Liturgy
I think I’ve mentioned most of these observations but this time I’m going to try to put them together. My topic is liturgy.
As a young boy, my parents took me to a Presbyterian church (in Springfield, IL that has an Abe Lincoln pew). Then, about the time I turned 12, my parents went to a non denominational church (very similar to Highland Heights as I recall).
When my wife and I got married, I converted to a Lutheran Church, Missouri synod church. A side explanation of my understanding of Lutheran flavors. Someone explained that Lutherans were about as close to Catholic Churches as you can get and still be reformed. By that, I would guess that they mean conservative, liturgically based services. As I understand it, the Lutheran church has 3 flavors, Wisconsin synod, Missouri synod and ECLA. This is also the order they go in for most conservative to most liberal.
So, I’ve been to both liturgical based services and less liturgical based services. Yesterday, I went to a funeral of a previous boss of mine. The funeral was at Faith Lutheran, a Missouri synod church.
There are aspects of a liturgical service that I enjoy. One in particular that is associated with Lutheran services is the closing (spoken by the pastor to the congregation):
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” - Numbers 6:24-26 ESV
I have always felt that I could feel the radiance of God shining on me when I hear those words.
Other parts of the service, especially for someone who doesn’t regularly go to a Lutheran service, felt rushed to me as I was trying to juggle the material for the response while trying to understand what was being said.
That’s the bottom line to me. When you repeat the Lord’s Prayer or even listen to Pastor praying or giving his sermon, are you giving attention to what is being said? I’m sad to say that occasionally, I’ll catch the door opening out of the corner of my eye and my attention will get diverted away from what is important to what is less important. I’m working on that.
“Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’” - Mark 12:29-31 ESV
“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” - Romans 14:10-11
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord shine his face upon you and give you peace.
If this made you smile and feel better about yourself, pass it on.
