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By: Pastor Berg

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.  Now I know the overwhelming majority of you have no prayer in reading my first sentence. I can already hear some saying, “It’s all Greek to me.”   You’re right it is Greek. They are words you all know and you hear nearly every Sunday: “Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Can you imagine if you had to try and decipher them from the Greek instead of in your comfortable, known, well-rehearsed English?  If you can imagine what that would be like, then I think that you can understand what it may be like for a guest to step into our liturgical worship service.  All of the different page numbers, the responses that you’re just supposed to know, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight!  It can all be a bit overwhelming!  So, what about reaching the guest in our midst?  Can the liturgy accomplish what we as Lutherans so desperately want to do?

That question can be answered by answering a couple other questions.  First, how do we reach the guest in our midst?  Second, is the liturgy the best way of accomplishing this goal?

The first question, how do we reach the guest in our midst, is really a very easy question to answer.  The only way that we can reach anyone, guest or life-long member is through the gospel.  There isn’t a person among us who doesn’t believe that the Holy Spirit works exclusively through the gospel to create, strengthen, and preserve faith.  The Gospel is found in God’s Word and is inseparably connected with his Sacraments.  This answer to the first question also makes the second question easy to answer.  Is the liturgy the best way of accomplishing this goal?  Does the liturgy carry the Gospel? The very structure of the Liturgy with its Ordinary (same songs every week), Proper (changing lessons, verses, and hymns to fit the theme), and Meal (the Lord’s Supper) is a very precise tool for the Gospel to be proclaimed each and every week.

So why is this even a question?  If liturgy clearly proclaims the gospel, why are people convinced it won’t work with a guest?  Perhaps that’s because we haven’t been taught to look for the gospel in the liturgy.  The goal in asking all of these questions is to create an appreciation for and an understanding of what we experience in the worship service.  Showing why we do what we do when we do it is meant to show us that at every turn in the worship service, God is serving us with the Gospel.  If we are under the impression that the liturgy is simply just a rote repetition, then the clear proclamation of the Gospel can be clouded. 

So what can we do to best reach out to the guest in our midst?  The simple answer is to proclaim the Gospel.  The liturgy is designed to do just that.  And because that’s true, we will want to make every effort to make the liturgy as comfortable as possible for the guest in our midst.  That’s why we print the order of worship in the bulletin so it’s easier to follow. That’s why we project it on the screen every week. If that means taking a few extra moments to clarify exactly where we are, if that means helping a visitor navigate their way in our hymnal, then that’s what we will do.  If we truly want to reach the lost, why change the tool that has brought the Church the Gospel so faithfully for so many years?  Why not instead make the “Greek” of the liturgy understandable and comfortable so that the Gospel can shine forth.