So, What Are The Rubrics For Liturgical Thundersticks During Worship?

So, what are the rubrics for when Christian’s gather to worship and wish to incorporate the use of “thundersticks” into worship? Does anybody know? I can’t find the required rubrics anywhere in the Lutheran Service book! Why is that?

First we need to define some terms…

Rubrics are according to the Lutheran Cyclopedia are “Directions for conducting services; the name is derived from the red ink often used for them, in distinction from the text of the service, in black ink.” Another way of putting that is that the rubrics tell us how to conduct the Divine Service so that everything moves and is conducted in an orderly fashion. There have been rubrics governing the conduct of the Divine Service since God instituted congregational worship in Leviticus. If you think that Leviticus is nothing more than a bunch of rules for an Old Testament Israel to follow then the rest of this post will not make any sense whatsoever. Just sayin’…

Thundersticks according to Wikipedia are “sometimes known as cheerstix, bangers or bambams, are long, narrow plastic balloons that are used as promotional noise makers. The noise is created when two thundersticks are struck together. They are most often used at sporting events, political rallies and concerts.”

Worship was defined by the reformation era Lutherans as the gathering of the faithful where the marks of the Church were present, that is to say, where the people could go to hear the Word preached purely and the Sacraments administered rightly. The center of the Christian’s spiritual life has always been the gathering together for worship and this is why our confessions point to the “marks” for the very definition of what the Church is.

So, back to my question… what are the rubrics for when Christian’s gather to worship and wish to incorporate the use of “thundersticks” into worship? Maybe I need to explain why I’m asking the question to begin with.

At July’s National Youth Gathering one of the mass events featured thundersticks used en masse (pun intended) by both those leading the service as well as by the kids. As I have been set straight by one of the workers for the mass events that “were not considered a "worship service," but were considered worship” I think it’s only fair that we make certain that our kids don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the use thundersticks during worship is in any way similar to their use in baseball or football games.

It is crucial that we teach our children that order in worship should be of the utmost importance and that rubrics help facilitate such order. How can expect our children to return to their grandfather’s church and those dusty old hymnals if we don’t take the liturgical use of thundersticks seriously and write rubrics for the time-honored use of these joyful noisemakers?

To not properly incorporate thundersticks into the worship life of our congregations through ordered rubrics would simply turn our worship services into something resembling pagan sporting events and profane the holy things of the Church. We don’t want that do we? No, we don’t.

It’s all about setting an example for our children it is.

When Did We Stop Praying For Pastors?

If anyone noticed in my last post that the prayer for pastors seemed a little bit old school in the language department, then rejoice in your winning of a coveted POTF no-prize. I’ll be sending out the POTF no-prizes as soon as everyone who has won the award gives me a call and leaves me their address. I trust everyone to be honest and claim the no-prize only if you actually have won the award.

The occasion for my post was my own pastor’s tenth anniversary as pastor of our small town parish down here in the haut south just last Sunday. I couldn’t ever thank my pastor enough for being a faithful servant of the Word even if I tried really, really hard. It just isn’t possible as I’ve tried time and time again. I always seem fall short.

Being a pastor is often a thankless job that a goodly number of people take for granted while at the same time expecting him to be there every time their children go into the hospital to get their tonsils yanked out, we lose our jobs, or have to bury our family members or beloved pets We ask more of our pastors sometimes than we should and thank then all too infrequently for their efforts if ever. We demand their undivided attention and politely thank them for attending yet one more of the twenty-five plus boards that we “request” that they attend while ignoring how little time we afford the to be with their own families. Sometimes I think we make work for our pastors because we take the joke of the only working one day a week entirely too seriously. What we should be doing instead is making it as easy as possible for them teach and prepare for the right preaching and teaching of God’s Word in the Divine Service as this is (or at least should be) their primary calling. I wish more folks remembered that. I wish I remembered that more often than I do.

While we sometimes butt heads on trivial matters, my pastor and I are of one mind on what it means to be confessional, Lutheran, and Christian. I thought this was as good as time as any to post something to publicly thank him for being my pastor; for week after week putting the words of Jesus in my ears and the Body and Blood, the medicine of immortality, in my mouth. I wanted to thank him and I just couldn’t find the words. Everything I tried to write just fell short, again.

Nor was it possible to thank my pastor’s immediate predecessor, an interim pastor who I loved as if he were a member of my own family, who had to deal with me as an enthusiast, a former atheist who thought he knew it all when he knew nothing. Words once again failed me, again.

So…

I decided to open up my hymnal and post a prayer from the Lutheran Service Book, the official hymnal of our beloved Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there are NO prayers for our pastors in the prayers and intercessions section of the hymnal! What the heck?! There are prayers for an increase of holy ministry and a generic prayer for church workers but there are none for our faithful and steadfast pastors who serve the Christ’s Church week after week as they are called to do.

So, when was the last time a prayer for our faithful pastors was included in our hymnal? Well, depends on which hymnal you look at to answer the question. The Lutheran Hymnal had not one but three prayers for our pastors. The Lutheran Book of Worship which the LC-MS was involved in formulating, but ultimately didn’t endorse (although they were more than happy to accept royalties form the sales, go figure…), had dropped the number of prayers down to one for our pastors. When Lutheran Worship came out in 1982 the prayers for our pastors were gone completely and did not return when Lutheran Service Book was adopted in 2004.

At first I thought that maybe the prayers for our pastors were put in the agenda but a quick call to our secretary confirmed that this wasn’t the case either. As it turns out, The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 was the last hymnal endorsed by our beloved synod that included a prayer for an office instituted by Christ Himself. That is a very sad commentary on how we view and care for our pastors.

It is depressing that there are hymns like "On Eagles Wings” (whose sole reason for being included in the Lutheran Service Book has to be so that unionistic/syncretistic scout cults can sing something out of our hymnal during their award ceremonies so as to feign orthodoxy and gain acceptance within the Christian worldview) which waste an entire page in our hymnal while a simple prayer for those who are charged with taking care of and feeding Christ's sheep can’t be squeezed in. This is nothing less than disappointing!

I think that the Lutheran Service Book is far superior hymnal than Lutheran Worship or even The Lutheran hymnal. I just think it is a darned shame that we think so little of our pastors as to not bother to include a simple prayer thanking God for their faithful work

As a service to everyone who does not has copy of The Lutheran Hymnal, here are the three prayers for our pastors that can be printed out and snuck into your Lutheran Service Book. And next time you pray for Christ’s Church, include one of the prayers below to thank the Lord for your faithful pastor.

Almighty and everlasting God, who alone doest great wonders, send down upon Thy ministers and upon the congregations committed to their charge the healthy Spirit of Thy grace; and that they may truly please Thee, pour upon them the continual dew of Thy blessing,; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.

Almighty and gracious God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hast commanded us to pray that thou wouldest send forth laborers into Thy harvest, of Thy infinite mercy give us true teachers and ministers of Thy Word, and put Thy saving Gospel in their hearts and on their lips that they may truly fulfill Thy command and preach nothing contrary to Thy holy Word, that we, being warned, instructed, nurtured, comforted, and strengthened by Thy heavenly Word, may do those things which are well pleasing to Thee and profitable to us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord.

O almighty God, who by Thy Son, Jesus Christ, didst give to Thy holy Apostles many excellent gifts and commandedst them earnestly to feed Thy flock, make, we beseech Thee, all pastors diligently to preach Thy holy Word and the people obediently to follow the same that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord

Oh, one more thing… boy howdy this is just ripe with irony… when you go to church this Sunday, stop by your church’s office and ask to see the mailing that from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Commission on Ministerial Growth & Support reminding us that October is Clergy Appreciation Month and highlighting October 17th as Clergy Appreciation Sunday. From the mailing:

"We ask you brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their word ..." (1st Thessalonians 5:12-13)

The mailing includes a list of "simple acts that feed a shepherd" a primer I’m told on what we are supposed to do to take care a pastor. The first item on the list is "Pray for your pastor. Ask God to shower your pastor with an abundance of love, hope, and joy, as he pursues the activities of ministry for you and your family."

I couldn’t agree more. I just wish someone on the Commission on Worship thought the issue was important enough to throw us a scrap of a prayer when putting out the Lutheran Service Book.

Another Way To Evaluate Hymns

Just so ya’ll don’t think it’s just me… here’s Pastor Tom Chryst’s excellent list on evaluating hymnondy to be sung during the Divine Service:

Words:

1. Is it Christian? If a Jew or Mormon or Buddhist could sing the song without pause, it is likely not a Christian song.

2. Does it mention Jesus (Christ) by name? Titles such as Savior and Lord are not wrong, but songs/hymns are most clear when the proper name is used. It leaves no room for confusion.

3. Does it mention the cross? Or does it speak nebulously about God’s love apart from this central teaching?

4. Does it balance Law and Gospel? (Especially troublesome is if Gospel is absent)

5. Does it suggest salvation has to do with my work, decision, commitment or heart, or does it rather make clear that we receive everything as a gift from God alone?

6. Does it rightly show our good works as a response to God’s good work in Christ, or does it leave the impression God justifies us in response to our action? Could it give such an impression?

7. Does it specifically teach some false doctrine (like the Rapture, for instance)?

8. Does it refer at all to the Means of Grace (Word and Sacraments of Baptism and Communion)? Or does it suggest we receive from God apart from such means?

9. Does it make prayer into a sacrament (which offers grace)? Does it suggest a certain prayer must be prayed to invite Jesus into our hearts? (Decision theology)

10. Is it scriptural? There should be a strong scriptural connection, rather than lofty and abstract concepts tied to no particular text.

11. Does it present a corporate view of the church, or does it overly emphasize the importance of the individual? (Us/We vs. I/Me) “Me-and-Jesus” music should be avoided.

Music:

1. Is the music beautiful?

2. Is the tune appropriate to the text? Does the “mood” fit?

3. Is the music inappropriately difficult for the singers?

4. Does the tune carry “baggage” (i.e., a familiar Christmas tune should not be used in Lent. Likewise certain secular tunes have strong associative ideas we might want to avoid)

5. Does the music “play on the emotions”? This should be avoided.

6. Is the music reverent?

7. Does the music have a timeless quality, or is it too strongly associated with a narrow style?

Pastor Chryst, who is an associate pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Racine, WI, is an excellent and faithful preacher whose sermons and general musings can be found at Preachrblog. His blog has long been favorite read of mine as are his appearances on Issues, Etc.

How Should Hymnody Be Judged? A Simple Guide

I was having a “friendly discussion” with a friend of mine concerning what goes on during worship on a Sunday morning recently on Facebook. After much back and forth about the Divine Service versus praise and worship as a mere preference (it’s not a matter of personal preference for confessional Lutherans but that is a whole other can of worms and another post to be written for a later discussion…) I was asked who, in my ever so humble opinion, should test the hymnody. Should that responsibility fall to the pastor or maybe it should be the music minister. I was also asked how my church handles a situation where “the called staff find a song acceptable and you personally do not, how does your church handle that?”

The first thing that I think would be helpful is to establish a standard so that we remove our personal preferences from the equation. I may like the old Greek and Latin hymnody (I’m referring to the style of hymns and not the Latin or Greek language) but just because I like a certain era’s hymns doesn’t mean that anyone else will. By setting up some guidelines the thorny issue of a hymn’s aesthetic value as a personal preference will be greatly diminished.

A few years ago I posted a simple list which I thought was an excellent guide as to how we can evaluate hymnody so that the matter of personal preference or subjectivity could be pushed to the back burner and a more objective standard could be set forth as a means to judge what we sing on a Sunday morning:

1) Is the Crucified and Risen Christ Jesus the indispensable center of the hymn?
2) Does the hymn clearly proclaim Christ’s vicarious satisfaction as the sinner’s salvation?
3) Is the hymn grounded on a clear, Scriptural text?
4) Does the hymn point us clearly to the Church’s ministry of word and Sacrament as the place where we surely receive Christ’s gifts?
5) Does the hymn make clear that it is entirely Christ’s work alone that saves us without works, responses, or proper feelings of our own?
6) Does the hymn make clear that the faith which alone justifies is not a human work, but a free gift given by God’s choosing of us (not our choosing of Him), in Christ Jesus, through Word and Sacrament?
7) If the hymn speaks of the Christians response to Christ’s gifts, does it make clear that it is what Christ does for us and not what we do for Him that is the center of the Church’s life and mission? Does it make clear that sanctification is as much by faith alone as is justification?
8) Has the hymn been properly tested and tried by the Lutheran Church?
9) Does the hymn inspire in us a hunger and thirst for the things of Christ Jesus and His Kingdom that is coming?
10) Does the hymn drive you clearly, unerringly to the sound doctrine of Christ Jesus rather than merely let you free associate it’s words with sound teaching?
11) Does the tune bear repeated singing? That is, could you sing it twenty times in a row and not feel sick to your stomach?
12) Is it a hymn that the congregation knows or can sing with some choir support?

If we used the criteria listed above to apply a modicum of discernment for what we sing on a Sunday morning, we would have far fewer disagreements on theological matters than currently plague our beloved synod. Why do I say that? It’s simple: because we would singing our one clear confession of faith and with one clear voice and not with as many confessions as there are voices as there are personal preferences.

And, so ya’ll don’t think I’m just picking on the music led by your praise bands and such, this criteria works just fine with choirs leading our sung confession as well! Don’t think that just because a congregation employs a choir that they are immune to singing goofy songs that should never be sung within the walls of a Lutheran sanctuary. The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of consultant provided guides being used in Lutheran circles that recommend that we use pop culture songs to make the unchurched seeker more comfortable in the name of evangelism. I know we paid some consultants a good penny or two for evangelism advice but chances are that if the song was popular on top 40 radio it ain’t gonna pass even one of the criteria listed above and doesn't need to sung from the balcony by our choirs or the pews by the congregations. The same thing goes for last week’s top ten list over at K-Love which takes vapid and adds a dash of the eww that’s kinda creepy factor with songs that seem to favor effeminate or romantic language that is more appropriate with ones spouse than the risen Christ! Nope, nonsense like that fails our simple evaluation big time and is best left off the rotation of regular hymns.

As to the question of who should test the hymns, the pastor with the input of a layperson with some theological training on staff or who has volunteered to run the music program works nicely. It’s important that both the pastor and the congregation work together in picking hymns to be sung within the Divine Service. The laity should rely on the pastor’s theological knowledge to ensure that no errors are present in the hymns and that the hymn is appropriate or a particular Sunday’s pericope as well as hold that pastor to account should he err (and he will err from time to time as he is a poor miserable sinner like the rest of us) and choose hymns that do not meet the a standard we all should hope for. It should never be an either or situation that has the pastor or laity subservient to the other as we are all slaves to Christ.

I hope that answers your questions.

Lenten Thoughts: Not A Dark Place But A Place Of Joy

An evangelical friend of mine, who I had not talked with for some time, called me Saturday evening on her way home. She said that since it was such a long drive she thought she would give me and the missus a shout as she had a few hours to burn.

When she asked me “guess what I did this morning?” I gave my usual random off the wall quirky answer “uh, you killed yerself a couple of possums?” Usually when people ask me a question to which I know I’m not going to even be in the right ballpark I’ll throw out the color blue as the reply and just wait for the look of muted confusion. I get that a lot even when I don’t try goofy words or phrases for some reason… I wonder why?

Anyhoo, the appropriate answer to my friend’s question was that she had used the Lutheran Service Book that I sent to her a few years back. I sent her a copy so that if I was ever asked lead a morning devotion, as I’ve been asked to do on occasion, I would have a copy of the Order of Matins to start us off. For what it’s worth, if I’m not attending a morning service that offers the Eucharist I would much rather follow the Order of Matins instead of one of our regular Divine Services whether it’s setting I or III as is the norm in my congregation.

My friend told me she followed the morning prayers, jumped around a little bit and ended up meditating on the one my favorite hymns: O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken by Johann Heermann. She stated that it was “a dark hymn but sometimes we’ve got to go there”. And that got me thinking…

For those of us that follow the historical church’s liturgical calendar we are now almost through the season of Lent. Lent traditionally is viewed as a more somber or penitential season of the Church year which has the hymnody and the passages of Scripture focusing intently on Jesus’ turning His face toward Jerusalem and ultimately His cross to atone for the sins of all the world.

While the most popular voices of Americanized Christianity have eliminated any talk of the cross and Christ’s suffering on that cursed tree in our stead for a false assurance relying of their own good works and intentions as well as changing the world with visioned purpose, Lent for the more liturgically minded is a time of looking to the cross with confidence and through the eyes of faith; seeing God’s love on full display in that all the Father’s wrath has been propitiated through the sacrifice of the Son.

Lent for me has never really been a somber time of the year. It has however been a chance to stop (or at least turn down a bit) my own sinful narcissism and look, as we are called to do, to Jesus and what He did and continues to do for us each and every day. This is especially pertinent when we gather together in His name to hear the Word preached faithfully and receive the Sacraments rightfully administered.

Any season, week, or day of the liturgical church year that is able to focus our eyes back on the Crucified and Risen Savior is not a somber occasion but rather a joyous one. Yes, the depths of our sins become more apparent as the blameless one takes all our sins upon Himself at Golgotha to reconcile us with the God the Father but that is the tremendous depth of our Lord’s grace and love for His wayward children. The wonderful thing about Lenten hymnody, whether it’s from the pen of Heermann, Gerhardt, or any of a multitude of fine church musicians, is that what at first glance appears to be dark or somber, when seen through the eyes of faith, is really a proper understanding of how far a merciful Lord will go to redeem those who He loves. That salvific love hidden in the form of a cross is joy to Christian, even in the season of Lent.