LCMS Convention Worship Service

I’ve seen many comments and posts about the Divine Service that was held on Saturday at the LCMS National Convention. Most focus on the eclectic nature of the music and some of the “contemporary” influences on the service. I want to focus on one item that made the thing a complete train wreck for me. Whoever modified DS1 and placed a stylized Kyrie between the Confession and the Absolution should not be allowed to arrange a service again. I was honestly baffled and kept wondering where in the world the Absolution was after I had confessed my sins. While we were singing this Kyrie my stomach was turning and I was confused. I flipped to the next page of the worship folder and found that the absolution was coming.

I did not care for the stylized Kyrie but that’s not my quarrel. It inserted something that I needed to do between my confession and Christ’s absolution. It was a different theology. In later talking to Pr. Weedon (sorry for the name dropping), he said that this is where Roman Catholics sometimes place the Kyrie. This was a clear example of substance being lost in the name of style.