Basic Tips for Planning the Eucharist Liturgy: The Entrance Rite

By Robin G. Jordan

The entrance rite is one of the parts of the Eucharistic Liturgy that has tended to accumulate an accretion of unnecessary and redundant elements over the centuries. These elements have given undue prominence to what is an ancillary rite of the liturgy.

Those who are interested in restoring the liturgy to its primitive simplicity will omit the Opening Acclamation, the Collect for Purity, the Decalogue, the Summary of the Law, the Gloria in Excelsis or other Song of Praise, the Kyrie Eleison, and the Trisagion. All these elements are later additions.

In the Anglican Church the Opening Acclamation or, in some Anglican service books, the Opening Sentence of Scripture and the Trisagion were added in the twentieth century; the Lord’s Prayer. The Collect for Purity and the Decalogue in the sixteenth century; the Gloria in Excelsis or Other Song of Praise and the Kyrie Eleison in the fifth century, and the Summary of the Law in the eighteenth century. They will discover that omitting these elements does not impoverish the liturgy but adds to it, makes it far more prayerful. They will discover that less is more.

What about the entrance song? Singing hymns, litanies, and psalms while the ministers entered in procession appears to have become the practice by the fifth century. The twentieth century practice of singing a medley of praise choruses and worship songs before the liturgy, beginning with upbeat songs of praise and concluding with slower songs of adoration, is not far removed from the fifth century practice.

Liturgically the function of the entrance song is not to accompany the procession of the ministers, which may be omitted. The ministers may unobtrusively take their places before the beginning of the service.  Rather it is to draw together a loose aggregate of people into a worshiping assembly, to focus their attention upon God, and to prepare the assembly for the reading and explication of God’s Word which is to follow. The entrance song is the conclusion of the gathering of God’s people to offer him thanks and raise, to hear the Word, to pray for their needs and the needs of others, and to remember their Lord’s saving death in the breaking of the bread as he commanded. For this reason the entrance song is also known as the gathering song and the entrance rite as the gathering rite.

Simplifying the entrance rite also makes the liturgy musically less demanding for small congregations that have limited musical resources. In the 1980s the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Music recommended that small congregations omit singing the entrance song before the Opening Acclamation and sing the Song of Praise before the Salutation and the Collect of the day, using familiar setting of the Gloria in Excelsis or some other canticle, a metrical version of the Gloria or other canticle, or a hymn of praise. This is an application of the liturgical principle of less is more. If an entrance procession was desired, the ministers could enter in procession during the Song of Praise. As I have explained elsewhere, it is better to do a few things well than a lot of things poorly.

As for using a medley of songs in place of a single song at the opening of the service, this piece of advice was given to me. There is nothing wrong with this practice. However, it is best to vary what is done at the opening of the service. Otherwise it can lose its impact. One Sunday the service might begin with an instrumental piece, followed by a hymn, Gloria, or other canticle, and then the Salutation (or other Greeting) and the Collect of the Day. On another Sunday it might begin with the ringing of a church bell, followed by a period of silence, and then a hymn, Gloria, or other canticle, the Salutation, and the Collect of the Day. And so on. Different variations might be used during different seasons of the Church Year. For example, a solemn nine-fold Kyrie might be sung during the Season of Lent.

When using a medley of songs, seesawing back and forth between songs of a different tempo and mood does not have the same effect as moving from faster songs of praise to slower songs of adoration. Indeed it can be disconcerting to the congregation and should be avoided.

A well-planned liturgy is a balance of elements that vary from Sunday to Sunday and elements that are unvaring during a season of the Church Year or a part of the longer seasons or throughout the year. I will be offering more basic tips for planning the Eucharist Liturgy in future articles.