What do we have in common with our forbearers?

Transport the average Lutheran congregant back to the time of the Lutheran Reformation for a Sunday morning service and most would find themselves confused, dismayed, and disheartened by the "catholic" nature of the Divine Service.  What is wrong when we find ourselves embarrassed, ashamed, or uncomfortable with the form of the Divine Service in a Lutheran setting from the time of our formation?

Here is a "photo" painting of an early Lutheran Mass at Koenigsburg.  Complete with full vestments, ceremonial, and postures representative of their "catholic" past.  Without shame or confusion, these Lutherans saw the Reformation primarily as clear confession and not the abandonment of catholic identity or liturgy.  Note that altar boys with the houseling cloth used like a paten to make sure any crumbs from the distribution of the host did not fall to the floor but were reverently dealt with.

Or

How about this snapshot of a Reformation era Divine Service at Brandenburg a generation after Luther's October 31 shot heard round the world?  Does this look anything like what most Lutherans experience on Sunday morning?

Nope, most Lutherans would run to the nearest PresbyMethoPentecostoBaptistic congregation to be cleansed from the formalistic piety so evident in these paintings... but there are many, many others that I could have posted.

My point... like a family looking at old photos might note a change in dress or hair due to a particular time and place, we might notice some difference between today and then.  However, we should feel just as at home in the setting as we do now... or else there just might be something wrong... with us.