During the past few Wednesday Bible Studies, we have been discussing Worship and Liturgy. In January we discuss the Divine Service and spend some time in the Sanctuary discussing why our altar rail is a semicircle, what it means to enter the Chancel, the various parts of many sanctuaries as well as the symbolism that is in our Stained Glass Window. I thought that I would take this opportunity to share some thoughts on why we do what we do in the Divine Service and what it is that we experience during that time.

In Lutheran Worship: History and Practice Arthur A. Just writes in his article, Liturgical Renewal in the Parish, on page 22,

In our changing culture, today’s congregations are often too likely to subject the liturgy to the same criteria by which they judge everything else in society: if it doesn’t work, fix it, change it, tinker with it until it’s right. After all, this is what we do with our cars, our marriages, our lifestyles, and sadly, with our theology. Liturgy and theology should not conform to this world, but should transform the world.

Have you thought about how the Divine Service changes you as Jesus Christ comes to you and you then having been transformed go out into the world different than when you entered God’s Holy presence? Jesus Christ is actively present to save us as we encounter Him in the Divine Service. His dynamic presence is with us and engages us. As we are aware of His presence, we realize that He is actively shaping our faith and changing our very person.

As we gather together for the Divine Service, we are proclaiming to each other that the Kingdom of God in Jesus is present among us. In the sacred liturgy we are proclaiming to each other, and to all who hear us, that Jesus has redeemed us “lost and condemned creatures”. Throughout the Service He is restoring us by grace.

We live in a very individualistic world. The culture of individualism pervades in the lives of many Christians. This individualism separates us from Christ and from each other. The Triune God has bound us to Him through our baptisms, bringing us into His family and joining us together as brothers and sisters in Christ. During the Divine Service God not only continues to bind us to Him, but He also binds us together as a community where are able to publicly confess our faith together as one and encourage each other with our songs of praise and thanksgiving.

Many Christians attend Sunday services for intellectual and emotional reasons. They come to learn, and they come to get an emotional boost, but they do not come to be spiritually fed and renewed through God’s Word and Sacrament. They miss the grace that abounds throughout the liturgical Divine Service from beginning to end.

As God engages us spiritually in the Divine Service, we enter His Space and His Time. Sunday is the Holy Day. It is the day that of receiving His gifts and of celebrating together the resurrection of God’s Son from the dead. The service not only reminds us of this but also points us forward to the future blessings of our own resurrections and everlasting life that we will enjoy physically and spiritually in His eternal heavenly kingdom.

~ Pastor Webb