Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Cor. 1:25)

Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 11th, 2006 at 9:55 am

I've received some emails saying, "You have the answers, now where are the questions." For those of you who weren't at The Feast or who had better things to do than go on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Liturgy, here is the opening quiz.

For those who are asking, a web version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Liturgy will be available in a week or so. I need to incorporate written text, which is going to take a bit of time.

Test Your Liturgical IQ

1. The term “Gottesdienst” refers to
    a) a German beer
    b) a town in Bavaria
    c) the activities of worship
    d) what you say when someone sneezes

2. The Lutheran divine service order came to us from
    a) Martin Luther
    b) LCMS synodical headquarters
    c) God
    d) the western catholic tradition

3. Agnus Dei refers to
    a) a type of beef cattle
    b) a hymn to Christ
    c) a Reformation hymn
    d) a secret order of Roman Catholics mentioned in the Da Vinci Code

4. Who first sang “Gloria in excelsis Deo”?
    a) Mary      b) angels    c) shepherds   d) Zechariah

5. Which of the following is not a liturgical vestment?
    a) alb    b) stole   c) chasubile   d) Hawaiian shirt

6. The “orans” posture of prayer is
    a) hands waving wildly in the air
    b) hands folded together
    c) fingers stuck in ears
    d) hands extended from the waist, palms up

7. The Collect of the Day refers to
    a) the offering
    b) the prayer of the day
    c) the announcements
    d) the pot luck after church

8. When the pastor says, “The Lord be with you,” the appropriate response is
    a) And also with you.
    b) You too.
    c) Huh?
    d) And with your spirit.

9. The appropriate gesture to accompany the Invocation is
    a) finding the right page in the hymnal
    b) looking around
    c) staring at your shoes
    d) making the sign of the cross

10. The Nunc Dimittis was first sung by
    a) Zechariah    b) Joseph   c) Mary   d) Simeon

11. We use candles in the liturgy today
    a) because they look cool
    b) to give the acolytes something to light
    c) in case of a rolling blackout
    d) so we can sing, “This little Gospel light of mine.
12. Which of the following is NOT a necessary criterion for a good hymn?
    a) be doctrinally sound
    b) properly distinguish Law and Gospel
    c) focus on Christ
    d) be written by really old, dead guys

13. The “lectionary” refers to
    a) a system of Scripture readings for the church year
    b) a Bible class where only the teacher speaks
    c) another name for the sermon
    d) a type of prayer

14. Why might a pastor go behind the altar to face the people when speaking the words of institution?
    a) He wants to make sure no one leaves early
    b) It’s impolite to turn your back on the congregation
    c) He’s speaking for Christ to the people
    d) It’s the liturgically cool thing to do

15. From where did the structure of our Service of the Word originally come?
    a) the apostles made it up
    b) the 1st century synagogue
    c) Concordia Publishing House
    d) the pope

16. The sentences of the Preface (“The Lord be with you...”) can be dated to
    a) 1982
    b) 1530
    c) 725
    d) 150

17. The term “adiaphora” refers to
    a) the right to do anything we please
    b) things that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God
    c) a brand of communion wine
    d) a vestment worn by presiders at communion

18. Which is the most biblical name for the Supper of Christ’s Body and Blood?
    a) Eucharist
    b) Mass
    c) Sacrament of the Altar
    d) The Lord’s Supper
    e) The Last Supper

19. We make make the sign of the cross at the invocation of the Triune Name of God
    a) to be liturgically cool
    b) so as not be Protestant
    c) to tick off our parents
    d) to remember our Baptism

20. Which is the least appropriate name for what goes on in church?
    a) the holy Liturgy
    b) the Divine Service
    c) the service of Word and Sacrament
    d) a worship service

Find out how you did here.

Edited on: August 11th, 2006 10:12 am

Comments:

Re: Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 14th, 2006 at 10:14 am by dtp
Request for clarification;

Questoin 11 - why isn't the answer the one about acolytes. Heck at my church, you can't even see the candles because of the glare through the windows!

QUestion 18 - Ok - I cor 11:20 is where I am going to presume where you are getting this - but what is wrong with the Eucharist? (besides certain low-church folk thinking it sounds papist - which isn't a bad thing - necessarily)

Re: Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 14th, 2006 at 10:53 am by revcwirla
Ah, there's always one student in the class quibbling about his grade. Don't worry, this won't effect your GPA. Much.

Question 11 (minus .5 pts for misspelling "questoin"):

Yeah, we'll give you credit for b. Those acolytes definitely need something to do or else they'll start text messaging their friends during the divine service.

As an aside, one of the best demonstrations of candle lighting I've ever seen was in a church that had ELECTRIC candlebras on each side of the altar. The acolyte reverenced the altar, bent down, and clicked on the thunb switch. Now that's what I call ceremonial, baby!

Question 18: "Eucharist" is not a biblical name for the Lord's Supper, though it is old. The church fathers, who weren't as concerned as we are about the distinction between sacrament and sacrifice refer to "making eucharist." They also speak of the Supper in terms of "sacrifice." As Melanchthon notes in Apology XXIVI, the Mass is rightly termed a "eucharistic sacrifice" in terms of its prayers, praise, and thanksgiving. But the emphasis in that is on what we are doing toward God, not what He is doing for us.

If you want certain low-church folk to think you're a papist, simply refer to the Mass, as our Confessions do. That will give them a sufficient case of the heeby-jeebies.

Re: Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 14th, 2006 at 1:34 pm by ematthaei
I scored an 18 and I would like to know, am I a Bishop, a Presbyter, or both?

For the record, I did not answer #6 and I fell for the trick question on #11.

Thanks for posting this, and I enjoyed listening to you on Issues Etc. last week.

Re: Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 14th, 2006 at 3:57 pm by dtp
So what was the topic of Issues Etc. ??

electric light switch? Reminds me of John Macarthur's assembly hall and stage. The pleace he lectured from on the stage was fairly large, and it - and up to 10 people who could fit there.. was basically an elevator, controlled from the sound booth.

(note any reference to it being a sanctuary or altar or pulpit properly... changed to protect the fundementalist from appearing papist)

hmmm - how many days?

Posted On: August 29th, 2006 at 4:31 pm by dtp
On 8/11 WMC typed that:

For those who are asking, a web version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Liturgy will be available in a week or so. I need to incorporate written text, which is going to take a bit of time.

Any revision to the "or so"?

By the way, the image below was "St. Ewraed" any idea who that is?

Re: Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 29th, 2006 at 4:38 pm by revcwirla
Having a few "technical difficulties" uploading a file this large. Stay tuned and be patient.

Music on slideshow

Posted On: August 29th, 2006 at 8:47 pm by Rev. Jared C. Tucher
Rev. Cwirla, on the opening of the slideshow at The Feast, can you tell me where I can find the music you used?

Re: Test Your Liturgical IQ

Posted On: August 31st, 2006 at 12:23 am by revcwirla
The opening sequence was "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted" from Handel's Messiah, A Soulful Celebration. (That was the funky R&B version with the rap interlude. It's really a great piece, if you don't mind taking a little liberty with Handel.)

The subsequent days, I played Sanctus (based on Canon by Pachelbel) by the Libera Boys Choir from the recording "Libera." Libera is an English boys choir that proves you can make those old Latin texts interesting.

wmc