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    Centripetal Worship: The Evangelical Heart of Lutheran Worship
    Centripetal Worship: The Evangelical Heart of Lutheran Worship
    Centripetal Worship: The Evangelical Heart of Lutheran Worship
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    Centripetal Worship: The Evangelical Heart of Lutheran Worship

    By Timothy J. Wengert

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    About this ebook

    Centripetal Worship examines how worship is, and should be, at the center of the assembly. Contributors look at the historical and contemporary factors that influence how and why we worship the way we do. The Worship Matters Studies Series examines key worship issues through studies by pastors, musicians, and laypeople from throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Features include the following: 1) Informal and insightful writing for all readers; 2) Study questions at the end of every chapter; 3) Examination of vital issues in weekly worship; and 4) Increased ability of leaders and congregants to understand and experience worship more richly.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAugsburg Fortress
    Release dateJul 2, 2007
    ISBN9781451419252
    Centripetal Worship: The Evangelical Heart of Lutheran Worship

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    • 4/5
      It was useful to see a Lutheran understanding of litrugy, even if i don't agree with it all.

    Book preview

    Centripetal Worship - Timothy J. Wengert

    646.↵

    1

    An Introduction to Centripetal Worship

    [1]It makes a great difference to be married to a pastor. If Martin Luther’s theology was affected by being one of the first theologians of the church in a very long time to have been married and to have had children, mine has been similarly challenged and deepened by regular contacts with a working pastor. My personal parish experience may be seventeen years old or older, but in daily conversation with my spouse, Ingrid Wengert, I am reminded of what it means regularly to lead a congregation through worship of God and proclamation of the gospel.

    Yet, one of the things from this interaction that has most profoundly affected me did not come as the result of worship at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Moorestown, New Jersey, where she serves, but arose instead out of our joint experience in a congregation far from home, while we were both on vacation. To be sure, we have no criticism of the congregation or its pastors and have no doubt that they are all eager to serve God faithfully. In fact, I owe the congregation a debt of gratitude, so to speak, because our joint experience of a worship service led me to realize something about worship—all worship—and preaching—all preaching—that I had either taken for granted or, more likely, never really had known. And, had my pastor and partner not pointed it out to me as we were driving two hours to the airport, I would still be in the dark.

    I wish I could remember her exact words, but the gist of it was simply this: everything that was said in the sermon and much of what happened in the rest of worship that day pointed the hearers and participants away from what was going on in worship, as if nothing of real importance for their life of faith was going on there. Taken together, the sermon and the surrounding liturgy functioned with centrifugal force to drive people away from worship of God in that place at that time.

    The following comments are not designed to make a bad example of this particular parish. In fact, if, upon reading this, those who now lead worship or who will lead worship simply become more smug in their own ability, then this story will have failed to make its point, because the egregious things that were said and done in worship that Sunday go on in all of our worship spaces. Ever since our first parents looked away from God’s promise and toward the eye-pleasing fruit, we have been plagued with this original liturgical sin.

    Perhaps some illustrations from that day, however, may help us discover these sins in our own worship leadership. The pastor did preach on the appointed text for the second Sunday after Easter: doubting Thomas. And he did a good job of showing that Thomas was a believing doubter, even as we are. But then he came to the meat of the sermon, or so it seemed. How was he going to apply the story to us? Well, suddenly Thomas became a good example for us to follow, which is probably true if only we could buckle down and do it. But even that was not where the real problem lay. First, the preacher suggested that we pray. That is, when we got home, we should find a quiet time and a good place to pray. Then, he suggested that, like Thomas, we should meet with friends. That is, when we got home, we should seek out a few trusted mentors and ask for their guidance. Finally, based upon these two things—perhaps there were more—he suggested that we should expect to meet Jesus in our doubts and faith. That is, when we got home, we should look for Jesus in our lives.

    Now, please understand! It is not wrong to pray at home, to ask for guidance from friends, in order to see Jesus in our daily life. But we were in church! In a few minutes, one of the pastors would lead us in prayer in that very space. The pastor was standing up in the pulpit, a man who was well-liked, approachable and caring—not only that, one who had been called by God through that very congregation to proclaim God’s word on Sunday morning from that very pulpit! Where else should one go for guidance? Especially when the pastor’s words are not his or hers at all but are the very voice of God! Finally, we were also about to celebrate the Lord’s supper! We were in the very place where Christ promises to show up for all believing doubters with his wounded body and blood given and shed for us all, where he invites us to put our hands in his wounded side, or, to speak more graphically, to put our mouth and tongue on his body and blood.

    One can see how far the sermon drove us from the center. And when for the offering song a teen band played and sang unclear lyrics to an unclearly Christian song where the center and focus was the music and the performers, they were, in fact, merely imitating not St. Thomas, but their pastor. Buy the CD so you can learn and listen to the words at home. But it could as easily have been a Bach chorale, spoken in perfect German: great for the emotions, perhaps not as hard on the eardrums, but finally pushing us away from worship and into ourselves and our boozy memories of grand chorales gone

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