The Contemplative Lutheran

An ongoing debate within Confessional Lutheran churches is the question of Contemporary Worship vs. historically rooted Liturgical Worship. This brief treatment intends to expose the heart of that which drives Contemporary Worship. Through this exposure, the implicit excellence of historically rooted Liturgical Worship, which is already the position advocated in our Lutheran Confessions, will be made all the more plain. To begin, the Contemporary Worship movement, frequently abbreviated as CoWo, is the actualization of a philosophy of conformance and capitulation to culture. It is culture-reactive and derivative, which is why it inspires neither respect nor reverence. It is more than just a preference about style, because style itself is philosophy in action. That's precisely how marketing and branding function to sell things. To say CoWo is merely about stylistic preference is thus to misunderstand the depth of the ideological motivation energizing CoWo, which is essentially pop m...