our Lord, who fasted throughout the forty days of His temptation in the wilderness. With regard to fasting as a Lenten tradition, St. Leo the Great once preached:
We know indeed, dearly-beloved, your devotion to be so warm that in the fasting, which is the forerunner of the Lord's Easter, many of you will have forestalled our exhortations. But because the right practice of abstinence is needful not only to the mortification of the flesh but also to the purification of the mind, we desire your observance to be so complete that, as you cut down the pleasures that belong to the lusts of the flesh, so you should banish the errors that proceed from the imaginations of the heart. For he whose heart is polluted with no misbelief prepares himself with true and reasonable purification for the Paschal Feast, in which all the mysteries of our religion meet together.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Edition, Vol. 12.
A word on the daily lectionary for Lent, as found in historic one-year lectionaries:
I reference The Lutheran Missal (TLM) project frequently, but it is only fitting as its creators, editors, and formulators are working to provide an excellent liturgical resource for the Lutheran Church. We certainly need a daily missal for use in our churches. I wanted to draw attention to their extended lectionary, which appoints propers for daily masses throughout Lent. Observing daily masses is a historic practice that the TLM hopes to revive, at least in part, in the Lutheran Church.
Even if your church does not celebrate daily masses or even daily offices, it would be greatly beneficial to make use of the lectionary that the TLM has provided. Not only would one get a sense for the lectionary that the Western Church has historically used, but would be immersed in appropriate texts that aid Lenten devotion.
Though it is likely too late to effect change in your congregation this year, perhaps you might feel inclined to present this lectionary—and the TLM project itself—to your pastor. While it is not yet completed, they have provided regular updates on the progression of the missal as well as a majority of the completed lectionary system. Field testers are also welcome. The compilers of TLM are also beginning a project to compile a Lutheran breviary, another welcome and worthwhile resource.
I would also like to note that the Brotherhood Prayer Book includes propers for every day of the year, in all liturgical seasons. Such is the purpose of a daily breviary. The BPB would be another excellent resource for those looking for a daily lectionary system for individual/family use, yet especially during Lententide.
A word on penitence:
Lent is often described as a “penitential season.” What does this mean, and how is it related to the Church’s liturgical traditions? Penitence is genuine sorrow and regret for having done wrong. It is not merely remorse of something done but utter disgust at the effects of sin and anguish in our own wrongdoing.
Though we are always accused by the Law and in constant need of God’s forgiveness, Lent is a time where we ponder the Passion of our Lord in light of the necessity of His death on our behalf. We think not only about the cross itself but why Christ took up the cross. Accordingly, Lent is an especially sacramental season, for the heavenly benefits we receive in the Sacraments are wonderfully highlighted throughout Lent.
Lent is therefore an excellent time to consider individual confession and absolution. It is certainly not mandated, but doing so would magnify the penitential nature of Lent and bring us all the more closer to the cross and Passion of our Lord, who instituted the Sacraments and the Office of the Keys (the pastoral office) as His means of grace for delivering forgiveness of sins and the promise of everlasting life to His people.
The subdued nature of the Church’s liturgical celebrations during the season of Lent remind us of the important penitential nature of Lent. Our joy is restrained, our praise is somber, and our worship is oriented, now more than ever, on the cross of Christ and the necessity of our Lord to become incarnate in the flesh and take the cross on our behalf.
To this end, the Litany is another unsung hero of the Church’s liturgical tradition. Though suitable to be prayed at any time, the Litany is especially appropriate during Lententide. It is provided in LSB, though the Litany provided in The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) is another historically faithful option and includes a wonderful music setting to accompany it; LSB does not. In the mass, the Litany may take the place of a hymn, except the hymn of the day; in the daily offices, the Litany may be prayed before the office itself or at its conclusion.
I hope these notes serve as a helpful collection of Lententide rubrics. The Church has historically instituted beautiful traditions that teach the seasons of the church year and reflect the unimaginable glory of our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. Blessings to all as we journey toward the cross this Lenten season; may the Passion of our Lord strengthen you all in body and in soul in this life and in the world to come.