Eggs, bread, coffee, and liturgical conversation

I had an interesting discussion with Mrs. Hollywood at the breakfast table today. We were discussing liturgical ceremony. Don't all married couples talk about such things over Gevalia coffee and homemade bread? [Mrs. Hollywood really outdid herself today, making a pineapple coconut bread that is just this side of divine...]

We've been to a lot of Lutheran worship services over the years. And many of our churches have abandoned the historic liturgy in favor of more culturally "relevant" methods of "doing church" - such as having rock music, big screens, dancing girls, etc. Worship is done in front of wheeled altars in gymnasia or multi-purpose rooms. It has become a culture of "anything goes" - all justified by the number of butts in the pews. The LCMS has increasingly become a synod of beancounters.

But even in traditional and liturgical Missouri Synod churches, ceremony is, as a rule, kept to a bare minimum. Very few of our churches use incense, for example. Few make use of processions before and after the service. Pastors who genuflect are a rarity (and laypeople who do, even more on the endandered species list). Pastors who do not chant are the rule rather than the exception.

In short, most LCMS worship (even at its best) is rather bland and "unplugged." And we justify this Spartan atmosphere by appealing to evangelical liberty. Regarding our liturgical practice, we Lutherans often ask the question: "Is this mandated by Scripture, or not." If the answer is "not," we categorize the practice as "adiaphora" - a Greek word that means "indifferent." In other words, Jesus doesn't establish genuflecting and incense at the celebration of the Mass, so it's a matter of personal choice and taste. It is thus seen as unimportant, as some kind of add-on that is not worth fussing over. If it will cost money and make the service longer - fuhgetaboutit!

And God forbid that we look Catholic!

This way of thinking has led us to a kind of liturgical minimalism - "what is the very least I can get away with doing, and still get the benefit of God's promise?" becomes the resulting question. Our lazy, sinful flesh loves this question, because as every good Lutheran knows, salvation is by grace alone. There is nothing I have to do, so I will do nothing.

Hence as long as the bare-minimum bread and wine are used, with the bare-minimum Words of Institution, and as long as a bare-minimum eating and drinking happen, that's all we need. So, that's all we do. Hopefully, using disposable cups for convenience's sake, and running through it as quickly as possible so people can get home in time for the game.

What is missing in this matter is what is confessed. For the way we celebrate the Lord's Supper, and the way we distribute it, and the way we eat it all say something about what we believe. We can teach with our mouths all we want about what the catechism says, we can even memorize it word for word - but our theoretical beliefs are negated by our actions when we casually run through the consecration of the bread and wine with the same gestures and indifference as we click through all the channels on the remote. And all the high and pious words about the Real Presence aren't truly confessed if we approach the altar in the same way that we walk toward the garden shed to get the weedwacker.

So, although ceremonies are not mandated by scripture, they do reveal what we believe. While Scripture is silent as to whether or not I can do the chicken dance at the communion rail, I would not put that into the category of "evangelical freedom." We do great harm in calling liturgy an adiaphoron. Our Lutheran confessions never say such a thing.

The reformers were careful to point out that ceremonies need not be uniform everywhere. Some versions of the Western liturgy call for the Creed to be said before the sermon, some after. Some churches may retain the offertory procession, while others may not. Local custom can dictate such things. But it is an entirely different matter to omit the Creed, or worse yet, change it. It is something entirely different to omit the entire liturgy and just gather on Sunday morning and sing "praise choruses" for an hour. This is the flaw with the question: "What does the Bible explicitly say we have to do?"

The purpose of ceremony is to tell us what is happening in a non-verbal way. It is teaching without a lecture. It is also a way for us to confess to ourselves, to others, and to the Lord what we believe. It is a form of non-verbal prayer and confession of faith. While we certainly don't know what is in a person's heart, just what is suggested when a person crosses himself after receiving communion? What is suggested when someone doesn't? This is not to compel anyone, but let's look at what is being confessed.

If an unbeliever walks into a church and has no explanation other than what he sees and hears, what would he conclude if:

1) the pastor and laity bow and kneel often during the service, make the sign of the cross, and are all paying rapt attention, are not chattering, are not giggling, are dressed in conservative, non-casual clothing (with the pastor fully vested), incense is used, and music is a stately choral expression of a deep theological nature.

Or...

2) The pastor and laity never bow, kneel, or cross themselves, are looking around and chatting, laughing, dressed as if they are going to a barbecue (with the pastor not, or only minimally vested), no distinct aroma, and pop music with jingle-like choruses.

Which would come across as really believing what they claim to believe - particularly in the Lutheran tradition and confession, where we claim to believe Jesus is miraculously and physically present in Word and Sacrament in order to commune intimately with us - not merely symbolically present to impart some data to us?

God established high liturgical worship practices in the Old Testament, in the Tabernacle and Temple. The priests wore specific vestments that had symbolic meaning (which served to teach the people and remind the priest of what he is really doing in the exercise of his office). There was a time and a place for specific prayers and actions. It was formal and ritualistic. It was also a sensual experience: rooted in sights, sounds, tastes, and smells. Incense and flame were used to symbolize the divine presence. Beautiful artwork and craftsmanship confessed the holiness of the place.

God gave us the gift of high liturgy even when people were already able to see what was happening: the gathering of the animals at the altar, the slitting of the animals' throats and draining of their blood, the butchering of the animal, and its cooking. Even with this overwhelming sensual experience, God still gave specific instructions regarding other sensual input.

In fact, worship was (and perhaps still should be) almost a sensory overload. The Temple attendee was blasted with visual, aural, and olfactory reminders of Yahweh's justice and mercy, of sin and death, and also of holiness and salvation. There was nothing cerebral or theoretical about it. And the liturgy taught and confessed the faith.

New Testament worship is different, insofar as the one all-availing sacrifice has been done. We no longer slaughter animals. Instead, we offer God our meager gifts of our bodies, our time, our offerings of money and of praise, while God gives us something of infinite value - Jesus Himself, in Word and in physical element. But Jesus is veiled under the forms of bread and wine, and of words. Aside from the odor of the wine, we don't really smell anything. We don't hear the wailing of the sacrificial victim. We don't see blood being drained from the Lamb's veins. There is nothing "in your face" about eating bread and drinking wine, in hearing a pastor read out of a book or offer prayer.

So we need the sensual reminders the Lord gave us in the Old Testament all the more!

We need our pastors to wear their priestly garb, so as to teach us about the holy office and to confess what they are doing at the altar. We need incense to remind us of the sweet aroma of the sacrifice of our Lord that rises to heaven to plead for us, along with the ascendant prayers of the saints. We need to look around and see beautiful and ornate artistry, to remind us that we are in the very presence of Heaven! We need to see people genuflecting and bowing, so as to remind us of being in the real presence of the King! We need to see people make the sign of the cross, so as to call to mind how we have been redeemed. We need to hear chanting, and singing, and bells ringing to call our wandering minds back to the miracle of the Lord's presence among us!

We need these things. And if we need them, how can we call them "indifferent things." We suffer by their lack. We have lost something in allowing them to fall into disuse. And our worship and theology have come to resemble that of our Protestant brethren who do not believe and confess the sacramental presence of God among us.

While Scripture doesn't mandate high liturgical practices, it does operate under the assumption that this is how we worship. God has told us in very fine detail what His tastes in sactuary adornment and furniture are. God told us that He likes incense and ceremony, that He likes beauty and ritual. And this divine preference has the added advantage of teaching us as well. For once again, we learn perhaps more from observing what people do than what they say.

Instead of asking the question: "What is the least I can get away with and have a valid sacrament?" - maybe we should ask: "How can we elevate the level of dignity and glory in our worship so as to please God and teach our people the miracle of Christ among us?" Instead of asking: "What are we free to get rid of under Christian liberty?" maybe we should be asking: "What are we free do make use of under Christian liberty?" Instead of asking the question: "How can our worship be pleasing to man so we can bring in the numbers and money?" maybe we need to ask: "How can our worship be theocentric (God-centered), so that genuine worship (i.e. the reception of God's gifts) can be unimpeded by our sinful desire to please ourselves?"

Oh yes, we also had scrambled eggs. I almost forgot. A really nice breakfast!