The Sixth Duty of Ministers of the Church

In his On the Ministry , Vol. 2, pp. 100, 101 (https://www.cph.org/p-19256-on-the-ministry-ii-theological-commonplaces.aspx), Johann Gerhard details seven distinct duties of the ecclesiastical ministry. You’ll have to look up the other six on your own, but here is his summary comment upon the sixth:

In the exercise of divine worship, certain solemn, public rites should be preserved that aim at good order and decorum and were introduced by the pious consensus of the whole church. Therefore the protection of ecclesiastical rites, which were approved by serious consideration and which give useful instruction concerning many topics in public assemblies, also pertains to the ecclesiastical ministry. Nor should a minister change them, leading to scandal in the church, because of some private desire of his mind. Consequently, the sixth duty of ministers is the preservation of ecclesiastical rites.

So it turns out, folks, that there IS such a thing as “maintenance ministry.” We have the duty as ministers of the Church to “maintain” the ecclesiastical rites we have received, i.e., to preserve the holy liturgy. Who knew?