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WHITE PAPER #4: Concordia’s Treasury of Daily Prayer: Choosing the Psalms

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

The selection of the psalms for each Day of Treasury of Daily Prayer was headed up by Todd Peperkorn. The Psalmody, consisting of generally 4–10 verses of a selected psalm, is the only component to precede the readings. Editorially and structurally, the psalmody serves the Day as the Introit and Collect serve in the Service of the Word. With the appointed Scripture readings firmly in mind, Rev. Peperkorn and his team selected the verses for the psalmody in such a way as to prepare the reader for the Word that follows.

Each Day also features a suggestion for further reading in the Psalms that coordinates with or furthers some aspect of the appointed readings from the Daily Lectionary.

While Lutheran Service Book includes more psalms than either Lutheran Worship or the Lutheran Hymnal before it, a substantial number of the psalms do not appear in the LSB Pew Edition. Editorial direction was that the psalmody and suggested psalm reading for the Day should endeavor to use as much of the Psalter as possible, with the 44 Psalms that do not appear in LSB Pew Edition assessed and given first placement, then as much of the remain Psalter as possible. In this way, those psalms that are not part of regular use in the Sunday lectionary become part of daily prayer. (more…)

Tags: Christian life, prayer, Psalms
Posted in Post, Treasury of Daily Prayer | 72No Comments »2008-08-30+18%3A06%3A00ScotK

WHITE PAPER #3 part two: Concordia’s Treasury of Daily Prayer: The Psalms in Daily Prayer and the Practice of Daily Prayer

Friday, August 29th, 2008

Dr. Stucwisch continues:

Now, then, in addition to being the Word of God—and, really, precisely as the Word of God—the Psalms also become the Church’s words of prayer (and a sacrifice of praise), when they are spoken back to God and confessed before the world as words of faith. Indeed, such “confession” (which, if one considers the Greek word for such confession, means “to say the same thing”) is the very voice of faith and thus the fountain out of which all faithful prayer flows; because, in order to “pray, praise, and give thanks,” as the Catechism and the Second Commandment teach, it is above all necessary that the Word of God be heard and received in its truth and purity, and that Christians do and speak all things in harmony with it. The people of God are thus given to say the same thing that God has said to them: the confession of sin (as in Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), and the confession of faith (as in Psalms 2, 96, 97, 98, 110, 148–150); in either case to say what is true and right, because it is what God has said. Such confession of the Word of God, and so also the confession of the Psalms, is a priestly-sacrificial service of God’s people—the sacrifice of repentance, of faith, of thanksgiving, and of intercession for others. To confess what God has done and said is the foremost sort of praise and thanksgiving; and it is on the firm foundation of what He has done and said that one petitions Him according to His promise for the future, not only for one’s self, but also for the Church and for the neighbor. In the case of the Psalms, in particular, all of them to some extent or another (some more than others) served the priestly worship of the Temple in the Old Testament; many of them, in fact, originated within that liturgical context, specifically for that purpose (especially Psalms 118–134). They are thus ideally suited for the Church’s priestly-sacrificial use as prayers of praise and petition, because they present the Word of God in a poetic and lyrical form that is most appropriate for and conducive to worship. Yet, for all that, the Psalms do not cease to be the Word of God, always speaking (liturgically) to His people. (more…)

Tags: Christian life, prayer, Psalms
Posted in Books, Post, Treasury of Daily Prayer | 71No Comments »2008-08-29+20%3A06%3A00ScotK

WHITE PAPER #3 part one: Concordia’s Treasury of Daily Prayer: The Psalms in Daily Prayer and the Practice of Daily Prayer

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Our look at the formative thoughts behind the development of Treasury of Daily prayer continues by hearing the foundational report of Rev. Dr. Rick Stuckwisch to the Good Shepherd Institute in November 2002. Rev. Stuckwisch, was the primary architect for the Daily Lectionary, and public spokesperson for the Lutheran Hymnal Project Lectionary Committee on the subject of the Daily Lectionary and the proposed Prayer Book. His paper continues with a presentation of the use of the psalms in daily prayer and a historical and theological look at the practice of daily prayer. Rev. Stuckwisch:

Now, what has not yet been mentioned—but of particular importance among the daily Readings and Propers of the proposed Prayer Book—is the Psalmody to be included. The intention of the Lectionary Committee is that a Psalm will be chosen and appointed for each day of the year—in some cases, an entire Psalm; in other cases, a selected portion of a particular Psalm. These daily Psalms will be selected in a variety of ways: to coordinate with one of the Readings, for example, or perhaps to reflect the time or season of the church year. In general, the Committee envisions a small (manageable) portion of Psalmody—typically between four and ten verses—chosen deliberately for each particular day. By this approach, some of the Psalms will naturally be used more frequently than others over the course of the year, but most likely all of the Psalms will be represented, at least to some extent, at one point or another. (more…)

Tags: Christian life, prayer
Posted in Books, Post, Treasury of Daily Prayer | 70No Comments »2008-08-29+02%3A41%3A00ScotK

WHITE PAPER #2: Concordia’s Treasury of Daily Prayer: The Shaping of the Daily Lectionary

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

This next examination of the rationale behind the Treasury of Daily Prayer goes back to the foundational work done by the Lectionary Committee for the (then) Lutheran Hymnal Project. My good friend, Pastor Rick Stuckwisch, was a member of that committee, the committee member who work is most reflected in the Daily Lectionary, and who presented on behalf of the committee at the Good Shepherd Institute in Fort Wayne in November 2002. What follows is the excerpted from Pr. Stuckwisch’s presentation. The tenses reflect a project still in the throes of development and have been preserved here:

“The Lectionary Committee of the Lutheran Hymnal Project began to meet and work [in] December 1998. It has been ably chaired from the start by the Rev. Dr. Arthur Just of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. Other members of the Committee presently include the Rev. Dr. James Brauer of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; the Rev. Dr. Daniel Reuning; the Rev. Gregory Wismar; and the present author. Of course, the Committee has also benefitted from the ongoing guidance and assistance of the Rev. Dr. Paul Grime, Executive Director of the LCMS Commission on Worship.

(more…)

Tags: Christian life, lectionary, prayer
Posted in Books, Post, Treasury of Daily Prayer | 694 Comments »2008-08-28+21%3A41%3A00ScotK

WHITE PAPER #1: Concordia’s Treasury of Daily Prayer: The Spheres of Influence

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

As examination copies and excerpts of Treasury of Daily Prayer begin to circulate, I am receiving interesting questions about how decisions where made that effected what appears in the Treasury. This will be the first attempt to set out some of the editorial rational, thinking, and background behind the Treasury project. If these short white papers don’t quite answer the question you had, or the information sparks a new question, drop me a note and I will see what I can do to get you an answer.

The first piece to put in place was the general criteria for picking and evaluating material for the Daily Propers. These broadest strokes are the spheres of influence.

In the confines that we call a “Day” there can be several spheres of influence that direct and govern how the components were chosen and put together. (more…)

Tags: Christian life, prayer
Posted in Books, Post, Treasury of Daily Prayer | 68No Comments »2008-08-28+01%3A56%3A00ScotK

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