Sermon service

The term sermon worship , also predicant worship (from kirchenlat. Praedicans preacher), describes a medieval type of public Christian worship . a. in southwest Germany and Switzerland became the model for the organization of divine services in the Reformation churches.

Today the term also generally refers to a Protestant service without the Lord's Supper - regardless of whether its structure is based on the medieval sermon service or the mass .

Development in the Middle Ages

From the need for a sermon, i.e. a missionary or warning speech in the national language, after the 9th century the pronaus (from French prône or Latin praeconium proclamation), a sermon liturgy that emphasizes the weight of the sermon in mass worship increased, but subsequently led to the separation of a sermon service from the celebration of mass. They were often offered before or after a mass or between two masses. In the 12th century the preaching system was clearly established; Trained mendicants from the Franciscan and Dominican orders were available to preach through the country. Some of the sermons they gave in churches and on the street were liturgically unrelated, while others were probably involved in sermon services. In a number of imperial cities in southwest Germany there had been preaching positions since the 15th century, which were donated instead of mass pledges and, in addition to the Latin masses, were able to guarantee high-quality sermons embedded in a liturgical framework - often together with an open debt , an Our Father, Ave Maria etc.

There was no uniform process. In 1503, Johann Ulrich Surgant from Basel published the Manuale Curatorum, a homiletic-liturgical handbook that provided examples instead of regulations for the design of word worship services and thus invited the reformers to follow up.

Admission by the reformers

In addition to the mass, Martin Luther offered sermon services, which, however, are liturgically linked to the daily prayers of Mette and Vespers . Ulrich Zwingli adopted the Pronaus form from Surgant in the Zurich church ordinances of 1525 and 1535. In Basel, Oekolampad supplemented Zwingli's form with parish singing. Johannes Calvin took up the Strasbourg service order for Geneva; the open guilt at the beginning of the service is reminiscent of the confiteor of the mass, the chanting of the psalms also extends the Zurich order. In the Nuremberg service order of 1524, a sermon service was added between two masses. The Württemberg church ordinances of 1536 and 1553, on the other hand, introduced the sermon service as the main service of a Lutheran regional church - the basic form of the pronaus was expanded to include congregational singing and a general church prayer. What is striking in all of these forms is the possibility of different combinations of the components.

Variety of shapes

The variety of forms of the Upper German and Swiss preaching service is shown in the following illustration:

Pronaus	Honorius (around 1120)	Surgant (1503)	Nuremberg (1524)	Zwingli (1525)	Calvin (1542)
		(in the fair :)	Athanasianum		Adjutorium
			Psalm song (1–3)	Opening prayer	Outright guilt
			Reading AT with explanation	Our Father	Psalm song (several)
			Decalogue	Ave Maria	free prayer
sermon	sermon		Creed	sermon	sermon
Outright guilt	Our Father with catechesis	Our Father, Ave Maria, Credo, Decalogue (catechism pieces as a prerequisite for admission to the Eucharist)	Our Father and Ave Maria	Discontinuation of the deceased	General Church prayer
Credo, Our Father, Decalogue, Ave Maria (catechism pieces)	Creed with catechesis		Intercessory prayer	Ave Maria 2	Our Father Paraphrase
	Outright guilt with absolution		Admonition to give alms	Decalogue	blessing
	Intercessory prayer		sung offerings or prayer	Apostolicum
		also open guilt, intercessory prayer and discontinuations	sermon
			(Mass follows with the Tagamt)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Handbook of Liturgy. Edited by Hans-Christoph Schmidt-Lauber a . a. 3rd edition 1999, p. 251
2. ↑ See Handbook of Liturgy. ³ 1999, 253; Württemberg Church History Online, Art. Sermon Service, Section 2
3. ↑ See Handbook of Liturgy. ³ 1999, 253
4. ↑ ^{a b} abolished in 1563: See Handbuch der Liturgik ³ 1999, 255