It is impossible to imagine a discussion of the Episcopal Church that did not include some important role for The Book of Common Prayer. The history of the prayer book in its various forms and revisions is an important part of the history of the Anglican Communion and the American Episcopal Church. It would be natural for Episcopalians to look for a comparable book for worship in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as a way of understanding its history and ethos during this time of careful study of one another as churches. Most congregations of the ELCA use the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) as an important worship resource. Because of its widespread use and influence, it would be natural to conclude that LBW is the “book of common prayer” equivalent in the ELCA. But that would not be an accurate comparison. In the ELCA no one worship resource is “required” for use in every congregation of the church. Each congregation is free to choose or create its own resources. As a church body, the ELCA, like the Episcopal Church, does carefully prepare and publish worship resources and has a system of liturgical review and approval in place in which the Presiding Bishop, the Church Council, the Conference of Bishops, and various boards and churchwide staff have roles to play. The church’s publishing house plays an important role in producing and distributing worship resources. However, in the ELCA there is no equivalent to the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music.
Rather than relying on a worship resource like The Book of Common Prayer, the ELCA (and the Lutheran churches that joined to form it in 1988) has relied on certain “statements” to encourage common practices related to worship in the congregations of the churches. The current form of that statement is titled: The Use of the Means of Grace: A Statement on the Practice of Word and Sacrament. This statement was “adopted for guidance and practice” by the Churchwide Assembly in 1997 (the fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA). The statement is the document which governs practice by the churchwide expression of the ELCA and provides guidance to congregations and synods.
The statement itself describes its mission in this way:
The gift of Word and Sacrament is from God. This statement on sacramental practices seeks to encourage unity among us in the administration of the means of grace and to foster common understanding and practice. It does not seek to impose uniformity among us. (Principle 4) This statement grows out of this church’s concern for healthy pastoral action and strong congregational mission. It does not address our practice of Word and Sacrament out of antiquarian or legalistic interests but rather to ground the practice of our church in the Gospel and to encourage good order within our church. (Background 4A) Our congregations receive and administer the means of grace in richly diverse ways. This diversity in practice is well grounded in the Confessions. “It is not necessary for the true unity of the Christian church that ceremonies of human institution should be observed uniformly in all places.” (Augsburg Confession, article VIII) We are united in one common center: Jesus Christ proclaimed in the Word and sacraments amidst participating assemblies of singing, serving, and praying people. (Application 4B)
Just as there are Episcopal parishes that represent varying traditions of worship within the same church, so in the ELCA there are parishes with differing traditions of worship. We understand this to be a strength of church life, not a weakness.
What does the statement contain?
The statement contains five parts: Preface: The Triune God and the Means of Grace; Part 1: Proclamation of the Word and the Christian Assembly; Part 2: Holy Baptism and the Christian Assembly; Part 3: Holy Communion and the Christian Assembly; Part 4: The Means of Grace and Christian Mission. Each of these parts provides a principle or series of principles on which practice should be based, and often it also provides some “background” to that principle or an “application” of that principle for careful consideration.
“Means of grace,” an expression taken from the Lutheran confessions of the sixteenth century, refers to those means that God uses to give grace to individuals and the church. Lutherans ordinarily understand this to include baptism and eucharist (two sacraments) together with proclamation of the Word and confession and absolution. As the Augsburg Confession of 1520 puts it: “through the Word and sacraments, as through means, the Holy Spirit is given, and the Holy Spirit produces faith, where and when it pleases God, in those who hear the gospel.” (Augsburg Confession article V)
Jesus Christ at the heart
“The living heart of all these means is the presence of Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit as the gift of the Father.” (Principle 1)
The preface of the statement is focused on the way in which the triune God acts in the means of grace, worship. It is only by beginning with God that worship is set within its proper context. Worship depends primarily on this and not on the particular aspects of practice that may be the same or different from one congregation to the next.
The Christian assembly
Lutherans understand the church to be the result of God’s activity:
It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. (Principle 3, Augsburg Confession article VII)
The assembly around Word and sacrament is the place to see the church and God at work forming it. The rest of the statement rests on placing the Word and sacraments in the life of a gathered assembly of believers.
The Word of God in the Christian assembly
In North American culture, when Christians speak about the Word of God the reference is often taken to be the Bible. However, the Bible itself understands the Word of God to be Jesus Christ. For Lutherans the scriptures are witnesses to this incarnate Word-Jesus Christ. The Word is proclaimed in the assembly.
Proclamation of the Word includes the public reading of Scripture, preaching, teaching, the celebration of the sacraments, confession and absolution, music, arts, prayers, Christian witness, and service. The congregation’s entire education ministry participates in the proclamation of the Word. (Application 5A)
Sunday has a special place in this proclamation of Jesus Christ as God’s Word. Because of Christ’s appearances to the disciples and others on the first day of the week following his resurrection, Sunday is also a day for assembly and proclamation for Christians today. Every day is a day for proclamation, but Sunday is a special opportunity for this.
In addition to hearing the scriptures read and preached on in the assembly, everyone gathered participates in the common voice of the assembly in speaking the Word. The assembly does this in singing hymns and the texts of the liturgy. It confesses the Nicene or Apostles’ Creed. Music becomes a vehicle for the Word. The visual arts too serve to proclaim the Word.
Lutherans are deeply committed to the public (that is, in the assembly for worship) exercise of confession and absolution. The statement also calls us to individual confession and absolution-though this is less common in practice.
Holy Baptism
Lutherans believe that in baptism God acts:
In Holy Baptism the Triune God delivers us from the forces of evil, puts our sinful self to death, gives us new birth, adopts us as children, and makes us members of the body of Christ, the Church. Holy Baptism is received by faith alone. (Principle 14)
It is an act of God’s grace which is not dependent upon our worthiness. It establishes a relationship and awakens faith. Holy Baptism is always administered in the name of the triune God. Baptism in not repeated, because this can question God’s promise, but baptism does have daily application for those who have received it—it calls us to die and rise with Christ every day.
The Use of the Means of Grace urges congregations to administer baptism in the assembly, not privately, and to do so in ways in involve the whole assembly. The water of baptism is an especially powerful sign and should be maximized. The anointing with oil is also encouraged. Secondary signs, such as the lighted candle and the white robe, can also support baptism and its catechesis.
Holy Communion
Lutherans have long distinguished themselves from other Protestants by our commitment to the “real presence of Jesus Christ” in the sacrament.
In this sacrament the crucified and risen Christ is present, giving his true body and blood as food and drink. This real presence is a mystery. (Principle 33)
Lutherans understand Holy Communion to include a service of the Word and service of the meal. We urge our congregations to celebrate this sacrament every week—though this is not yet a universal practice. Most congregations commune children at about ten years of age. In a recommended change of practice, the ELCA sets no minimum age for a baptized person to begin receiving this sacrament- it allows for the congregation, pastor, parents, sponsors and individual to determine the pastorally appropriate time. An ordained pastor presides at Holy Communion. In very exceptional circumstances a bishop can authorize an exception to this principle.
In the ELCA all baptized persons are welcome to receive this sacrament. We feel a special obligation to be clear that we teach and confess that Christ’s true body and blood are given and received in the sacrament. Once bread and wine have been consecrated, any remaining is consumed following the celebration. The consecrated elements may also be taken to the absent for their communion.
The means of grace and Christian mission
The Use of the Means of Grace concludes its guidance by linking the means of grace not only to individual Christians assembled for worship but to the world in which they life and work. The means of grace lead the Church to mission. This is the same conviction which Episcopalians voice each time they pray “And now Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do…” in the beautiful postcommunion prayer (BCP, p. 366).
Studying The Use of the Means of Grace may not always allow an Episcopalian to predict what they will find happening in a congregation of the ELCA, but it will clearly show the practices we encourage among ourselves and support as we are able.