Service/Religious texts: What do you use?

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chloride

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I found myself thinking about service/religious texts recently, and how little I know about other sects/religion’s secondary texts - things like liturgical books, hymnals, prayerbooks, etc. I grew up with three main books: the Lutheran Book of Worship, which had the services in it for various seasons and special occasions, and two different hymnals, which we usually just referred to as the red and blue books. They were largely replaced about 5 years back with a single text that contains the majority of the services and most of the hymns.

So what kind of additional texts do other denominations use, if any? I’d love to hear. I know the LCMS has their own texts, but I don’t know anything about them, nor any texts used by the Anglican or Catholic churches.
 
chloride said:
I found myself thinking about service/religious texts recently, and how little I know about other sects/religion’s secondary texts - things like liturgical books, hymnals, prayerbooks, etc. I grew up with three main books: the Lutheran Book of Worship, which had the services in it for various seasons and special occasions, and two different hymnals, which we usually just referred to as the red and blue books. They were largely replaced about 5 years back with a single text that contains the majority of the services and most of the hymns.

So what kind of additional texts do other denominations use, if any? I’d love to hear. I know the LCMS has their own texts, but I don’t know anything about them, nor any texts used by the Anglican or Catholic churches.
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Baha’is generally accept the revealed texts of Baha’u’llah, the Bab and Abdul-Baha and use prayers from the aforementioned sources… Online you can find them at:

reference.bahai.org/en/
 
Anglican - Church of England

At my parish church we use:
Book of Common Prayer 1662
King James Bible with Deuterocanonical books
Common Worship 2000 (This is a multi-volume publication)
NRSV Bible with Deuterocanonical Books
Hymnal: Anglican Hymns Old & New

The above are used for our main Sunday liturgies such as the Eucharist, Mattins and Evensong (also for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals etc.) We have some leeway for occasional/additional/special services where we can draw from other sources but these must still contain specific elements from authorised CofE sources.
 
1928 Book of Common Prayer
1940 Hymnal
KJV Bible with Deuterocanonical books

Under the last rector, these were occasionally supplemented by use of the 1549/1552/1559/1662 CoE Books, for historical occasions, and also supplemented by the Anglican Missal. This is much rarer under the current clergy.
 
Well in the Catholic church in the Latin church specifically, we use the general instruction of the Roman missal. In the United States I believe the Bible readings come from the New American Bible revised Edition which admittedly is not my preference. I have on my laptop downloaded the entire Divine Liturgy in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church which uses the Byzantine liturgy I’m not sure what they call their documents on this. imagine they would largely use the same terms as the various Eastern Orthodox churches. I got it directly from the patriarchate’s website or something like that I don’t remember.
 
By “secondary texts,” do you mean liturgy-related books other than the Bible?

In the Catholic Church, there are many liturgical books, most of which are for use by the clergy.

The Roman rite alone uses at least the following:

– The Missal contains the main text of the Mass, our central act of worship.
– Lectionaries contain a schedule of Scripture readings for Mass, along with the readings themselves.
– The General Instruction has rules for how the liturgy is carried out.
– The Pontifical contains rites and ceremonies performed by a bishop (high priest), such as ordination of clergy.
– The Ritual contains other sacraments, rites, and ceremonies (weddings, funerals, exorcisms, etc).
– The Breviary contains the Liturgy of the Hours, for praying the Psalms throughout the day. It is mostly used by monks and nuns.
– The Martyrology records the names of those who died for the faith in earlier times.

There are other liturgical books besides.

As far as what the laity will find in the pews today in a typical Roman rite church, usually a “missalette” (lay version of the Missal) and hymnal. The hymnal is not an official church text but locally determined, though it must be approved by the bishop. The Roman rite *does *have official music books, the Gradual (for Mass) and Antiphonary (mainly for Divine Office), which contain collections of Gregorian chants as called for by Vatican II; however, they are not widely used today, as most churches have “contemporary worship” instead. You can get your own lay missal or breviary at bookstores or online.
 
1979 Book of Common Prayer
1982 Hymnal
New Revised Standard Version Bible w/ Apocrypha
 
chloride said:
I know the LCMS has their own texts, but I don’t know anything about them, nor any texts used by the Anglican or Catholic churches.
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Yep.

The LCMS generally uses the Lutheran Service Book (LSB), though some congregations still use the Lutheran Worship hymnal or even the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal. The LSB is essentially a combination of the two (and a superior incarnation, in my opinion).

The hymnal has five settings of the Divine Service. All have their roots in the traditional Lutheran mass**, but were tweaked here and there by Germans, or Swedes, or Norwegians, or whoever so they reflected the regional flavors. The Germans favored chorale-style singing, while the Swedes favored chanting. Little things like that. The LSB also contains the rites for Matins, Vespers, Services of Prayer and Praise, Private Confession & Absolution, Holy Matrimony, Holy Baptism, etc.

An expanded Altar Book version exists for use at, you guessed it, the altar. It contains specific rubrics for worship services as well as intercessory prayers for various liturgical seasons and feast days, special Introits, Graduals, etc.

There’s also an Agenda version that has specific rites that would be superfluous in a layman’s hymnal. Rites like Ordination of Pastors, Commissioning and Installation of School Teachers, Blessings on a new church building, the Sending of Missionaries… that sort of thing.

There are many other supplementary texts used by elders, pastors and altar guilds. The Pastoral Care Companion is terrific for learning applicable scripture and rites for emergencies. The Altar Guild Manual is helpful for determining proper vestments, paraments, and care for Bread and Wine, etc. Luther’s Small Catechism and the Book of Concord will also be found in most Lutheran churches, though they do not contain any rites or specific rubrics for worship. LCMS churches almost always have pew bibles, which will generally be either ESV or NIV.

***Setting III (known to Lutherans as the “common service”) actually has significant Anglican influence. When German-American Lutherans finally decided to begin worshiping in English, they simply lifted Anglican translations and inserted their chorales. Fitting, since the Anglicans essentially lifted Lutheran masses for their own. So the Lutherans ‘took back’ their mass. 😃 *
 
steido01 said:
Yep.

The LCMS generally uses the Lutheran Service Book (LSB), though some congregations still use the Lutheran Worship hymnal or even the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal. The LSB is essentially a combination of the two (and a superior incarnation, in my opinion).

The hymnal has five settings of the Divine Service. All have their roots in the traditional Lutheran mass**, but were tweaked here and there by Germans, or Swedes, or Norwegians, or whoever so they reflected the regional flavors. The Germans favored chorale-style singing, while the Swedes favored chanting. Little things like that. The LSB also contains the rites for Matins, Vespers, Services of Prayer and Praise, Private Confession & Absolution, Holy Matrimony, Holy Baptism, etc.

An expanded Altar Book version exists for use at, you guessed it, the altar. It contains specific rubrics for worship services as well as intercessory prayers for various liturgical seasons and feast days, special Introits, Graduals, etc.

There’s also an Agenda version that has specific rites that would be superfluous in a layman’s hymnal. Rites like Ordination of Pastors, Commissioning and Installation of School Teachers, Blessings on a new church building, the Sending of Missionaries… that sort of thing.

There are many other supplementary texts used by elders, pastors and altar guilds. The Pastoral Care Companion is terrific for learning applicable scripture and rites for emergencies. The Altar Guild Manual is helpful for determining proper vestments, paraments, and care for Bread and Wine, etc. Luther’s Small Catechism and the Book of Concord will also be found in most Lutheran churches, though they do not contain any rites or specific rubrics for worship. LCMS churches almost always have pew bibles, which will generally be either ESV or NIV.

****Setting III (known to Lutherans as the “common service”) actually has significant Anglican influence. When German-American Lutherans finally decided to begin worshiping in English, they simply lifted Anglican translations and inserted their chorales. Fitting, since the Anglicans essentially lifted Lutheran masses for their own. So the Lutherans ‘took back’ their mass. 😃
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That Anglican influence really helped my adjustment to Anglican worship. Members of my new parish were surprised I was able to sing parts right off.
 
steido01 said:
Yep.

The LCMS generally uses the Lutheran Service Book (LSB), though some congregations still use the Lutheran Worship hymnal or even the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal. The LSB is essentially a combination of the two (and a superior incarnation, in my opinion).

The hymnal has five settings of the Divine Service. All have their roots in the traditional Lutheran mass**, but were tweaked here and there by Germans, or Swedes, or Norwegians, or whoever so they reflected the regional flavors. The Germans favored chorale-style singing, while the Swedes favored chanting. Little things like that. The LSB also contains the rites for Matins, Vespers, Services of Prayer and Praise, Private Confession & Absolution, Holy Matrimony, Holy Baptism, etc.

An expanded Altar Book version exists for use at, you guessed it, the altar. It contains specific rubrics for worship services as well as intercessory prayers for various liturgical seasons and feast days, special Introits, Graduals, etc.

There’s also an Agenda version that has specific rites that would be superfluous in a layman’s hymnal. Rites like Ordination of Pastors, Commissioning and Installation of School Teachers, Blessings on a new church building, the Sending of Missionaries… that sort of thing.

There are many other supplementary texts used by elders, pastors and altar guilds. The Pastoral Care Companion is terrific for learning applicable scripture and rites for emergencies. The Altar Guild Manual is helpful for determining proper vestments, paraments, and care for Bread and Wine, etc. Luther’s Small Catechism and the Book of Concord will also be found in most Lutheran churches, though they do not contain any rites or specific rubrics for worship. LCMS churches almost always have pew bibles, which will generally be either ESV or NIV.

****Setting III (known to Lutherans as the “common service”) actually has significant Anglican influence. When German-American Lutherans finally decided to begin worshiping in English, they simply lifted Anglican translations and inserted their chorales. Fitting, since the Anglicans essentially lifted Lutheran masses for their own. So the Lutherans ‘took back’ their mass. 😃
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It seems that both our congregations have benefited from new publishing resources. I would say that our new book (Evangelical Lutheran Worship) is superior to the older system we had of the LBW + two hymnals. Much handier to have all the resources in a single book with a single page numbering system, including the Psalms and the small catechism. The only downside is that I do not believe we have an altar edition yet, so certain rites (such as ordination, etc) still have to be done from an altar version of the LBW.

As for Bibles, we have a variety of both the Protestant and Catholic canons, including the KJV, the NIV, and the Knox version.

Looking at some typical LCMS services, it seems I wouldn’t be too far from home in one. Thanks for sharing! 👍
 
chloride said:
I found myself thinking about service/religious texts recently, and how little I know about other sects/religion’s secondary texts - things like liturgical books, hymnals, prayerbooks, etc. I grew up with three main books: the Lutheran Book of Worship, which had the services in it for various seasons and special occasions, and two different hymnals, which we usually just referred to as the red and blue books. They were largely replaced about 5 years back with a single text that contains the majority of the services and most of the hymns.

So what kind of additional texts do other denominations use, if any? I’d love to hear. I know the LCMS has their own texts, but I don’t know anything about them, nor any texts used by the Anglican or Catholic churches.
Click to expand...
Code: 
We use the "search for God" book.  We'll read a few paragraphs and then discuss it.
edgarcayce.org/our-work/study-groups
 
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