Up until this point with the Introit, Kyrie, and Gloria in Excelsis, we have chiefly concerned ourselves with the “entrance rite” of the Divine Service. With the Salutation and Collect of the Day we come to the climax of the entrance rite and are finally prepared for the reading, hearing, and preaching of God’s Word which form the heart of the Service of the Word.

The Salutation is both the most ancient recorded part of the service and the most consistently used in the history of the Western mass. First appearing in the Apostolic Tradition in the late second/early third century, this greeting between the pastor and congregation has persisted for nearly two millennia and is preserved in Lutheran Service Book (V: “The Lord be with you.” R: “And with thy spirit”). However, though the text has been preserved, its meaning and function has often been forgotten or lost upon those who recite it. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in the liturgical reforms of the late 20th century. Following the Second Vatican Council, in 1970 the International Consultation on English Texts proposed a new translation for the congregation’s response (“et cum spiritu tuo”), exchanging the ancient, “And with thy spirit,” for the more modern, “And also with you.” This change caused quite a stir in the Christian world, but it was almost universally adopted by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. This adoption is, unfortunately, also manifest in settings one, two, and four of Lutheran Service Book.

I say, “unfortunately,” because in adopting a new translation, the Christian world— and we along with them! —also adopted a new meaning for the Salutation. The new translation, “And also with you” assumes that “And with thy spirit,” is simply a stodgy way of saying, “You too!” such that the Salutation devolves into a rather dull and vacuous, “Hey”, “Hey yourself!”, “Let’s pray.” It’s always good form to acknowledge a person’s existence when they enter a room, and the Salutation is a greeting of sorts, but it does far more than this. It is a proclamation of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Both the verse and response of the Salutation are rooted in unique Gospel promises that are attached to the congregation and the pastor respectively.

The opening words of the pastor, “The Lord be with you,” rest on two evangelical promises found in Matthew’s Gospel. The first is from Matthew 28:20, the famous promise that through Baptism and the proclamation of the word Christ Jesus is “with us always, even to the end of the age.” Likewise, from Matthew 18:20 Jesus promises that where two or three are gathered “in his name,” there he is also. In both passages, Christ promises to be “Immanuel,” to be “with us” on the basis of baptism. With this biblical background, the pastor’s words are understood as a rich confession that the Lord is with the congregation as those baptized and gathered in his name, just as he promised he would be until the end of the age. It is a “little baptism,” in a manner of speaking, a word that names and claims the congregation as the congregation of the baptized. As such, this promise and declaration remind the congregation of the noble office they fill. They are the ones who have been received into God’s family and who receive every good thing from him. The office they inhabit is the office of hearers of God’s word, receivers of his forgiveness, and the objects of his love. What a blessed office to hold!

To all this, the congregation responds, “And with thy spirit,” which also rests on particular words and promises which are attached to the pastor and confess the gift and office that he bears. The first of these promises comes from John 20, the institution of the Office of Holy Ministry. Here Jesus institutes the Holy Ministry with his peace, his forgiveness, and, notably, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Though the Apostles certainly had the gift of the Spirit by their Baptisms, still Jesus breathes on them and bids them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22) for the sake of the ministry that is given them to do. The gift of the Spirit in ordination is also confessed by Paul in his writing to Timothy where he says, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:6-7). With the laying on of Paul’s hands at his ordination, Timothy received the Holy Spirit who empowers all of Timothy’s ministry. This is reinforced at the end of the epistle where Paul himself says, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim 4:22). Again, a reference to the Spirit given in ordination for the work of the ministry. Thus, when the congregation replies, “And with thy spirit,” it is a recognition of this particular call and work of God in ordination. It is a “little ordination” acknowledging that God has promised to work in and through this particular man. God has called the pastor to be an ambassador and steward of the mysteries of God and has given him the Holy Spirit to perform this work. This is his office. He is the speaker of God’s word, the giver of God’s forgiveness, and the one who distributes the love of God.

So, by Baptism the Lord has given his Spirit to the congregation and by Ordination the Lord has given his Spirit to the pastor, and thus, the Lord has set each in their own blessed office. One to hear and receive, and the other to give and speak, that, working together in love and submission to Christ, the Gospel might be proclaimed and the sacraments administered for the forgiveness of sins. This understanding of the Salutation is as profound as it is old. It can be found in the ancient writings of St. John Chrysostom and likewise the more recent writings of Wilhelm Loehe.

In accordance with this theological depth, certain liturgical actions have historically attended the Salutation. With the pastor’s greeting he extends his hands toward the congregation, upon which the congregation bows their heads. Likewise with the congregation’s response they extend their hands toward the pastor upon which the pastor bows his head. This simple ceremonial is a fitting embodiment of the giving and receiving of the office that each has been placed into by Christ.

II.

Following the Salutation is the Collect of the Day which brings us to our second “Proper” of the day. A Collect is simply a prayer which “collects” the many prayers of the faithful into one and presents it to God. In this way, the pastor serves as a mediator between God and men, presenting the congregation to God even as at other times he presents God to the people. This mediation is usually signalled by which direction the pastor is facing, either toward the altar (ad orientem) or toward the people (versus populum). The Collect, as with all other prayers, is prayed ad orientem which signals to us that, though spoken by the pastor, it is the prayer of the entire congregation who prays silently in their hearts and joins the prayer of the pastor by their common “Amen!”

In the earliest liturgies the Collect of the Day was spoken ex corde or extemporaneously, but over time with the standardization of the lectionary cycle, the Collects for each day also became standardized. Apart from collecting the prayers of the faithful, as a proper the Collect of the Day also collects the themes of all the readings and puts them into the form of a prayer. The form or structure of each is also fairly standardized. The structure of each Collect typically runs: Address, rationale, petition, benefit, and termination.

The address provides to whom the prayer is addressed, typically God the Father, although occasionally the Son, and on rare occasions the Holy Spirit. The rationale is typically an appeal to the character or work of God which serves as the reason or basis for the prayer. Usually the rationale can be identified by the word, “who…” or “you…” The petition provides the request or bid of the congregation and usually begins with an imperative, such as “give…”, “remember…”, or “defend…” The benefit of the Collect indicates the desired outcome or hope for God’s answer to the petition which instills confidence in the one praying. Usually the benefit can be identified with the word, “that” or “so that…” Finally, the termination brings the prayer to end, typically in a trinitarian form, e.g. “through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever…”

As an example of this collect form we can take the Collect for the Word composed by Thomas Cranmer:

Address: Blessed Lord,

Rationale:You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning.

Petition: Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them

Benefit: that, by patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life;

Termination: through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Not every Collect of the Day will include every element nor will there always be a clear division between certain elements, but the definite pattern remains.

The historic Collects were by and large maintained by Luther, translated into the vernacular, and have been reproduced in Lutheran Service Book for the historic one-year lectionary. New Collects were composed for the three-year lectionary which are typically based on the historic Collects with gentle updates to fit the theme of the readings. It is a great blessing that the Lutheran Church has maintained these Collect because by them we not only learn the voice of God in the Bible, we learn the voice of faith in prayer. By handing down these Collects, each generation has taught the next the grammar of prayer. What an invaluable gift hidden in unassuming means.

Rev. Philip Bartelt

Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd

Populus Zion, 2024