You watch and tell me to which denomination you think this congregation belongs:
Then watch this video and tell me to which denomination you think this congregation belongs:
Would it surprise you to find out that both congregations belong to the same church body?
The issue of worship style is not simply a matter of preference or what you believe works. It is also one of the boundary issues that define who you are. It matters not what you like or dislike but it does matter when two so radically different and mutually exclusive worship services both claim to be Lutheran, and, in particular, Missouri Synod Lutheran. While it is easy to say which you think is more normal for the church body, the problem lies in that both claim to be authentically Lutheran. If that is true, then there is no such thing as a Lutheran identity on Sunday morning. If that is true, then we have a problem larger than two mutually exclusive worship styles, we have no identity at all except a paper one, a theoretical one, that has no influence or power to shape what we do on Sunday morning. Pick one or the other, it does not matter, but do you think that both can exist side by side within a church body without challenge? Would the people in the first video be caught dead in the second video church on Sunday morning? Would the people in the second be caught dead in the first video church on Sunday morning? If the answer is no to either or both questions, then how can it be that the first church and the second church are in fellowship with each other? Unless fellowship is strictly a matter of belief completely separated from practice, we have real problems. Choose whichever video you like best and then ask yourself how it is that one can co-exist with the other and both be consider equally legitimate in a church body?
11 comments:
I, as a Roman Catholic, with no church around and needed a place to pray, would feel most at home at Redeemer Lutheran (2nd vid) than at the mega-church type service.
In the second video, it appeared that there were men vested in dalmatics, the traditional vestment of a Deacon. Does the LCMS have Deacons today? Within the LCMS, who wears the dalmatic?
Fr.D+
Now, the folks at Redeemer would have a really great liturgy if the clergy would simply face God rather than the people.
Fr.D+
God is everywhere.
Which way our pastor faces depends on what part of the liturgy is being executed.
If these two videos represent the "extremes" on both sides in The LCMS. What does "the middle" look like?
The middle looks more like the second video than the first. The same liturgy minus some of the vestments, assisting ministers, and ceremonies but almost exactly the same order.
The free church has moved far, far away from the historical Church. The Lutheran liturgy has also moved and changed things to Luther's and other's liking, but to a lesser degree. Why should one be thought blameless and the other not? Both have been remade according to likes and dislikes.
A decade ago, on his now-deleted Cyberbrethren blog, CPH Publisher Paul McCain discussed hyper-ritualist Lutherans, including in his article, "The Dangers of Hyper-Ritualizing Lutheran Worship Or: Why ‘Say the black, do the red’ is the wisest course." About hyper-ritualists McCain noted:
"I think some are getting too concerned about Medieval-era Roman Catholic rubrics calling, for example, for a pastor to hold his fingers in a certain position, in a certain way, 'just so' when performing the liturgy. It is this kind of hyper-ritualization of all things having to do with worship and liturgy that is about the best formula I can imagine for turning people away from the liturgy. The better way is to 'say the black, do the red' as contained in the hymnals and its companion volumes, not trying to 'one up' the church’s accepted worship resources."
Hyper-ritualizing is hardly the danger in the LCMS. Complete loss of liturgical identity is (see what Pastor Peters has written about this). More congregations may be using the hymnal but more people on Sunday morning attend those moving away from the Lutheran liturgy. THAT is the issue. Plus fellowship described above.
Well, I hate to nit-pick but....
Neither Divine Service used the resources available in the denomination’s approved worship resource, Lutheran Service Book. While quite beautiful and singable, the Ordinary at Redeemer is not from one of the settings in LSB, so while its content is the same Jacobean English as Setting 3, its music is different.
Both formats show improvisation and differences from the LSB.
Full disclosure: for my 30 years of parish ministry, the conduct of the services in the churches I served was much closer to Redeemer’s with me vesting in alb, cincture, stole and chasuble. I also vested in a cope when conducting baptismal liturgies. Now, in retirement, we have joined a wonderful LCMS congregation that offers a more relaxed version of Redeemer’s liturgy and a weekly communion service in the style of Pathfinder. The traditional service has communion every other week. As I am not the Pastor, I go along with the congregation’s formats, and regularly substitute for our Pastor when he is away.
Bottom line: we are reaching folks with the Word and Sacraments each week and as we have elderly folks regularly attending the “Pathfinder” type service, we also have young families who prefer to attend the “Redeemer” type service. It’s much more complicated than I encountered back in the day, but it is what it is. I enjoy preaching and presiding at both formats, which I am finding a blessing.
It is not necessary to provide and “either/or” decision, but to explore a “both/and”. I wonder what our Divine Service will look like in another 25 years....maybe God will grant me the privilege of seeing it, but I rather doubt that. In 25 years I plan to be fully present at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb that has no end, just as I have been for the past 65 years.
Padre,
The music was published by CPH and was commissioned by them in the 1950s or 1960s from Healy Willan so it is LSB with a musical option long in use in the Synod though not by many.
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