Lutheran Worship: History and Practice

Well, it seems I have been quoted, at length, in an open letter posted on Bailing Water (here) and Ichabod (here). Concerns over the inroads of the Church Growth Movement (CGM) expressed in that letter are broadly shared by Lutheran laity and clergy alike, and are growing. Hopefully somebody comes to understand this fact, and finds the fortitude to decisively act.

Nevertheless, and despite my contribution to the discussion on Bailing Water and elsewhere over the past year, my intent is not that my own blog focus (entirely) on the issues of CGM and the topic Lutheran Theology. In fact, several days ago, I had begun to write my first post -- it was going to be a post about a book from my boyhood that I am now reading to my older sons, a book which has had profound political impact on me. Suffering from momentary writer's block, I set aside that first post. Then the Open Letter was posted on Ichabod and Bailing Water. And so, I've changed my mind about an opening salvo of posts.

Before I get into it, I would like to briefly recognize Mr. Joseph Schmidt, "Sceleratissimus Lutheranus" -- the first follower of this blog -- whose bio line reads "I am a WELS layman who is dead set against the Church Growth Movement in my synod." Yes, indeed, this is a man with whom I share Confessional Unity! He joined before I had posted anything. That's quite a vote of confidence, Mr. Schmidt! Thank you. I hope I don't let you down.

And now for the meat. I recently acquired a book: Lutheran Worship: History and Practice. It was published in 1993, by Concordia Publishing House, and was meant to support the publication of their hymnal, Lutheran Worship, which had been published in 1982. Addressing their ten-year-old hymnal, this 639 page book is chok-full of essays by top Lutheran theologians and academics like Arthur A. Just, Kurt Marqurt, John Pless, and Carl Schalk, who actually actively defend Lutheran worship. Yes, they do so in public and in writing. What gall!

Over the next several days, I will be posting short excerpts from this work, for the benefit of readers, as a point of discussion among them, and as an encouragement to purchase this book for themselves.

And so I begin. From the opening paragraphs of Lutheran Worship: History and Practice:

Discussing liturgical renewal tempts one to give what people want – a panacea, a recipe, a perfect liturgy, ten steps to a contemporary, Lutheran, liturgical Church. Such an approach centers on tactics of renewal, another how-to manual toward relevant liturgy that, next year, would be totally irrelevant. The Roman Catholic Church, with its rich and ancient liturgical heritage, the seedbed for our own Lutheran liturgy, has succumbed to liturgical trends. This is borne out by a cursory reading of the literature on the liturgical movement since Vatican II (1962-1965). The search goes on for the perfect liturgy, for the secret to liturgical renewal, and thus far, no one has the answer. The tactical approach to liturgical renewal never satisfies. It ignores the complexity of the context in which liturgy is acted out, confusing a church that has liturgies with a liturgical church.

...What is wrong is not the liturgy, but the culture, and thus, instead of constantly asking “What's wrong with the liturgy?” we should be asking “What's wrong with the culture?” -- concentrating our attention on the renewal of the culture through liturgy, not vice versa. The goal of a good liturgy is always to transform the lives of people [the transforming of culture] by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is hardly accomplished if the liturgy is subjected to the whimsies of culture. Culture, untransformed by liturgy, in effect destroys that liturgy. The Church becomes indistinguishable from the culture and the Gospel is lost. This is the real secularization and destruction of the Gospel.

Just, A.A. (1993). Liturgical Renewal in the Parish. In Precht, F.L (Ed.), Lutheran Worship: History and Practice (pp. 21 – 22). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

I was shocked and pleased to have read this -- I'm not alone in these observations.

Lutheran Worship: History and Practice (Day 2) -->