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What makes Lutheran worship Lutheran?

Gracia Grindal

“Like a bow gone slack, they relapse into useless worship.”

Hosea 7:16.

What Makes a Person Lutheran?

When the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) was being put together, my tradition (The Lutheran Free Church) was frequently derided for not being Lutheran since we were not known for our liturgical prowess, but rather for our preaching and singing. Now as I have protested the use of the Eucharistic prayer in the Renewing Worship materials, I am told that I am not Lutheran because I do not like liturgy. Why should I object to the new worship material since Christ is the central object of the worship. The direction of the worship is always Godward, toward Christ. It has made me ask: Does liking liturgy make us Lutheran? Is any kind of liturgy Lutheran?

Incomplete Arguments

The late James Kittelson, professor of history at Luther Seminary, wrote an article in Church History, in which he noted that both sides in the argument about CCM (Called to Common Mission) tended to quote only a bit of the complete document, usually the Augsburg Confession, or the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, without looking at historical records. They did this, he argued, with little reference to the complete document, or the actual historical records, which, in fact, argue quite against their position. The best example, and the subject of his article, is the argument about how Luther practiced ordination. Did he retain ordination as something like a sacrament, or was his practice more like an installation? Kittelson supplied the answer by looking closely at real documents from Luther demonstrating the reformer treated ordinations like we practice installations today. Kittelson shows up many scholars whose arguments for a high view of ordination did not take into account the actual services Luther used for ordinations (See James Kittelson, “Historical Systematic Theology in the Mirror of Church History: The Lessons of ‘Ordination’ in Sixteenth Century History,” Church History 71:4, December 2002, pp. 743-773).

This is also true of those involved in the worship wars. Both the prefaces to the Service Book & Hymnal (SBH) and the LBW quote Melancthon’s Apology to the Augsburg Confession: “We have not abolished the Mass,” (see “Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV, The Mass,” The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, eds. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, tr. Charles Arand, Eric Gritsch, Robert Kolb, William Russell, James Schaaf, Jane Strohl, Timothy J. Wengert, Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2000, p. 258, paragraph 1). This quote has given license to those seeking to restore the catholic mass among Lutherans in order to be “ecumenical.” They, however, neglect to quote further and miss that Melancthon was talking about a revised Mass, not the medieval mass, which he compared to the worship of Baal, because it was done by priests seeking to appease God with their sacrifices, rather than to hear his commands to repent, follow in his ways, and serve the neighbor.

Clarifying the Audience …in Liturgy

All my professional life I have fought against the Eucharistic prayer because I understood the issue as being one of our action rather than God’s. In hymnody, however, I have utterly missed the boat. Although I have been troubled for years by the preface in the SBH about preferring hymns that are devotional, and “Godward” rather than homiletical and “manward,” I was seduced by the nice sound of it. Who wants to be self-centered and “manward” in their worship?

The seductions are obvious. Currently, I’m reading the prophets, and am struck by the fury of God against those who want their worship services carried out perfectly, at the same time, their lives are an abomination to God.

They do not live their faith, and seek to save themselves by ritual observances, like their Canaanite neighbors. God wants them to listen to him, not appease him. He wants the worship of their hearts, not their liturgical actions. Melancthon, in his concluding paragraphs on the mass as a work, quotes extensively from the Old Testament. “Among the godless in the Old Testament there was a similar opinion, that they merited the forgiveness of sins through sacrifices ex opera operato [from the work done] and did not receive it freely through faith. Thus they increased those acts of worship and sacrifices, introduced the worship of Baal in Israel, and in Judah even sacrificed in the groves,” (Ibid., p. 277, par. 97).

While it may seem over the top to argue that changing the audience for worship from us to God restores the worship of Baal, Melancthon does so. Thus, he fought against the restoration of the Eucharistic prayer to the Lutheran service because the audience of the prayer is changed from the assembly to God. We are doing something to please God, not to hear his Word. As Lutherans who attend to these matters closely, it is important for us to note it in our own practices, for, as Melancthon says, “Baal worship will endure together with the reign of the pope until Christ comes for judgment and by the glory of his coming destroys the kingdom of the Antichrist,” (Ibid., p. 277, par. 98).

…in Hymns

It is not only in the liturgy that the audience of our worship has changed. It has also become the theme of what are called Eucharistic hymns. The very popular hymn by Marty Haugen, “As the Grains of Wheat” is a good example. Haugen, a devout Christian, has become the most popular writer of Catholic Eucharistic hymns today, so it is no wonder he tends to produce hymns that fit current Eucharistic theology. This popular hymn is Godward, and shows clearly the problems such a move causes. Like many contemporary Eucharistic hymns, the emphasis is on us: The grains of wheat, who are individual, as we are, becoming one loaf of bread, as we are to become one body in the communion service. The focus is on what we are doing for God. By gathering together, the hymn implies, we become the body of Christ, as the grains become one loaf. Praying that all people will be made one, the “cup of blessing,” is given so we “may share the presence of your love.” Our sharing becomes the focus. Likewise, the second stanza, asks that the sacrament will give us a foretaste of the final banquet, as we “share” the feast in heaven. The burden is put on the congregation to help realize this oneness. It does not proclaim the good news that we are already one in Christ Jesus, who, surprisingly, is not mentioned in the hymn.

Although I have written few hymns, preferring to translate them, some of them, at least the ones preferred by the worship establishment, have tended to be about what we are doing, not what God has done for us. “Come, Share the Spirit,” one of my most well-known begins by urging us to give rather than receive, a phrase I had to use to fit into the theme of the merging churches. (Much better would have been, “Come, hear the Gospel.” Most of the rest of the hymn is proclamation, it’s the first line that bugs me.) For years I have wondered why many of these new hymns, mine included, are so wearisome to sing. I’ve realized that these hymns weary me because I do not hear the proclamation of the Word in them. I come to church, where God has promised to meet me, to receive the Gospel, not make God feel better, or appease him. I serve God by serving my neighbor, not by my liturgical excesses.

Contending for a Lutheran Understanding

So to answer the question at the beginning: Not every liturgy is Lutheran. The Lutheran church is a confessional church that should always judge its liturgies theologically, not musically or acceptability to other denominations. It is our calling to assure that Christ is able to speak through the proclamation of his word, in scripture, sermon, and sacrament during worship and that our prayer and praise come in grateful response to his clear word. Sometimes I wonder if we don’t keep talking in worship because we aren’t able to bear the terror of God’s own voice speaking directly to us. Melancthon, the moderate voice of the Reformation, does not back off on this issue because, as he writes, it is “an important issue and an important matter, no less important than the work of the prophet Elijah, who condemned the worship of Baal,” (Ibid.). That should give us renewed convictions about how we plan our worship.

Gracia Grindal is Professor of Rhetoric at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN

and a member of the Board for WordAlone

For another view on Liturgical issues:

“Are There Norms for Lutheran Worship?”

by Michael L. Burk

Director of

Renewing Worship

Published in Let’s Talk

Christmas 2002

online at

www.mcsletstalk.org/72B.htm