“You Lutherans are too religious!” 
“You Lutherans have to stand up, and sit down and mindlessly repeat words that you just make up in some sort of man-made ritulal!”
“Lutheran Pastors wear vestments and you have candles in your churches!”
Have you ever heard this line of horse dung from fundamentalist Evangelicals before?
I have. It is perpetuated by an ignorance of Lutheranism, of the Christian faith and the history of the Christian Church.
As Lutheran Christians, we don’t have to do any of that stuff. Unlike the worship practices of the churches that are not really free, we are free to do these things…or not!
We do these things because they anchor us in Christ. Our liturgy keeps us from floating hither and yon and ending up looking like the non-denominational, entertainment style, therapuetic, self-focused, styles of worship that predominate the landscape of Orange County, California.
Our symbols speak to us. Their symbols speak to them.
Ours are centered on Christ, His Word and sacraments. Theirs are focused on the believer… their faithfulness, their decision, their comfort, their music, their law based theology. Christ is there, but He is no longer the Center. The onus shifts to the believer. Listen to one of their sermons. Who is the focus? 9 out of 10 times it will be you.
Our focus is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The killing of the Old Man/Woman by proclaiming God’s Law and the raising of the New Man/Woman with God’s forgiveness in Jesus, proclaimed freely without qualifications or conditions.
We uphold Christ’s Supper and His full presence therein. We unabashedly hold up infant baptism as it is God that does the baptism and makes His promises to the child. Who are we to say that He needs our profession of faith before He can act on our behalf?
Every word in our creeds and liturgy is derived entirely from the Bible. It is all in there.
Is the Bible our pope? No! The only Holy Father we have is Jesus Christ our Lord.
If we got rid of some of these traditional Christian symbols, and had music that is more pop oriented would we get more people in the door? We probably would. Would it be worth it to sacrifice the centrality of Christ and the ‘other world-ness’ of our traditional confessional service to get more bodies in the door? I say no, it wouldn’t be worth it because you would inevitably start the slide towards the self. It’s a lousy trade off.
I for one, am thankful for our great confessional Lutheran message that is centered on, and anchored to our Lord Jesus and His forgiveness of our sins. I want to tell others and invite them to worship with us. I hope you will too.
– Steve M.
The Old Adam Lives! 
Excellent post. I happened to come across your comments here because of your attempt to explain the theology of the cross at another blog.
I’m sorry that some just don’t get it because it seems the “theology of glory” in fact imposes a form of bondage, not freedom. Thank you very much for taking the time to make these comments. I look forward to exploring your blog. I enjoy the White Horse Inn because Rod Rosenbladt (Lutheran) and Michael Horton (Reformed) understand these concepts very well. The best to you.
Dennis,
Thanks for stopping by.
I really enjoy those fellows(especially Rod) you mentioned, as well.
You are so right about the theology of glory. It is a form of bondage.
Even for those of us that are aware of it, the pull of the old Adam is so strong (or the stench from his dead corpse is) that we constantly need to be reminded of the fact that Christ has done it all.
I need to hear it over and over and over again.
It’s great to know there’s another guy out there who has heard it and believes it!
Take care and God bless, Dennis!
– Steve M.