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“Martin Luther on Worship”
PENTECOST 7
(special series on worship)
July 19, 2009
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
It has been said that it is no surprise that Christians seek the
opportunity to worship; it is only a surprise when Christians don’t. We
have been reflecting this past month on Christian worship.
- We’ve seen that worship is not something we approach
as consumers, but as participants; and that worship is where God meets
us in a very particular and powerful way.
- We’ve learned that much of our liturgy is taken
straight from Scripture and either spoken or sung; that even with no
formal reading of the Bible and no sermon, a worshiper still hears the
Word of God proclaimed in the liturgy.
- We’ve seen that worship, whether in a cathedral, a
modest sanctuary, an awe-inspiring forest, or even in a hospital room,
creates a sacred time and space because of the promise of God to be
present among the worshipers (even if only 2-3) as well as “in, with,
and under” the bread and wine of Communion, and the water of baptism.
- We learned that Christian worship is, at its very
core, counter-cultural, lavishing upon us the grace and gifts of God –
unconditional love, total forgiveness, new birth and the promise of
eternity with God – things we could neither earn from God nor repay God
for; and worship teaches us Kingdom values which are so contrary to the
ways of the world.
This evening/morning, we’re going to look specifically at
what Martin Luther had to say about worship, since much of our practice
stems from him.
Some years ago when I was serving another congregation, a parishioner
came up to me after worship and said she had been to Mass the evening
before with a Catholic friend. She said, “And you know what, their
service is almost just like ours!” I replied, “Actually, Lutheran
worship is almost exactly like the Catholic mass. Luther was a Catholic
priest and theologian, remember, and simply translated the mass into
German.” Luther omitted references to the Pope and prayers to Mary, but
the rest of our liturgy is, basically, the Catholic mass, complete with
worshipers making the sign of the cross over themselves at several
points. People didn’t know that for centuries because the mass remained
in Latin until Vatican 2 in the1960’s. What a surprise for Lutherans to
discover that we were more “catholic” in our worship heritage than we
thought!
Besides translating the Scriptures and the liturgy into the language of
the people, Luther was among the first to introduce congregational
singing into the worship service. Why? To break up the verbal monotony
of the liturgy? Not at all. It was important to Luther to give the
German people not only a Bible and a catechism in their own language,
and the liturgy they would actually participate in, but also a hymnbook
“so that God might speak directly to them in His Word, and they might
directly answer Him in their songs.” More on worship music next week…!
Luther had two primary principles in worship planning:
- He asks not, “What do people want?” (beginning at
the point of “customer satisfaction”), but “What does God desire a
worshiper to experience?” (beginning at the point of obedience).
- And secondly, the purpose of worship is not to have
a liturgy to express what we feel, but to feel what the liturgy
expresses. For example: what does the Good Friday Tenebrae liturgy
express? What does that liturgy cause us to feel? What does the Easter
Sunday liturgy express – and what does it cause us to feel?
“Luther never published a blueprint of the ideal Lutheran
rite. His liturgical writings are concerned more with the purpose and
meaning of worship than with its forms.” Because most Lutherans
have read very little, if any, of Martin Luther’s writings themselves,
I hope you will indulge me as I read directly from a few of his
writings regarding worship. I find that trying to interpret someone
else’s writings usually takes longer, and is less compelling, than the
writings themselves. So here we go:
- “For all that matters is that the Word of God be
given free rein to uplift and quicken souls so that they do not become
weary…for the Word is important and not the mass.”
- “What is left [in terms of the form and order of
worship] can be decided by actual practice, as long as the Word of God
is diligently and faithfully preached in the church…liberty must
prevail in these matters…and not be bound by laws and ordinances. That
is why the Scriptures prescribe nothing in these matters, but allow
freedom for the Spirit to act according to his own understanding as the
respective place, time, and persons may require it. And as for the
example of [the early church] their liturgical orders are partly
unknown, partly so much at variance with each other that nothing
definite can be established about them, evidently because they
themselves used their liberty. And even if they would be perfectly
definite and clear, yet they could not impose on us a law or the
obligation to follow them… For those who devise and ordain universal
customs and orders get so wrapped up in them that they make them into
dictatorial laws opposed to the freedom of the faith. But those who
ordain and establish nothing succeed only in creating as many factions
as there are heads, to the detriment of that Christian harmony and
unity of which St. Paul and St. Peter so frequently write…Now even
though external rites and orders add nothing to salvation, yet it is
unChristian to quarrel over such things…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 [my italics, i.e. not the whole
church] instead of disorder.”
- When Luther’s friend Nicholas Hausmann proposed an
evangelical council to enforce liturgical uniformity, Luther objected
to the use of compulsion. He felt that each evangelical center (perhaps
similar to our “synod” concept) should be free either to devise its own
liturgy or to borrow from others.
- And the Formula of Concord of 1580, one of the
documents which come under the heading of “the Lutheran Confessions,”
acknowledges the fact and even desirability of a diversity of worship
forms. Again, the basic principle of Lutheran worship is that “the
community of God in every place and at every time has the right,
authority, and power to change, reduce, or to increase ceremonies
according to its circumstances.” By 1555 there were already 135
different church orders which included an “agenda” or order of service.
This does not include churches in Scandinavia!
- Article VII of the Augsburg Confession asserts that
it’s not necessary “that human traditions, that is, rites or
ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike.”
It would seem that Martin Luther, as well as other early
reformers, would not only have been intrigued with the idea of
publishing new books of worship every generation or two, he would have
been thrilled by the number of hymns included for us in our new ELW, so
that, as “God speaks directly to us in His Word, we might directly
answer Him in our songs.” He would have loved the 10 different
liturgies, one influenced by Black culture, another by Hispanic
culture, another by 17th century culture, one or more by early 20th
century culture, another by contemporary culture, and so on. This would
allow Lutheran Christians to worship in one or more “forms” which were
meaningful to them, as well as give all of us an opportunity to
experience “forms” which speak to our sisters and brothers of different
regions and backgrounds.
And what about “contemporary” worship and “praise songs” – what US
Christians have dubbed “the worship wars”? First, remember: the story
has it that what ended up as the melody to “A Mighty Fortress” began as
a beer hall song. Can’t you just hear it: “A Mighty Fortress if our
God! HUNH!” (pantomime toasting with a beer mug!)
Luther’s bottom line is this: Free Christians are encouraged to worship
in ways that promote faith. In 1520 he commented, “Now the nearer our
masses are to the first Mass of Christ, the better they undoubtedly
are, and, the further from Christ’s Mass, the more dangerous.” Keep in
mind that Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms hadn’t even been born yet – so
that’s not what he’s talking about!
He’s talking about:
- Is the Word of God being diligently and faithfully
preached in the church;
- Does worship “uplift and quicken souls so they do
not become weary?” That is, does it promote and strengthen the
worshiper’s faith?
- Does it allow the worshiper to experience God?
One worship historian has said, “What is traditional today
was contemporary 100 years ago. What’s contemporary today will be
classical 50 years from now.”
Perhaps Psalm 150 captures God’s heart regarding worship:
Hallelujah! Praise God in
the holy house of worship, praise God under the open skies; Praise God
for God’s acts of power, praise God for God’s magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise God with castanets and dance, praise God with banjo and flute;
Praise God with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise God with fiddles
and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
Hallelujah! (The Message)
Amen.
Rev. Joan Gunderman, Senior Pastor
Lutheran Church of
the Cross,
Nisswa, Minnesota
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