hide submenuIn Revelation 5 the apostle John records a wondrous vision of heaven in which the whole heavenly host is gathered around the throne of the triune God. In joyous song they proclaim the work of salvation accomplished by the Lamb of God--our Lord Jesus Christ--and raise their voices in thanksgiving to Him who has made them to be a "kingdom of priests" to serve their God (Rev. 5:10).
Although we do not directly experience the splendor of St. John's vision, the worship of God's people in every age is no less profound. Where the Word of God is purely proclaimed and the sacraments faithfully administered according to Christ's command, there God is surely present to save. In worship we are in the throne room of the triune God to receive His gifts and respond to His grace. Our voices are joined to that heavenly host as we acknowledge our Savior and Lord: "To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (Rev. 5:13).
In recent years a significant debate has emerged in our Synod concerning our way of worship. Partly out of a desire to communicate the Gospel more effectively both to members and to the unchurched, a number of congregations have altered the orders of service provided in our hymnals. For some this foray into what is commonly called "contemporary worship" entails substituting new materials for various parts of the liturgy. For others the services go well beyond altering existing worship patterns; rather, they have chosen to design services that clearly depart from the historic pattern of worship that has been handed down to succeeding generations of Christians for nearly 2,000 years.
A topic as crucial as worship demands careful thought and reflection, for the Church's worship is the place where God Himself distributes His life-giving Word and sacraments. Certainly the Church has a great responsibility to act faithfully in its worship as God's gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation are bestowed on His people.
The following reflections are not intended to be an exhaustive response to the debate on contemporary/alternative worship. Whether a congregation is presently using a "contemporary" service, is considering adding such a service, or has no intention of moving in this direction, it is the Commission's hope that the following comments will draw the Synod into a serious study of the significance of these matters.
Worship and liturgy: Some definitions
By definition Christianity is salvation-centered. That is the clear biblical witness, that God in Christ came to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). Certainly the Church's worship can be characterized in the same way. It, too, is salvation-centered as the people of God gather to hear the Word of life and to eat and drink the holy meal of Christ's body and blood. Hence, worship could be described as a lively interchange between the God who saves and sinners in need of salvation.Without God's gracious intervention, however, we would be incapable either of receiving His good gifts or of uttering any praise of His goodness and mercy. As the psalmist succinctly puts it: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise" (Ps. 51:15). Any definition of worship, therefore, must go beyond the one-sided perspective that defines it essentially as something we do, as an act of "reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power" (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictonary). Worship is, first and foremost, God coming to us with His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. Faith receives these gifts with thanksgiving and praises and extols the Giver for His merciful goodness.
In the liturgy God's gifts are distributed to His people. Because God's Word and sacraments do not exist in a vacuum, the liturgy serves to provide a structure through which these gifts are delivered to the congregation. Since earliest times, that structure has exhibited two basic patterns: one for daily prayer in morning and evening and the other for the regular, weekly celebration of the Lord's Supper. Over centuries of cautious development, various biblical texts have become constant components of these historic liturgies. In general these texts focus attention on God's plan of salvation, on the person and work of Christ, and on the nature and blessings of the Lord's Supper.
When discussing liturgy, it is important to explain what liturgy is and what it is not. For some, liturgy is associated with a particular service in a worship book (e.g., page 15 in The Lutheran Hymnal). While a specific service might be an expression of the Church's liturgy, the two cannot be equated. Similarly, when speaking of using the liturgy, some assume that this implies that there is only one way of worshiping and that no deviations are permitted.
Both of these views fail to recognize the richness of the Church's liturgy. The liturgy, as it has been handed down over the centuries, is a living, breathing structure. It includes standard texts (e.g., the Kyrie, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, common responses, etc.) which are set within a framework that provides ample opportunity for variety (based on the theme of the day as provided in the lectionary). Far from being a straightjacket, the liturgy provides constancy within the service even as it allows for creativity in the best sense of the word.
In recent years, phrases like "contemporary worship" and "alternative worship" have become popular designations for liturgies that diverge from the historic model. Given the fact that there is no common definition for these phrases, contemporary/alternative worship has come to mean many things. For some, allowing the liturgy's richness to blossom is what is meant by contemporary. Others start with the historic liturgy and then make alterations to the basic structure, adding materials in some places and removing them from others. For still others, contemporary/alternative worship has come to mean something quite different from the Church's historic liturgy. While a pattern faintly similar to the historic liturgy may be recognizable, nearly every particular feature is replaced with new material.
Reaching the unchurched
Our Lord Jesus commanded His Church to go into all the world and make disciples by baptizing and teaching all that He had commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). Beginning with the story as told in the book of Acts and continuing to the present day, the history of the Church is one of carrying out our Lord's Great Commission.
That there has been a renewed interest in recent years in reaching the unchurched is beyond dispute, and we thank God for it. There are billions of people who do not know Christ, meaning that they do not have a share in the life that He has won for them. Without faith in Christ they will be forever lost. This sad reality should rightly grieve us and fill us with the same compassion that Jesus had as He looked out over the shepherdless crowds (Matt. 9:36).
The Commission on Worship is keenly aware of the challenge of reaching the unchurched. It regrets any lack of evangelistic zeal among those who promote the use of the Church's rich liturgical heritage. But it also laments the unfortunate mind-set that has pitted the Church's worship against her task of taking the Gospel to the nations.
The Commission believes it is not helpful to ask whether the congregation's worship is for confessing Christians or for the unchurched. Inasmuch as the service is the place where God comes through Word and sacrament to grant life to His people, it is obviously beneficial to both. To those who do not have faith, the service will be, in one sense, incomprehensible, since the things of the Spirit of God are only received by those who possess the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14). Nevertheless, the reading, singing and preaching of God's Word are clearly means whereby the unchurched may be edified (see Isa. 55:10-11). Furthermore, the service demonstrates that God is in our midst, and may therefore lead the unchurched to further instruction, to Holy Baptism, and finally to admission to the Lord's Table (1 Cor. 14:24-25).
In an effort to reach out to the unchurched, some have identified the Sunday-morning service as the primary place to evangelize. Recognizing that the unchurched have little or no familiarity with our liturgical and hymnic heritage, some congregations have chosen to simplify the service by removing various segments, eliminating hymns that are not known outside Lutheranism, and introducing songs written in other styles (e.g., pop, rock, country, jazz, blues, etc.). The purpose of this approach is to find a point of entry through which the unchurched can enter the Church.
This approach holds to an assumption, namely, that the unchurched do not find the Church's traditional liturgy and hymns effective means of communicating the Gospel. Not all, however, would hold to that opinion. There are, in fact, many unchurched people who would prefer to attend a service that is best described as "traditional" (see George Barna, Evangelism that Works [1995], p. 60). In addition, the deep yearning in our society for a spirituality that goes beyond the here and now is precisely what the Church's historic liturgy aims to nurture as it joins us to the worship of the whole Church, including the saints in heaven.
The liturgy is a teacher of the faith
Changes in the Church's liturgy have always been made cautiously and, therefore, slowly. One factor that has contributed to this caution is the liturgy's role as a teacher of the faith. Modern technology has made it relatively easy for the Church's historic liturgy to be displaced by other forms, and this raises some important questions. Chief among them is the question of why the liturgy has been retained by the Church for centuries, despite dramatic changes in diverse human cultures. While there have been numerous additions and deletions to the historic liturgy over the years, there remains a basic structure--with standard texts--that has survived one reformation after another. What is to explain this preservation of the liturgy?Over the centuries, the Church has recognized the vital role its worship plays in the formation of faith in the lives of God's people. Through weekly repetition of basic, Gospel-centered texts from Holy Scripture, the people of God are schooled in the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith. The liturgy and hymns serve as building blocks for a lifetime of receiving God's gifts through Word and sacrament.
Inextricably joined to this concept of the liturgy as a teacher of the faith is the discipline of the lectionary. Each year the Church enters into the story of Christ and His work of salvation, beginning with the anticipation of His coming (Advent) and proceeding through His ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). Here again the worshiper is schooled in the fundamentals of the faith by being linked to the life and work of Jesus.
One of the important blessings of the Church's liturgical heritage is repetition. Through repetition of basic, important truths, Christians learn by heart. With the heart we believe and with the mouth we confess (Rom. 10:9). By repeated confession in the Church's public prayer, the Christian faith is so grounded in the worshiper that it provides a foundation on which the person can build for a lifetime. When, on the other hand, the repetition of texts is abandoned in favor of new materials each week, the opportunity to impress unchanging truths onto the hearts and minds of God's people, especially children, is seriously compromised.
The benefit that is gained through repetition of crucial texts is the development of a common language. In every community and profession there is a unique vocabulary or a standard procedure that enables the work to be done as efficiently as possible. Architects have symbols that cause a blueprint to come to life with information. Carpenters learn how to drive a nail in as few hammer blows as possible. Bankers have formulas that make the compounding of interest a simple matter.
Likewise, the Church has a common language that speaks of sin and grace, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, righteousness, etc. These expressions of the faith are taught in the sermon and Bible class, to be sure. But this common language is also imparted as the liturgy and hymns are sung week after week. Together with the Small Catechism, they develop within the Church a common way of speaking that equips us to be faithful witnesses as we confess the saving truth before this increasingly confused and darkened world.
One of the reasons often given for simplifying or discarding the liturgy is the concern that the Church's liturgy and hymnody contain elements and concepts that are not understandable, both to the unchurched and to the average church member. Obviously, the Church does not want to promote a liturgical order that confounds or confuses people. That does not mean, however, that whatever is done in worship must aim for the lowest common denominator. The genius of the liturgy is that even as it speaks a clear message of Gospel, it also continually invites us to further reflection and devotion.
As an example of this principle, consider the Lord's Prayer. None of us can count how many times we have prayed that model prayer. We even prayed it as children when its meaning was relatively obscure to us. But does that mean that we shouldn't teach this prayer, or other texts, to children? Or that once the meaning has been mastered, we needn't pray it anymore? Hardly. Instead, we learn the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds and other fundamental texts so well that we can spend the rest of our lives growing into them. Only after these texts have become a part of us can we be freed to appreciate the fullness of their message.
