Two settings of Luther’s Divine Service premiere at LCMS Worship Institute

Worshipers sing at the opening Divine Service during the 2017 Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music on Tuesday, July 25, 2017, on the campus of Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Ill. (LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford)

Two new musical arrangements of Divine Service, Setting Five (Luther’s Divine Service) premiered at the 2017 Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music held July 25-28 at Concordia University, Chicago, in River Forest, Ill.

LCMS Worship was honored to sponsor the introduction of these two festival settings of the chorale service.

The first is a festival setting of Divine Service, Setting Five for small choirs. It was graciously commissioned by William and Nancy Raabe and composed by Jacob Weber. The festival setting is available for purchase from Concordia Publishing House.
Order Luther’s Divine Service: A Festival Setting for Small Choirs
The second is a festival setting of Divine Service, Setting Five for larger choirs. It was graciously commissioned by Hans and Marie Springer and composed by Jonathan Kohrs. This festival setting is also available for purchase from CPH.
Order Luther’s Divine Service: A Festival Setting for Large Choirs
New settings timely for Reformation 2017

Either of these festival settings would be especially appropriate for a congregation or circuit to use in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation.

The Weber setting was the Divine Service at the Institute on July 25, and the Kohrs setting was the Divine Service on July 28.

LCMS Worship prays these sturdy hymns of the faith may be treasured for years to come in our congregations and schools.
Listen to July 25 premiere Listen to July 28 premiere
History of Divine Service, Setting Five

Divine Service, Setting Five uses classic Lutheran chorales as the form for the ordinary, following in the path of Luther’s famous Deutsche Messe (German Mass) of 1526 and in keeping with many of the liturgies found in the church orders of the 16th and 17th centuries.

In 1856, the Synod published an agenda for the congregations here in America, based on the Saxon order known as Herzog Heinrich (first published in 1539-40) that made use of this tradition.

This was put into English in 1881 as Church Liturgy for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, Synod’s first liturgy for English-speaking congregations, predating the publication of the Common Service.

A form of this service was published as late as the Liturgy and Agenda, last reprinted in 1936 just prior to the publication of The Lutheran Hymnal.

Lutheran Book of Worship, Lutheran Worship, and Lutheran Service Book all honor this tradition in Lutheran liturgy with the inclusion of a service that features these classic chorales.