Reverent Worship: A Confession a Deaf Man Could See
By Michael A Kiener
Note: Michael Kiener put together an outstanding downloadable PDF called Reverent Worship: What It Is and Why It Matters, “an educational resource for congregations and those exploring Lutheran liturgical worship.” What follows is his introduction to it. — Ed.
I am a layman—an elder in a confessional Lutheran congregation—and what follows is the story of how a few questions in the pew grew into a small resource.
For a season our congregation was served by a vacancy pastor, Rev. Dr. Mark Nuckols, and
his conduct in the Divine Service was unlike anything I had seen before. He genuflected at the
confession of sins. During the Nicene Creed, at the Incarnatus—at the words “came down from
heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit”—he genuflected, and then at the words “and was
made man,” he lowered himself further still, placing his right hand upon the floor and bowing his
head toward the ground; and at “And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures,” he
rose. At the Pax Domini he made the sign of the cross with the host and the chalice; never a drop
was spilled.
It was not the beauty of performance, but the beauty of confession. Here was the whole
Gospel of the Incarnation preached without a single word—the eternal Son of God humbling
Himself, descending, taking on our flesh, and rising again for us. I remember thinking that a man
who could not hear one syllable of the Nicene Creed would still have known precisely what was
being confessed. The body was saying what the mouth was saying. Every movement pointed away
from the man and toward Christ.
Not everyone received these practices the same way. The questions that arose were, in fact,
the very ones this document later takes up—whether such reverence is “just for show,” whether the
movements distract from the Word, and whether any of it is required or simply a matter of taste.
What was new to the congregation was not so much the liturgy itself as the manner in which it was
offered. That is, the reverent movements that accompanied it. I believe—and I say it with all charity,
and, I hope, with the best construction—that the unease was born not of ill will but of unfamiliarity.
These were things many had simply never been taught to understand or never saw before, including
myself. Where a thing has never been explained, it is no fault to wonder about it.
Luther’s explanation of the Eighth Commandment teaches us to “defend [our neighbor],
speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.” I wanted to keep that
commandment in two directions at once. Toward our vacancy pastor, it meant defending his
reverent conduct: his gestures were not showmanship but confession, and I only wish that more
pastors carried themselves with such reverence during the Divine Service. Toward members, it
meant that their questions were sincere and deserved a patient answer rather than a rebuke. It
seemed to me that the kindest and most faithful response to those questions was not defensiveness,
but instruction.
So I began to gather the “why.” I started where the Church always starts—with Holy
Scripture, which does not leave reverence to taste but commands it:
“... let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God
is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28–29).
From there I followed the thread to the bowing and kneeling of the Psalms, to the Lutheran
Confessions, and to the fathers in the faith. What began as notes for a conversation or two became
“Reverent Worship — Why It Matters.”
The document is meant to be a resource for laymen and, where a pastor finds it useful, a
teaching aid for his flock. It simply explains: what the body is doing in the liturgy and why; the
difference between the Sacraments our Lord has instituted and commanded (though not exhaustive)
and the salutary ceremonies the Church has developed to surround and adorn them; and, above all,
that reverence is confession—not decoration, and never a show. When we bow, kneel, or sign
ourselves with the cross, we are not performing. We are confessing with our bodies what we believe
in our hearts: that the living God is truly present among us to serve us with the forgiveness of sins,
life, and salvation.
I shared the finished piece with Rev. Larry Beane, whose writing on reverent worship had
been a huge help to me from the beginning. To my surprise, he thought it worth passing along, and
the editors have kindly agreed to make it available here for any who might find it useful. I am
thankful for that kindness, and for the invitation to set down this backstory.
My hope is a simple one, and I offer it for those who love reverent worship and those who
question it alike. May those who treasure the historic liturgy hold it out to others with patience and
love, never with contempt for the one still learning to see it. And may those for whom these
practices are new receive them as what they are: not the preference of any party or person, but the
Church’s long confession of Christ, offered with reverence and awe before the God who comes to
save us. If the pages that follow help even one person to see—as a deaf man might see—Jesus
Christ being confessed in every bow and every bended knee, then this little resource will have done
its work.