Gloria, Salutation, and Collect
This sermon is part of a midweek series on the parts of the liturgy.
Text: Luke 2:8-14, Rev. 7:9-12, Eph. 6:18b-20
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sometimes something becomes more noticeable when it disappears for a while. A piece of furniture, a hobby, a person—all of these sometimes become more present in our mind because of their absence. We see the space it used to have and that spot stands out all the more. I don’t just mean that you miss it—that certainly is part of it, of course—but there’s also more to it. You start to think about it more—where it was, what it meant, what it did, what you would do if it, or they, were back.
So while it might be a little strange to spend time tonight talking about a part of the service that we’re not doing during Lent—the Gloria in Excelsis—it may actually serve to help us appreciate it all the more when it returns to our service at Easter. Remember, the whole point of Lent is to prepare us for Easter.
The Gloria in Excelsis, or Gloria for short, comes to us from no place else than heaven itself. It’s the song the angels sing on the night of Jesus’ birth. The very first words of the song are exactly what was sung to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men.” The song then blossoms from the seed of that first Christmas night’s song into the song of the entire Church in heaven and earth that we hear in St. John’s Revelation: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” The entire Trinity is worshiped in the song; the Trinity we name in the Invocation at the beginning of the service; the Trinity we glorify in the Introit when we end the Psalm with the words, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.” We rejoice with all the angels of heaven as we stand in the Triune God’s presence, washed clean of our sins in the Confession and Absolution, which we’ve already discussed, entering His temple here on earth as His Word washes over us.
The Gloria does more than enrich our celebration though. It also teaches us how the Triune God has become known to us: God the Son took on flesh to reveal the Trinity. He did this in the clearest way when He bore our sins to the cross and died in our place so that we could stand before God, so that we could be made righteous in God’s sight. Our salvation, which belongs to God and the Lamb, Jesus, is nothing less than the forgiveness and life we receive every single week, coming to us because Christ took on our human nature and walked among us. It all goes back to Christmas. So when we sing the Gloria, we get to celebrate Christmas again, each week we sing it. It doesn’t come just once a year, as it turns out. Whenever we sing the song of the Christmas angels on Sunday morning, no matter when it is, we get a tiny Christmas.
And what gifts the Lord gives us on all these little Christmases! He may not be wrapped in swaddling cloths, but He is wrapped in the Scriptures, which are read shortly after the Gloria is sung. He may not rest in the arms of Mary, but in the service He will rest with you in His body and blood, as you receive Him. We sing the Gloria because just as He did that first Christmas, He comes to be with us, in our lives, in the service. So we can do no better than to join in with what the heavenly host has been singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.”
It’s because these great gifts are being delivered that we have the part of the service right after the Gloria. It’s called the Salutation. It’s brief, but it’s important, and you already know it. I say, “The Lord be with you.” And you say, “And also with you,” or “And with your spirit.” We have that part of the service because it’s at that point that I need the congregation’s assistance. As the deliveryman bringing Jesus’ gifts to you, I need God’s help. So at that point in the service, I bless you, “The Lord be with you,” proclaiming that God is with you. Emmanuel, God-with-us, has arrived, celebrated in that tiny Christmas in the Gloria. We’ve entered His presence. The Lord is with you. Then you, the congregation, bless me back: “And also with you,” or “And with your spirit.” You’re doing exactly what Paul asked the believers who knew and cared about him to do: “[Pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel.” That’s what you’re doing for me at that point in the service. You’re blessing me, asking God to open my mouth and speak the Gospel to you with everything I’m about to say: the prayers, readings, and sermon. So the entire congregation, pastor and laity, bless and pray for each other in the service as God’s gifts are about to be delivered in Scripture and Sacrament. The Collect, a brief prayer afterward that changes with the week, will sum up the theme of those gifts each week. Truly the wealth of heaven is being handed over by our God-with-us, because He came to be here among His people, as the Gloria sang.
But for now, we wait to sing the Gloria during this season of Lent due to the solemn nature of this season. And that’s appropriate. For a time we can set things aside, like Alleluias or Glorias. For Holy Week we even set aside the phrase “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,” because that solemn tone is intensified as we get even closer to Jesus’ suffering and cross. Just like you decorate your home differently in different seasons, the service is decorated differently at different times of the church year. For now, we’re waiting to sing it again, noticing its absence, lamenting the fact that our fallen nature and personal sins have required us to set aside the joy and glory for a while, hearing the silence as our eyes turn toward the seriousness of the cross. But as surely as our Lord rose again, so also will the Gloria rise again. And when it does resurrect, it won’t just be a Christmas song anymore. It will be an Easter song. In the name of Jesus, who has come to be with us. Amen.
