Our Beautiful and Reverent Lutheran Identity

Our Lutheran identity is grounded not only in our biblical evangelical theology of justification but, also in our catholic practice of reverence and beauty in worship that is liturgical. The Real Presence means that we don’t serve the King with plastic forks and red solo cups. If there is ever an occasion to bring out the fine china, it is when God is physically present with us by means of a miracle. If the Mass is not the time and place for reverence and beauty, then what and when is?

Of course, we Lutherans share the catholic continuity from the apostles, the apostolic fathers, the early united church of the East and the West, as well as our western medieval heritage, and the unique contributions to our identity in the last five centuries of the reformation church.

The following video is a visual montage of a few modern LCMS congregations at worship that embody this continuity of our evangelical catholicism: our beautiful and reverent Lutheran identity. Of course, what we see is both reflective of Augsburg Confession and Apology Article 24: the Mass as retained among us and practiced with joyful reverence, as well as Formula of Concord Article 10: showing great diversity in the specifics of the liturgy.

Those in the LCMS who have abolished the Mass argue that our liturgy isn’t “missional,” because it doesn’t reflect the ordinary, pedestrian life of the stage, of pop music, of the sports bar, or of the self-help TED talk. But we Christians who are confessors of the Real Presence - including we Lutherans - believe that worship is sanctified, that is, made holy by God’s actual, miraculous and supernatural presence with us. There is a difference between, say, how the way the magi would act around an ordinary newborn vs. being in the presence of the Christ child. There is a difference between the way the high priest would carry himself ministering in the Holy of Holies as opposed to working in his garden with his children. There is a difference between the way we eat a slice of pizza vs. the way we eat the true body of Christ. For that is what holiness is: it is a separation of the sacred from the ordinary and anodyne and common.

And if modern people are uncomfortable with holiness, the solution isn’t for us to become unholy. Rather the church simply is holy. It’s right in our creeds. We should not be ashamed of this reality of who the church is any more than we should be ashamed of the Gospel itself.

Some people argue that we need to blow up our 500 years of continuity within the Lutheran tradition and nearly two millennia of continuity within our Catholic tradition because “people don’t like classical music any more.” Some argue that we need to use pop music instead. The most popular music nowadays isn’t even rock and roll, but rather the monosyllabic grunting of vulgar doggerel. The problem is that parents in recent generations lost touch with beauty, and did not teach the young children to love that which is lovely, dignified, and beautiful. The bad news is that it only takes one unfaithful generation to break the chain that connects us organically to our heritage that leads us back to Christ and the apostles. But the good news is that broken links can be repaired. We can teach our little ones to appreciate beauty and to love their authentic heritage and identity.

It was a quarter century ago that Higher Things began with the countercultural premise that young people could, and would, resonate with Lutheran identity, with their rightful heritage of the liturgy and hymnody of our tradition that spans the centuries. And as we are learning, the younger generations want to go back to tradition and continuity, to beauty and reverence - especially in worship. I still run into some folks from a certain generational demographic who think “the kids” want bell bottoms and tie-dyed tee shirts (all the while, those pony tails have gone wispy and white).

I found a Swedish channel (from the Mission Province) called Lutheran Identity. There are some beautiful videos there.

For example, this one is a montage of Lutheran worship in Sweden overlaid with Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” sung in German. How unthinkable is it that some modern Lutherans have no idea who Bach is, let alone appreciate his magnificent music as part of their Lutheran identity?

Here is a part of the Swedish Lutheran liturgy:

Luther’s litany in Swedish:

This hymn is sheer bliss:

A joyful Advent use of the tune from LSB 745:

Luther’s communion hymn (LSB 617) sung in German with glimpses of a Swedish Mass:

This is the Preface and Proper Preface (which will sound familiar to those using LSB), along with the Sanctus from the Swedish Mass (not from the channel Lutheran Identity, but from a channel called Nostalgia Individual):

Here is audio of a sermon by Bishop Bo Giertz (with English subtitles):

And speaking of Bishop Bo Giertz, here is a film recreation of the deathbed scene from his novel, Hammer of God, illustrating pastoral and liturgical soul-care in the form of a Swedish sick call in the very early 1800s:

Venite Adoremus is a YouTube channel run by SELK member Lutherans in Germany, making use of traditionalist Latin and German Lutheran Masses:

Finally, closer to home, here is audio of the Concordia Theological Seminary Kantorei (of which I was a member, 2001-2003) singing “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” (LSB 384) written by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius in the 4th Century. The beauty and authenticity of this very recording played a big part in my own taking the leap to leave behind my old life for the gold standard of being formed into a pastor by the Seminary (this after being subject to not only crass “contemporary worship” but also slovenly and sub-par Divine Services after my recent move to a new state, being subject to “church shopping” at many of the area LCMS congregations). I’m grateful for all of our professors, including the Rev. Kantor Richard Resch, who founded the Kantorei, who taught us, conducted us, and worked us - and who served tirelessly and lovingly as our Father Kantor as we toured all over the U.S. and Canada.

At the Seminary, we were taught to love and respect not only our Lutheran theology, but also its expression and confession in the liturgy, and to pursue excellence, authenticity, reverence, and beauty when we led worship in every aspect: in preaching and celebrating in the Mass, in the leading of the prayer offices, and in the practice of private soul-care. And it really was a dream come true to sing with the Kantorei myself! Years later, the Kantorei even sang at my parish in Gretna, Louisiana.

There are, of course, many such channels and videos on YouTube and elsewhere, where we can enjoy the glories of authentic, reverent Lutheran liturgy and hymnody. As Johann Sebastian Bach was fond of writing on his manuscripts: soli Deo gloria!