On another forum I have been following another long discussion of non-liturgical worship with the use of contemporary worship vs liturgical worship with the use of mostly hymns. It is so painful because this debate has been going on on different threads in that forum for, well, ever. It shows no signs of winding down and both sides are entrenched in their positions. One of the things I consider as someone who has both participated in this debate and someone who has stayed out of it for periods of time, is the remarkable way that we as Lutheran Pastors are personally connected to these positions. Especially those who write their own stuff for Sunday morning!
Those of us who use the liturgy and the great volume of the Church's hymnody (new and old) do so from a fairly secure position. In other words, it is less about our personal preference or choice than it is about the Church's confession, history and practice. In many respects this is a safe choice theologically. We do not have to pour through everything that is done on Sunday morning to see if it is reflective of our confessional identity, consistent with what we believe, teach, and confess as Lutherans, and consonant with what Lutherans have done through the ages. By using the hymnal and its rich body of hymnody and the liturgy and its deep historical identity with Christians assembled, we stand well within that evangelical and catholic tradition no matter which hymns are chosen or lectionary used.
For those who prepare an essentially new order each week, to talk about what they do is to speak personally about them, about their strengths and weaknesses, about their personalities and tastes, and about their "Lutheran-ness." When you presume to write what the Church will do when she gathers in worship, you presume a great responsibility that some do not fully comprehend. The Church's worship on Sunday morning is the Christian's faith on Monday morning. While those who do this are searching for relevance and culturally attractive and appropriate ways to use the Sunday morning experience as an entry point for those not yet in the Church, they often forget that they are also determining who the Church is, what she believes, and how she looks to the world. For the Church's identity in worship is the Christian's identity Monday through Saturday.
Often they point to numbers as affirmation of their practice and justification for their cause. I will not question or even deal with numbers but the very fact that they are looking for what works to fill the pews is itself an indication of the fragile foundation upon which some of these houses are built. When you choose to stand outside the Church's catholic and evangelical tradition and depart from the order that the Church has known from the earliest of days, then you must find support for and reason for such departure to explain and justify such a disconnect with the Church's identity and life. That is generally an appeal not to Scripture or to the Confessions or even to Luther but to the numbers -- the liturgy does not work and what I am doing does work.
Those who know me know that I have no shortage of ego. Yet I am extremely fearful of what would happen if I were left unconstrained by the path of the Church's tradition and practice. I know that I would love it on one hand and would believe that what I am doing would be better than what anyone else is doing, but it would be a terrible tyrrany upon the people to have them subject to Larry Peters or what Larry Peters thinks they want or need week after week after week. And if someone found fault with what I had prepared, it would not be a simple matter of the way a text were treated or which hymn were chosen, it would be a challenge to who I am and how well I know my people and what they want or need. If attendance wavered from week to week, I would be left with the soul searching question of what I did wrong the Sunday before or the Sunday before that and what I need to correct in order to correct the drop in attendance (if numbers is the primary definition of faithfulness).
All of this relates why such a discussion of contemporary music and non-liturgical worship vs liturgical worship and the music of the Church gets so personal, so heated, and so bitter.... for those who invest themselves and their identities and understandings of the people in determining what happens on Sunday morning, any question about their practice is a personal challenge. And that is exactly the weakness in all of this.... the worship of the Church is not personal to the Pastor or personal even to the congregation but to Jesus Christ, His Word and Sacraments, and the Church's confession and identity. That is the personal that ought to be front and center in our discussions.... and not ourselves.
9 comments:
I do not follow discussions on many of the popular "forums" or the like - but the thing that I have noticed is that many of the proponents of creative worship practices do not simply "create" but also reject.
I have "created" something on various occasions here. When one of our members was heading off to the Seminary, I turned the farewell and Godspeed to a candidate for Ordination into one for a Seminarian. I wrote a hymn that I used a time or two. But these are slight - they add to the tradition, not overwhelm and do away with it.
There needs to be room for folks to adjust rites to local custom - there needs to be room for the poetical to write new verses or the musicians to write new tunes - but these need to be adding to the heritage of the Church rather than replacing it.
Primarily, worship needs to be about what God is doing, contrary to what ErnestO states. Faith which receives God's gifts is the highest worship, according to our Lutheran Confessions.
Certainly, that same faith which first "receives", then responds with praise & thanksgiving as well.
One the wisest things I was ever taught about worship is this; 'the liturgy, lection and hymnody protect the congregation from the pastor's folly."
Ernest. Christ says "the greater is the one who serves." When we are the primary 'giver' in worship and God primarily the 'receiver'- we are taking greatness upon ourselves and God relagated to a lesser position. Our Confessions boldly state (according to Scripture) the highest of worship and praise is to recieve what our Lord desires to give -His Word, forgivness, the Sacrament.
As Pastor Bergstrazer notes, using the lectionary disciplines preachers to proclaim Christ crucified and not the latest book from Oprah.
The article is spot on. However, it is interesting to note that there has been such a destruction of the liturgy in so many parishes for so many years (decades) that a pastor coming in and 'depersonalizing' Sunday morning by using the hymnal-as-written is often accused of doing the same thing that the 'roll your own' guys are doing.
EJG
does the liturgy have a catechetical function?
in the way olden days, books were scarce and most could not read. Yet, they say the Gospel in the churches stained glass windows and heard it in the Mass, at least until latin was no longer the language of the people.
today, we have books but are unread. We have unbelievable means to talk to talk to each other and do not communicate.
cph provides extraordinary resources, yet people do not avail themselves.
It really does seem that the only chance of educating most is through the liturgy. Fortunately, the current liturgy biblical based and God works through His Word; He come to us to purify us and share a meal with us.
I do not partake of these liturgical discussions but I wonder if the liturgy does not have a catechetical function and if that function is being set aside in favor of ego?
mark of brighton
Excellent points. And, yes, the liturgy still has a catechetical function, even with all our books. When I go to visit an elderly member who is suffering from some sort of dementia, she may not remember my name. She may not even remember her children's names. But the very last things these people forget is liturgical. They still join in on the Lord's prayer, the Creeds and other parts of the liturgy. This, too is important and comforting both to them and those who love them. The "do it yourself differently every week" crowd fails to offer anything of comort or spiritual food to these poor souls.
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