From Vicar Shepard  July 2024
From Vicar Shepard…

Dear Saints at Trinity, This month we continue our look at the liturgy with the preface to the Lord’s Supper. The preface is made up of two parts: the Preface Dialogue (“The Lord be with you. And also, with you.”) and the Proper Preface (“It is truly meet, right, and salutary, etc.”). The Preface Dialogue is the oldest remaining liturgical text that we have. It comes from Hippolytus’ work Apostolic Tradition of the late 2nd or early 3rd century A.D. From what we know about Hippolytus, that he was fairly conservative in his tendencies, it is very likely that this preface is actually much older than that. In Luther’s reform of the Mass, the proper preface was retained. However, in his Deutsche Messe (German language Mass), he removed the Preface Dialogue and replaced it with an exhortation to the communicant members which was quite a radical alteration at the time. Why was this greeting added to the service? It was to prepare the church for what was coming. It wasn’t only a dialogue between the pastor and his people, but a dialogue between the church and her Lord. As well, this salutation is a significant moment. The greeting plays on biblical language (Ruth 2:4; Lamentations 3:41; Judges 6:12; Psalm 129:8). While the salutation at the beginning sets us up for the Collect, this salutation is preparing us to enter into the veil of the Holy of Holies and partake in the presence of the Lord. Thus, the additional exhortation to “lift up your hearts” as we give thanks for this most wonderful gift. The response “we lift them to the Lord” is actually a mistranslation. The original Latin reads “we have them with the Lord.” This is to remind as we enter into the Lord’s presence, the peace and joy which He brings to us and most especially, the Sabbath rest which He gives us in the forgiveness of our sins. Because it is not we who ascend into heaven and give our hearts to the Lord, nor do we invite Him in. Rather the Lord already has them as they were purchased and won on His cross. Having been reminded of our estate, we are invited to give thanks to the Lord because it is right to give Him thanks and praise for this most precious gift. God’s blessings to you this day, Vicar Shepard