We have some who complain that sending a guy to seminary might result in him being too Lutheran for the congregation that sent him. In other words, Lutheran is not that important but being a buddy of Jesus is. The dilution of Lutheran identity or at least living on the fringes of that identity instead of square within its stream are the concerns of those who see Lutheran and catholic and Scriptural as being one in the same. On the other hand, those who are comfortable on the fringes of liturgical and confessional Lutheran identity and practice insist that our job is to bring people to Jesus and not to make them Lutheran. I would agree to a point except that the competition or mutually exclusive character of Lutheran and Christian represent a hill too far. Either we are catholic or we are not. It really is as simple as that.
For those who define their Lutheranism less by what we confess in our Book of Concord than by what they learned, knew, or experienced growing up, there is another problem. The liturgy is for them less than a reflection of this catholicity and Scriptural confession and life than it is just something Lutherans do but as simply as possible and with as little attention possible drawn to the ceremonial and the external. Growing up I found that Lutheranism in theory was held very high but there was no real concern about or desire to fix the gulf between what our Confessions say of our faith and worship and what we were really doing. Our quarterly reception of the Sacrament, lack of mention of private confession, abundant use of preaching texts instead of the lectionary readings appointed, and an almost embarrassment at vestments betrayed a Lutheranism that had grown disconnected from its Confession -- if not in theory than at least in practice.
The Lutheranism I learned to know is not at all bothered by being called catholic by the masses of Protestants nor is it wary of living out its life in the richer expression of the liturgy. It was not a matter of correcting the theory of what I had been taught but encouraging us to actually practice it in daily life. The bulk of the liturgical movement among Lutherans has been less about tinkering with rites than it has been restoring those rites to the core and center of our life together. In this way it has been an incremental movement toward being comfortable again with the idea of our Confessions -- we are the catholics Rome is not and the Protestants are not. By catholic, we mean a thoroughly Biblical faith living out not in novelty but within the chain of those to whom the sacred deposit was first given and in whom it is now preserved. Either we are catholic or we are not and, if we are not, then who are we at all?
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I think that part of reason for the Lutheran “middle way” approach is that one doesn’t find much discussion or handwringing about vestments and ceremonies in the writings of Luther and the other major Lutheran reformers. Lutheran preachers wore black gowns. The alb and chasuble was common for celebration of the sacrament. Melanchthon and Brenz more or less standardized the use of gown and surplice. Bugenhagen’s agendas (which included the “non-communion service”) assume that the usual vestments and bells are kept in place, since the Lutherans were not iconoclasts, and Chemnitz’s ordo for Brunswick assumes the same, mentioning that candles on the altar are preserved “because that is also the practice in the neighboring churches of the Reformation.” In other words, evangelical purity, order, and lack of offense were paramount in the Lutheran churches, as opposed to a list of catholic liturgical traditions to be maintained. In western Germany, Lutherans adopted a liturgical style that was neither Roman Catholic nor Reformed, but occupied a comfortable middle position between the two. This approach would also influence and characterize Anglican worship for centuries. The American Common Service and TLH were distillations from hundreds of representative Lutheran agendas of what Lutheran worship was like for the majority of Lutherans for some four hundred years.
One of the changes introduced in Lutheran worship from the beginning was the modification of the Offertory and replacement of the Eucharistic prayer with the exhortation, which aligned with the didactic rather than sacrificial approach to the service. The liturgical movement labored for its return, along with other perceived catholic hallmarks such as alb and stole, private confession, use of the chalice, weekly communion, and a theology of the sacrament that leans more toward Sasse than Gerhard.
One of the remarks of Edgar Degas upon visiting America in 1872 was the enthusiastic observation that “everything is practical and simple here.” The Lutheran church in America has traditionally embraced this same character, which, one could argue, goes back to the practical approach towards worship found in Lutheranism from the beginning. Our catholicity is found in purity of doctrine, while local traditions may ebb and flow.
"Catholic" "catholic"
The former refers to a visible church; the latter refers to invisible church.
In his _Loci theologici_, "De ecclesia," Johann Gerhard talked about the whole visible Church [“alle Particularkirchen, und daher die ganze sichtbare Kirche”] temporarily ceasing to exist because of corruption, errors, scandals, heresies, and persecutions, etc., although the invisible catholic Church [”die unsichtbaren katholischen Kirche”] never ceases.
One can sense in your words both passion and disgust at the present way Lutheranism is mischaracterized by the Christian community in general, and in America particularly. It is true that with many denominations and opinions, the Lutheran identity has become a free for all. Even Lutherans among themselves cannot often agree. When Luther toured the churches long ago, he found so much theological ignorance, even among the clergy, and so he set out to put into place a catechism for young and old, and established rigorous guidelines. For awhile, generations of Lutherans did have an identity. In my opinion, the “Church/School” was the way to go. The parochial school system, at the elementary and high school levels, kept the laity up to par and familiar with the Lutheran distinctives. In America, Lutheran schools went into decline, and Christian schools became multi-denominational. Perhaps, like the Catholic elementary school and high school I attended in my youth, their eventual closures marked the demographic factors which affected the continuity of religious instruction. Even Christian colleges seem to be multi denominational, offering a menu of optional theology taught as religious diversity. It would probably be helpful for the LCMS to pull out all stops to fund and support Lutheran education. The “church/school” concept is the best way to retain the Lutheran identity going forward. Soli Deo Gloria
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