A Royal Prayer
Pull out a rifle in the presence of a hunting dog and the dog will go crazy with anticipation. Dogs bred and trained to hunt would rather hunt than eat or sleep or play.
I notice a similar joy in my members in the responsive portions of the Liturgy. They do not use their books. They know their part. They are eager to sing "And with thy spirit" or "amen" or whatever it might be. You should seem them jump to their feet when we reach a doxological stanza in a hymn. That isn't even a Lutheran custom: it is Anglican. They even do it in the midst of distribution hymns, which I find a bit strange, but I am not going to stop them. It is their part and they know it and they are eager to do it. It is a bit of a shame that LSB, while encouraging the practice, has marked the stanzas for them. That is a bit of a shame because part of the joy was being in on it, understanding why we stand and when and being ever alert to the possibility. It is a similar thing when they say "amen" at the communion rail after I say, "The Body of Christ" and stick out their tongues, ready to be fed as a bride by Christ. Notice too how they follow the cross with their bodies, and bow when we genuflect for the Incarnatus in the Credo, and how attentive they are throughout the liturgy. It is an amazing sight to behold. They were bred and trained to worship God: they love doing it.
This analogy is fitting. Piety is trained in the school of the Holy Spirit. It is bittersweet too for those places where such devotion was absent and individualism ruled. In those places worship is not about God's service to them but their self-service.
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