Preparing for Worship | September 25, 2022

On September 25 we will observe the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. The day of St. Michael is September 29, but the topic of angels is fascinating, and it provides a nice turning point for the last part of the church year. You can prepare for worship with the resources included below by clicking "Read More."

​View this week's worship folder here.

Watch worship live on Sunday at 9 a.m. or anytime after on demand here.

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LCMS Lectionary Summary

​Readings

Daniel 10:10–14; 12:1–3
Revelation 12:7–12
Matthew 18:1–11 or Luke 10:17–20
 
Our Father in Heaven Protects His Children by Giving His Holy Angels Charge Over Them
 
We live in “a time of trouble” (Dan. 12:1), in the midst of great tribulation. Satan and his wicked angels have been thrown out of heaven and have come down to earth “in great wrath,” with woeful “temptations to sin” and with constant accusations (Rev. 12:8–12; Matt. 18:7). Even so, we are encouraged by the presence and protection of St. Michael and the holy angels, whom God sends to help us in the strife (Dan. 10:11–13). By “the authority of his Christ,” His holy angels guard and keep us in body and soul. These heavenly servants of God preserve His human messengers on earth, the ministers of “the blood of the Lamb,” against all the power of the enemy, for by “the word of their testimony,” the Church is saved and the devil is defeated (Rev. 12:10–11; Luke 10:18–19). By their preaching and Baptism of repentance, the old Adam and the old evil foe are “drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). As God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, so are His people delivered and raised from the dust of the earth through the forgiveness of their sins (Dan. 12:1–3).

Worship

For the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, we will briefly return to Divine Service, Setting 1 before changing to Setting 5 for the month of October. This setting allows us to to sing songs about the angels as well as join our voices to the angels in their heavenly song. This Is the Feast will be the Hymn of Praise, which is the song that the angels sing around the throne of God in the book of Revelation. Similarly, the Sanctus is the song of the angels in Isaiah's vision of the Lord's throne room. 

Our entrance rite will begin with the Introit from Psalm 103, which includes the verse, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!" The Gradual echoes the Introit and adds from Psalm 91, "He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways," and joins Old Testament Reading to the Second Reading from Revelation. The Common Alleluia and Verse from John 6:68 will prepare us to hear the Holy Gospel. 

The Proper Preface is a seasonal prayer in the communion liturgy that gives thanks to God for the service of cherubim and seraphim and all the orders of angels.

It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through Him Your majesty is praised by all the holy angels and celebrated with one accord by the heavens and all the powers therein. The cherubim and seraphim sing Your praise, and with them we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying: Holy, holy, holy...

Hymns

This week's hymns focus on the angels. 

​The hymn numbers are for Lutheran Service Book (LSB).

Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (LSB 770) sings of the servants of God in heaven, including the angels, St. Mary, the mother of our Lord, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and all the friends of Jesus. This hymn is set to the popular tune, Lasst uns erfreuen.

Lord God, to Thee We Give All Praise (LSB 522) is one of two hymns by Philip Melanchthon in our hymn book. Melanchthon was a colleague of Martin Luther and the author of The Augsburg Confession, The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, and The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope from our Lutheran Confessions. 

This hymn uses a familiar tune, Erhalt uns, Herr (Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word).

The Hymn to Depart is Christ, the Lord of Hosts, Unshaken (LSB 521), a contemporary hymn written in the late 20th century by Peter Prange. It is paired with a hymn tune by Carl Schalk, Fortunatus New, which is also used for the Good Friday hymn, Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle. This hymn evokes a sense of the final victory that God and His holy angels wins against the devil and every force of evil. 

During the communion distribution, we go back to the 9th century to a verse by Joseph the Hymnographer, Stars of the Morning, So Gloriously Bright (LSB 520).

Wide Open Stand the Gates (LSB 639), performed in this video by the Kantorei of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, was written by the Lutheran pastor Wilhelm Loehe. Loehe sent many of the first Lutheran pastors to America as missionaries, many of whom ended up forming the LCMS. He also did much to establish the office of Deaconess in Lutheran circles.