Twenty-Three Seconds Flat
“Faster than a bullet from a gun,
He is faster than everyone.
Quicker than the blinking of an eye,
Like a flash you could miss him going by.
No one knows quite how he does it
But it’s true, they say,
He’s the master of going faster.”
I watched the consecration of the elements at an LCMS megachurch online. This is not one of the better known exemplars of that genre, but it is a congregation with multiple campuses and multiple "contemporary” services, as well as one “traditional” (so-called) service - such as it was.
The pastor spoke the consecration - both of the body and of the blood, the entire verba - in 23 seconds. That may be the fastest that I have ever seen or heard. It sounded like he was auctioning off a painting or something. This averages to 4.7 words per second.
What is the motivation for this? Is there a hurry to get to Denny’s, or to the kickoff, or to the “contemporary” service that follows this one, or maybe to the bathroom? Who taught this generation of pastors to rattle off the sacred Words of Institution like that? He didn’t rush the sermon like that. He didn’t fly through the rest of the spoken liturgy like that. The layman who read the lessons didn’t blast through them like a chase scene in a Dirty Harry movie. No other part of the liturgy was subjected to this kind of affectation and acceleration. What is the rush? Does anybody know?
Twenty three seconds.
Assuring that the Words of Institution would be clearly heard by the hearers, and reverently pronounced by the celebrants, Dr. Luther provided for them to be chanted (and the traditional Lutheran chant tones are provided with DS3 in LSB, page 197) - though I suspect most LCMS megachurch “traditional” services shun the Common Service (DS3). Do any of our megachurches that have multiple “contemporary” services and campuses even use DS3, let alone chant the verba? And if not, why not? If we really believe the miracle that happens at this point in the Gottesdienst, why wouldn’t we joyfully linger - as if we actually yearned for this moment: for our Lord’s Presence according to His promise - and cling to it? Why would we hurry through it and get it over with as though we’re being forced to swallow castor oil or ripping off a band-aid?
Shouldn’t pastors (and the laity) see the consecration as something that is right up there with the birth of their children, or their own weddings, in terms of the miraculous sublimity of what is happening? Isn’t this something wondrous and profound and supernatural that should never just become routine or ordinary for a pastor or a congregation? Do we still believe what we say we believe? I don’t get it. Maybe somebody can make this make sense.