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Liturgical Catechesis: Preparation
By Rev. William M. Cwirla
After the Invocation (“In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”) comes the “rite of preparation,” a time to get ready for worship. But even in the getting ready, there are already gifts to be received in Confession and Absolution. The Divine Service properly begins with the Kyrie (“Lord, Have Mercy”) but before we pray, we need a bit of a baptismal scrubbing—a return to the baptismal water, something like Mom telling us to wash our hands before supper.
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We confess together our sinful condition and our sins, corporately and generally. And God forgives our sins in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ. This corporate style of confession doesn’t take the place of personal confession, where we deal with our own individual and specific sins, but it does acknowledge that sin is never private and isolated. We are all sinners together. Our sin affects and infects everyone around us, like a contagious disease. We are forgiven all together, as the gathered children of God, returning to the cleansing water of Baptism and the Word that says, “I forgive you all of your sins…”
Now we are ready to enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise as we sing the “Introit.”
“Introit” means “he enters.” Who’s the “he” who’s entering? Well, not the Lord, since He’s already there before we arrive. The one who is entering is the bishop, the overseer and shepherd of our souls, the presider/president of the Liturgy, or in the case of your congregation, your pastor.
In the early centuries of the church, it was common for a bishop to have several congregations under his care, and so there was a bit of travel time as he went from place to place. Sometimes he was delayed, and while the people waited for the bishop to arrive, they would sing psalms to fill the time. How much better is that than the gossip, sports, and weather that we chat about before service!
When the bishop finally arrived, the people would sing a special psalm chosen for the day: the Introit. The Introit is essentially traveling music for the presider and his assistants to get into place. There is no dead time in the Liturgy. Every moment, even moving down the aisle, is covered by psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all delivering the Word of God. The Gradual, which is between the Old Testament reading and the epistle, works exactly the same way. It’s traveling music for the reader to step up to the lectern or reading desk. You might say that the Liturgy is wall-to-wall Scripture, from beginning to end, as it should be.
The Introit announces the theme for the Sunday and sets the tone for the proclamation of the Word. Here are a few examples from some Sundays in the church year:
Advent 3 (Gaudete):
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.
Christmas Day:
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given…
Epiphany:
Behold the Lord, the ruler has come…
Lent 1 (Invocavit):
When he calls to me, I will answer him…
Easter:
He is risen! Alleluia! Why do you seek the living among the dead? Alleluia!
Ascension:
Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? Alleluia!
Pentecost:
The Spirit of the Lord fills the world. Alleluia!
The Introit moves us straight into the Kyrie (“Lord, have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord, have mercy”), the first prayer of the service. If the pastor and assistants are all in their places at the beginning of the service, there is no need for an Introit. Everyone has already entered. But it’s still not a bad idea to chant it anyway, since it does carry the theme of the day, and it is a psalm—a song of the Holy Spirit. No harm nor foul, one way or the other.
The first verse of the Introit, called the “antiphon,” is sung both at the beginning and at the end by a cantor, the choir, or someone who knows what the tone is supposed to be. The antiphon sets the musical tone for the Introit just as the Introit sets the thematic tone for the Sunday. Listen carefully for the antiphon at the beginning and end of the Introit the next time you hear it sung in the liturgy.
The fact that we have special entrance music in the Liturgy reminds us that there are no empty ceremonies or wasted time in worship. Every moment, every movement, is filled by the Word of God. Worship is not a time for idle conversation or empty mood music. It’s a time to turn off those phones and devices, stick your nose in the psalms, and get ready to hear God’s Word. Worship is an intentional act. You don’t just stroll casually into church, you prepare to enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise—deliberately, prayerfully, reverently, and repentantly. After all, you’re coming to meet the King, our Lord Jesus, who died and rose to save us and now reigns to lord His death and life over us for our salvation.
Get ready for worship!
Rev. William M. Cwirla is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, California.
