Previous post: How Lutherans Worship – 10: Excursus: What is Lutheran Worship? SalutationThe Lord be with you. And also with you. The Salutation is a special greeting between the congregation and its pastor. Originally the pastor would have spoken "Peace be with you," purposefully repeating our Lord's post-resurrection greeting to His fearful disciples gathered together in the upper room on that first Easter evening. The present wording of the Salutation is inexorably tied to His incarnation (Luke 1:28) and with His promise to be with His church (Matthew 28:20). In the Divine Service the announcement of the Lord's peace heralds His coming to us in the readings that follow and makes us aware that important things are about to happen. Salutation. Special greeting between pastor and people: "The Lord be with you," followed by the response "And also with you" or "And with your spirit."
Prayer and The Collect of the Day Prayer is how the Christian acknowledges the gifts of the Gospel. "Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise (Lutheran Worship, pg. 6). In the Scriptures God speaks to human beings, but in prayer, human beings speak to God. Prayer is the life of faith in active communion or conversation with object of our faith–God. Prayer is the evidence of the relationship we have with the Father because of the redemption won for us by the Son. It shows our childlike trust and confidence in the One who does for us all that we need and more.
Let us pray. The Collect of the Day "collects" in a concise and beautiful manner the Gospel message for the day to implore God, by His grace and through His mercy, to manifest His love in and through our thoughts, words, and deeds. We pray these things to remember Him who always provides for us, and to receive these gifts with godly thanksgiving. Most of these prayers have been in continuous use in the Church for more than 1,500 years. In praying the Collect, we join with the great body of believers, the communion of saints, and with the generations yet to come. Amen. Declaration that what has been said is true and affirming its trust in the Lord's Gospel promise; "yes, yes, this is most certainly true."
A special advantage of using the collects, both ancient and modern, is that they keep the fundamental needs of salvation and the great objective facts of divine grace in clear focus, and they align us with the revealed will of God which will soon be proclaimed in the reading of Scripture. The congregation makes the Collect its own with its "amen,"
       
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