Liturgical Movement - Churches of The Lutheran Tradition

Churches of The Lutheran Tradition

Equally dramatic in some places has been the change in some of the Lutheran churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, for example, has been strongly influenced by the movement in its vesture and ritual. Black gowns have long been replaced by traditional Catholic vestments. The St. Thomas Mass returned the fuller use of ceremonial (the liturgical action, in which movement takes place during the liturgy to express its different parts).

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran body in the United States, has also revived a greater appreciation of the liturgy and its ancient origins. Its clergy and congregations have adopted many traditional liturgical symbols, such as the sign of the cross, incense, and the full chasuble, which have become more common than in years past. While some freedom in style is exercised by individual congregations, the overall style of the aspects of liturgical worship – including vestments, altar adornments, and a general return of many formal practices – has become closer to the styles of the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions.

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod has led in the recovery of Lutheran liturgical practice. Such practices as chanting the psalms and other parts of the service and the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday are relatively common.

In the United States, numerous inter-church organizations classifying themselves as Lutheran bodies exist, due mostly to the waves of immigration in the late 19th century and early 20th from northern European and Scandinavian countries. Because of the differences in languages and customs, congregations grew along 'national' lines, establishing their own version of the 'church back home' – for example, the Norwegian Lutherans, Danish Lutherans, etc. These early churches used the vernacular language of their native country. As settlers and their descendants adopted the use of English, the need for foreign-language worship and identification with national churches dropped.

In the state churches of the Saxon Electorate and the Thuringian principalities, the excising of the Eucharistic Prayer by Martin Luther was reversed in the decade after the Second World War. New service books were published.