Today there is massive pressure to change Confessional Lutheran forms of worship in order to adapt to the culture. This pressure is not new. Here is an article from a century ago on this same topic. The pressures are the same. The dangers the same. The deceit the same.
OUR
DISTINCTIVE WORSHIP—THE COMMON SERVICE AND OTHER LITURGIES, ANCIENT
AND MODERN.
Principle
and Form are related as Soul and Body. The latter is the medium
through which the former is able to express itself. The intellect,
the will, the emotions, in fact the SOUL LIFE of the human
personality is only able to reveal itself, and indeed only possesses
objective existence, in the physical life. So abstract principles may
have some quasi existence within the realm of the metaphysical, but
in order to our real apprehension of them in time and space they must
have a concrete, formal expression.
The
animating principles of Christian faith constantly appear in the
several spheres of Christian life, and nowhere more clearly than in
the department of Christian Worship. The distinctive differences in
doctrine held by different Churches may not be evident in the private
lives of their members, but they will inevitably appear in the public
worship of their congregations. Doctrines and principles of worship
are proclaimed not only from the pulpit, but from the altar, from the
pew, from the organ bench and choir room ; in Liturgy as truly as in
Confessional Symbol ; in rubric often more clearly than in text ; in
manner, gesture, posture as surely as in spoken or printed word.
Everything is pregnant with meaning when one learns to read it
aright. We understand not the mannerisms of strangers, but the simple
tone of voice, the glance of an eye, or the most trivial gesture of a
dear friend conveys deep significance. So greater intimacy with the
forms of devotion may reveal to us many qualities hitherto
unperceived.
It
is a very superficial opinion, oft expressed, that there is little
difference between Churches. “We all are going to the same place,”
it is said; as if it were immaterial in undertaking a journey to a
distant city whether we kept in the King's highway with its
signboards and places of refreshment, or stumbled in danger and
discomfort through the woods and swam swollen streams. Or as if
because we all live upon what we eat, there were no difference in
foods! A Lutheran is not a Romanist, a Quaker or a Methodist. We have
a distinctive doctrine, a distinctive apprehension of God's
revelation, as have they ; and our cultus, or form of worship, as
expressing our belief, is just as distinctive in character. It is our
purpose, therefore, by a study of our Service and a comparison of it
with others to see wherein this distinctiveness lies.
We
may look first at the Service as a whole. The first impression we
gather is that it is not only in the language of the people, but that
the latter actively participate in every portion of it. There is no
suggestion of a vicarious performance, but of a personal
participation. Pastor and people together enter the Holy of Holies
and commune with God. Here is the living embodiment of a cardinal
principle of the Reformation, and indeed of the New Testament,—the
Universal Priesthood of All Believers. Hear what Dr. Rock, a most
eminent Roman Catholic divine, says with reference to the celebration
of the Roman Mass.
“In
the performance of this sacred service no office
is assigned to the people. The sacrifice is offered up by the priest
in their name and on their behalf. The whole action is between God
and the priest. So far is it from being necessary that the people
shall understand the language of the sacrifice, that they are not
allowed even to hear the most important and solemn part of it....
They do not act, they do not say the prayers of the priest, they have
nothing to do with the actual performance of the Holy Sacrifice.”
(Hierurgia
I:
314.)
Hear
again the words of Dr. Boardnian, one of the most prominent Baptist
divines in this country, as he laments the vicarious character of
worship in his own and other nonliturgical Churches. He says,
“No
voice but the preacher's is heard in adoration, thanksgiving,
confession, supplication, intercession, aspiration, communion.
So far as the vocal act of homage goes, the preacher alone worships.
… Alas! this individual privilege of each member of the
congregation we allow the minister to appropriate to himself. He
alone lifts the veil, and enters the Holy of Holies, and communes
before the mercy-seat; while the congregation stands mute in the
outer court. The New Testament doctrine of the rent veil and the
priesthood of all Christians gives way to the Old Testament doctrine
of a sacerdotal order; or what is worse, to the Roman heresy of a
priestly caste and a priestly worship. Even the pulpit has been
removed from the side to the centre; so that the preacher is
perpetually in the foreground, while the worship of Almighty God is
consigned to a comparatively subordinate niche. How painfully true
this is, may be seen in the fact that while it is not considered rude
to enter the sanctuary during the earlier part of the service, such
as the singing or the Bible reading,—that is to say, be it
observed, during that part of the service which is distinctively
liturgical or worshipful,—it is considered rude to come in or go
out while the minister is preaching, as though, forsooth, the main
thing in worship were ignorant, feeble, sinful man, instead of
Jehovah of Hosts." (Christian
Worship,
p. 291 sq.)
Out
of their own mouths they stand convicted, the Romanist asserting the
doctrine of the vicarious work of a priestly order, and the Baptist
admitting its virtual practice. Take the Common Service and see
pastor and people unite in common confession, and appropriation of
God's forgiveness ; see them direct to the throne of grace common
praise and petition in the Gloria Patri, the Kyrie, the Gloria in
Excelsis, the Collect, the General Prayer, the Preface, Sanctus,
Agnus and Nunc Dimittis ; hear their common confession of belief in
the Creed as well as many other parts of the service; see them
together honor and reverence and use the Word and the Sacrament,
uniting in all that pertains to the administration and the reception
of both. In its every line our Service is vocal with the principle of
a Universal Priesthood engaging in a Common Ministry.
Worship
is a transaction between God and Man; in it therefore are two active
elements, the divine and the human. Theories of worship fundamentally
differ as the emphasis is placed upon either of these elements. The
Roman, and perhaps to a less degree the Greek Liturgy, reeks with the
human, the sacrificial element. God is still to be appeased, His
wrath averted by the work which the Church, through its priesthood,
must do every day. All service centres about the work, the sacrifice
of the Mass. It is not what God brings to man in worship, but what
man does for God. The Reformed, by which we understand the other
Protestant Churches except the Lutheran, also emphasize the human or
sacrificial side.
Not
indeed the propitiary sacrificial theory of the Romanists, but the
eucharist-sacrificial idea. God is appeased, Christians gather to
thank and praise Him, and to offer Him their prayer and grateful
service, provoking one another's devotion and sacrifice by mutual
fellowship. But again it is not what God brings, but what man does.
The Lutheran lays stress upon the Divine element in worship. The
propitiary sacrifice has been made once for all by the death of Jesus
; this, and this only, is the basis for our every approach to God in
worship. God desires all men to receive most fully the benefits of
Christ's work. He conveys these benefits and blessings, pardon,
peace, spiritual strength, GRACE in fact, through certain means.
These are His Word and Sacraments. He says, “Thou art redeemed, O
Man ; Christ died for thee. Come, commune with Me ; I will give thee
My Word and Will ; will assure thee of pardon ; will give thee My
Strength to help thy weakness ; will give thee in My Sacrament a seal
and pledge of thy acceptance, and will make and confirm with thee an
everlasting covenant.”
The
sinner, though assured of God's mercy, is ever conscious of his own
sin ; and his every experience but impresses him with his own
weakness. He comes to receive again what God offers him through the
means entrusted to His Church. Hence our distinctive teaching is that
we gather in Divine Service primarily to receive the gifts of God,
and then secondarily to give Him our praise and prayer. We receive
far more than we can ever give. The Divine element predominates; the
human is governed by it. It is not what man does, but what God
brings.
Examine
the Service in the light of this distinctive principle ; see the
importance accorded the Divine element, the Means of God's coming to
us, the Word and the Sacrament. Luther in his very first liturgical
writing said, "One thing is needful, namely',
that Mary should sit at Christ's feet and hear His Word daily, which
is that best part which she has chosen, and which shall never be
taken from her. There is one eternal Word. Everything else must pass
away, no matter how much concern it may cause Martha.” See how he
labored to give the Word to the people in their own language ; how
the Sermon as the exposition of it was restored; how the legends of
the saints, the work of the priests ; the penances of men, the
figment of the Virgin's powers, were all swept aside. Like another
John the Baptist he came crying. “Make straight the way of the
Lord.”
We,
as his heirs in doctrine as in name, have entered into his works. The
Greek and Roman Liturgies today are filled with works and ceremonies,
with elaborate dramatic symbolism, with invocation of the saints and
adoration of the Virgin; but of the pure Word of God, His message to
human hearts, there is little.
We put them down in sorrow and turn to Orders and Directories of
Worship used by many Protestant Communions. Here is abundant
provision of Hymns and Prayers and Anthems ; even the Apostles' Creed
may be said and the Gloria Patri sung, and if the Lord's Prayer be
added yet it is regarded as a remarkably rich liturgical service. And
yet that is all man's work, his offering to God. All that God brings
to man must come through perhaps a single short portion of His Word,
for it is to be feared that the Sermon frequently is so filled
with the social, political, or at best moral opinions of the preacher
that there is scant opportunity for a morsel of Divine truth, an
assurance, a promise, or a pledge, to trickle through. In sorrow
again we place these down.
Let
us examine our Service. At the very beginning pastor and people
encourage each other to approach the throne of grace by the messages
of God delivered to His people thousands of years ago, and so we say,
“Our help is in the Name of the Lord,. . . .For Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin.” and after united confession we receive the
assurance of His Gospel again that “Almighty God, our Heavenly
Father, hath had mercy upon us, and given His Only Son to die for us,
and for His sake forgiveth us all our sins. To them that believe on
His Name, He also giveth power to become the Sons of God, and
bestoweth upon them His Holy Spirit. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved.” Then the Introit gives us in the language
of the Psalms again the special message of the day, which we are to
receive more fully later in Lessons and Sermon, and about which all
our response is to cluster. The very words of the Kyrie, Gloria in
Excelsis and Collect bring before us, chiefly in the very language of
Scripture, the Person and Work of our Saviour, and the assurance
of His love, Plis intercession, His benediction. And then we have
directly His particular message in the Epistle and Gospel: that
portion of His Life, His Work, His
Teaching that is to be His especial assurance, promise, warning or
exhortation,—the particular Gift of His love for the time to those
who
gather in His courts below.
And
now about this message, this Divine Gift, which is further explained
and applied in the Sermon, based directly upon it and not determined
by some passing whim or caprice of the preacher;—about this Divine
Gift, gathers our grateful response in acceptance and affirmation in
the Creed, and our further appropriation and thankful praise in the
Hymns. And so it is the WORD that rules, that is the centre, that is
the life of the Service. The Church in its Pericopes, or selection of
Lessons, as related to the general
plan of the
Christian Year, has rightly divided this Word of Truth, and given us
a proper portion for every service in the year.
“Worship,”
says the President of Union Theological Seminary, and he voices the
conception of all the Reformed Churches on this point, “worship has
for its characteristic idea, its main object, not impression, but
expression.” “Its two chief elements are praise and prayer.”
(p. 312 & 306 in Christian
Worship.)
“Not
so!” says the Lutheran, with the Common Service in his hand. “The
chief thing is God's Gift to us, His
Message in His Word, His pledge in His Sacrament.”
About
these have grown up that rich devotional literature, as well as that
wonderful body of Church Song,—the Hymns, the Graduals, the
Chorale, the Chants and part compositions—that show most clearly
that the Lutheran Church does not underestimate
the subjective or human element in worship, but that she bases it
upon the Divine element. God speaks first; we hear and answer.
It
is hardly necessary to indicate the manner in which our Service
emphasizes the Divine element in the Sacrament.
The
Eastern Liturgy of S. James says “Remembering, therefore. His
life-giving sufferings,. . . .we, sinful men, offer unto Thee, O
Lord, this dread and bloodless sacrifice, praying:
that Thou wilt not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us
according to our iniquities.”
The
Roman Liturgy says “Accept, O Holy Father, Almighty, Eternal God,
this immaculate Host, which I, Thy unworthy servant, offer unto Thee,
my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offences and
negligences, and for all here present, as also for all faithful
Christians, both living and dead, that it may be profitable for my
own and for their salvation unto eternal life . Amen.”
Here
everything is human offering work and action.
Let
us glance at some Protestant Liturgies. Here the Holy Communion is a
service of commemoration, of Christian union and fellowship, a sign
of faith and a promise of consecration on the part of men. In
Zwingli's Liturgy, as indeed in Knox's and in many of Reformed
services today the people remain in their seats, the bread and wine
are distributed by the deacons or even passed from hand to hand while
a Psalm or Hymn is sung or words of Scripture read.
The
fundamental idea appears in a sentence of the recent Liturgy proposed
for use in the Presbyterian Church by Dr. Shields,—“And here we
offer and present unto Thee. O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies,
to be a reasonable, holy and lively sacrifice unto Thee ; humbly
beseeching Thee, that all we, who are partakers of this holy
Communion, may be fulfilled with Thy grace and heavenly benediction.”
(p. 245).
The
Liturgy of the Reformed Church in the U. S. says (p. 96), “Almighty
God, our Heavenly Father, sanctify, we beseech Thee, by Thy Word and
Spirit, these elements of bread and wine, that, being set apart now
from a common to a sacred and mystical use, they may exhibit and
represent to us with true effect the Body and Blood of Thy Son, Jesus
Christ,” and in the Distribution the formula is “The bread which
we break is the Communion of the body of Christ” and “The cup of
blessing which we bless is the Communion of the blood of Christ.”
The
Book
of Common Prayer
of the Church of England in the formula for distribution says, “Take
and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on
Him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.”
Examples
might be multiplied, but this will suffice to show us that here again
is human work, human commemoration, human consecration, human
fellowship, but not the Divine Gift for which we long,—the real
Divine Presence in the transaction and the personal, individualized
assurance of Divine forgiveness, for which we hunger and thirst. Take
the Common Service and see its simple but soul-satisfying words. The
communicants come to the altar and reverently kneel before the Lord
Who has chosen this way in which to impart Himself to them. Their sin
sees the pledge of its pardon in the Holy Elements ; with holy
reverence and deepest gratitude they receive the Divine Gift, as they
hear the very words of the Giver, “Take and eat, this is the Body
of Christ, given for thee.” “Take and drink, this is the Blood of
the New Testament, shed for thy sins.” Devoutly, we appropriate to
ourselves the message of pardon, peace, imputation, impartation ;
reverently we receive CHRIST, with all His Work, in all His plenitude
of Power. No, in this solemn moment, not human works as offering, but
Divine Gift and assurance.
There
are many other distinctive traits in our beautiful Service, but time
permits us to mention but one particularly. It presents Christ our
Saviour as the object and center of all our worship ; it is a living
embodiment of the spirit of the First and Second Commandments, which
declare that “thou shalt have no other gods beside Me;” and “thou
shalt not take My Name in vain”.
We
have already seen how the Roman Service centres, not in the
propitiatory sacrifice which Christ once offered on the cross, but in
that which the Church now from day to day continually offers. Its
Liturgy is further crowded with references to the Virgin, the
Archangel Michael, the Apostles, Martyrs and Saints, some forty of
whom are mentioned by name ; not simply references to them, but we
should have said confession made to them, and prayers offered to them
for their intercession with God And while the clergy are hastily
mumbling or chanting this service in a foreign tongue the laity are
busy in the pew “working out their salvation”, as with marvelous
celerity they cover the decades of the rosary, reeling off the “vain
repetitions” of Ave Marias, Pater Nosters, and Gloria Patris. Work!
Work! Work ! Christ's work ignored ; man's work exalted ! The Church,
Mary, the Martyrs, the Saints, traditions and legends, but little of
Christ and His Word.
Now
take up a Monday morning's paper in any great city and read the
reports of a majority of the sermons there given. Political
situations, industrial conditions, sociological problems, criticisms
of the national policy, reviews of recent publications, discussion of
athletics or Art, disquisitions, philosophical, geographical,
historical, ethnological, biographical,—but what of “Christ and
Him crucified” than Whom Paul declared that he would know nothing?
Take
up again the Common Service. Its very beginning is in the Name of the
Triune
God; His assurance of pardon meets our confession of sin ; our cry of
need ascends to Christ in our Kyrie, and Agnus Dei; our praise is
given Him in the Gloria, the Hallelujah, the Response to His Gospel,
the Sanctus, the Thanksgiving, the Benedicamus; we confess our faith
in Him in Creed, in Canticle and in every part of the Service ; our
petitions ascend to Him in Collect, General Prayer and Agnus;
we lift our hearts to Him in Preface and Nunc Dimittis; from Him we
receive sacramental grace in Lessons, Sermon, Absolution, Communion
and Benediction. His Life, His Work, His Teaching, His Intercession,
His Exhortation, His Promise. We are on the Mount of
Transfiguration,—Christ is with us in all His Divine Glory, Majesty
and Power. All else is down in the valley, far beneath. Jesus is all
in all.
Not
only, however, does our Service reflect in its form our distinctive
views of Divine Worship, but it is a living embodiment of our whole
doctrinal system, from which, indeed, our conceptions of Worship
naturally emerge, we
believe that in the very words of the service not only every
fundamental, but every distinctive doctrine of our Church finds
expression.
The
doctrine of the Trinity is proclaimed constantly in Invocation,
Declaration of Grace, Gloria Patri, Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis,
Collects, Creeds, General Prayer, Proper Preface, Sanctus, and
Benediction.
The
doctrine of Creation and Providence in the very first Versicle, as
well as in Collects, Creeds and General Prayer ;
Human
sin and God's mercy and forgiveness appear in the Confession and
Declaration, Gloria in Excelsis, Collects, Creeds, Offertory,
General Prayer, Proper Prefaces, Verba, Agnus and Distribution.
Concerning
the Person of Christ, the doctrine of His two Natures is shown in
Collects, Creeds, Proper Prefaces ;
The
doctrine of His Offices passim;—as
Prophet
in Collect and Sanctus;—as
Priest
making intercession and satisfaction in Declaration, Gloria in
Excelsis, Collects, Creeds, Proper Preface;—as
King
reigning in His kingdoms of Power, Grace and Glory in Gloria in
Excelsis, Collects, Creeds, General Prayer and Gloria Patri
everywhere.
Likewise
the doctrine of His States:—The
Humiliation
appears in Confession, Collects, Gradual, Creeds, General Prayer,
and Proper Prefaces;—The
Exaltation
in Gloria in Excelsis, Collects, Creeds and Proper Prefaces.
Of
the teaching concerning the Holy Spirit, we see faith,
justification, calling, illumination, regeneration, conversion,
sanctification proclaimed in Confession, Declaration, Collects, and
Creeds.
The
doctrine of the Means of Grace not only underlies the whole
conception of the Service, but appears specifically as well in
individual portions of it.
The
power and efficacy of the Word is not only emphasized by the
dominating position accorded it as controlling every variable part
of the Service, but the very words of the Liturgy itself are in
great measure Scriptural, and if not literally so, entirely so in
spirit.
The
whole second part of the Service enshrines in forms of living beauty
the Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
We
have already spoken of at least one of the individual parts which
shows that he who engages in this holy service in the spirit and
words of this Liturgy cannot regard the Sacrament either as a
sacrificial offering, or a mere commemorative or consecratory form,
but as in very truth the way chosen by our Lord Himself to impart
Himself in all His plenitude of saving grace and power to us
personally and individually. And so we may mention every vital,
fundamental doctrine of Christian faith, and every distinctive
principle and tenet of Lutheranism and we find it not only dimly
reflected but generally most clearly stated in our incomparable
Service.
It
had been our intention to give a concise summary or characterization
of the different families of liturgies, and indicate the place of the
Common Service among them;—in other words, to treat of the somewhat
complicated questions of liturgical consanguinity and affinity, to
present a few pages, at least, of the ledger in which History has
recorded the debt and credit account of these near relatives in their
dealings with one another,—but this manifestly lies beyond the
limits of this paper. We trust that sufficient has been presented to
show that not only in its general outline and spirit, but in its
individual parts, our Service is at once a living embodiment and a
luminous and lovely
exposition of the Holy Christian Faith as apprehended by the Lutheran
Church, and that as such it deserves to stand as a worthy
contribution of American Lutheranism to the number of Confessional
Symbols of our Church ; not as a dry, dogmatic formula of belief to
be taken down from dusty shelves in time of controversy and argument,
but as a living thing of surpassing beauty, which our hands, lips and
heart may together use whenever we enter the sanctuary
of God to commune with Him.
Luther
D. Reed.
Allegheny.
Pa.