“Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.” (Psalm 47:1b)
When you come to Bethel on Sunday, September 11, you will be greeted by this beautiful quote from one of the Old Testament Psalms on a banner behind our altar. In fact, this verse sets the tone for our worship environment during the months of September through November. In addition to this psalm verse, your eyes and ears will encounter other fabrics from a variety of countries, reproductions of artwork that depict Christ as he is seen by Christians around the world, and a liturgy that incorporates elements from a variety of other cultures and languages. Much of this may feel unfamiliar, maybe even a bit awkward at first. In order to help our congregation understand the rationale of the new, temporary worship environment, I am reaching far back into the history of our Lutheran tradition. Being a historian at heart, I am fascinated by how little things tend to change, even over the span of 500 year of church history.
There are a few very important things that define Lutheran worship:
· the Christ-centeredness of our worship,
· the emphasis on undeserved grace and forgiveness of God,
· the avoidance of “should,” “must,” “ought” in our worship language (since we tend to be suspicious of any hint of work-righteousness),
· the rhythm that leads us from gathering ð listening to God’s word ð partaking in Christ’s meal ð sending out.,
· the participatory aspect of our worship (worshippers fully participate in the liturgy and are not merely passive observers), and
· the high musical quality and theological depth of most of our hymns.
All these define the way Lutherans worship in North America and elsewhere. Our worship is NOT defined, however, by which hymns we sing, how old or young these hymns are, or which liturgical setting we use (LBW vs. ELW, setting, 2, 4 etc.), what vestments the clergy wear during worship, whether we use incense or not, whether we have acolytes or not, or what paraments or other objects we use to adorn our worship space. These are all what the sixteenth-century reformers called “adiaphora”, which is a term that denotes things that are neither commanded nor prohibited in our gospel.
We are certainly not the first Lutherans who struggle with one another over what constitutes appropriate worship. In fact a controversy over matters of worship (over what is permissible and what not in worship) nearly split the Lutheran Church shortly after Martin Luther’s death. The controversy was finally settled in the “Solid Formula of Concord” (1577), an imposing theological agreement between the various factions that had formed in the Lutheran Churches in the decades after Luther’s death.
Part of this theological declaration is the shorter “Epitome” of the Formula of Concord, an abridged summary that is far more accessible than the Formula itself. In Article X of that Epitome the authors discuss certain worship practices that have arisen in various churches and may be useful and edifying for the community of God, but are not part of the of the “worship that has been ordained by God.” Some of the issues that were controversial among sixteenth-century Lutherans were the dress of the worshippers and certain ceremonies that were part of the worship and in common with Roman Catholic practices.
It is so easy to feel threatened by new things. Much of this change is going on and impacting our lives at an ever more rapid pace. Often this pace can be unsettling and confusing. Often, we may long for islands of peace and calm where things do not change, “solid rock” places where we can come any time and find assurance and comfort. Some among our churches expect the church and Christian worship to be such islands of unchanging tradition. This becomes especially evident in people who grew up in a particular tradition, became estranged from it at some point, and are appalled at how things have changed when, decades later, they attend worship in the church of their youth.
To me, one of the greatest dangers to any community of faith is that it becomes so irrelevant to the culture and problems of its time, that it begins to feel like a museum of bygone times. Such a church may feel like a solid fortress in an ocean of sinfulness and heresy, but essentially it fails to not only respond to the needs of other people, but also risks turning a blind eye to its own shortcomings.
Bethel, the way I have experienced our community over the last four months, is not such a museum-like community. We are actively involved in many ways in the community around us and we are intellectually engaged in issues confronting our nation and society.
In order to further broaden our worship, we will use a different liturgy over the next 2 ½ months. This change won’t mean that we do away with everything that is tried and true, everything that is good and wholesome and salutary about our Lutheran way of worshipping God. We will simply use many of the same traditional words and phrases in our worship, but try to say them in different languages (ranging from Spanish, to Polish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Tongan).
The setting we will be using is called “Misa del Mundo.” It is composed by Jesse Manibusan, a Bay Area church musician who traces his ethnic roots to Guam. We will use five pieces from his much larger liturgy—the Kyrie, the Glory, the Alleluia, the Holy, and the Lamb of God. The majority of the words are in English, only two of the pieces requires us to learn unusual pronunciations. Musically, this setting won’t pose any challenge to us at all, as the liturgy is very easy to sing, even for a musically challenged person such as myself. The tunes are beautiful and lively, yet simple. To help us learn the music, we will have a group of four strong singers help us learn the liturgy the first Sunday or two.
Here is what the composer himself has to say to us:
“When you are first learning this, your mouth is supposed to feel very, very strange, your mouth may not even feel like your own, your lips may feel rented. It is reassuring to know we are having a very similar experience as those at the first Pentecost where everyone began speaking in many different languages.... [Learning this new liturgy is an expression of] hospitality, getting into the language, leaning into the culture of others with more integrity, with maybe more effort than we are used to, but we want to stretch ourselves. We are taking a deeper lean, maybe even a deeper plunge into what it means to embrace our diversity and to really celebrate as a multi cultural church!”
I hope these reflections may help you understand why we will be introducing this new liturgy and why it is worth to make the effort to learn unfamiliar words and new tunes.
Bethel is part of the church of Christ that spans the continents and centuries. Worship always is a mixture of (essential) elements of theological tradition and (peripheral) elements of local, ethnic, or national culture. Sometimes, though, we mistake the peripheral for the essential and assume that any true Lutheran worship must have Scandinavian or German elements. Taken to its extreme, this view can amount to heresy. May our new liturgy help us to affirm what is essential in our worship (that is, our human sinfulness and God’s abundant grace) and celebrate the beautiful diversity of Christ’s church on earth!
Wishing you a blessed week, and hoping to see you in church on Sunday
Pr. Gabi
Bethel is an amazing, vibrant community. There are so many opportunities for worship, learning, fellowship, and service. I consider myself blessed to be part of this community and to contribute to its mission. I hope you feel the same and would consider not only to resume tried-and-true activities, but to try out new ones as well. 
