The place of the Creed in the Divine Service. . .

In addition to the obvious change of the canon of the Divine Service, the placement of the creed is the next more significant change between the rites of Divine Service I & II and III.  Some have attempted to make its location a confessional issue but this goes well beyond the issue of right and wrong and attempts to make preference into law.  

The creed resulted from controversy and the need of the Church to address the challenge to orthodoxy.  What came out of several Councils as a statement of dogma, over time became a fixed part of the Ordo Missae.  It did not happen overnight nor did happen everywhere at the same time.  Sometime by the 11th century, the practice of praying  the Profession of Faith became the universal practice of the West.  It location within the Ordo was as a bridge, as it were, between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The suggestion is made that the Creed was placed here because it was at this point the Rite of Baptism would be celebrated.  Interestingly enough, this accords well with the name of the first part of the Mass as the "Mass of the Catechumens."  Indeed, the more ancient practice was that the unbaptized would leave the church after the Creed (the confession of the faith) and before the "Mass of the "Faithful" began leading to the communion by the faithful.  Indeed, some of suggested that this is also the reason for the first person confession of the words of the Creed in conflict with the original wording of the Council in plural (I believe vs We believe).

From the time of Trent on, the place of the homily or sermon was immediately following the Gospel and just before the Offertory.  The intercessions now universally known as the Prayer of the Faithful were largely included within the Canon or Eucharistic Prayer.  For Lutherans the placement has either been immediately after the Gospel or after the sermon and just before the Prayer of the Church.  Some try to make this into a confessional point as if to say one is Lutheran and the other is not.  The reality is that there may be different preferences but that the meaning of the placement is quite common despite the different locations.

By being recited after the appointed readings, the Gospel in particular, the Creed may form a response or echo from the faithful to what the voice of God has said through the readings of the prophets and apostles and the Gospels.  It is, as it were, a distillation of the many words of the Biblical narrative into a summary response from the mouths of the faithful.  We literally say "This I believe..."  In its place before the Offertory, the Creed then functions as a bridge, if you will, between the Word and the Sacrament.  While there was a time when the catechumens would depart and only those who could receive remained for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Creed was also part of their catechesis and not strictly a door closed to them. When the Mass of the Faithful began at the Offertory, the catechumens were dismissed from the congregation. 

While there is no strictly right or wrong nature to the question of the placement of the Creed, I think the movement between two positions can be confusing to a congregation that alternates between the DS I/II and DS III position and it has always been my practice to make that position the same no matter which rite was in use (though we never alternated on a weekly, monthly, or seasonal basis but preferred to keep one rite in use long enough until it became usual to the congregation).  Pick one location or pattern and use it in every Divine Service rite that is chosen.  Because the more ancient and consistent practice has been the location of the Creed after the homily or sermon, this is the choice I have made.