Sunday, May 12, 2024

Emmaus Communion Psalms

At the suggestion of the author, I provide below a list of suggested Communion psalms to be sung during the Divine Service throughout the year. This same material is found as an appendix in both The Lutheran Gradual (2017) and Lutheran Offertories and Communions (2019).

—Matthew Carver


In the traditional liturgy of Holy Communion inherited by all churches that trace their liturgical roots to Latin Christendom, some of the proper chants change each Sunday. Of these, the only ones retained by the Lutheran Church are from the Service of the Word: the Introit, Gradual (or Tract), and Alleluia Verse. The proper chants from from the Service of the Sacrament were not retained: the Offertory and Communion chants. In the Lutheran Churches of North America, the Offertory has become an Ordinary; only one or two textual options are given in Lutheran Service Book, for example, and there is no provision for a Communion Psalm or chant.
        In St. Louis at Emmaus Lutheran Church, about 2008–2017, there arose a practical need for reestablishing the Communion chant in the form of a proper Communion Psalm. The congregation was small, it celebrated the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day, and the organist wanted to commune each time. When the organist would commune, there was a space of time in which there was no music. To provide beautiful music to adorn the reception of the Holy Supper, the following schedule of Communion Psalms was developed.
        The Communion Psalms were chosen based on the traditional Communion chants. If a Communion cited a verse or two of a Psalm, the cantors at Emmaus would sing a larger selection from that same Psalm, including the traditional Communion text, from The Brotherhood Prayer Book. (Emmanuel Press, 2005, 2007). If the traditional Communion was taken from one of the Gospels, from the Apocrypha, or another liturgical text, we substituted a Psalm that was related to the Gospel for the day, or that prophesied Christ and His Church, or that foreshadowed the Lord’s Supper. Thus the Emmaus Communion Psalms list was developed. It is offered here in the hopes that Evangelical Lutheran churches will embrace Psalmody, the “prayerbook of the Bible,” more fully in their worship of the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

—Benjamin T. G. Mayes,
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN.

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COMMUNION PSALMS FOR THE CHURCH YEAR

Advent

Advent I    Ps. 85:6–13
Advent II    Ps. 24
Advent III    Ps. 90:11–17
Advent IV    Ps. 80

Christmastide

Christmas Eve (Midnight)    Ps. 110
Christmas Day    Ps. 19
Sunday after Christmas    Ps. 72:1–9
Circumcision & Name of Jesus    Ps. 8
Sunday after New Year    Ps. 145:1–7 

Epiphanytide

Epiphany    Ps. 72:10–19
Epiphany I (The Octave / Baptism of Our Lord)    Ps. 45:1–8
Epiphany II    Ps. 128
Epiphany III    Ps. 105:6–11
Epiphany IV    Ps. 119:89–96
Epiphany V    Ps. 32
Epiphany VI / Transfiguration    Ps. 2 

Pre-Lent, Lent, & Passiontide

Septuagesima    Ps. 31:12–18
Sexagesima    Ps. 43
Quinquagesima    Ps. 78:22–29
Ash Wednesday    Ps. 51:1–11
Lent I (Invocavit)    Ps. 91:3–13
Lent II (Reminiscere)    Ps. 5
Lent III (Oculi)    Ps. 84
Lent IV (Laetare)    Ps. 122
Lent V (Judica)    Ps. 119:25–32 

Holy Week

Palmarum    Ps. 22:1–11
Maundy Thursday    Ps. 111
Easter Day, Monday, Tuesday    Ps. 118:19–29
Easter I (Quasimodogeniti)    Ps. 81:10–16
Easter II (Misericordias Domini)    Ps. 23
Easter III (Jubilate)    Ps. 146
Easter IV (Cantate)    Ps. 66:1–12
Easter V (Rogate)    Ps. 96
Ascension Day    Ps. 68:24–35
Sunday after Ascension (Exaudi)    Ps. 47
Whitsunday, Monday, Tuesday    Ps. 104:27–35 

Trinitytide

Holy Trinity    Ps. 33:1–12
Trinity I    Ps. 41
Trinity II    Ps. 13
Trinity III    Ps. 25:8–14
Trinity IV    Ps. 44:17–26
Trinity V    Ps. 18:1–15
Trinity VI    Ps. 27
Trinity VII    Ps. 105:39–45
Trinity VIII    Ps. 31:1–8
Trinity IX    Ps. 34:1–10
Trinity X    Ps. 74:10-17
Trinity XI    Ps. 51:12-19
Trinity XII    Ps. 147:12-20
Trinity XIII    Ps. 104:13–23
Trinity XIV    Ps. 36:5-10
Trinity XV    Ps. 146:5-10
Trinity XVI    Ps. 102:12-22
Trinity XVII    Ps. 71:15-24
Trinity XVIII    Ps. 100
Trinity XIX    Ps. 96:7-13
Trinity XX    Ps. 119:1-8
Trinity XXI    Ps. 119:49-56
Trinity XXII    Ps. 119:81-88
Trinity XXIII    Ps. 17:4-15
Trinity XXIV    Ps. 116:10-19
Trinity XXV    Ps. 46
Trinity XXVI    Ps. 50:1-15
Trinity XXVII – The Last Sunday of the Church Year    Ps. 45:9–17

  Common of Saints
Apostles’ and Evangelists’ Days    Ps. 19
Martyrs’ Days    Ps. 46
Confessors’ Days    Ps. 21
Virgins’ Days    Ps. 45

  Proper of Saints

The Circumcision and Name of Jesus (Jan. 1)     Ps. 98
The Presentation of Our Lord / Purification (Feb. 2)    Ps. 65
The Annunciation (March 25)    Ps. 72  
The Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24)    Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79)
St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29)    Ps. 46
The Visitation (July 2)     Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)
St. Mary Magdalene (July 22)    Ps. 119:121–128
St. Bartholomew (Aug. 24)    Ps. 9:1-10
St. Michael & All Angels (Sep. 29)    Ps. 103:13–22
The Festival of the Reformation (Oct. 31)    Ps. 118:13–18
All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1)    Ps. 148:8–14
Dedication of a Church    Ps. 84
 

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