Facing the Orient in Tulsa

Thanks to the Rev. Christopher Hall for for this article about the resurgence of traditional liturgical practice in the heart of the Bible Belt, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The article features both a Roman Catholic bishop and a Lutheran pastor from the Missouri Synod (the latter is actually a "sidebar" article that follows the main one) who have both reestablished the traditional "ad orientem" (literally: toward the east) focus for conducting the Divine Service (in which the celebrant and congregation all face God together for prayers and during the consecration) .

Radical changes to the liturgy by Roman Catholic innovators led to a virtual abolition of ad orientem worship in the Roman communion - and the practice spread to be almost universally embraced by American Lutherans. Churches built since Vatican II almost never have traditional altars. The 1960s were a time when the movers and shakers of the culture felt that God was too big for his britches and that reverent worship had to be changed to make it more "folksy." This led to the guitars and handshaking of the 60s and 70s, and morphed into the faddish "contemporary worship" of the me-centered 80s.

Today, there are actually adult Missouri Synod Lutherans who have been to church their entire lives and never participated in liturgical worship. Fortunately, it looks like there is a movement afoot to repudiate the excesses of that rebellious era and a desire for liturgical authenticity and piety over and against entertainment and marketing.

I remember the mantra from my Catholic high school that was used to justify a lot of radical changes, such as the departure of the use of a chalice of precious metals, from the use of wafers, from the use of reverent music and from the idea that dressing up for church services was befitting of the decorum of worship. The sound-bite was: "The Mass is supposed to be a meal." That throw-away line embodied the justification of a lot of liturgical mischief. Of course, it is a meal, but the implication in the slogan is that the Mass is just a meal, an ordinary meal.

The reality, of course, is that it is not just a meal. It is an extraordinary meal. It is mystical and miraculous. It is transcendent, and it is the one meal in which adoration of the food and drink is adoration of Christ. At no other, more ordinary meal - no matter how elegant - is it ever appropriate to worship that which is eaten and drunk.

I see this return to traditionalism as a re-orientation not only to the orient, but to the transcendent. It's nice to get good news in liturgical matters - both in the mainstream press and in our beleaguered synod.

There are some excellent quotes from the Rev. Mason Beecroft in the article. I've never met him, but he comes across as an articulate and theologically astute representative of our communion.