Full Text for Lutheran Worship 2- Volume 87 - Worship Trends in LCMS Congregations (Video)

ROUGHLY EDITED COPY LUTHERAN WORSHIP 2 87.LW2 Captioning provided By: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 ******** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ******** >> DAVID: What are some of the current trends in worship within LCMS congregations? >> DR. JAMES BRAUER: Thank you for that question, David. I believe there are some exciting things occurring, particularly, as you can see in the development of the current hymnal that's to be published in a couple years. One is the kind of expansion of music to use more recent sources and global sources where these are well-stated as poetry, where the music fits the congregational kind of singing. Many people may desire the kind of piece that is sung by an individual performer, but that doesn't fit so well group singing and so that kind pressure is not going to yield good songs for congregations very often. So as these are sorted out and put into a book, the anthology is expanding to think a bit more globally, and people are willing to experiment with music that is designed first in Africa, and used by people, or in Asia, and now in America, we're kind of interested in other flavors than the ones perhaps we grew up on. This is, I think, a good trend. It has to be used wisely, of course. Another trend in congregations is what I call a missional trend. Congregations are well aware that their neighbors do not know the gospel, and we have been urging each other, especially since the late twentieth century, to focus on our corrugations as a place for outreach. We had a great love of looking overseas after the Second World War. But since many of the nation now come to live on our shores and the immigrants we now see from all over the globe, there is an increased desire and increased difficulty in reaching people from these cultures. That forces us, many times, to try things that are cultural. And the danger is that we don't think well enough about the theology of our new versions of things. So those which are kind of created locally as solutions to what liturgy should be or the proper songs for their particular use often are abandoning central teachings that we want in favor of those who originally created them and their viewpoints about God. And they are lowering, in a sense, the standards for the kind of prayers that are given, moving away from Christ at the center to self at the center and things like this. That kind of local creation creates considerable danger. Now the answer to that is it needs kind of a group effort and consultation with others so that you don't slip off into the edges of things and think that somehow this is going to work. And this is tied, a little bit, to kind of a global movement in Christianity we call Pentecostalism. It was an American invention at the beginning of the 20th-century. It needs no means of grace. It needs no ministry. Because people encountered this, they see, shall we see, excited people and they see performing groups and preachers who are very engaging, perhaps, and get an audience response, and they want to imitate this. But what they often forget is that it has no need for the means of grace. It is kind of a cultural response that is called for in which it�s judged by how much response you get like an audience response meter, as opposed to relying on the promises of God. And this kind of theology of the Holy Spirit is, indeed, a great danger, I believe, in the twenty first century. So these are a positive trend, a couple of them that have certain dangers. And now maybe, Art, you�ve got some ideas as well. >> DR. JAMES BRAUER: Thank you, Jim. I appreciate what you said because I resonate very much to your both positive and trends that are not necessarily as helpful. And in fact when I talk about some of the new things in the hymnal, I point to some of the hymnody as an example of an important new thing. What I would like to do to move our conversation along is to talk a little bit about these trends in the cultural context in which we live. And one of the things I haven't talked about very much in this course is the fact that we are entering into a phase which people are calling a postmodern phase and coming out of a modernist mentality. And I think the trends that we see in worship reflect this. I always tell my students that I was brought up as a modernist. I am a fully modern man in every way. My daughter, who graduated from college a year ago, affirms this very much although she says I have postmodern moments and that I appreciate postmodernism to a certain extent, but I really am a modernist. Now, what I mean by that and what I think many people mean, and certainly I think my daughter would affirm this, is that we come out of a time when we were very much dependent on our kind of rational way of looking at reality and the whole way in which we constructed our lives was built on a much more kind of mental approach that we worshipped, for example, to speak about this in its worship context, we worship really with our minds mostly. And it is something that is reflected in the hymns and the liturgies that we see growing up around us in the last thirty, forty, fifty years. I like to illustrate it this way because I think when you see the move to postmodernism, you see a move from kind of just transacting reality through the mind to a way of looking at reality through the whole being in a much more sensual way. And one that I think is going to affect some of the trends we're going to see in worship because I think people who are younger than myself are going to be asking for these things. One of the ways I illustrate this is in this way: and again, I'll use my daughter because she is such a good example. She is a postmodern person. She is an English major in college. She studied postmodern literature so she's really, you know, immersed in this. And she reflected with me after her freshman year. She went to a Lutheran college how many of her professors were my age, modernists, and had been brought up during the '60s, '70s and trained at that time. As they engage with these very kind of intelligent Lutheran kids, they're trying to get these kids to question supernatural that are kind of engaged in the whole, you know, what are miracles and do they really exist, that sort of thing. What my daughter said is what is interesting about her generation, is that they responded to this with kind of a collective yawn because they just didn't--these weren�t issues for them. They did believe in miracles. And they did believe in the supernatural. They did believe in angels and demons and things like this. This was not an issue for them anymore. The reason why I think this is important in current trends is I think we're entering a period of time where the supernatural mystery which is at the heart of liturgy, to be able to believe in the bodily presence of Christ, and the fact that heaven is on earth, is a great mystery. And it is kind of where the supernatural breaks in and is present among us. I think postmodern kids are open to this. They're ready for this. And one of the interesting things that my daughter reflected on was that these professors were intelligent men and women. They knew they were in a postmodern era, but in a way they couldn't help themselves. The couldn�t help the fact that they were modernists. That's kind of the way I am too. I keep going back to my old training even though I may know that I'm in a different era. Now, if you look at the current trends, I think what you're going to see is people today wanting more mystery, wanting to come into a space that is unlike the space that they have come from in their homes, in their schools, in the world in which they live. I think they're ready to embrace mystery, and one of the ironies, I think, of the worship wars that we've been through in the last 20, 25 years, and I think Jim reflected this when he talked about his trends, is that our church is still kind of embracing the modernist perspective. And we are really not recognizing that the more we kind of just be who we are as Lutherans, and this is a kind of identity issue, if you were to just simply embrace who we are as Lutherans and the mystery of Christ's bodily presence among us, I think, especially with the liturgical tradition and treasures I've talked about, and I know Jim has too from the time of the Reformation, if we just simply embrace those, I think we're going to be well-positioned in this * mythological character of our church as a church that is reaching out to a postmodern world. Now, I think some of those trends are going to be difficult, especially for the old Lutherans, because I think what the younger generations, like the generations of my children, are going to be asking of us is more ceremony. And I think what that means is this: that they are very open to more embodiment in their worship. They're not just simply coming in to be informed about something. It's not just simply an educational experience where they're getting kind of facts about, you know, the Bible, Jesus, or the church, or they're getting facts to improve their life, ten steps to a more moral world, or how to be a better father. I think, certainly, they're going to be interested in that to a certain extent, but they want more than that. I also think that if we just simply hit them on an emotional level, we just go after the experience and the feelings, we're not also going to get the whole person. I think they�re going to be interested in how they are holistically going to be able to commune with God in the context of the community that has a real sense of being the body of Christ. And that means that there is going to be a call for more gestures. I find now that at seminary more and more, particularly young people, are more open to making the sign of the cross, of getting their bodies into it. And I think one of the reasons for it is they�re simply embodying what they're coming to believe and what they are believing are things that are significant and cosmic, supernatural. But I also think this part of this postmodern age, and one of the great treasures and blessings of our church is that we do have a tradition that does embrace some of this ceremony and certainly believes very, very strongly about this supernatural bodily presence. I also think alongside this--and this may not be true of everyone--but I do think that the younger generations, as opposed to my generation, the boomer generation, are interested in substance. This is one thing that I really learned from my kids. They are interested in authenticity. If in some way, you are not a genuine, authentic person, these kids vote with their feet. They're going to go somewhere else. They're going to look for people who know who they are, who have a very strong sense of their own identity, and who embody that. That's why I think, you know, a lot of the stuff we see coming into our midst that are, for some people, current trends, I think this is some of the things Jim was talking about in terms of that kind of Pentecostalism, it�s pretty flimsy stuff. It doesn't have the substance. It doesn't have the kind of staying power. At the end of the day, may on the surface or it first appeare authentic, but it doesn't endure long enough, and people get tired of it and are going to be looking for some things that are more substantive. I have been painting postmodernism in a pretty bright light here. Let me say that there is a down side, and it is a very significant downside. And it�s one that I think we�re going to be facing in our church that I am not sure we yet know how to answer. And that is among the postmodern world in which we live, one of the greatest sins that you can commit is to try to foist your way of thinking or way of believing on other people so that each person kind of finds their own truth. And they embody it, and they kind of, you know, have great passion for it, but do not try to put your truth on me or do not try to convert me to your way of thinking. This is kind of reflective of reality that I think we're all aware of. The truth is very relative in our culture now and that everybody has different ways of getting to the Almighty God. And the way of the New Age, the way of the Mormons, the way of Lutheran Christians, the way of Pentecostals are all legitimate, and that these are not in any way competing but these are all different roads to the creator and redeemer, and I think this is one of the things that is really going to hurt our evangelism efforts because what we're going to find is people are going to react, in some cases, very, very forcefully against any attempt to evangelize them into our truth. That�s one of the reasons why, as we embody our own confession and our worship, it has to be something that does come across as being clear and has great clarity. It has to come across as authentic. I think there has to be a passion behind it. I think it has to be something that people can see we believe and embody it in a way that is compelling to them, and, hopefully, through that way of worship and confessing the faith, they will come to understand that our way of believing, our truth, is the only truth, that Christ is the only way, even though there may be ways in which we can express it with great variety in our culture today, as Jim has expressed with the many delightful trends in hymnody that are coming into our midst. I tend to be an optimist so I tend to look at the future in a very positive way. And one of the reasons for that is I have a great hope for our world because of my children and their generation. I really honestly believe that they are better than we are. I'm talking about my boomer generation. And I look forward to seeing how they're going to be able to embrace our confession and our liturgy in such a way that they will make it compelling for the many many people in our world who know not Christ. I hope we get out of the way as quickly as possible so they can really be what I think they can be, even though I know the challenges for them are great. And that has always been the case no matter what generation you're in. But as I said, I have great hope. And I'm very excited about helping them learn the tradition and to see how that tradition can be embodied in a way that is real and authentic and to do it in a way that shows the great emotion and passion for we have in our church for what we believe, teach, and confess. Jim, maybe you have a reflection here on some of the things that I said. >> DR. JAMES BRAUER: I'm delighted that you brought up the postmodern issue because I think that the response to that that we often find in the church is to use some techniques out of the business world to address it. And it goes to the understanding that I think you expressed well that people, when they search for the truth, they kind of assume that they're the only ones that will know when they find it. It's not going to come from the outside that says, I'll know truth when I see it. This is basically kind of a sense that the customer is always right. Now, society teaches that. It teaches it in an amazing way, and I think that young people who have had to live in the midst of thousands of commercials a day, I think that's a reasonable number, given radio, television that they have around them constantly and print ads. They have learned to somehow to get through this to find what's really authentic and to discard the rest and not to pay attention to it. So they�ve had to deal with it. They have maybe a better strategy for this and a quicker way to set aside what's not useful. Nonetheless, the church has thought, in many places, to try this technique of the business world to say, look, I need to make this really attractive to the customer. So the first move is to make sure they're not upset about anything, therefore, whatever somebody outside the church likes, that's what we should do. What's missing in this is I think, really essential because it is the strategy of God that he would use the fullness of the gospel, not what�s attractive to the listener. And so the faithfulness that we have in relying on the promises and the means of grace, the word of God that means that faith has to be formed in the person. The word is the way it's done. So it's the encounter with the word of God so they can see Christ there in their baptism, in the Lord's Supper, and trust in Him alone, as opposed to some kind of effort or desire or experience on their own part. Now, I think that fits with the experience of the Lord's Supper. It fits with the experience of encountering the word when people are passionate about it and makes a big difference to them. And they can see that. So I think the future age will find ways to do this as long as they don't give up and grab doctrines that belong to our evangelical friends that gives some central things away and draw people into this because it is the power of God. So if you look where the power of God is and the promise of God, that's where your work goes and that's where your energy and focus when you gather people for worship. And I believe that cultural questions that go around it get sorted out, and as long as you know what's in the center, you have a chance of getting this right. I don�t know if you think that's the proper answer. >> DR. ARTHUR JUST: I think it's great. In fact I'm so glad you brought up kind of this consumerist culture and this business model that we've placed on the church. I think it's a great example of how modernism has kind of infected our church. And I am not going to say that all young people are going to reject that model, but I think many of them are seeing that that's not the real world. That's not where it's really at. This is one of the things that I think we've got to say to people through our worship that we've got the real world because we have the real presence. And we've got the Creator in our midst. This is the reality, not all that stuff out there. And reality does take faith to embrace and that reality is a supernatural kind of mysterious reality, and I do believe that there is a sense that our young people are going to be open to that, especially when they see that success of the business model doesn't satisfy at the end of the day. It may give kind of a momentary satisfaction, just like going to some of these worships and getting pumped up emotionally. There is certainly a wonderful feeling that one gets, but it does go away. And, you know, you're kind of sitting there grasping what is real. What is real? I have so many ways of illustrating this, but I like to illustrate it with a marriage. Marriage is so real because when you finally--and it's such an act of commitment, and it's such an act, a leap of faith into the supernatural that you�re going to spend the rest of your life with this person. And yet, after you spend--we've been married 26 years. That's reality. Our family is reality, and when you come back to that, that's home. That's where you can really see the world that God is giving you to really be your place of home. That's when I think the scriptures picture the relationship of Christ and his church as a marriage. The reality is that wonderful marriage we have with God where he is the bridegroom, and we are his bride. Where does that take place? Where is that reality transacted? It's in our worship, and that is real. That we come as his bridegroom and he gives up his life for us and then he feeds us and he takes care of us and he brings us home every Sunday into our worship and then home to the marriage feast of the lamb and his kingdom that has no end. I think that message is one that our culture needs to hear. And again, the thing that makes me so sad about some of the worship trends that we see in some of our churches, is that we're 20, 30 years behind. We're so far behind the curve. The rest of the world is out ahead of us. You know, you look at other denominations. They're discovering the liturgy. And we're in some cases trying to get rid of it. I think we need to just kind of go back and say, hey, this is who we are and for better or worse, let's bring this to the world. And I think we'll be enormously surprised at how they'll respond. >> DR. JAMES BRAUER: I couldn't agree more with that point. That is the mystery that is the reality. Indeed, when you come together in the name of Jesus, you already know he's won the victory in the resurrection, that death has provided all the benefits, forgiveness, life, salvation. It's ours. We come, in a sense, to celebrate to continue to believe this and He�s ruling right now. He will come again, and everybody who has passed by his message loses the benefits of that. And those who have received it are His forever. This is the reality in which we live. The stuff around us that engages our life and steals away our money because they give us all these desires to have and to have and to have, that's not satisfying, and people gradually realize this. This stuff is not it. >> DR. ARTHUR JUST: I want to reflect a little bit--I'll be interested to see what you think about this, Jim--on the new hymnal and where we are in terms of that and in terms of some of these trends. I've talked a little bit about worship wars, and I haven't developed it at least in this course very much, but I would say the last 20, 25 years we�ve been seeing, not just in our denomination, but in Christendom, not just a liturgical renewal, but a bit of a battle over worship. It has been the result of the fact that what we thought of as traditional liturgical worship has been challenged, and it has been challenged within our own churches and in other churches. This is part of that modernist last gasp before they finally, you know, give way to a postmodern world. What one of the upsides of the worship wars, frankly, was the fact that it forced many of us to get back in touch with our roots, the tradition. There are more people today who know stuff about liturgy than when I started teaching at seminary twenty years ago. It's phenomenal. Pastors are richly blessed with a knowledge of the worship and they're communicating it to their congregation. And because of that, I think we have been able to compile, through our committees for this new hymnal, some of the finest talents and minds that have been thinking about these things for a long time. So I think when you look at this new Lutheran Service Book, when you look at it, I think you�re going to see a book that reflects many of the things that Jim and I have been talking about, that the people who were on those committees are aware of this kind of cultural shift. I think they're ready to call us back to the tradition and yet, as I said in quoting Norman *Baker at the beginning of Lutheran Worship, that it's a living heritage and something new. And that combination, I think, is going to be very, very well-represented in the Lutheran Service Book. I'm hopeful, that our church, as it begins to recognize it is moving to this postmodern era, that it now has a book that can take it there. Because I think it is a book that does recognize the mystery and embraces the supernatural and has substantive hymns and liturgies that will allow it to appeal to this new world that we're entering in an authentic way. I'm really hoping that the next two years, as we put it together, and then in the following years as we begin to introduce it to the church, the discussion that Jim and I are having right now is a discussion that can go on in our own congregations so that they can see this book in the context of some of these current trends and will help them to recognize that this book is going to be a treasure that will not only help them to worship rightly as Lutherans, but be able to appeal to the lost, appeal to those who I think are going to be more and more searching for truth and are going to find it in communities like ours. If you want to see kind of an embodiment of the current trends, start getting in touch with the Lutheran Service Book because I think you're going to find in there some very thoughtful and carefully constructed worship structures, hymns and the like that are very much in touch with the things that we've been talking about. Jim, I don't know if you want to add to that. >> DR. JAMES BRAUER: Well, I can close this with kind of a final thing that touches back on the culture. It has often occurred to me as I've watched this process in recent years and seeing the work of those committees, the people you talked about, that they are sorting through, in a very practical way on a regular basis, what God has given them in his word against what the culture would like to be said through it. And the culture is often going to ask, as it has in the past and the age you touch, I think our age is more like the Roman times in the early church than anything else I can remember that everything is up for people to believe. It's out there. You can get to it. It's probably in your neighborhood, and this is all being offered to people and they just run around confused. So in the cultural trying on of things, if there's any word that Jesus said about this, well, I can't think of a quote directly, but he did say to Peter, those who take the sword will perish with it. Those who think they will accomplish this by culture will die by the same cultural tool of doing service to the itching ears. The problem with an itching ear is that once it's been scratched, it needs another scratch. And so it's the deep long mysterious things that really count in the end, not the little thing that feels great for the moment.