The Lutheran way of worship
The Lutheran way of worship
What Lutherans believe, teach, and confess is reflected on Sunday morning.
Many Protestant churches teach that people have to make a decision for Christ, and then show that decision in godly living. Worship in their churches becomes a way to move people to that decision. Music is often used to get people emotionally involved or to express their emotion, rather than to proclaim the gospel.
What Lutherans believe, teach, and confess is also reflected on Sunday morning. We Lutherans stand firmly on the biblical truth that we are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith in Jesus alone. We cannot save ourselves. Christ has done everything.
We also hold to the truth that this is revealed only in the Scriptures. But the Bible is not mere information. It is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). We believe that the Holy Spirit gives us faith in Jesus “from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
Because we believe that the gospel not only reveals what we are to believe, but also is the power to believe and live as Christians, what we do in worship revolves around the gospel in Word and sacraments. These are the Holy Spirit’s tools to keep us in the one true faith.
Center of Lutheran worship
Paul’s words to the Colossians provide a description of what Lutheran worship is all about: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).
The message about Christ—the gospel—is the most important thing in Lutheran worship. From the canticles and hymns to the Bible lessons and sermon, from the Confession and Absolution to the Confession of Faith, from the references to Baptism to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, from the use of Christian art to the use of the Christian church year—all of this allows the gospel to be the center of Lutheran worship.
“A fitting and orderly way”
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