In our discussions with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s, we made this statement about who we are as Lutherans: “The Mass is held among us and celebrated with the highest reverence” (AC 24, 1). The “Mass” is a Divine Service with the Lord’s Supper. What we were saying is that our worship services have the Lord’s Supper (at least once a week) and that they are highly reverential.
This may not describe Lutheranism as it is, but as what it should be. Each congregation and pastor affirms to worship in such a way as a member of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. But the question is why? It’s freeing to know why instead of doing something grudgingly because we are supposed to.
Here are 10 reasons why the Lutheran Church joyfully wants to be a historical and liturgical Church.
1. The Liturgy shows our historic roots. Some parts of the liturgy go back to the days of the Apostles. Yet, even the apostolic Church did not start with a blank, liturgical slate. Instead, she adapted and reformed the liturgies of the synagogue and the Sabbath. We’re not the first Christians to walk the earth, and God willing, we won’t be the last. The race of faith is a relay race, with one generation handing on (“traditioning” as the New Testament Greek has it) to the next the faith once delivered to the saints. The historic liturgy underscores and highlights this fact.
2. The Liturgy serves as a distinguishing mark. The liturgy distinguishes us from those who do not believe, teach, and confess the same as we do. In the same way that what one personally believes shapes what he does, what we believe as a church shapes what we do as a congregation. What we believe shapes how we worship. And, of course, on the flip side, how we worship confesses what we believe.
3. The Liturgy is both God-centered and Christ-centered. From the invocation of the Triune Name in remembrance of Baptism to the threefold benediction at the end, the liturgy focuses on the work of the Triune God centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Worship is not so much about “me” or “we,” but about God bringing the world to Himself in Jesus Christ–and my baptismal inclusion in His saving work.
4. The Liturgy teaches. The liturgy teaches the whole counsel of God: creation, justification, sanctification, glorification, Christ’s incarnation, passion, resurrection, and reign, the Spirit’s outpouring, and the new life of faith. Every liturgical year cycles through these themes, so the worshiper regularly and consistently receives the “whole counsel of God.”
5. The Liturgy is transcultural. Worship is supposed to transcend all cultures, for in worship, heaven and earth meet. It is true that our worship happens in this world, and so is culturally specific to a certain people and place. But the content and language of worship and the liturgy are never only of this world. For the content in the liturgy is otherworldly because we join–not only with God’s people of all times and places–but also with the angels in offering praise to our gracious God.
6. The Liturgy is repetitive in a good way. Repetition is, after all, the mother of learning. Fixed texts and annual cycles of readings lend to deep learning. Obviously, mindless repetition does not do a whole lot–nor does endless variety.
7. The Liturgy is corporate. Worship is a corporate activity. “Let us go to the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1). The liturgy draws us out of ourselves into Christ by faith and the neighbor by love. We are all in this together. Worship is not simply about what “I get out of it.” We also gather to worship for our fellow worshipers to receive the gifts of Christ that bind us and to encourage each other to love and good works (Hebrews 10:25). The liturgy draws us into the conversation of confession and absolution, hearing and confessing, and corporate song and prayer.
8. The Liturgy rescues us from the tyranny of the “here and now.” In the liturgy, the Word sets the agenda, defining our needs and shaping our questions. The temptation is for us to turn worship into what each of us wants (personal preference) to satisfy an immediate hunger and scratch a nagging, spiritual itch. But the liturgy teaches us to live by every Word that goes forth from the mouth of God.
9. The Liturgy is external and objective. The liturgical goal is not that everyone feels a certain way or has an identical “spiritual” experience. Feelings vary, even as they come and go. The liturgy supplies a concrete, external, objective anchor in the death and resurrection of Jesus through Word, bread, and wine. Faith comes and is strengthened by hearing the objective, external Word of Christ.
10. The Liturgy is the Word of God. Most of the sentences and songs of the liturgy are direct quotations or allusions from Scripture or summaries, such as the Creed. In other words, the liturgy is itself the Word of God, not simply a packaging for the Word. Many times the liturgy will rescue a bad sermon and deliver what I as your preacher may fail to deliver.
