The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Historically, Lutherans have regularly celebrated only two festivals of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the Purification and the Annunciation. These two festivals were continued by Luther in his statements "Concerning the Order of Public Worship." (LW, vol. 53, Liturgy and Hymns, p. 14.)
In this statement Luther also continued, for the time being, her Assumption (August 15) and her Nativity (September 8).

A 1731 Lutheran calendar retains the title The Assumption of Mary. Loehe's 1868 calendar styles it as The Homecoming of Mary. Both of these calendars retain the festival of The Nativity of Mary.

These festivals have begun to be included in various Lutheran calendars during the last 40 years. The Assumption is generally renamed St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord (St. Mary, Mother of God). The Nativity of Mary is usually overlooked.

No matter by what name we title this festival, it is the day we commemorate the falling asleep of the Mother of God, comforted in the arms of her son and Lord, Jesus Christ.


A Office hymn of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Quem Terra, pontus, sidera

The God whom earth, and sea, and sky
Adore, and laud, and magnify,
Whose might they own, whose praise they swell,
In Mary's womb vouchsafed to dwell.

The Lord whom sun and moon obey,
Whom all things serve from day to day,
Was by the Holy Ghost conceived,
Of her who through His grace believed.

How blest that Mother, in whose shrine
The great Artificer divine,
Whose hand contains the earth and sky,
Once deigned, as in his ark, to lie:--

Blest in the message Gabriel brought,
Blest by the work the Spirit wrought;
From whom the Great Desire of earth
Took human flesh and human birth.

All honour, laud and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to thee,
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost for evermore. Amen.

"Rubrics" and the Treasury of Daily Prayer

In the light of the previous discussions re. rubrics and hyper-ritualizing, I am a bit surprised to find extremely detailed instructions in the How to Use section of The Treasury of Daily Prayer.

"The ribbons are used, in the order and for the purposes as indicated in the list that follows. If you use this order, you are less likely to tangle the ribbons as you use the Treasury."

"Dark Green = marks the Church Year calendar section."
"Gold = marks the current day in the Church Year."
"Red = marks the order of prayer you are using (all orders are in the center of the book)."
"Purple = marks the additional prayers you may choose to use daily."
"Light Green = marks your place in the Psalms."
"Blue = marks "Prayers for the Baptized Life" or any place in the book of your choice."

There follows, then, "detailed, step-by-step" instructions on how to correctly insert the ribbons into the book, how to use them to (correctly) mark the appropriate sections of the book, and how to manipulate them during the recitation of the office.

What I found most amusing about this set of instructions is this statement: "If you use this order, you are less likely to tangle the ribbons...." This, I think, is the ultimate of hyper-ritualizing.