Experiencing Lutheran and Presbyterian Worship
While we think of the Reformation as a collection of ideas such as a distinct approach to Scripture and theology, the Christian faith is very much a lived experience not just a doctrinal one. At the center of that experience is the weekly celebration of faith in communal worship which embodies their doctrine. As a result, to get a window on that experience you will visit contemporary churches that reflect these traditions.
Basic Requirements:
• An essay of 1,250 words interview of 225 words
• The key task is to describe your experience of Lutheran and Presbyterian liturgies.
Project Description:
Communal worship is one of the most central aspects of the Christian faith. The New Testament commends certain elements of worship, but never explicitly described a model church service. Worship practices (i.e., liturgy) were shaped by these biblical mandates as well as wider theological concerns. Many of you will come from a Revivalist model of worship (see the Worship Taxonomy below), but the earliest reforms encouraged Ancient (Luther) and Reformed (Calvin) models. For those of us who worship differently than Luther and Calvin, we will miss aspects of their theology. Thus, for this assignment you will go an visit a service from each tradition in order to understand these traditions more holistically. Of course, there are (denominationally) Lutheran churches that reflect Luther’s theological impulse; however, there is no denomination to visit explicitly labeled “Calvinst.” That said, Presbyterian churches are the most common contemporary American denomination that embodies Calvinist theology. Thus, you should attend a primary service of a Lutheran AND Presbyterian church. If you have easier access to another traditionally Reformed denomination (e.g., the Christian Reformed Church) instead of a Presbyterian one, you may attend that service if you receive prior approval by the professor.
You should attend a primary Sunday morning (or perhaps Saturday night) service for each tradition and not an abbreviated or special service like Wednesday night. Also, many Lutheran and Presbyterian churches are beginning to incorporate revivalist elements. For the sake of this assignment, you should attend their “traditional” services rather than “contemporary” ones (if they have options) so you can best see how these traditions are embodied.
At the most basic level you should reflect on how these traditions fit within the Worship Taxonomy I have provided (see below). However, the key task of the paper is to explain how the worship practices and the worship spaces embody the theology of these traditions. In your paper, DO NOT just give me a play by play of each service or a detail of all the issues on the survey form since there is not enough space for that. Rather, focus on the unique or important elements and describe how this fits within their wider theological perspective. In other words, you must move beyond observation in order to provide an analysis of what the worship service represents.
To conclude the report, you should consider aspects that would find helpful for incorporating into your own tradition. This will include some comparison and contrast with your own tradition, but focus on the service aims and elements that could be incorporated (rather than just giving a list of similarities and differences).
Worship Taxonomy
Though there is much variation, there are three basic types of worship traditions: ancient, reformed, and revivalist. For more details about these three, see here: https://youtu.be/SPwTUH worshipHNTJQ. A Worship Tradition Assessment worksheet has been provided in the Module/Week 6 Reading & Study folder to aid in your evaluation, but your analysis of the experience should go beyond just summarizing the answers to the survey instrument.
