What Is Lutheran Worship?
Why does our Lord gather us for worship? The most precious gifts and treasures our Lord gives us are His forgiveness, life and salvation. Through His innocent life and bitter sufferings and death, Christ has purchased and won us from sin, death and the devil. Through Jesus Christ, all the sins of the world were paid for and the wrath of God was appeased. Christ has reconciled the whole world to God. Jesus Christ serves us again and again as His Gospel is proclaimed, as His people are baptized and as His Word is read. He serves us as His forgiveness is pronounced and penitents absolved. He serves us as He gives us His body and blood under the bread and wine to eat and to drink. This is how our Lord gives us forgiveness, life, and salvation. What a blessing it is to be called and gathered for worship by our good and gracious God! What is at the heart and center of Lutheran worship? Lutheran worship puts the focus squarely on Jesus Christ, who is present for us and with us through His Wor
” in its Summer 2001 issue. Segments highlight Lutheran congregations with distinct styles of worship around the world. Many congregations throughout the ELCA are struggling with questions about what is acceptable Lutheran worship and what is not. MOSIAC’s summer issue includes discussions of “worship wars” which have evolved in some places. In those cases parishioners want to try something new that will attract new members into the congregation, while others in the congregation prefer traditional forms of worship. The Summer 2001 issue, available June 1, includes stories of Lutheran congregations in the continental United States, Alaska and Puerto Rico. MOSIAC also includes worship stories from southern Madagascar and the West Bank town of Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem. Their worship styles reflect their cultures and belief systems. The three MOSIAC segments examine what congregations are doing in worship to maintain current membership and to attract new members: + “Surviving the
The first question we should answer is: “Why do we worship?” Christians come together because we know that -through God’s Holy Word and Sacraments- our loving God comes to us and is with us. In these moments of worship, God reaches into our lives and brings us renewed faith and strength and peace. In fact, properly speaking, we Lutherans tend not to use the word “worship.” Rather, we call it the Divine Service- for in the Divine Service, the Triune God serves us- he comes to us, he calls to us, and he strengthens us with Word and Sacrament. Through the years, Christians have worshiped in many different ways. The Bible does not tell us what form our worship we take. The Lutheran Church uses a fairly standardized worship structure (liturgy), not because we consider this the only right way to worship, but because we believe that this ancient, time-tested manner of worship enables all of us to take part in a beautiful, vital, and significant worship experience. Much of it uses words drawn
