Before the Commandments Were Written, There Was Singing

Abstract

In the liturgies of the church, generation after generation have been drawn into the foundational events by which God's promises have been made known in the Holy Scriptures through a performative doxological eucharistic hermeneutic that is fundamental to the shape and function of Word and Sacrament worship practices.  This editorial essay reflects upon the Ordinary of the historic Mass, the Proper Prefaces, and the development of hymnody as the eucharistic ordo sings the scriptures doxologically. The ritual performance of the eucharistic liturgy that leads to the canonization of the scriptures and the canonization of the patterning of the ordo, brings the living Word of God repeatedly into the eucharistic assembly. As the church gathered in the Triune name experiences the presence of God where he has promised to be, it is unified in its life as homo adorans, for such a glorious sounding leads the assembly forward in faith to their final destination, the heart of God.