What is Lutheran Worship?

1
What is Lutheran Worship?

• The Reverend Michael L. Keith, Pastor
• Our Saviour Lutheran Church -- Fort QuAppelle, SK

2
A Lutheran Icon?

• A kindergarten teacher gave her class the Show
  and Tell assignment of bringing something to
  represent their religion. The first little boy
  went to the front of the room "My name is
  Benjamin. I am Jewish, and this is the star of
  David." The second little boy also spoke from the
  front of the room "My name is Thomas. I am
  Catholic, and this is the Crucifix." The third
  little boy "My name is Bobby. I am a Lutheran,
  and this is a casserole dish."

3
How to Act in Lutheran Worship

• Six-year-old Angie and her four-year-old brother
  Joel were sitting together in church. Joel
  giggled, sang, and talked out loud. Finally, his
  big sister had had enough. "You're not supposed
  to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to
  stop me?" Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back
  of the church and said, "See those two men
  standing by the door? They're hushers."

4
You Might Be a Lutheran If

• ...during the entire service you hold your hymnal
  open but never look down at it.
• ...during communion you hum the hymns so you can
  see who's at church that Sunday.
• ...when you were little you actually thought the
  Reverend's first name was "Pastor."
• ...they have to rope off the last pews in church
  so the front isn't empty.
• ...you're watching "Star Wars" in the theatre and
  when they say, "May the force be with you," the
  theatre replies, "and also with you."
• ...you doodle on the back of communion cards.
• ...you actually think the pastor's jokes are
  funny.

5
What is Lutheran Worship?

• It isnt Lutheran at all!
• It is cATHOLIC!
• Say WHAT?!?!

6
Say WHAT?!?!

• "kata" - according to
• "holay" - whole
• The "according to the whole" church.
• Catholic That which has been believed
  everywhere, by everyone, always.

7
Say WHAT?!?!

• Nothing has here been said or related for the
  purpose of injuring anybody. Only those things
  have been recounted which it seemed necessary to
  say in order that it may be understood that
  nothing has been received among us, in doctrine
  or in ceremonies, that is contrary to Scripture
  or to the church catholic. For it is manifest
  that we have guarded diligently against the
  introduction into our churches of any new and
  ungodly doctrines.
• Tappert, Theodore G. The Augsburg Confession
  Translated from the Latin. Philadelphia Fortress
  Press, 2000, c1959.

8
Say What?!?!

• Nothing should be changed in the accustomed
  rites without good reason, and to foster harmony
  those ancient customs should be kept which can be
  kept without sin or without great disadvantage.
  AP XV
• Tappert, Theodore G. The Book of Concord The
  Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
  Philadelphia Fortress Press, 2000, c1959.

9
Say What?!?!

• The service now in common use everywhere goes
  back to genuine Christian beginnings, as does the
  office of preaching. But as the latter has been
  perverted by the spiritual tyrants, so the former
  has been corrupted by the hypocrites. As we do
  not on that account abolish the office of
  preaching, but aim to restore it again to its
  right and proper place, so it is not our
  intention to do away with the service, but to
  restore it again to its rightful use
• (LW, Vol. 53, p. 11)

10
Again Say WHAT?!?!

• What Does This Mean?
• The Reformation was not an attempt to start a new
  church but to reform (remove) false teachings
  found within it at the time
• Luther did not start from scratch
• Removed work righteous elements from the Mass
• Sought to maintain continuity with the historic
  Church

11
Arrogance?

• We do have fathers and brothers, as the book of
  Hebrews reminds us in its Heroes of Faith
  chapter, those who have gone before us, who have
  traveled the path on which we are now traveling.
  We have teachers of the past, whose faith and
  life instructs us, as again Hebrews teaches us.
  It would be the height of arrogance simply to
  throw out the past. Respect for tradition, the
  collective experience of the Church at worship in
  all its years, demonstrates the continuity of
  Lutheranism with all of Christendom.

12
Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

• Worship that is Lutheran will reflect our ties
  with the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church,
  both past and present. We are not a sect, but
  with our use of the historic liturgy of the
  church stand together with believers of all time
  in our worship of our God.
• -- David J. Valleskey

13
We Do Not Abolish the Mass

• Another characteristic of Lutheran worship in the
  Lutheran confessions is continuity, the idea that
  all worship practices from the past are to be
  retained unless they offend against the Gospel.
  The Confessions forthrightly declare that we do
  not abolish the Mass but reverently keep and
  defend that which has been handed down. The
  Lutheran church has always insisted that it is
  one with the church of all ages, that it is not
  sect or a group which scorns the traditions of
  the past. Rather what is good and expresses the
  Gospel clearly is received with thanksgiving and
  used for the sake of the Gospel.

14
It is Liturgical

• The liturgy is the means by which God gives out
  His gifts to His children

15
It is Liturgical

• The Liturgy as we have it is not Lutheran
• The Liturgy is the time proven best means to feed
  the Church
• WHY?

16
It is Historic

• How many Lutherans does it take to change a light
  bulb?
• CHANGE?
• Thank God that is the answer!

17
It is Historic

• The Christian Church changes slowly, not jumping
  onto trends and band wagons
• Not transient and here today and gone tomorrow

18
It is Historic

• The Church after time has passed looks back and
  selects that which is lasting and significant

19
Counter Cultural

• The Church has its own culture Church culture
• The Church will look different than the culture
  surrounding her because she IS different!

20
It is NOT German!

• Sometimes we hear people conclude that because
  the Lutheran Reformation began in Germany,
  Lutheran worship must, therefore, be German.This
  is a very common misunderstanding. The fact of
  the matter is that Lutheran worship throughout
  history has included hymns, canticles and orders
  of service that find their origins in the early
  Christian worship of the Near East and even
  further back to the worship of the Jewish
  synagogue as it developed from ancient Jewish
  temple worship. Thus, Lutheran worship is rooted
  in thousands of years of tradition and reflects
  the contributions of many ethnic groups African,
  Asian, Middle-Eastern, Spanish, Greek, Italian,
  French, German, and American as well. It is
  definitely not the case that Lutheran worship is
  German. A. L. Barry

21
It is GOTTESDIENST

• Gottesdienst Divine Service
• President Thomas Prachar Who is serving whom?
• God serves us through Word and Sacrament!

22
Lutheran Worship Introduction

• Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows
  what it says. Faith that is born from what is
  heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager
  thankfulness and praise. . . .Saying back to Him
  what He has said to us, we repeat what is most
  true and sure. . . .The rhythm of our worship is
  from Him to us, and then from us back to Him. He
  gives His gifts, and together we receive and
  extol them.We build one another up as we speak to
  one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual
  songs. The Rev. Dr. Norman Nagel

23
Praise Service vs. Divine Service

• Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a
  Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke
  1810) In this famous parable of Jesus, the
  Pharisee attends a praise service at which he
  thanks God for gifting him and thus making him
  better than his fellows. The tax collector
  attends the Divine Service. He cries out for
  mercy. The tax collector went home justified,
  Jesus tells us. That is, he went home forgiven of
  his sins. He received the mercy for which he
  pleaded. This plea for mercy is the
  presupposition of the Divine Service. If you
  cannot or will not sing the Kyrie, you cannot be
  served by God nor can you be saved. Rolf Preus

24
Forgiveness of Sins

• Several years ago a Lutheran pastor from Michigan
  did his own study of religious tracts that dealt
  with the topic of my talk today Why go to
  church? He ordered about fifty such tracts from
  various groups, Reformed and Lutheran. The tracts
  gave any number of good reasons to go to church
  including to learn Gods word, to be spiritually
  enriched and strengthened, to enjoy Christian
  fellowship, to offer praise to God, etc. The
  primary reason for going to church, however, was
  entirely ignored by the Reformed tracts and
  barely mentioned by the Lutheran ones. I refer,
  of course, to the forgiveness of sins. We go to
  church for the forgiveness of sins. We go to
  church to get saved. We go to church so that we
  may find Jesus the Savior who gives us eternal
  life. Rolf Preus

25
It is (should be) Reverent and Awful

• We think that if we make church more
  comfortable it will attract more people
• Lets make church so comfortable that we can
  come in, kick off our shoes, and put our feet up.
• WHAT ARE WE TEACHING?

26
Reverent?

• The cartoon showed a stylishly-dressed man
  shaking a pastor's hand after the service and
  saying, "Well, that was fun. We'll have to do
  that again sometime." Do you rate worship the
  same way you rate a golf game or going to lunch
  with a friend? Or do you evaluate worship by
  different criteria? Americans are redefining
  worship. Creating an enjoyable experience, a
  spiritually fun time, is often part of the
  redefinition. Whatever worship is, it must be
  pleasant--even entertaining. Under that
  definition, liturgical worship is usually judged
  to be inadequate.

27
It is (should be) Reverent and Awful

• REAL Presence
• Almighty God is present in His Word and
  Sacraments
• If Jesus was standing before you, would you kick
  off your shoes and put your feet up?
• What are we teaching our children and visitors if
  we act that way in Divine Service?
• Habakkuk 220 But the LORD is in his holy
  temple let all the earth be silent before him.

28
It is Objective

• We must not judge by what we feel or by what we
  see before us. The Word must be followed, and we
  must firmly hold that these truths are to be
  believed, not experienced for to believe is not
  to experience. Not indeed that what we believe is
  never to be experienced but that faith is to
  precede experience. And the Word must be believed
  even when we feel and experience what differs
  entirely from the Word.
• Ewald Plass, What Luther Says, (St. Louis
  Concordia Publishing House, 1959), Vol. 1, p.
  513.

29
Get anything?

• We can never say I just never got anything out
  of church today
• Never, never, never!
• Why?

30
It is Gift

• The highest act of worship is to receive by faith
  the gifts of God

31
It is NOT Entertainment!!!!!!!!

• The primary purpose of Divine Service is not
  entertainment!
• It is the giving out of the goods
• Do you go to church to be entertained?
• Evaluate our motives

32
Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

• How a church conducts its worship is a reflection
  of what it believes, teaches and confesses. It is
  difficult, therefore, to retain the substance of
  Lutheran theology while at the same time
  embracing non-Lutheran styles of worship. It is
  important to remember that Martin Luther sought
  to reformnot to reinvent the church and its
  worship. Luther knew that the Gospel was the
  heart and center of the Divine Service. He
  changed only what contradicted or diminished the
  Gospel. Luther never did away with faithful,
  Gospel-centered and historic worship practices
  and ceremonies of the church. A. L. Barry

33
Consumer Driven Worship
34
It is NOT Evangelism/Outreach

• The Divine Service is not meant to be the
  evangelism program of the church
• The primary focus is feeding the children of God
• This influences what happens in Divine Service!
• Evangelism takes place in and through the lives
  of the children of God fed and strengthened by
  the Divine Service

35
Lets get the good works out of the church and
into the world where they belong! David P.
Scaer
36
Cyber-Worship?
37
The Gathering of the Faithful

• The conversation and consolation of the
  brethren
• When we attend Divine Service we receive the
  gifts of God and support our neighbour

38
It is Heaven on Earth

• The story is told of how Christianity was
  introduced to Russia. More than 1,000 years ago
  Grand Duke Vladimir of Kiev was interested in
  selecting an appropriate religion for his new
  nation. His emissaries investigated the main
  religions of the day, including Roman Catholicism
  and Islam. But it was only after visiting the
  chief site of the Orthodox Church in
  Constantinople that they found what they were
  looking for. In their report to their duke, the
  emissaries noted that in Orthodox worship there
  was such solemn splendor that they had a hard
  time knowing whether they were in heaven or on
  earth. Worship is like that one foot in heaven
  with the other here on earth.

39
It is Heaven on Earth

• Divine Service is like no place else in this
  world.But there is one place that it does
  resemble, and that is heaven