As the reader may recall, the General Council was a consortium of Lutheran church bodies, founded in 1867 under the leadership of Charles Porterfield Krauth, and which was dissolved with the formation of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULC) in 1918. The Wisconsin Synod was a member of the General Council from 1867-1869, while the Minnesota and Michigan Synods (which later joined the Wisconsin Synod) left the General Council in 1871 and 1887, respectively. Here is a technical history of the General Council.
Interestingly, this Explanation was dedicated to "Young Lutherans who ask the meaning of the beautiful liturgy of the Lutheran Church." As you read this Explanation, notice the use of language it contains. Consider the fine education and catechesis "Young Lutherans" must have enjoyed, which was deliberately reinforced by the church in books such as this. Do Lutheran publishing houses have such respect and concern for the youth of today? Certainly, they target young people with a great deal of material, so concern unquestionably exists -- but does the quality of these materials generally "aim for the head" or "aim for the knees?" Does it generally advocate and reinforce Confessional practice? Does it refer to the liturgy as something "beautiful" and as something to be valued? I don't believe I've seen this sort of thing coming from the main Lutheran publishers.
(The reader may be delighted to learn that such materials are available, however. Pax Domini Press is a Lutheran publisher of Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curriculum, whose materials our family has begun to use in the home. Check out their About Us page!)
Anyway, here is a link to the Explanation on Google Books. Over the next few days, I will be posting its contents, up through the explanation of "The Service," omitting what follows after it (explanations of "The Matins" and "The Vespers," glossaries, appendicies, and indicies). I begin with the FOREWARD.
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An Explanation of the Common Service (1908)
Board of Publication of the General Council of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America
To the
Young Lutheran who asks
The Meaning of the
Beautiful Liturgy of
His church
Board of Publication of the General Council of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America
To the
Young Lutheran who asks
The Meaning of the
Beautiful Liturgy of
His church
FOREWARD
The preparation of this little book was begun February 9, 1903. The first edition was issued in four parts, beginning September 29, of the same year. The work was undertaken at the instance of the Luther League of the Allentown District, by the committee appointed for this special purpose. The book was intended for use in the Luther League meetings, as a guide and aid in the study of the Common Service. In its new form it is offered to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for use in the Luther League, Sunday school and the home. For League and Bible Class study, it will furnish abundant material for a half year's course of twenty-six lessons.
The text of the Common Service, as it appears in this book, is that of the Standard Manuscript adopted by the Joint Committee of the several General Bodies uniting it its preparation. [For a list of variations in the published editions see article by the Rev. L. D. Reed, Lutheran Church Review, July, 1901.]
In the preparation of this Explanation the standard sources and authorities have been consulted. It has been deemed unnecessary to give particular credit for whatever has been adopted from these sources, as the only pretension which the book makes is to a certain unique fitness and convenience for popular use. Whatever seemed well adapted to explain the meaning and the connection of the several parts of the Services of the Church was freely used.
In order to give completeness to the work, and to bring out more clearly the beautiful harmony of the parts of the Service which are appointed for the particular Festival or Day, the propria for the Festival of Christmas were selected and have been inserted and examined in their appropriate places in the Service.
The Lutheran Church may justly claim that, in the Common Service, she possesses and uses “the completest embodiment of the Common Service of the Christian Church of all ages;” a Service “which may be tendered to all Christians who use a fixed Order, the Service of the future as it has been of the past” (Preface to the Common Service). Should this book be of assistance to any one, in awakening interest, or in developing a better understanding, a more intelligent use, as a higher appreciation of the forms of Divine Worship, as the Church of the Reformation conceives and orders it, the very considerable time and labor which its production has cost will not have been spent in vain.
