LCMS Worship Conference: The Conversation

I suspect that many of our readers upon reading that title might ask, "Are we still talking about the 'national worship conference' in Seward from 2008?" No, that was the triennial conference hosted by the LCMS Commission on Worship. What just happened in St. Louis was the "Model Theological Conference on Worship", which the synod in convention directed be held in order to attempt to resolve our conflicts over worship. I'm going to have several short posts about this over the next few weeks, as there is much to digest, and as these conferences are now supposed to continue at the District level. But, for now, I'd just like to put two short items:

1 - For those who knew not or new little of this conference, this reminder for everyone about the official purpose of this conference should be helpful: "to build greater understanding of our theology of worship and foster further discussion of worship practices that are consistent with that theology."

2 - And now for my first of many short observations to come that I hope might continue our conversation together on this important issue:

The conference worship was graciously hosted by our brothers and sisters at Concordia-Kirkwood. They have a beautiful facility, excellent musicians, and are a most hospitable congregation. They deserve everyone's grateful appreciation for their efforts. Their musicians ably led the services planned with them by the Commission on Worship. Though the Commission oversaw the planning, I presumed that we had mostly contemporary sounds because of the musicians available, and mostly traditional content liturgically because of the Commission's oversight and because of Concordia's commitment to historic texts. In other words, we were pretty much experiencing worship at Concordia, not "model" worship.

So I thought it interesting that the questionnaire we received about the conference had many questions about the music, ceremony, and rites we experienced together. It appears instead that the several services are being considered as models of the "variety of responsible practices" referred to in the synod constitution (III:7), to which the convention resolution referred and about which we were supposed to discuss at the conference. This was not made clear to us when we gathered. Sure there were many discussions about the services among the delegates - we are pastors and musicians, after all! - but now that I am considering these as models I find it curious that the musical style of 3 of the 4 services at Concordia was identical, and that the "traditional" model lacked the fullness one would associate with model traditional worship (other than the excellent children's choir from the day school that sang a Voluntary).

Indeed, the worship was all on a rather narrow band for a conference that was supposed to discuss variety. I'm not sure why that was. I am sure that we could have had: choral settings of stanzas of hymns, more variety of psalmody, brass, other instruments, and also a more representative example of "real" contemporary worship. (Many delegates commented that if the "contemporary" worship we experienced at Concordia were representative of what is happening in synod as a whole, we would have not had a synod resolution to have this conference to begin with.)

I'm going to ask Commission members for their thoughts on this. I realize there is only so much one can do with five services, but it does seem to me an opportunity was lost.

Worship the "Waffle House Way"

This morning I had breakfast at Waffle House. I hadn't been there in a few years, due to a couple of bad experiences, but one of their restaurants was right across the street from our hotel, and the parking lot was full of local plates, so my son & I took a chance and went in. We had a great breakfast, in a clean restaurant full of friendly workers. It brought back fond memories of my youth, when I used to cook at a Waffle House and learned the importance of doing things "The Waffle House Way".

Those who currently run the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod could benefit from considering the benefits of "The Waffle House Way". They should be open to this, acutally, because they are much enamored of the "church growth movement" and tend to appreciate corporate lingo. They may not be so crass as to speak of "market share", but the overall emphasis on "growing the church" using marketing, mission, and "outreach" techniques means synod & district officials and reports usually have much more talk about marketing strategies than, say, justification or the sacraments.

So let's take a look at what the brand "LCMS" means to folks as if LCMS were in the restaurant business. Working with the "church growth" analogies like this can actually be quite instructive.

First, what LCMS is doing now obscures what the "brand" LCMS means. The Ablaze! initiative, with its focus on adding new "products" such as new worship formats, new worship soundtracks, house churches/small groups, thrift shops, day care centers, and "intentional conversation teams", has resulted in a church body that trumpets not what it is supposedly about - Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins - but rather extols new "add-ons". This would be fine up to a point if there were consistency and if everything flowed from the Divine Serivce (for example, for decades we were known for having an excellent parochial school system, centered on the teaching of Christian doctrine). But the emphasis on various local congregational "ministries" rather than the Lord's Ministry makes it hard for the LCMS to maintain a cohesive identity. And, few people go to a restaurant for the side dishes on any regular basis. (I'm reminded of the old Wendy's ads from the 80's, which asked, "Where's the beef?")

And the problem is even worse than that. For the situation today is not that everyone is selling, say, waffles, but then adding additional but varying "sides" to their menus - which does make sense when the "sides" vary according to regional taste. No, what we have are some churches serving chicken while others serve fish and others serve beef. Our congregations have become like chocolates in Forrest Gump's box: "You never know which one you are going to get!"

Now I can hear the mission execs saying: "But, Cantor, these things are all adiaphora! What's important is the Gospel, and all this is about the Gospel!" Well, leaving aside for a moment the argument that much of what is being promoted is not about the Gospel, let's just assume that it is and again look at this from Waffle House's perspective. If a bunch of WH's were selling fish and another bunch were selling chickens it wouldn't matter if some were still selling waffles. There is absolutely NO WAY the company would say "But, people, these things don't matter. What's important is the protein. All of our restaurants are in the nutrition business and they all sell protein - just different kinds."

Some of the adiaphora that divides us is indeed adiaphora, and so cannot really be condemned. But are we really about promoting our church when we allow such diversity? Wouldn't it be better for people to know what to expect when they see the letters LCMS on a church sign? Certainly the Lutheran fathers and the founders of the LCMS thought so. Luther argued for regional uniformity (so presumably different 'side dishes' in one region verses another were fine); the LCMS constitution prescribes that all congregations adopt "exclusive use" of orthodox liturgies, hymnals, and agendae. Walther wrote about how the hymnal was "a flag by which an orthodox congregation is recognized."

Those who attended our grandfathers' church didn't have Waffle Houses to go to after the Divine Service. But they had the common horse sense to know the importance of a Waffle House doing things "The Waffle House Way". May we again have bishops and overseers in the church who appreciate who we really are and who we are supposed to be. And may we return promoting our congregations accordingly.

The Bulletins They Drop Off

For our friends who are cantors and pastors, I'm sure you find in your office mailbox periodically a 'gift' that I receive every few weeks myself: the bulletin from another church. Now, sometimes it is dropped off by people who know your intellectual interest in worship planning. And, as Bethany has become more confessional that is pretty much what I get these days. But often in my first years here and during my years in Peoria, you'd get the "bulletin with an agenda": the bulletin intended to show you about that 'perfectly good LCMS church' that does things in a way that is "so much more" (insert word of choice here). And, cantor, you are such a fine musician so can't you see how we could be doing these (insert word) things here at our church if we didn't insist on doing the same things week after week?!

I won't go into the details on the latest one, from a large LCMS church in the Minneapolis area. Suffice to say it is the same old thing the Ablaze! synod-within-synod gets week after week: confessions of sin that focus on one little sin that may or may not apply to everyone; absolutions that include penance (now go and do...); lay readers reading the Gospel; one or two readings; 75% CCLI music; Choir singing Gaither music; "Children's Ministry Video Montage", little communion liturgy; a 'worshippers exchange greetings' rather than the sharing of the Peace.
And no such homespun liturgy would be complete without a clunky innovation meant to show how 'relevant' they are in their creativity: the second Gospel acclamation was changed to "Praise to You, O resurrected Christ!" (Just to make sure people are paying attention, I guess. Had to make sure they knew it was still Eastertide. How special!)

At least this service preserved the four-fold shape of Preperation, Word, Sacrament, Blessing. And they actually said the Apostles' Creed (no time for the Nicene, evidently) instead of some newfangled "Affirmation of Faith". And the service conluded with an Aaronic Benediction. So, in the world of LCMS Ablaze!, these are the liturgical conservatives.

The LCMS is in desperate need of ecclesiastical supervision.

Speaking of Youth

By the way, that last Sunday I blogged about (with much music provided for the congregation by our youth ensemble) resulted in an interesting report from a parent.

It seems her 8th-grade boy came into church and noticed the three microphones, the guitar, the monitor, and the small amp for the bass guitar, and got his mother's attention. Now before I tell you what he said, let me share with you that this young man is one whom our ecclesiastical advisers at the synod and district offices would tell us to LISTEN TO: he's public school, Hispanic, dresses in a hip but not outlandish way, is not super-involved in the youth group, and carries himself in a cool, detached way.

But his response was not what the Baby Boomers who run Ablaze! (the LCMS church growth initiative) expect. He looked at the guitars, the kids, and the mics, turned to his mother and said: "We're not going to become like Uncle Ben's church, are we?!"

Frankly, I'm not surprised. The research on youth & worship music confirms this: young people understand the difference between what is appropriate for different occasions, and don't expect every part of their life to have the same soundtrack. Just like the rest of us wear different clothing and eat different foods at different occasions, so do young people understand that the Divine Service is not a place for entertainment, but a place for reverence.

Once we had the service, mom reported that her son was no longer concerned. Church was still church. Our piety didn't change. As I wrote in my last post, Bethany doesn't become a different congregation just becasue our youth sing or because a guitar gets plugged in.

And yet the LCMS as an institution doesn't understand this. They think that somehow we have to change our piety if we're going to 'reach people for Christ'. Why don't they understnad that there is nothing in our piety that works against evangelism or missions or nurturing the faith in the next generation?

Frankly, I think the real obstacle here are pastors, parents, and teachers who don't embrace who we are. Anyone who works with kids knows that if you are positive and sincere in your joy about something, the students will buy into it.

No, the problem isn't the kids. The problem is church leaders. They either are deceived into thinking that somehow Lutheranism is incompatible with youth - or maybe some of them just don't believe in it themselves.

Hearing the Savior's Song

While I'm tempted to post over here regarding the brewing controversy down in Texas (about a female pastor from a charismatic non-denominational church being slated to "lead worship" at the upcoming Texas District youth gathering, "GloryBound"), I'm going to just invite you to head over to the Johnny Steadfast site and catch up with that on your own if you haven't already heard or read about it. (steadfastlutherans.org)

My topic today segues nicely from this, though, as I continue my reports on the LCMS Institute on Preaching and the liturgy. While young Lutherans will be encouraged to seek God's "presence" apart from His Word, the third plenary speaker at the worship conference, Carol McDaniel, encouraged us to seek God's presence where it is truly found: in Christ. Rather than directing us to the noise of this world as the entertainment experiential evangelists do, or turn us inward on ourselves like the mystics would do, she directed us to the classical Christian spiritual disciplines. God wants to spent time with us, and Carol, a parish church musician who also teaches at Concordia-Irvine, pointed us to how we can spend more time with Him.

Carol's address was titled, "Can You Hear the Savior Singing?" She sought to help musicians and pastors grow in their vocations by redirecting those who lead worship to the source of all true worship: God Himself. She pointed to a key problem that we in the Lord's ministry face today: NOISE. The NOISE of the world distracts us from hearing the voice of our Savior. Not in a charismatic sense, but in a real sense of being in the Word so that the Spirit can have His way with us. And her solution was a call to return to our spiritual disciplines, which she defined as "time-honored and Biblically-supported ways of placing our story within the big story of God's Word." She then offered the following rubric to guide us back into these proven disciplines: STUMPED.

S - Sabbath Keeping. This can be so much more than attending the Divine Service. It is helpful to prepare for the liturgy the night before, to arrive early to church to mediate on the psalm and readings of the day, and then to discuss the service afterwards. The Sabbath was made for man; yet we don't take full advantage of this wonderful gift!

T - Treasure the Truth. Remember your baptism. Return to it in Confession & Absolution. Meditate on the commandments before confessing your sins. Avail yourself of individual confession & absolution. And rejoice your salvation!

U - Unplug. Try fasting from the technology. (BTW, we're going to do that at Bethany next month: as part of a congregational assimilation campaign we are going to "fast" from technology for 24 hours!) Go on retreats periodically. Go for a walk without an e-book or an iPod. Read the Bible BEFORE checking your emails. Be still and know that God is God! (Ps. 46:10)

M - Meditate. Not in the Eastern or mystic sense, but in the Christian tradition of letting the Word dwell in your richly. Memorize scripture. Chant the psalms. Journal about your reflections and discuss your questions with your pastor. "Our God longs to spend time with you."

P - Pray. Worship in the Divine Service.....and worship every day. Keep one of the daily offices as a family or at least as an individual. Keep a prayer journal. Make appointments to pray with other Christians. Read books on prayer and hymns by great theologians. Pray through the catechism; pray a psalm every day. Do not give up meeting together. Pray without ceasing!
(Hebrews 10:25; 1 Thess. 5:16-18)

E - Engage. Don't just lead worship. Worship! Find places and opportunities to worship without leading. Pastors in large churches; let the other pastor preside while you just go to church. Pastors in all churches: find times to go to another parish. Musicians: go to church when you don't have to sing or play! She also added "encourage" as a spiritual discipline. Build others up, by letting them lead - and also by letting them know you appreciate them. (I think she is on to something here: though we workers don't get applause in church work, we do get a lot of love along with lumps. But do we let all the wonderful volunteers know how much we appreciate them? If our spirituality truly is extra nos, then it does seem logical that expressing appreciation for others is part of our saying "Thanks be to God". God has put people in our midst to give us our daily bread and to be "Jesus with skin on" for us. It is therefore a good discipline to acknowledge our neighbor as God's gift to us.) Therefore encourage on another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thess. 5;11)

D - Commune. And commune frequently. Disciple the next generation into our communion. Devote yourselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42-47)

Keep the Sabbath. Pray Psalms. Meditate on the Commandments. Seek Absolution. Commune Frequently. Remember Your Baptism. Do one of the daily offices each day. Pray over the catechism. Memorize God's Word.

I wonder if that's the kind of teaching the youth in Texas will be getting from their district as that non-denominational "worship pastor" leads them in their worship? Or from the Baptist preacher who will be speaking there as well? Or the other pastor from a different non-denom....oops, I'm giving in to temptation!

Thank you, Carol, for a wonderful, inspiring address. May our pastors and musicians keep their spiritual disciplines, that they may not grow weary, but grow strong in their vocations as they serve the Lord in His ministry.

A Tale of Two Conferences

I was able to join Stephen for the last night day of the WELS worship conference and so offer some comparison and contrast for our readers:

1 - Preaching. What I heard in St. Peter was consistent with reports I got from a couple of folks who attended all of both conferences: the WELS preaching overall was stronger, more substantive, and more Lutheran. Not that the preaching was all bad at LCMS, but certainly there are some gifted preachers in the WELS - and they take the idea that the Worship Conference is for pastors as well as musicians quite seriously. I will say that the LCMS preaching was stronger at past Institutes, but if I were to keep score here (which I'm not), I'd say "score one for the WELS!"

2 - Orders of Service. The WELS are introducing a new hymnal supplement and so several new service settings were introduced at the conference. (Full disclosure: it includes my tune for Christopher Idle's "If Christ Had Not Been Raised") Certainly this is the place to do that sort of thing - but I think it was a little overdone. Part of the joy of these conferences is singing the common tradition together and that wasn't done as strongly at the WELS conference as I think it should have been. I might have liked a little more liturgical variety at the LCMS conference - but LSB didn't give us much new to work with (which is another story for another post). That said, I thought the LCMS had a better balance between "familiar" and "fresh" - even as I commend the WELS Commission on Worship for doing an excellent job with their hymnal supplement AND this conference.

3 - Hymnody. Both conferences featured good hymnody, sung with gusto by the assemblies. The WELS had an accent on new tunes & texts appearing in their new supplement; the LCMS did a better job of reflecting and expressing the catholicity of the church with the variety of hymns selected. If there is interest perhaps we'll post a list for folks to compare. Just let us know.

4 - Psalmody. Both conferences did what most LCMS congregations don't do: they sang the psalms. I think this is actually a more common practice now in WELS, but I need more than my experiences and some anecdotal data to confirm this. At any rate, WELS is to be commended for providing many new psalm refrains in its supplement. LCMS is to be commended for having more variety in its practice of psalm singing (though we could have used even more!). I will offer one caution for WELS, though: at Evening Prayer on Wednesday night, I found myself starting to agree with Carl Schalk's observation that "we are being refrained to death these days." While I disagree with Carl on this, as I think refrains contextualize the psalms and are useful ways of engaging the assembly and incorporating them into psalm, I do think there is a limit to how much of this style one should use. Certainly with all the musicians present we could have done a little more than the THREE songs with refrains sung after the sermon at Evening Prayer that night - in addition to the one on Psalm 141 earlier in the service! I think 1-2 refrains in a service is fine; four is a bit too much.

5 - High School Honor Choir. OK, at this point I must say that even though Dr. Von Kampen did a STELLAR job with the LCMS kids - and even though one of my sons was singing with the LCMS group(!) - I must give strongest praise to the WELS for a job incredibly well done. The LCMS evidently has a lot to learn from the WELS in organizing, recruiting, and motivating young people for these conferences. The LCMS choir had 42 singers: 16 sopranos, 12 altos, 7 tenors, and 7 basses. The WELS, despite being a much smaller synod, had 128 singers - 32 in each section! They sang much more literature - and much more challenging literature - than the LCMS group. These kids were obviously working on this music well before the conference, and I suspect that the WELS high school choir directors were plugged into the planning and so used some of the conference music in their own programs this past year. Most of the students were from WELS high schools - but there was a good number of public and home schooled youth as well.

I think the contrast between these groups is illustrative of the conflict and dysfunction within the LCMS. Most LCMS schools do not value and nourish our rich musical heritage and so our youth are deprived of some great faith-shaping experiences. It appears to me that this is less of a problem in the WELS. And it was such a joy to watch 128 high school students joyfully singing classical sacred music, and great liturgical music from our Lutheran heritage. They were singing in spirit and in truth and it showed! Imagine what the LCMS could do if we were to have lots of high schools excelling in choral music, have those schools networked and plugged into conference planning and preparation, and then bring in 128 of the cream of the LCMS crop to have a music camp for a few days before the conference. It would do so much more than make for great worship: it would motivate the next generation of the church's musicians for the years to come.

One last comparison - both conferences made great and good use of instruments. I hope that all the musicians who attended will go home and use more of the musical talent in their parishes. It is so easy to simply "just play it on the organ", but there is so much more ministry taking place when we use the gifts God has placed among us in our parishes. With both youth and instrumentalists, a rich liturgical piety is nurtured through involving more people in the Lord's song. May we musicians dedicate ourselves to discipling the talent placed among us - and may our congregations support this work by budgeting appropriate funds to support music ministry in the Church.

Concio et Cantio

These two Latin words refer to the Divine Service activities of preaching and singing respectively. In Dr. Daniel Zager’s presentation today at the WELS conference on worship, he outlined how specifically Kantor Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) used these exact words to refer to the tight connection, as Luther called it, between preaching and congregational singing. Zager is a musicologist at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, so his presentation had a strong historical element. He is able to masterfully discuss history and practice in a way uncommon to most presenters - concise, yet thorough, analytical, yet accessible.

The entire presentation held my interest, but given the musings on contemporary worship in the LCMS and evidently the WELS, I was interested in how he dealt with the musical issues as they touch parish practice. I’ll hit on a couple things in this post.

First, the overarching question is how should the music function in divine worship. Music may evoke several different responses from people as it unfolds in worship, but the bedrock question of how it ought to function needs to be clear. If we are going to be Lutheran in our worship identity, we ought to start with how Luther and the early Lutherans dealt with the subject. For Luther, singing was an extension of preaching. It was the way people heard the message of the preaching anew – through song. The preaching was often tied to the Gospel and so the music was often tied to the same. Regardless, music was a partner in the ministry of the Word. This practice was very much in play for Praetorius and also for the later composer J.S. Bach, who wrote cantatas mirroring the Gospel readings for the day.

When we think of music in our worship today, is this our understanding? Do we really believe that music serves a unique place to help people reflect upon the subject of the preaching. Do we use music to teach them different facets of what they hear read and preached? Often the answer is no. We frequently are sidelined by the culture of our congregations, thinking that they cannot handle such “lofty” things. In doing so, we fail to give them the opportunity to contend with the subject. We short circuit the process before it even has begun. Is it naïve for us to think that we can actually teach our congregations to have this uniquely Lutheran outlook concerning their singing? As difficult as congregations can be, I think, even so, the answer is, not only is it not naïve, but it is a mandate, and spiritual treasure awaits the congregations who can meet the challenge.

The job of the pastor and church musician is to teach their congregations this very thing. They are to gently instruct people that their singing is part of learning Holy Scripture and even more, part of their receiving the gifts of Christ. When they come to church, they should not look for a pep-rally. Nor should they have a bad attitude when a hymn they do not prefer is sung. Congregations need to be guided into an understanding that what they receive in church is something completely other than what they receive on their radios, in their theaters, or on their favorite CDs. Music in the Divine Service is to point them to Jesus. Sometimes the hymns will be hard. Sometimes they will be easy. Sometimes they will be something the people like. Sometimes they will be something they do not like. They may have to learn something new, while singing other things that are very familiar.

One very difficult matter that keeps us from this understanding is the fact that almost everyone regards music in a one dimensional way. For most, it is entertainment, plain and simple. Entertaiment is the sole function of music in most people’s lives. In the church, our charge as pastors and musicians is to help our people leave the entertainment mentality behind the minute they walk into church. It is to help them focus on the question, “How will Christ show himself to me today in our singing?” It is to foster an attitude of unity of purpose so that our congregations are not divided along such artificial lines as musical preference. It is to cultivate a love for our rich hymn heritage amongst our people so that they learn about Baptism, the Sacrament of the Altar, the theology of the cross, the atonement, redemption and all the other gifts that Christ has lavished upon us.

Avoid the temptation to scratch the itch of a vocal minority who thinks that they cannot worship unless every last musical criteria they hold is met. This is to keep them in their entertainment mentality and to give a place to blatant consumerism in things spiritual. The Holy Spirit does not need us to “sell” the Gospel, and such an approach attempts to do just that. He is able to soften the hearts of people who have disdain for the message of our faithful Lutheran hymn poets, old and new who give us their perspective in their rich hymns. And yes, this is a disdain, not merely for the music, but for the message it contains as well as for the function and purpose of music in authentically Lutheran worship.

Very WEL Done!

I am at the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod’s Conference on Worship hosted by their Commission on Worship. Bryan Gerlach and his team have put together a real extravaganza, food for the soul, ears and mind. There is much I could say about all the goings on here after a mere day and a half, but I’ll start with this morning.

There was a lovely Divine Service introducing all kinds of new music, hymnody, canticles and psalm settings that are found in their newly released Christian Worship Supplement. More on the Supplement in another post, but safe to say it is a lovely compilation of hymnody and liturgical music, old and new. As with every volume any synod releases, it will receive its share of critique, but as a volume of for worship it appears to be fit for the task.

Following the Divine Service we heard our first plenary address given by Rev. Jon F. Zabell, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran in Green Bay WI. Zabell’s address was nothing less than astounding. His talent as an orator could well be described as virtuostic, with an command over the subject matter that was natural, pastoral, extremely balanced and good natured. One could not help be drawn into his speech and captivated by his careful yet accessible analysis of the subject.

He basically discussed the formulation of hymnals in the WELS, but used it to address how the church grows in its understanding of why we worship the way we do. He referenced the highly pietistic and rationalistic bent within WELS from its earliest days in the U.S. and showed how those influences kept the church from true Lutheran orthodoxy in the hymns they sang. Pietism sang about the emotions of the faithful, while rationalism concentrated on singing about morality. So the hymnody was about how well we love Jesus and how to be a good neighbor. Not that either of those things should be ignored, but rather how they need to be informed by a pure and simple confession of faith in our worship – a confession that by its nature is doctrinal.

He illustrated this quite wonderfully by taking us back to Eden. Adam and Eve really only had one act of worship they were required to perform (other than just living their lives in the presence of God). That act was simple: “Do not eat of the tree.” By not eating of the tree, Adam and Eve were making their confession. “We believe God," was the confession they made. But Satan, as he always does, offered them another confession: that they might be like God. In eating of the tree, which was “good for food” and no doubt tasted good too, our first parents supplanted the objective “we believe God” for a subjective experience of being like God. Satan played the card that the end game in their worship was to feel good. And he still does so today.

In the WELS as well as in the LCMS we are toying with just how far to go in utilizing “contemporary” worship and “alternative” services. All things are permissible, but not all things are profitable, so says the scripture. What is behind our yearning to look into these things? Could it be a dissatisfaction with things old (like our post-reformation heritage hymnody of the 16th and 17th centuries)? Could it be a desire to spice up the service so it is more appealing? That it make people feel better in the worship setting? Could it be that we think we can assist the Holy Spirit in growing his church even when Augsburg says that he creates faith in the heart when and where it pleases him? Whatever reasons we are using to assess this matter, these do not seem to reflect the understanding of worship bequeathed to us by Luther as he took his cue from Holy Scripture.

Zabell discussed many things in his hour long presentation that I cannot begin to cover here. But one thing he did mention that hit home with me, was the need for the church to set itself apart as Lutheran worshipers – apart from the world, that is. We do not seek to entertain, or just touch the emotions as an end in itself, nor do we seek to aid the Holy Spirit who would otherwise be impotent without our efforts to spice up the service a little. No, we worship that we might receive Christ. That Word and Sacrament might be lifted up as Christ is present in them. We do this through the employment of the liturgy, hymns old and new, and songs by the choir, old and new. Music that fleshes out our confession, draws us to the work of our Savior and focuses us upon him. More later.

A Prayer Book for Christians

Are we all back home and settled in yet? If so, what did you think about the conference? And would you help me share the conference with those who were unable to attend? Please post your comments. Let's start with the first plenary, Dr. Dean Wenthe's "The Psalter: A Prayer Book for Christians."

Dr. Wenthe, President of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, reminded us that psalms are not abstract, but "embedded in the great drama and narrative of the Bible." For us to read the psalms correctly, then, we must see them as "a complete narrative, and understand them as part of the Torah." This story leads us into sacred space (Eden, Mountains of the Lord), sacred time (feast days), and sacred persononel (priests, Levites), and sared media (altar, tabernacle, temple).

Using some classic artwork to illustrate his points, Wente then went through the "grand narrative" of Scripture, illustrating the unity of salvation history as "reunion and renewal" with God, as the art brought our Christ in the Old Testament, particularly with images of Moses an David as types of Christ. One lighthearted moment here was when he showed David dancing and praising before the Ark. He pointed out that the artist included David's wife evidently chastising him for his excess from the balcony, and joked that "she must have been LCMS!"

He also included some artistic depictions of New Testament scenes, to reinforce the connections between the testaments. He included Mary addressing Simeon, showing that Christ was "The glory of thy people Israel" and also Albrecht Dürer's famous "Jesus Among the Doctors," whom Wenthe called "the theological faculty of Jerusalem!" Christ is the fulfillment of all that unfolded in the First Testament, and the psalms are the prayer book of all who inherit the New Covenant in their baptisms.

Continuing with his theme that "The psalms resist abstraction," He went on to point out that if they are not sung and prayed out of an understanding of salvation history, they do not reach the heart, the mind, the soul. He suggested that we would be well-served today if we were to recover the language of our church fathers and view the psalms as the "living voice of Jesus". Viewing them in this way presents the gracious character of God, to be seen rightly, that we may behold the goodness and graciousness of God in the OT. This would be so helpful in our day and age, when so many view the OT has purely "Law."

Yes, he said,"the Gospel is everywhere in the OT, because God is everywhere in the OT." He comes to us in gracious means, just as His gracious presence came to His people via the Tabernacle. Did you know that there are 15 chapters on this? He appealed to the musicians of the church to remembe rthat the Glory of the Lord filled the temple for the goodness of the people - for their salvation. Even the preface to the Decalogue highlights this. THIS thinking about the psalms & the OT helps us see God through the proper hermeneutic of Law & Gospel - not Sovereignty of God. We are able then to see the Torah story as "breathtakingly good and beautiful." Such an understanding should underscore our approach as worship leaders to praying and singing the psalms.

Finally, Wenthe brought things even closer to home by pointing out that the psalms overturn the false teachings of the cosmology of the ancient world. Similarly, they overturns the false teachings of the modern university which sees the world merely as a grand accident, rather than as a wise and wonderful creation. Psalms "get God right" and so they help us to "get God right." They bring us into reality and help us to see things as they ARE.

What are your thoughts? Does your congregation understand the reality of the Psalms? Is it your custom to allow the Biblical reality of the Psalter to shape and inform your prayer and praise? May we always uphold the beautiful vision of God the Psalms reveal to us, that we may praise Him for His goodness, through the mighty and righteous deeds He has done for us through His Son.

FRIENDS WE'LL MISS

What a great conference! I'll write several posts over the comings days so that you may catch up on the proceedings - and so that those who attended might share their comments as well.

For now, let me apologize for not being able to "live blog" as intended. Between service interreptions, an incredibly busy schedule, and sharing one lap top with my family, I just didn't have the opportunity to post. Lesson learned: if Fine Tuning is to successfully live-blog a future conference we'll need to: a - make sure we have a good internet setup in place, and b - have someone ready to journal the conference who isn't busy presenting, performing, rehearsing, and giving a plenary address!

For now, let me just do two short things. FIRST, thank you, David Johnson, for speaking to the assembly on Wednesday about the need to be quiet before services so as to respect their fellow worshipppes and also to respect the musicians who had prepared preservice music. Everyone was fine before the first service, but the chatter before the other services on Tuesday and before matins Wednesday AM was so loud, I was going to post about that. I was truly shocked that so many MUSICIANS would act that way - especially since I hear musicians complaining all the time about how congregations don't listen to their preservice music! I guess the best construction I can put on it is that everyone was just really enjoying seeing old friends and making new ones that we just got carried away. So, thank you, David, for gently reminding everyone of good churchly behavior - and for keeping me from writing a snarky little post! ;)

And, second, speaking of seeing old friends and making new ones, I really enjoyed the fellowship at the conference - in both meanings of the word. The fellowship we shared in worship was stellar, and a real blessing to those of us who lead worship each week, as it gave US a chance to "just go to church." But we were also blessed in the colloquial way - what Americans call 'fellowship' and what our confessions call the 'mutual conversation and consolation of the brethern.' It was great seeing old friends and making new ones. The Church is truly built up in this way through these conferences.

Hopefully, we will all be seeing each other again in three years. There were some inklings that future conferences will emphasize 'diversity' and embrace other 'styles' of worship. For many that I talked to at this conference, that would definitely not be something that would bring us together again in three years. We'll have to see the details on what all this means - and perhaps my fears are unfounded. But I do hope that the excelleng quality of these conferences will continue, and that I won't be missing all my friends three years from now.

In the meantime, thank you, Jon Vieker and David Johnson for putting on such a great conference. Thank you, Rachel Asburry, for all your hard work and for your faithful service. And thank you, Commission on Worship, for keeping this conference and its worship as a model for our congregations. May these conferences remain "The LCMS at its best!"

THE LCMS AT ITS BEST

Just returned after attending the opening Divine Service, listening to Dr. Wenthe's plenary address, attending choir practice, and restocking the Liturgy Solutions booth. It was simply a fabulous afternoon - for me and for my whole family - and I'll share more detail if this site generates interest. For now, though, let me just share with you today's Divine Service.

I almost titled this post, As It Should Be, because I was reminded of a comment made by a Columbian cellist at my alma matter one evening twenty years ago after listening to someone play Brahms exquisitely: "That was Brahms as it should be played." And today's Divine Service was "as it should be" at a conference like this: the LCMS at its best.

I'm tempted to get theological and muse about how the baptized are truly at "their best" when they are being washed and nourished by their Lord, but for now I'll just say that the LCMS is at its best when we worship according to our culture and heritage, embracing all the Lord's gifts with creativity and humility, and joyously be who we are. But more on that, later.

And today truly was the LCMS at its best. Kantor Janet Muth is to be especially commended for preparing the children's choir so well. They made a fabulous contribution to the service! Today being the Feast of Mary Magdalene, they added true Easter joy to our worship, especially with their vibrand and clear singing of Bach's "With Loudest Rejoicing". They also provided beautiful stanzas on the hymnody, singing stanzas on "For All the Faithful Women", "I Am Jesus' Little Lamb", "O Gracious Lord, I Firmly Am Believing", and "At the Lamb's High Feast" - many in special arrangements. They also provided the Verse, led the famous Victimae Paschli Sequence which was sung in place of the Hymn of the Day, and provided the Voluntary during the receiving of the offerings. That they were able to get all this together so well in less than a day is a testimony to the talents of Kantor Muth - and to the talents of the children themselves (including, I'd like to add, my lovely daughter, Caitlin!).

I was also impressed by the organist. I believe it was Paul Soulek, the director of music here at St. John's, whose sanctuary is our chapel and main meeting space for the conference. I also see David van Kampen played keyboards as well - so maybe they both played organ. Or maybe David was pianist for some of the preservice music. If anyone knows, fill me in! Anyway, the organ is a very nice instrument - a 1967 Schlicker - but it is especially nice when played be these young and capable and sensitive hands. I expect we will all be hearing much more from Paul - and David - in the future.

I would also like to compliment the instrumentalists, who added so much to the service. I saw LS composer and Concordia Nebraska professor Jeff Blersch conducting the ensemble, and want to commend him and Andrew Schultz for doing a great job coordinating that aspect of today's worship. The brass "kicked", as we musicians say, and the various winds and strings added meaningful touches to the service.

I also appreciated very much Dr. Wenthe's presentation: "The Psalms: A Prayer Book for Christians". I'll post more about that after Evening Prayer. To which I'm now headed!

WELCOME TO OUR NEW SITE - AND WELCOME TO SEWARD!

If you've made it to this blog, you've probably figured out that we're up to some new things at Liturgy Solutions! Thanks for visiting the site. We hope that our new products, our new options, and our new features will be helpful to you and beneficial to the church. But if you DIDN'T get here via the new website, coming to this blog via another route, please click on the Liturgy Solutions banner on the top of this page and check at our newly revamped site. You'll find that we've broken out our catalog of compositions from the old collections and are now making our pieces available individually. You'll also see that we are now offering consulting services and that our composers are accepting commissions should you need something specially composed or arranged. In addition to this blog, which we hope will prove a helpful forum for church musicians, you'll also see that we'll be providing a "Cantors' Tip Sheet" with our hymn recommendations throughout the year, along with some other ideas for worship.

While I'm introducing the new site, I'd like to thank our web designer, David Payne, for his work in getting us up with this new site in time for the LCMS Institute on Preaching and the Liturgy - a.k.a. "The LCMS National Worship Conference." He's a great guy - and a confessional Lutheran, too! His firm does great work, and we recommend them highly.

And now that the new site is up and "live" in time for the Institute, I not only wnat to welcome you to the new Liturgy Solutions, but also to Seward, as I will be "live blogging" the conference. The first couple of days will be pretty busy for me - and for my family - but I will do my best to share with you my experience and, hopefully, facilitate a discussion of the proceedings.

So welcome to our site, welcome to this new blog - and welcome to Seward!

Feel free to go ahead and post a comment and get the conversation going. And if you are here at the conference, please stop by the Liturgy Solutions exhibit and say hello. And - while the supply lasts - pick up a complimentary piece of music, of which you may make as many copies as you need for your parish. It's our way of celebrating three years of Liturgy Solutions!