Worship should be rooted in orthodoxy

An expansion of a discussion concerning contemporary worship and Lutheranism

Photo by Zack Smith on Unsplash

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Recently, I wrote an article about contemporary worship and how I find no biblical means to condemn the practice. However, I realize that I was running up against the constraint of words, as this article was published in The Scroll and restricted in length. This piece that I am writing here is not meant to walk back, recant, or revert what I have written. I still heartily retain the opinion that contemporary worship has its place among Christendom and even Lutheranism. That being said, there are some nuances to be reckoned with that I have realized I was unable to express in the original piece, and have gathered my thoughts after reflecting on the topic of discussion with fellow Lutherans. So, this is my clarification and expanded discourse on the subject of worship practices and the importance of handling any type of worship with care.

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When I say this, I do not mean it lightly, but I am very much a person who prefers the use of the liturgy in worship, along with all of the wonderful hymns that we sing. In fact, one of my most treasured possessions is my copy of the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, a book bound with a black cover and gold lettering boasting a variety of hymns and service orders (although these offerings are unfortunately somewhat meager when compared with the hymnals of other denominations). Even before I had my own personal copy (which was given to me as a belated confirmation gift), I would often steal away one of the copies floating around our house to memorize the words of favorite hymns that I had heard and sung in church and to make a miserable attempt to fumble out the melody on the old piano setting in the midst of our living space. I am no pianist, so you can imagine how many notes of “Now Thank We All Our God” came out wrong before I kind of got it right - and I was only playing the soprano part using my right hand.

That being said, as I wrote in a previous article a few weeks back, I believe that Christians have freedom in the way they worship, and this is even represented in how we don’t always have weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper, and we don’t always use the same order of service each and every Sunday because, sometimes, it’s cool to pull out the Matins for fun or switch it up. And this can be so that we don’t become so mechanical in our recitation of the liturgy and are forced to think about it when we are confronted with the change. That being said, some of these worship rites are more fitting, depending on the circumstances or the service. Regardless, when we boil it all down, it’s the use of Word and Sacrament that is central to all of this and ought to be present (or, in the case of the Sacrament, regularly present).

This even includes when certain congregations have a worship style that is more reflective of the musical styles of today. Personally, the terms “contemporary” and “traditional/liturgical” are very undescriptive, as many congregations fall between these two extremes and don’t fully embody all of the principles associated with either of these practices. However, this should lead us to a discussion regarding the history and application of these different means of worship.

Even though, from a practical standpoint, I do not condemn the use of worship that tends to blend in elements of modern musical styles, I also cannot blankly endorse it the same way that I can endorse the purely Lutheran forms of worship found in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, along with other hymnals in confessional Lutheran bodies. Now, no hymnal is going to be perfect, but the aforementioned hymnal adheres to the Lutheran service orders, which go back to Luther and his Formula Missae and Deutsche Messe and Johannes Bugenhagen, who assembled many a worship blueprint for the Lutheran churches of his day.

This brings the main issue with so-called “contemporary worship” to the forefront, in which traditional worship tends not to falter, and this is because when such practices are instituted in Lutheran congregations, they tend to be executed sloppily and without much care. Music from other denominations and traditions is borrowed in bulk without consideration for what the music is teaching or the theological nuances that come along with it. As discussed prior, we have freedom in matters of worship, but the Word has to be at the center of all of this. If it is not, and our theology becomes misconstrued, not only do we lose our Lutheran identity, but we also lose the meaning behind worship and the primary benefit of it.

In Lutheranism, the primary reason for worship is emphasized in God coming to us, rather than in other denominations and their traditions, where the emphasis is on what we bring before God and our “ascent” to Him. That’s not to say we don’t do anything in response to what God has already done for us, for this most certainly merits our fervent praise, thanksgiving, and devotion. However, the primary reason for our worship is God’s sure presence in Word and Sacrament, for it is by these means that God promises to come to us and reveal Himself to us. The extant Lutheran liturgies emphasize this, as the writers of the Augsburg Confession admit in Article XXIV, the hymns we sing have been added to teach the people. What we sing, confess, and do in the worship service is so that we can talk about God and His promises and what He has done for us.

This is the problem at the heart of this discussion - Lutherans aren’t writing their own contemporary music when using it in their worship services. Rather, these churches tend to borrow music from other denominations that are in disagreement with what we teach regarding our salvation, which can lead to this misleading theology to become silently adopted by those worshipping in these congregations. The congregation thus experiences a loss of Lutheran identity and flows into the hands of a generic, lukewarm version of Christianity.

Now, this seems a bit harsh for someone who was profusely defending such worship styles a mere article ago, but really, it’s not. These are genuine considerations that must be dealt with through care and consideration. It would be a shame to lose the central message of the Gospel in exchange for more comfortable and pleasing worship. This is why worship must be orthodox, regardless of whether the music is ancient or modern or somewhere in between, and regardless of whether the liturgy retains the same format from church to church.

Now, what do you mean by “orthodox,” James? Well, quite literally, our worship must retain our traditions and our identity. We should continue to mimic the means by which our forefathers worshipped, even if we opt to use instruments other than the organ and write poetry that lacks the “thee’s” and “thou’s” of a previous age. Our identity is rooted in our teachings, and our teachings reflect what we understand about God and His plan of salvation. If we lose that, well, we lose everything that we are and stand for. We do not have to sing hymns that are decades, centuries, or even millennia old in order to accomplish worshipping in “spirit and in truth.” However, we do need the right theological understanding in order to produce music for services that are worthy of use in our congregations.

So, my defense of contemporary worship, although somewhat unclear in the prior article, is further conditional. Just as liturgical worship must be done correctly (and also can just as easily be botched), so too must contemporary worship meet the standards of our theology. If not, it can not be considered for our use or contemplation in our worship of God. Our worship songs should focus on what was accomplished on the cross and teaching each other about the promises of the Gospel.

This issue is also much less about being concerned over the cultural associations with musical styles. Even the early Lutherans borrowed catchy secular tunes and modeled music off the styles of their day, and, honestly, what better way to take what the world meant for sin and mean it for good. It is the substance of our worship that matters most, not necessarily the execution (although the execution of it does make it more effective and worthy, depending on the circumstances).

We also ought not prescribe or force worship styles onto congregations, as it would be wrong to make such legalistic demands as previously noted in the prior article. However, we should encourage the growth of praise amongst ourselves. We should have Lutheran worship music in existence that takes on a more contemporary style, for then, we are borrowing the idea without the detrimental and often poisonous/toxic theology that can come along with such music when we just borrow it and implement it without thinking. Honestly, it’s quite a shame that we don’t have such music that also contains our Lutheran identity. Therefore, we should encourage individuals today to continue to write hymns and songs for our edification in worship, especially those that are contemporary. Then, without hesitancy, I would most certainly be able to fully endorse such a form of worship because it is still rooted in Lutheran orthodoxy.

So, this is my challenge - why not both? What holds us back from continuing the tradition of composing chorales for the elect that are living right here, right now? The answer, if we are being honest, is that we can have both the traditional/liturgical elements and the modern/contemporary elements in our worship of our good and gracious God, and there should be nothing holding us back from expanding our repository of Christ-centered worship music that is truly rooted in orthodoxy, specifically, Lutheran orthodoxy.