Why Do We Hate The Liturgy?

OK, maybe that is an overreaching statement.

There are many congregations that do a wonderful job of using the Order of Service as laid out in a hymnal week in and week out.

I guess a better question would be, "Why do we hate including ceremony with the liturgy?"

I have always thought this. I bring this up now because I was out of town for the Feast of Easter and had the opportunity to worship at a sister LCMS congregation.

I was in awe. There was incense. There were torch bearers, thurifer, crucifer, servers, deacons, sub-deacons. I felt like I was in a special place. I knew that I was in the house of the Lord. What was even better was that it was done with reverence and it was done correctly. I do not understand why people are opposed to these things.

Yes, I know, there are groups out there that love to champion FC Ep. X and FC SD X. I get the impression that they have never read the whole thing. They pick out the parts from the confessions that they like and want to use to justify what they're doing, or are not doing, in the chancel.

Looking at the state of liturgical worship, or lack thereof, in this church body makes one stop and ask this question, "Are we the church of Luther and the Reformation, or are we the church of Karlstadt and the Reformation?"

I have never seen in a CPH catalog a reference book on how to do liturgical ceremony.  I am not talking about bits and pieces described in a book on the liturgy. I am saying, there is not a single book out there with pictures and diagrams and the how-to. There are more detailed guides for acolytes and altar guilds than there are for a pastor to have proper liturgical ceremonies included in the order of worship! What are we ashamed of?

In all honesty, I would much rather be confused with the Roman Catholic church in regards to worship, than to be accused of there being no difference with other Protestant church bodies in regards to worship. Is not Lutheranism really Roman Catholicism Reformed?

Why does Lutheranism in America so desperately want to be identified with the Methodists, Baptist and other Protestant descendants of Calvin?

The Response You Never Saw

A shout out to fellow blogger Latif Gaba for pointing me to the living definition of hypocritical.

I took the opportunity to try to respond to Rev. McCain, but, surprise, he refused to post it.

This is the blog post in question.

Here is my response. It appears that my response didn't praise and agree with Rev. McCain enough to get posted. Let me know what you think.

Well glory be! I'm not a pastor, but I am a confessional Lutheran! Following your line of reasoning, Rev. McCain, I guess that means I am not bound by your internet encyclical about anonymous blogging, since I am nothing more than a lowly layman.


I find it interesting that you say in your response to Rev. Beisel, "I think we should also be willing to fact [I am guessing you meant "face"] some hard facts and start some “self-policing” among the “confessional” crowd." Help me out here, since I'm just a poor, uneducated, layman. Has there been created a special office for you? Paging through the Synodical Handbook, I didn't see anything along the lines of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Committee on Theology and Church Relations I found, but not your name as the prefect of this committee. I am seriously doubtful that your position at Concordia Publishing House as Publisher and as the Executive Director of the Editorial Department has granted you a special indult for "self-policing" the "confessional" crowd.

My question is this:

By whose authority do you get to play the role of Confessional Cyber Cop?

Feel free to ignore answering that, just as you felt the need to sidestep admitting wrong for making accusations against Rev. Beisel and his former parish.

I do enjoy how only in the LCMS is the 8th Commandment optional.

I also find some humor in how you speak with such authority, time and time again, about your experiences in the parish when the total time you have served a parish as a called pastor is a grand total of two years. To have that many stories about all the things you did really amazes me. This must have been a seriously damaged congregation for you to have experienced so much in only two years.

I also enjoy your hyperbole about all the stories you've heard about pastors who did this or that to their congregation. For almost 18 years you have been working as a bureaucrat, not as a pastor. I do not believe that living vicariously through the stories that you've heard over the years count as parish experience, let alone make you an expert. Furthermore, your views on these issues facing actively serving pastors have been clouded by your previous role as Assistant to the President. In that position, you were privileged to learn about situation that occurred in the parish involving pastors who may, or may not have, been at fault.

I also enjoy the cunningness of your witch hunt in this blog post. It sounds very innocent, "PS – In the spirit of this blog post, if you wish to offer a comment, sign your full name, and location to your remark. I’m trying to encourage the perpetually anonymous-inclined folks here to step out into the light."

Really? This is on par with Rev. Waldo Werning gathering together a list of names to be published in a book in the most unflattering light.

If you were serious about open and honest discussion, you wouldn't have this blog set up to control which comments get posted. I understand you have a reputation to keep and would not enjoy someone being critical of you.

This is why I will keep myself as an anonymous blogger. You have no interest in discussion. You only have an interest in attacking those who do not think like you.

Your actions, statements, and the way you treat other faithful pastors reminds me of my old Greek professor at Concordia River Forest. Rev. Prof. Froehlich said it was like a football game. The Devil and his minions are one team and the confessional Lutherans are on the other. When the confessionals come out on the field, they are tackling themselves, not the Devil.

Things You'll Never See Happen In The LCMS #3,461

Wow.

This is something that I didn't even think happened.

I know this has never happened in the history of the LCMS.

If it did, well, then there may not have been an LCMS.

It would be a refreshing change in this church body if things like this were taken more seriously.

Read this article and be just as shocked and surprised as I was.