The Divine Service – Hymnary, p. 62:4-9
The Entrance
The Entrance used to be the beginning of the service in the early church and consisted of the singing of various hymns, psalms, and portions of Scripture set to music, prior to the entrance of the pastor or pastors who in the next part of the service would be read and teach God’s word.
To understand this part of the service, it helps to know about the Propers and the Ordinaries. The propers are proper or appropriate for a particular Sunday, while the ordinaries are the selections ordinarily used every Sunday.
The Entrance begins with the Introit (which means “entrance” or “going in”). The introit is a proper, so it varies from Sunday to Sunday, generally capturing the theme for the day. The Introit is primarily from the Psalms, and retains the back-and-forth or couplet form of the Old Testament poetry.
The Gloria Patri, gets its name from the first few words in the Latin setting of the piece. Typically the Gloria Patri is part of the Introit, and is a simple hymn of praise to God for the wonderful gifts that are coming to us in His service.
Kyrie is Greek for Lord. Kyrie Eleison is translated, “Lord, Have Mercy.” Sometimes the Greek version is used, as on page 63. Because we have confessed our sins and God has forgiven us through His word that the Pastor proclaims, and because God gives us His gifts in His service, we can pray to Him for mercy, knowing that He hears and willingly grants our prayer.
The Gloria in Excelsis is the song the angels sang at the birth of Jesus. God HAS been merciful and has sent His Son to save us. We sing thanks to God the Father, to the Son who takes away the sin of the world, and to the Holy Spirit.
We have entered into the Divine Service where God comes to us. The One who has given us the gift of salvation in the Savior in Bethlehem now comes with His gifts in the Liturgy.