The Balance of Gottesdienst

The Gottesdienst, the Divine Service, the Mass as we practice it in our Evangelical Catholic post-Reformation liturgy in our Lutheran tradition, is a balance between both Word and Sacrament. Our LSB hymnal presents it as such: the Service of the Word (pages 186-193) and the Service of the Sacrament (pages 194-202).

The Service of the Word is our reception of Jesus through Holy Scripture, as well as our response in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. It includes the sermon - the teaching ministry aspect of the pastoral ministry and of our service of worship on the Lord’s day. I would also argue that the Service of the Word includes hymnody - as these are words by which we worship God, and by which we are instructed in God’s Word.

And there are other services of the Word apart from the Mass (the Service of both Word and Sacrament), such as Matins, Vespers. Compline, family devotions, private bible reading, singing the Psalms and hymns, catechesis, etc.). Parochial Bible classes, confirmation classes, Sunday Schools, etc. are an extension of the Ministry of the Word, and should therefore be carried out under the oversight of the pastor, if not by him personally. They are less formal and structured, but may certainly have a liturgical component to them (such as corporate prayer, singing a hymn, etc.).

The Service of the Sacrament includes the liturgy of the consecration and distribution - and is, of course, not divorced from the ministry of the Word. For the Words of Institution are the Word of God. And there are also hymns sung within this part of the Divine Service. But the emphasis in the Service of the Sacrament is centered on the miracle that Jesus is present with us in space and time, according to His promise, and received by means of the elements of bread and wine.

The Lutheran Divine Service does not celebrate either the Word or the Sacrament to the detriment of the other. It is not merely a Service of the Word. It is not merely a Service of the Sacrament. It is a both/and. This is the pattern of worship that our Lord established, as well as establishing the Ministry of Word and Sacrament for this Gottesdienst to be celebrated.

At the time of the Reformation, the Divine Service had lost this balance. The Mass had become Sacrament without Word. At very least, it was a Sacrament-heavy service, and the Word was greatly diminished. Private Masses were said for mercenary reasons - grounded in the false doctrine of works-righteousness. These Masses had no sermon, for there was no-one to hear it. There were no hymns. Scripture was present, but was often not understood.

Even in the pre-Reformation parochial Mass, often there was no sermon. The readings were in Latin (which many did not understand). Hymns had also fallen into disuse. There was certainly no teaching going on. These things were corrected by our forbears, the reformers. The Mass was either celebrated in Latin where Latin was understood, or it was translated into the vernacular - including the Scripture lessons. The sermon was restored. Hymnody was revived. Teaching the faith once more became the responsibility of the parish priest.

But as the Reformation was distorted by the more radical elements - those who rejected the Real Presence - the pendulum swung from balance to imbalance the other way. The Service of the Sacrament was diminished while the Service of the Word took preeminence. In Reformed churches, the pulpit became dominant in the church architecture, and the altar was reduced to a “table” - sometimes even on wheels. Communion becomes less frequent, and less ceremonial. It makes no sense for the celebrant to genuflect before a mere piece of bread and cup of wine. In fact, such ceremony would be seen as idolatrous. And the Anabaptists took this imbalance even farther. Sermons became less proclamation and more didactic. The trappings of beauty gave way to plainness, so as to draw more attention to the spoken word. The Service of the Word itself became more of an exercise in rationalism, as the supernatural component of the Divine Presence diminished with the loss of sacramentality.

Sadly, this overcorrection against the Roman diminution of the Service of the Word by diminishing the Service of the Sacrament wormed its way into Lutheran churches - mainly through the influence of Pietism and Unionism. The Word was emphasized to the detriment of the Sacrament. The Eucharist was celebrated less often, even as that time was filled by the sermon. Church architecture itself began to look more Reformed and more like that of the Radical Reformation. Art was discouraged, including statues and crucifixes. Pulpits overtook church architecture, in some cases, towering Calvinistically over the altar.

In American churches, this imbalance between Word and Sacrament continued into the 20th century, where it became common to eschew ceremonies like the sign of the cross, where newer churches had less art and more plain crosses, and where this became the norm of Lutheranism in the eyes of many (and it still is, though this has been changing for decades). And while there was every-Sunday Sunday School, the Sacrament of the Altar may have only been a biweekly or monthly thing, with the ceremonies surrounding it becoming more pedestrian.

And in very recent times, we have seen the pendulum continue its antisacramental swing, as even pulpits, fonts, and altars have been abolished in some churches, to be replaced by a stage, a bandstand, and a barstool. Vestments are abolished. Hymns are replaced by pop songs (and more of them). Sermons are replaced by “messages” - or even Ted Talk style affairs. In some cases, Sunday worship resembles what used to be known as a “variety show.” The Eucharist may only be celebrated once a month, and even then, devoid of any ceremonial: the Words of Institution perhaps being ad libbed, embellished, or flubbed - typically rushed, certainly not chanted, and with minimal ceremony. Communion may well be wide open. The “consecration” may even be led by a layman of either sex.

And while Holy Baptism is a cause of great joy, there is also a reverence in the way Lutherans - who confess this to be a supernatural and miraculous manifestation of the Most Holy Trinity - traditionally celebrate it. By contrast, modern churches (“We Do Church Differently”) that have a stage instead of a chancel, may bring in a kiddie pool or animal watering trough onstage, and immerse candidates in the manner of Baptists. And when there are no baptisms, there is no font that stands to reminding people of Holy Baptism, no sign of the cross in the worship service to remember one’s baptism, and perhaps even a paucity of the invocation of the Holy Trinity in the service.

In short, these kinds of stage-churches have reiterated the imbalance of pre-Reformation Rome, replacing the extreme of a Word-starved worship to a service that turns the Sacrament of the Altar into a virtual afterthought.

Authentic Lutheran worship is a feast of both Word and Sacrament, a multisensory experience of the Divine incarnating and dwelling among us. And like the tabernacle of old (Exodus 26-31), there is beauty and ceremony in the balance between God speaking and our hearing, as well as God’s being present for us in the holy elements, and our being present with Him in reception of the same.

Let us strive for Evangelical balance, and not fall prey to a Romanizing imbalance that would rob our people of Jesus.