SONGS OF PRAISE
From the earliest times Christians began to sing hymns to God in thanks for Jesus Christ and his life. Some of these can be found in the New Testament, and some come to us from the first two hundred years of the Church’s history. The Gloria is a very early hymn or song of praise.
AFFIRMATIONS OF FAITH
Christians needed to be able to summarise what it is that they believed. The creeds are statements of what it is that the Church believes about God and Jesus (Nicene Creed) and what individual believers also believe (Apostle’s Creed).
PRAYERS
There are many ways to pray to God, but Jesus gave to his friends a prayer that they could all learn and say. We call that prayer the ‘Our Father’ or ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ In the early years of the Church some people began to write down prayers so that others could use them and these became part of what today we call the Mass prayers.
ACCLAMATIONS
Acclamations are usually short statements that help us to focus on important moments in the Mass.
For Reflection and Discussion
1
Identify different types of songs that we sing in Church and see if you can discern the difference between songs of praise, songs that are penitential, songs that are personal and expressions of faith.
2
Make up some short prayers, remembering that some prayers are personal and use ‘I’ and some are communal and use ‘we’.