Sunday, March 22 is the 5th Sunday in Lent. This marks the beginning of Passiontide (the final two weeks of Lent), in which the Passion of our Lord intensifies. Therefore, the Lenten fast also intensifies which we can observe in our worship setting. The sights and sounds in God’s house are muted even more. For the past number of weeks, our celebration has been muted in the following ways:
There are no Alleluias.
We do not sing the Gloria in Excelsis after the Absolution.
There are no flowers on the altar.
During Passiontide,
you will note these additional practices.
The Gloria
Patri (Glory be to the Father) is omitted from the Psalms
All artwork or icons have been removed
or veiled.
The ringing of the church bell ceases.
All music is muted except for the
support of congregational singing.
Our services
will practically be barren of celebration, but that is the point. We are fasting. We are penitent. We are intently focusing on the sufferings
and death of Jesus. Ceremony and
celebration will return with vigor on Easter Sunday when we rejoice in the
resurrection of our Lord which declares that sins are forgiven and that death
is destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to recurring spam, all comments will now be moderated. Please be patient.