Text Box: Dear Friends: Rev. Martin Copenhaver pastors a “mainline” Protestant church. In the twentieth century many such churches developed a reputation for minimizing some of historic Christianity’s ancient traditions in favor of a more “modern” and (some would say) “watered-down” approach to faith and life. Text Box: Volume 53, Number 5 Text Box: From the desk of Pastor Steve Text Box: May 2010

First Reminder

Mailed April  19, 2010

Return to www.firstluth.org, or the eReminder page

Copenhaver tells a related story in the fall 2009 issue of Reflections, a publication of Yale Divinity School. In the mid-1990s he arrived at his current congregation. One of the members soon asked, “Are we going to do Lent again this year?” It seemed, Copenhaver observes, that such a central liturgical season was regarded as just another programmatic choice. [“TO-MAY-TO, TO-MAH-TO?  What shall we pick, or shall we just let it go?”]

 

Fortunately (I believe), we are not captive to this attitude towards worship at First Evangelical Lutheran Church. We seek to be “evangelical,” anchored in the good news of Christ in Word and Sacrament. And we are also “catholic,” attentive to the historic shape of liturgy down through the centuries.

In fact, we might be seen as part of a twenty-first century movement described by Diana Butler Bass, which she calls “retraditioning.” We purposefully reclaim aspects of ancient Christian tradition, not in a slavish or rigid way, but adapted with an eye to flexibility and creativity. We have done many baptisms at the Easter Vigil in recent years, for example, but not by insisting on a service of marathon length. We chanted an unaccompanied Kyrie during Lent, and at our youth-dominated Wednesday evening worship we occasionally use ancient plainsong, too. These are just small instances of reclaiming tradition—even the practice of weekly Communion and the renewed emphasis on the lectionary are, of course, part of the “retraditioning” trend.

 

We do these things, not just for the novelty or due to a fondness for liturgical archaeology, but because we believe it helps us be better-grounded disciples in God’s world today.

 

Thank you for sharing a reverent season of Lent, and for adding to the community’s “Alleluias” as we continue on through the weeks of Easter.                                                                                             

                                                                 In Christ,

 

 

 

 

                                                                 Steve Berke, Pastor