March 2013 - St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Kingsville, MD

Color Me Liturgical – Part 6
We are now at part 6 of the series entitled “Color Me Liturgical.” The author of this interesting
series of articles is Rev. Boettcher, organist and cantor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church (LCMS) in
Adell, WI.
We use the color BLACK only two days a year—on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and
Good Friday, the commemoration of our Lord’s death. These two days of the church year have one
major theme in common: SIN. As we begin to walk with our Lord on His path to the cross on Ash
Wednesday, we are somberly reminded of the great load of sin that led our Lord to the cross. And
of course, our Lord died on that old rugged cross on Good Friday…
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out
with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Darkness. Isaiah chapter 60 proclaims to the people, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the
people.” That darkness is sin. Sin separates man from God. Sin prohibits us from standing before the God of the universe. This
is the sin that separated Jesus from His Father while he was hanging on the cross dying to take our sin away from us. And that
is why the earth was dark for that period of time when Jesus was struggling with Satan, and winning the battle against him.
The liturgical color black represents the pinnacle of contrasts in the Bible. It is seen in contrast to WHITE, the color of purity,
the color of holiness, the color of life, the color of rejoicing, of triumph, of victory. On the other hand, BLACK is the color of
sin, the color of impurity, the color of death, the color of sadness, mourning, and defeat. Hence its use on Ash Wednesday and
Good Friday.
[W]hen you see people at the funeral home or the church for a funeral, you see a whole lot of black being worn. People are
mourning the loss of their… their loved one. But did you ever notice that the church does not use black paraments for a
funeral…? Why, you may ask, is this the way things are done?
Simple. Let’s go back to our passage from Isaiah: “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the
people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.” Because of sin in this world, people will wear
black at your funeral. You are not perfect. You will die a sinner. But the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen
upon you. Your Savior, Jesus Christ, died on the cross and rose from the dead, and it is with His glory—His death and resurrection—that
He, by means of the Holy Spirit and His means of grace, can and will shower you with [forgiveness,] life, and
salvation... We don’t use black paraments for a funeral; rather, we use the appointed color of the day according to the church
calendar to remind us that we are under the grace of God who has brought us light and life through the actions of the Holy
Spirit through the Gospel…
Let us remember… that we hear [God’s] Word, study His Word, memorize Luther’s Small Catechism, and partake of His
blessed sacraments as a constant reminder that we were once in the darkness of unbelief but have now been raised into the
glorious life of a Christian, always ready to meet the day when He comes to return us home to be with Him in heaven. To God
be the glory!
Source: emmanueladell.org/kantorskorner/?p=149
March 2013
Thank you to everyone who came to the Pancake Supper! We appreciate your continued support
for the Evangelism Committee and our projects.
The Evangelism Committee will sponsor the soup and salad Lenten dinner at 5:45 p.m. on
Wednesday, March 13, followed by the Lenten service at 7 p.m. We hope to see you there!
Page 5
Submitted by Miriam Chalk
Evangelism Committee