Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Ephesians 5:19 offers this advice: "When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart."

Singing around the piano in someone's home seems like such an old-fashioned custom. It is something more often seen in an old movie than in daily life. I rarely find myself in a social setting, with the possible exception of Christmas, singing hymns and offering praise. But that is exactly what happened earlier this week.

After supper, at the end of the evening, we were invited to gather by the piano to sing "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." We sang robustly and with good cheer, even if a bit off-key. We did have one false start. We got confused (well, I got confused) with the stanzas and refrain and some of us were (no, probably just I was) singing the right words at the wrong time. We stopped, my wife (the designated pianist) explained patiently again how we were supposed to sing and we began once more.

It really was a wonderful evening. We had prayed before the meal, we sat down to eat, we had fun and told stories, and we sang praises. What could be better than that?

Two thoughts have run through my mind since then. First, can you imagine how different our social gatherings would be if we always prayed together, ate together, and sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs together? I don't think it would be hard for me to achieve. Everywhere I go I am surrounded by Lutherans! I do have Jewish relatives, but even in their presence prayers and psalms would not be offensive.

The second thought had to do with our singing in worship. I have had the joy of serving congregations which were great at singing. Some congregations are just better than others when it comes to singing. Occasionally, even in these congregations, we would stumble on an unfamiliar hymn and I would interrupt the singing to start over. I would suggest that you check the mood of the organist before you try it yourself! I recall deeply offending a parishioner once in stopping a hymn. He felt that I was judging the quality of his worship. He took it very personally. It certainly made me think before I tried it again. Lest you think it is a common element of my ministry, I think I've stopped a hymn a total of three or four times in 25 years.

How about you? Have you gathered with family and friends to sing at a social gathering in a home? Pastors, have you dared to stop a hymn or re-try something in worship when it just didn't go well? Parishioners, how did you react when your pastor asked for a do-over?

Pass the Purell!

Sharing the Peace became a regular part of our Lutheran liturgy with the introduction of Lutheran Book of Worship. The practice was slow to catch on in some places, but now it is widely practiced in the congregations of our synod. Sharing the peace is much more than just greeting others with a cheerful "good morning." Sharing the peace of Christ is a profound gesture of reconciliation in preparation for receiving the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Some congregations take just a moment or two for the Peace allowing worshipers to shake hands with just those who are close by. Others take a few minutes while worshipers move from their pews or seats and seek out numerous others to greet in peace. We observe hugs between friends, kisses between spouses, and handshakes and smiles between strangers.

I believe a combination of factors has led to a new liturgical ritual. Regular sharing of the peace with its requisite handshaking, frequent celebration of Holy Communion, and our cultural fear of germs has led to the Purell Ritual. Pastors go from shaking hands to immediately sanitizing them prior to the breaking of the bread. I don't think that is a particularly bad idea, although I am one who believes that it is better to wash one's hands with soap and water. Unfortunately, relatively few sacristies are equipped with a sink. So, the bottle of instant hand sanitizer is kept close at hand. I mean, really close at hand.

For the past few months I have taken note of where the pump bottle or squirt container is kept in the congregations I visit. I have seen it on the altar. Not a good place in my opinion. I have seen it on the credence table, in an offering plate, on the floor under the altar, even under its own linen cover. I just had to laugh in one congregation (not in our synod!), where each communion station had its own bottle of hand sanitizer on its own wooden stand. The stands matched those used for the flower vases. They were certainly very attractive, but those pump bottles had achieved the status of liturgical appointments!

I believe the pastor and communion servers should have clean hands to handle the elements. But, I think it would be best to hide the Purell (or whatever brand you choose) or just keep it in the sacristy.

Care to comment?

Feeling Like an Outsider

Have you ever been the only one not to laugh at an "inside joke?" Perhaps the group didn't intend to exclude you. You simply didn't have the same shared experiences to understand why the joke was considered to be funny.

Have you ever felt like an outsider in your church? I did after I arrived at seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Norwegian, Swedish and Danish Lutheran culture was new to me. I had never heard an Ole and Lena joke. I had never heard of, let alone taste, lutefisk. Or lefse. Or fruit soup. I had grown up surrounded by Lutherans of German stock, whose cultural heritage had been muted through the generations, and by non-ethnic Lutherans. My paternal heritage was Scottish and Irish. I'm not exactly the typical Lutheran, but I never knew it until I wasn't laughing at the inside jokes.

Have you ever felt like an outsider in your own congregation? I was thinking about this recently when I preached for a congregation's 150th anniversary. I was the outsider trying to look in. My sermon focused on how the Holy Spirit had been at work for the past 150 years and is continuing to work, carrying the congregation into the future in new and exciting ways. It was quite a contrast to an anniversary sermon I heard on the radio. It was preached by a former pastor of the congregation. It seemed to be a message for insiders. It was a message that certainly excluded me. I wondered how I would have felt sitting in a pew as a newcomer, guest or recent new member.

Do you have stories of your own? Have you ever felt like an outsider in a congregation? Do you have suggestions to make our congregations more open to those of us who have felt excluded?