Why the Historic Liturgy (and Issues, Etc.) Means so Much to Me
Friday, June 26th, 2009
This is an attempt to honestly and completely layout my journey to becoming a confessional Lutheran. I don’t expect anyone to benefit from it, but I hope it helps others to more easily forgive my sins.
In the Beginning
I went to an LCMS school from K-8 and I went through confirmation class. This is kinda weird because my parents are/were nominally Methodist (although my mom joined the LCMS congregation to make it easier for us to get into the school) and I think us kids were confirmed, because my mom wanted to keep up with the Jones’ – the Jones’ in her case being a Roman Catholic co-worker. I received a first rate education and received a lot of basic Biblical training like memorizing books of the Bible, Bible verses, etc. As far as confirmation, I barely remember it. I remember Pastor Jacobsen discussing the differences in various communion practices and that I had to write and recite a paper on one of the sections of the Lord’s Prayer. But I don’t even remember reading the Small Catechism.
As far as Sunday church attendance, we were a little better than Christmas/Easter, but sports almost always took precedence. My main exposure to church was the weekly chapel we attended during school. I remember going to Sunday School a few times, but it was definitely not part of the family routine.
The Drift
When I hit high school, church attendance dropped to almost nothing. I really didn’t see the need for it, especially since my mom and dad weren’t forcing it on me. There was plenty of other stuff I wanted to do. I do know that the fundamentals of my faith were firmly planted because I got ripped by an English teacher when I posited my Christian views with regard to pre-marital sex and euthanasia. The Richard Dawkins types would say I was brainwashed into my beliefs. I would say I was given a good foundation of beliefs, and the other side never gave very good arguments to refute them. Arguments for doing what you want with regards to pre-marital sex and the moral relativism of euthanasia never held much sway because I couldn’t shake the sin. And the attempts to explain evolution in biology class never made enough sense to challenge my faith.
College and my first few years out were probably the biggest period or theological drift. Would I say I believed in God? Yes. Would I say I believed Jesus Christ was God? Yes. Would I say I believe Jesus died on the cross to forgive my sins? I don’t think that would have even crossed my mind so I honestly don’t know what I would have answered. I know sin abounded in this period. I was the member of a fraternity… I did still feel the guilt of sin, so I didn’t depart from that, but again, I don’t think I ever thought about the consequences of sin.
Plot Point 1 – Marriage and Children
Besides the essentials – common interests, love of family, general compatibility, etc. – two things I hoped to find in a wife were her being Japanese-American and being a Christian. The Japanese-American part was understandably negotiable, but Christian was as well and even the definition of Christian was such that belief in “God” was good enough. Needless to say, I found the girl for me (well God found her for me) and we will be happily married for 13 years this November.
As our marriage evolved and we thought more about children, I felt the strong pull that I needed to ground our family in a church. I remembered the strong foundation that growing up in a church setting had given me. I knew my strong morals and convictions were rooted in my upbringing and wanted to give that to my children. Notice, my desire for finding a church was firmly rooted in the Law. Once again, I doubt anything related to the Gospel crossed my mind. So I slowly, very slowly, tried to guide us towards going to church.
At first it was just suggestions that we should go to a church. Then we tried several, but we were both too self-involved to make the sacrifice of regular attendance or committing to a church. Overzealous greeters and mediocre services turned off my wife. For my part, I didn’t “get” any of the services, there was something missing and I couldn’t put a finger on it.
Finally, after 8 years of marriage, some scrapbooking friends of my wife introduced us to a non-denominational church. She loved it. The music was lively, she was learning about Christianity and growing in faith. I was just happy we were going to church regularly and was happy to hear about “Biblical truths”. No, it wasn’t what I was used to, but it was Christian, right?
About this same time, podcasting was becoming big. I scoured the ‘net for Christian podcasts. I listened to Osteen, Miles McPherson, Paul Sheppard, and the list goes on. These guys were talking about how the Bible and Christianity could make your life better. I have to admit it, I was sucked in. I was a young father struggling to do the best for his family and I wanted to do better for them and myself. And these guys were going to show me how and it was Biblical to boot.
Plot Point 2 – Issues, Etc.
Before I go on, I have another admission to make. During this time, I couldn’t have told you why there were different denominations. My Christian upbringing was so sheltered that I didn’t even know that my elementary school was LCMS until my brother went to college at Concordia – St. Paul and we got into some discussion about it. I never knew there were other Lutheran denominations or how theologically different the various denominations were.
During my podcast binge, I stumbled across Issues, Etc. I probably found them by googling “Lutheran Podcast” or some such thing. I don’t remember what the first episode was I heard, but it was Pastor Wilken’s sermon reviews that really turned me around. It’s what turned the light on for me. What I hadn’t been able to put my finger on before was that none of these church services were about Christ for me and the forgiveness of my sins.
So, with my newly invigorated faith, it was time to try to guide my family away from the non-denominational church. As God would have it, this was at the same time that the non-denominational started going overboard on the tithing and prosperity Gospel. This really turned off my wife, so she was amenable to changing churches.
I found the address of an LCMS congregation on the Issues, Etc. website and went to visit one Sunday with just my, at the time, infant daughter. The service itself used the historic liturgy, so I knew I was getting a good dose of Christ for me. So I listened intently to the Sermon (oh for the days when the baby slept through sermons 
and clearly heard Christ for me the sinner. I went one more time before bring my family just to make sure it wasn’t an anomaly and praise Christ it was not.
Life in Christ
Not long after we started attending Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, I got my first chance to teach my family about our faith when I got to explain close(d) communion to my wife. I never really asker her how she felt about this exclusive practice, but she understood and excepted it for what it was. As she grew more trusting of the congregation, she submitted to the adult confirmation and she and our daughters were baptized.
It’s been a little over 2 years since that time and I am very thankful for the blessings we have received in that time. We have experienced, births and baptisms, sickness and death, interpersonal conflicts, and congregational and synodical woes. All of which point to Christ and how He sustains us in this life and has us longing for the fulfillment of all His promises.
I am truly grateful for having grown up with the historic liturgy. Without even knowing, its clarity and uniqueness in proclaim the Gospel were ingrained in me. I am convinced that without this mooring, I would either be adrift in American Evangelicalism or outside the faith entirely. My daughters will grow and eventually make their own choices with regard to their lives. I cannot say whether they will cling to or reject the faith given to them (although I pray for the former), but I want to give them the best tools and experience to weather the storms they will encounter when they leave home. That is why I insist that my family attends services that use the historic liturgy.
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