The difference between what must be and should be. . .

Orthodox and confessional Lutheranism has a choice.  That choice is between what we absolutely must have and what we should have.  This is a question that relates on so many levels.

Orthodox and confessional Lutheranism does not absolutely require great church buildings, mighty pipe organs, wonderful choirs, vestments, pews, stained glass, paraments, etc...  Of course, in times of necessity and want, Lutheran churches have survived without these things.  But the choice is misplaced if it is between what we must have and what is essential versus what best represents us and what we ought to have.  Minimalism has long been the bane of Lutheranism and has resulted in the false idea that we only need what is essential and the rest is mere adiaphora (falsely defined as personal taste).  Lutherans are not positioned to minimalism in anything.  Luther did not put together the hymn service of the Deutsche Messe because he thought this was optimal but where necessity lived without the blessing of the fuller liturgy and ceremonial.  In this Luther was not breaking ground but merely following the practice of the Christian Church through the ages.  In his own day, the rural and smaller parishes knew the low mass as normative -- not a sung mass with servers but a spoken mass with minimal assistants.  It is still more typical in Roman Catholic parishes that the mass is observed without deacon, subdeacon, and choir.  In fact, Luther was raising the bar a bit by providing a sung alternative which enabled even the smallest parish with the least resources to have a sung mass (Divine Service).

Orthodox and confessional Lutheranism does not absolutely require an educated clergy, steeped in the knowledge of the church fathers, equipped with Biblical languages, and trained up with all the tools of the office.  Certainly the men Wilhelm Loehe sent out and some of the so-called practical pastors of the old Ft. Wayne seminary were less well equipped than the graduates we send forth today.  Yet this was never seen as optimal but necessary for a specific need and time.  It did not take long to bolster the educational resources of the often derogatory term practical seminary until it became virtually the same as the other seminary.  When the Synod set forth the Specific Ministry Pastor program, it was in response to a need (and an attempt to order what had been an odd conglomeration of paths and programs).  Synod was clear that this was not to be the ordinary route to ordination but the extraordinary one and for those specific needs and purposes identified by the Synod.  Now there are voices suggesting that the internet can replace the knowledge of basic Greek (and Hebrew).  Perhaps there are adequate tools available but without the man knowing how to use those tools, he remains the servant of the technology and its maters and not even their equal.  Nevertheless, Lutheran Churches have never in their history suggested that what might be necessary for the moment should become the norm for preparing men to be pastors.  In fact, it could be said that it is not simply the classroom that forms the man for the office but the chapel and the life of the gathered community around the Word and Sacraments.  How can you do this online?

Frankly, what is killing us as a church and the church at large is the idea that minimalism can suffice for every need.  We do not need a minimalistic orthodoxy but a full and generous orthodoxy that knows and can effectively teach and give witness to the faith so that those assembled every week can teach and give witness to the faith in their homes and work places.  Mission congregations always begin in rented spaces with just enough to mark the sacred space where God bestows His gifts to His gathered people.  But no mission parish ever stays there.  It does not take long before they rightfully long for and begin to provide those external and visible markers of the faith they confess.  It is our nature to strive for fullness.  That is not something we ought to complain about or work against but foster.  This fullness does not work against the overall mission but aids and supports the external work of witness from the firm foundation of reverent liturgy, vibrant congregational song, Biblical preaching, and confessional and passionate catechetical teaching.  Our church is not dying because we are too Lutheran but precisely because we are not Lutheran enough.  Some folks need to be reminded of this from time to time.