Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "The Fault Does Not Lie in the Stars, But in Us":
Lutheran clergy apostasy is to blame. In fine Methodist form the WELS, ELS, LCMS etc have placed the focus on Excellence. In a fraudulent feign towards honoring the Word they throw dung at it by following the Church Growth fads of promoting excellence throughout the Divine Service - now called Worship since the focus has been changed from God serving us to us serving God. The Choirs were used in this way by replacing congregational singing with the Choir singing the hymns with the congregation joining on the refrains. Then came the Choir singing the entire hymn - such excellence and at the same time diminishing Uncle Bob's faithful attempt to keep a tune while focusing on the doctrinal content in the words and Word. The apostate clergy's vultures are simply coming home to roost - and to feast upon the carcasses the false doctrine and practice leave behind.
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Joel has left a new comment on your post "The Fault Does Not Lie in the Stars, But in Us":
Brett, that's as may be. However, have you ever been to a wedding where most of the congregation is silent during a hymn and the few who are trying to sing are mumbling? Not an experience I would want to experience again. In that case, yes, it would be better to have one singer who knows what he/she is doing singing a wedding solo that glorifies God and teaches about marriage than to have a roomful of people who will forever associate this miserable experience with hymn singing.
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narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "The Fault Does Not Lie in the Stars, But in Us":
Following this logic, hymns should also not be sung at funerals. A truly orthodox Lutheran wedding or funeral WILL offend many people. Since the CG guys are so big on reaching the lost, why do they shun the opportunity for the "outside world" to hear Law and Gospel in its purity, both in preaching and hymnody? These same CG-types will rebuke us for not being like JW's by knocking on every door in town.
Whether a believer or not (no, not saved 2,000 years ago), every person in that church for a funeral is thinking about him/herself being in that box one day. What better time for Law and Gospel to be preached and sung? At an orthodox Lutheran funeral or wedding, there will be many there who will hear Law and Gospel in its purity for the first time.
Let's leave the generic Methobapticostal funerals and weddings to the Methobapticostals. Is a wedding a bad time to draw the analogy of a man and wife to that of Christ and His Church? Who cares if only three people are singing the hymn or if someone is offended? Save the party tunes for the reception following the wedding service, where everyone knows Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" by heart. I believe Christ himself offended many in His earthly ministry. "You are the Synagogue of Satan," "Your father is the devil," "No one comes to the Father but through me," and "The tax collector went home justified," are some examples that come to mind.
I recall one funeral from years ago that was a suicide. Our Lutheran pastor was adamantly chewed out by several people following the service for not saying the young adult was automatically in Heaven. I don't want to start the debate about what happens to people who commit suicide, but the pastor told those people the young adult was not baptized and never made a confession of faith to him, so he could not state with confidence where the deceased went. I remember him being nearly to the point of exhaustion from the verbal abuse. I believe that's what Jesus meant by bearing one's cross, i.e., being hated by this world. However, in his sermon, he preached the Law in its condemnation and Gospel in its beauty, and I wondered how many people there had heard it for the first time in their lives. He was very clear about how to get to Heaven. It wasn't by just being a good person, and it wasn't about making a decision. That's how the Holy Ghost works, through His Word.
Yes, we sang a few of those old and "non-relevant" Lutheran hymns acapella at the funeral home. As most of the people there were not members of our parish, it probably sounded hokey to some of them. I still remember how beautiful those hymns sounded; and I couldn't carry a tune for a million dollars.
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narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "The Fault Does Not Lie in the Stars, But in Us":
See, it's about what kind of "experience" we give the people. 'Nuff said.
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Joel has left a new comment on your post "The Fault Does Not Lie in the Stars, But in Us":
Narrow Minded,
There is a difference between offending someone through the preaching of law and gospel and making the experience of Lutheran worship unpleasant by forcing someone to experience hymn singing for the first time at a wedding.
There are also more options for solo singing at a wedding than "Celebration." There are wedding songs not found in our hymnal that do a really good job of proclaiming a correct understanding of Christian marriage. I would rather have people attending a wedding hear a song that teaches correct doctrine than having the message completely lost when they tune out during a congregational hymn being attempted at a wedding.
Funerals are a different matter all together (sic). (All: "Funerals are a different matter.") People come to funerals expecting to sing. Of course, that's as long as it's one of the stand by funeral hymns like "Abide with Me," "Amazing Grace," "I'm but a Stranger Here," or "How Great Thou Art." I have tried without much success to convince families that there are better hymns than those to convey the message of Scripture. However, it's tough to get over the "It was sung at Grandpa's funeral" mentality. I'll tell ya, though, there's NOTHING like singing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" at a funeral! I can ususally (sic) convince a family that that's a good choice if the person's funeral is taking place around Easter.
