Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog: "You Are Not Free to Use This Liberty" -- Thoughts on Liturgical Uniformity
Now even though external rites and orders ... add nothing to salvation, it is un-Christian to quarrel over such things and confuse the common people. We should consider the edification of the laity more important than our own ideas and opinions ... Let each one surrender his own opinions and get together in a friendly way and come to a common decision about these external matters, so that there will be one uniform practice throughout your district instead of disorder ... For even though from the viewpoint of faith, the external orders are free and can without scruples be changed by anyone at anytime, yet from the viewpoint of love you are not free to use this liberty...
Liturgical uniformity has been tossed out the window along with the rich theology behind the orders as present in LW, TLH, and HS98. Why do pastors and their congregations make up new ones, rewriting creeds, confession/absolution, or willfully neglecting the Agnus Dei, Kyrie, Gloria, responses to readings, and the like? I really haven't a clue... It is far too much work for pastor and organist and in part defeats the advantage of liturgical familiarity. I should not have to focus on the words on the page for the entire service because they are different, new, or unfamiliar. I should know when to sit, when to stand, when to pray, when to smile. Predictability is to boredom; it is comfort.
Rev. McCain lays the gauntlet down later in his post. Please read the entire post!
I believe it is essential for all of us to set aside a fixation on"contemporary worship" [as if there is any worship that is not contemporary"] and stop dividing up our Sunday mornings between "traditional" and "classical grace" or "contemporary" or "blended" and just start having "church," period. It means that we need to stop turning the church into a popular opinion poll from Sunday to Sunday. It means that we use the church's hymnal. Use the church's liturgies as they are printed in the church's new hymnal and use the many opportunities for variety within that structure. I see as little wisdom in trying to mimic some specific territorial German church order, as I do in trying to take our cues from the non-denominational "Evangelical" worship forms prevalent in our nation among many Protestants...
