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File Name: "3-Step Plan Article #7 The Full 3-Step Plan"' PART ONE, 22 pages. PART TWO, 49 pages.

AN ANCIENT TRIED AND TESTED THREE-STEP PLAN FOR INCREASING THE SPIRITUAL (INWARD) AND NUMERICAL (OUTWARD) GROWTH OF LUTHERAN CONGREGATIONS BY PROCLAIMING THE VERBALLY AND NONVERBALLY 24 HOURS A DAY

Most evangelism programs do not work, and as a result many Christians feel guilty for not having personally witnessed to more people.

This plan is an ancient plan because it was used by Israel of old and by the Christian from the day of its inception, and works because it communicates nonverbally as well as verbally, and does it 24 hours a day year around. Face to face witness is not required, but the Plan enables even small children to do it easily and naturally.

There are two parts to the Plan

PART ONE is a description of the Three-Steps of the Plan, written by Philip James Secker. 22 pages.

PART TWO is a monograph written by Arthur Carl Piepkorn about the architectural requirements of , and edited by Philip James Secker. 49 pages.

The page and footnote numbers run consecutively through both of Parts without starting over so the user can computer search the entire document and easily move from PART ONE to PART TWO and back.

Copyright © 2019 by Philip James Secker, but may be reproduced as long as it is reproduced in its entirety except for the quiz and its answers.

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY 2 of 71

PART ONE

An Ancient Tried and Tested Three-Step Plan for Increasing the Spiritual (Inward) and Numerical (Outward) Growth of Lutheran Congregations by Proclaiming the Gospel Verbally and Nonverbally 24 Hours a Day Year Around

By Philip James Secker, ThD (1937–)

PART TWO

The Architectural Requirements Of the Lutheran Cultus1

For architects and their staffs, parish building programs, vestries, guilds, musicians, elders, and .

By Arthur Carl Piepkorn, (1907-1973+) 1962

1"Cultus" refers to external ceremonies, observances and traditions neither commanded nor forbidden by God. Often called adiaphora. For a detailed definition, see footnote 29.## 3 of 71

Edited by Philip James Secker, ThD (1937–)

Copyright information is on the next page.

Arthur Carl Piepkorn's 1962 monograph The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus bears no copyright and lacks the subtitle above. I added the one you see because it describes its uses. This edition of the monograph is Copyright © 2018, Philip James Secker, but may be reproduced as long as it is reproduced in its entirety, including the cover page, the Editor's Introduction, the Index and the Bibliography. The quiz and Piepkorn’s answers may be omitted or reproduced separately. Philip James Secker was the last student to receive the a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) degree — the same one Blessed had — under Arthur Carl Piepkorn, and is the founder and director of the Arthur Carl Piepkorn Center for Evangelical , 35 Sherwood Street, Mansfield, CT 06268. www.piepkorn.org

CONTENTS "An Ancient Tried and Tested Three-Step Plan for Increasing the Spiritual (Inward) and Numerical (Outward) Growth of Lutheran Congregations by Proclaiming the Gospel Verbally and Nonverbally 24 Hours A Day Year Around." By Philip James Secker

Provenance and Credits of The ARLC. By Philip James Secker.

The Editor’s Outline of The ARLC. By Philip James Secker.

The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus.2 (ARLC) By Arthur Carl Piepkorn.

INDEX. Compiled by Paul Schulz.

A Way to Reduce Post- Dropout. By Philip James Secker

Note on “/.” By Philip James Secker. BIBLIOGRAPHY How Well Do You Know the Architectural Requirements Of Confessional Lutheran Worship? A quiz linked to The ARLC. With the Answers.

2 See footnote 1 for a definition of "cultus." 4 of 71

PART ONE

The Tried and Tested Three-Step Plan for Increasing the Spiritual (Inward) and Numerical (Outward) Growth of Lutheran Congregations by Proclaiming the Gospel Verbally and Nonverbally 24 Hours a Day By Philip James Secker (This is at the Plan itself, which was originally completed on St. Titus, and Day in A.D. 2018)

The Need for a Simple Plan that is Understood and Approved by the Voters

In the Epiphany season of A.D. 2018 is flourishing in China despite increased persecution and renewed efforts to subject religion to the control of the Communist Party, and there are more Lutherans in Kenya than in the United States. At the same time many Christian congregations in the United States are getting older, grayer, and smaller. And an increasing number of them are joining together as dual congregations or closing their doors. commissioned the apostles to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all" that He had commanded them and promising to be with them in that task. (Matthew 28:19-20) Most Lutheran congregations have evangelism committees, and tracts in the narthex, and pastors who encourage the members of their congregations to witness in person to others about Christ. Some do door to door canvassing, and have evangelism training classes. But many do not have a simple plan for using the Gospel and the Sacraments to help their congregations grow both spiritually and numerically and that is understood and approved by the voters. I emphasize the last six words because, if the voters do not understand and whole-heartedly approve of the plan, they won't support it with their prayers, time, talents and treasures. 5 of 71

A. The Least Religious States in the United States

There is undoubtedly no single plan that will work for all congregations in all settings, especially in these difficult times in which our country has become less religious than it was. According to a 2017 article based on a 2014 Pew Research survey "the percentage of adults who are religiously unaffiliated adults grew in every state except for one, and it was the fastest growing ideology in almost every state for which there was data." Fortunately, this trend has slowed down in recent years, but according to that 2014 survey the least religious states, starting with the one that is the least religious, are: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Washington, Alaska, Wisconsin, New York and Colorado. The most religious are: Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. I will never forget what C. Peter Wagner said to a New England District Pastoral Convention that I attended in the late 1970s. Wagner was a professor at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA, and a much-published authority on church growth. After being introduced, Wagner stood at the podium and looked over he hundred or so pastor as if to make eye contact with all of them and then said: "You guys really have it tough here." (http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/10/26/ americas-most-and-least-religious-states/3/) He then went on to say that church growth is more difficult in New England than in any other part of the country.

Historical Note: Arthur Carl Piepkorn's Experience in Full-time Ministry

Arthur Carl Piepkorn, who was born in Milwaukee, WI, in 1907, wanted to be a missionary to China when he graduated from in Clayton, a suburb of St Louis, in 1928, but he had skipped an elementary grade and eighth grade, and so was too young to be ordained. Therefore his professors encouraged him to get a doctorate. He considered doing it in either New Testament or studies and decided on the latter, with a specialty in 6th century B.C. Assyriology, doing most of his course work and dissertation at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. In the fall of 1930 he helped Seminary professor Walther A. Maier begin the Lutheran Hour on KFUO by serving as the program's corresponding secretary, writing hundreds of letters in reply to listeners who sent questions to the program. He had to be ordained for that position so he was ordained into the office of the Holy Ministry on the First Sunday in in 1930 making him "the first person in thirteen generations in any direction" to be ordained. For a while in 1930-31 he was the interim pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louis. ("About," p. 300) After completing his doctorate and a post-doctoral fellowship that took him to Germany, Iraq, Palestine and Egypt in 1933, the Great Depression was well under way and universities were not hiring specialists in his field, so he listed his "name with the authorities for assignment to foreign missions or some domestic appointment." ("About," p. 301) Because of the Depression, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod was not assigning missionaries overseas, so he was assigned to be missionary-at-large in Chisholm, an economically depressed town on the Mesabi Iron Range five miles north of Hibbing, MN. 6 of 71

Chisholm had declined from a population of 8,500 to 6,000 since 1923. Nearly two-thirds of its citizens was composed of "the first and second generation of immigrants from Jugo-Slavia, Czecho-Slovakia, and with the remainder constituted mainly of Finns, with trailing Scandinavian, Irish, French, and German elements." (Ibid.) Grace Lutheran Church in Chisholm had no basement or kitchen or office or plumbing. It was covered with asphalt paper ("tar paper") on the outside, common on buildings and even homes during the Great Depression, and was heated by a wood stove. It looked so bad that he had it dragged on the mud away from the street so it would be partly hidden by other buildings. His parish covered 900 square miles and when he arrived he find only "nine bona fide confirmed members and twenty souls" but when he left in 1936 he noted that "three years of work had multiplied those figures by nine" and Grace came to have the highest per communicant giving average in the Minnesota District, which at times was unable to pay his meager stipend as a bachelor pastor. ("About," p. 302) He left Grace in September 1936 to once again serve as corresponding secretary of the Lutheran Hour, which had closed during the early years of the Depression. He also served as the interim pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louise and from 1937-1940 first as an interim pastor and then as the pastor of St. Faith3 Lutheran Church in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1937-1940. He served as a chaplain in the U. S. Army Reserves from 1936-1940, and on active duty from 1940-1951. While on active duty he served as the head chaplain of the XXIII U. S. Army Corps supervising 60 chaplains of various faiths from 1944-45, and then at various times in 1945-46 on the personal staffs of Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, General Dwight Eisenhower, and Lieutenant General George Patton in 1945-46. Under Ike, he was the Senior Chaplain in the European Theater of War. In 1951 he received a call to teach systematic theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. The usual career path in that department was to teach the Lutheran Confessions until one could move to what was considered the prestigious field of dogmatic theology, but he accepted the call on the condition that he could remain in the field of Lutheran Confessional theology. In a short period became a self-taught leading authority in the world on the of 1580, which contains the official doctrines and practices of .4 And then, over a longer period of time, he became a leading self-taught authority in the on the doctrines and practices of the more than 2,000 different Christian bodies in the United States and Canada.5 Both of these endeavors put him in an excellent position to write what is discussed next.

The Origin of The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus

3 "St. Faith" is probably a mistranslation of Sancta Fides, which means "Holy Faith" It had that odd name when Piepkorn got there. I think it was changed to "Faith" later. I have not been able to learn the subsequent history of the church. 4 I do not know when he did it, but according to his son-in-law Richard Hoffman he studied the Book of Concord on his own for an hour a day over a ten year period. 5 His posthumously published multi-volume Profiles in Belief is in many public libraries. See the bibliography below for important information about its section on Lutheranism. 7 of 71

Piepkorn did not teach in the department of practical theology and so did not teach evangelism. In the summer of 1962, however, he presented a series of lectures at a Workshop on Church Art and Architecture at Concordia Seminary entitled The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus (ARLC). "Cultus" is a rarely used word that means "labor," "care," "cultivation," "culture," "adornment" or "worship." English dictionaries typically define it as the totality of external religious practices and ceremonies and observances of a religion apart from the religion’s sacred writings and the personal faith of its believers. Cultus therefore is about banners, bells, altars, altar linens, baptismal fonts and vessels, book holders, candles and candlesticks, rails, , , floor plans, flowers, hymnals and hymn boards, Holy Communion linens and vessels, microphones, murals and paintings, organs, pews, , sanctuary lamps, stained glass windows, statues and images, , and what he refers to as "external ceremonies," by which he means worship rites, folding one's hands and one's head for prayer, kneeling, etc. See the Index for many more. Collectively these humanly instituted ceremonies, rites, and customs and objects are called adiaphora, which means things that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God.

In the ARLC, Piepkorn states that "external ceremonies instituted by men are not worship."6 "Understood in the broadest possible sense," but adds that they "are nevertheless necessary conditions of worship," even though they need not be everywhere the same. (10)

Piepkorn's Three-Step Plan for the Spiritual and Numerical Growth of Congregations

Piepkorn makes no mention in The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus of a plan for promoting the spiritual and numerical growth of a congregation, but it is obvious that such a plan underlies the monograph.

knew that in order to grow spiritually and numerically congregations have to have a plan that they understand and approve of so they will be willing to expend the time, effort and expenses that the plan requires. He does not describe this plan in detail in the ARLC but his plan is evident in the document. To make it easy for congregations to follow I am going to describe it as having three steps:

I. Learning or reviewing what the Lutheran Church is and is not. II. Using that information to decide whom the congregation is most likely to be able to reach with the Gospel and the Sacraments. III. Learning how to easily, effectively and inexpensively reach those people with the Holy Gospel and the Holy Sacraments, because the Holy Spirit works through Gospel and the Sacraments to bring people to faith and strengthen them in their faith and life as Christians.

6 (Paragraph 9) Hereafter numbers in parentheses refer to the paragraph numbers that I have added to the ARLC. 8 of 71

I. What the Lutheran Church Is and Is Not

If you know that our Church was not founded by Martin Luther and did not split off from the Roman , but is "consciously and determinedly a part of the Catholic Church of the West" (12), which in turn is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ, then you may skip what follows, or look at only sections of it. One might think that this is the easiest step in the three-step plan, so easy that one could skip it. But it is by far the most difficult, as well as the most important step because it will provide answers to the questions posed in steps II. and III. Step I. is the most difficult of the three steps because we assume that we know what our Church is (and is not) without looking at history and at what the Book of Concord of 1580, which contains the official teachings and practices of our Church, says about the matter.

My Frightening Experience with the Sign of the

Maybe the best way to illustrate that fact is by my own experience. When I was baptized in First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, MN, I was the first member of my family to become a member of a Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod congregation. With more than a thousand communicant members when I was in high school, it was undoubtedly one of the greatest of my life and the major influence on my decision to become a minister, even though I had been told repeatedly in college that I could be "anything I wanted to be." It was not until decades later that I learned that Piepkorn had attended Circuit Pastoral Conferences in my church often when he was serving Grace Lutheran Church in Chisholm, and that he had eaten many meals in the parsonage because he was a bachelor and the pastor of my Church and his wife wanted him to have good meals to eat. I also did not know that Piepkorn was a good friend of the first pastor I have any memory of, Frederick von Husen, who was the pastor of my Church before and after World War II (he was on leave of absence from my church during most of the War to serve as a U.S. Army Chaplain). I remember that Pastor von Husen wore a black suit with a clerical collar. I suspect that he used the , but I have no memory of that. I mention this because I grew up believing that making the sign of the cross was a superstitious thing that only Roman Catholics did before shooting free throws in basketball. In the fall of 1959 I attended Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, IN, for one quarter to take some courses I needed to take to get into Concordia Seminary in St. Louis but could not take anywhere else in the world. I will never forget the opening worship service one evening. I was seated near the back and saw dozens of students and professors making the sign of the cross after receiving Holy Communion! I had never seen a Lutheran do that and thought it was "Roman Catholic" and wondered what I was doing there. Fortunately, when I told my roommate of my distress he pulled his copy of Luther's Small Catechism off a shelf and showed me where Luther wrote in it: "In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross." 9 of 71

He may also have shown me (Concordia Publishing House, 1941), which says on page 4 "The sign of the cross may be made at the Trinitarian Invocation and at the words of the "and the life of the world to come." I learned at the Senior College that fall or at the Seminary that the original texts of the Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian Creeds all use the Latin word "catholica" of the Church, and that "catholica" comes from a Greek word that literally means "according to the whole." Originally congregations used the term to indicate that they accepted the teachings and practices of the historic Christian congregations everywhere and were not heretical. It is used of the Church founded by Jesus Christ in both the original version of the Apostles' and the Nicene Creed, and four times in the (, pp. 319-20).

The Word Catholic

The German pastor, scholar, teacher and staunch confessor of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, Hermann Sasse (1895-1976) put it this way: The Book of Concord

has no notion of any such thing as a Lutheran Church. We do not believe in the Lutheran Church, but in the one, holy, catholic church. . . . We believe that the true church is wherever the gospel is still heard and where Christ's sacraments are present. . . . This does not mean that our can claim to have some sort of infallibility. It does not mean that all Christians first accept the Book of Concord before we can have church fellowship with them. We are bound together with the true church of all ages in the great consensus of what is believed, taught, and confessed, also with those who did not yet have or need an . We are also bound up in the unity of the true church with those who after us will confess the true faith even to the end of the world, whether they use the words of our Confession or say it in other ways.7

So "Catholic," with or without a capital "C" is a good word that no single Church body has an exclusive claim to.

The following is very technical and so may be of interest only to those who can read Latin and German: The Augsburg Confession of 1530, which is in the Book of Concord and acceptance of which makes a Church a Lutheran Church, contains the following statements: ~This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Catholic Church, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers. (AC, Epilog to Article 21, 1, German: gemeine christliche, ja auch römische Kirche. Latin: ab ecclesia catholica vel ab ecclesia Romana. Emphasis added in this reference and in those that follow. Charles Arand's translation of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession has this in footnote 119 in the "[Conclusion of Part One]" of that Confession on page 58 of the Kolb-Wengert edition of the Book of Concord: "Gemeine, old German for allgemein, universal. Here the German equivalent for the Latin catholica." According to that interpretation of the word gemeine, "gemeine christliche" means "catholic

7 "Article VII of the Augsburg Confession in the Present Crisis of Lutheranism." Letters to Lutheran pastors, Number 53. April 1961. In Norman Nagel. We Confess Anthology. CPH, 1993. Volume 3, pages 67-68. 10 of 71

Christian." However, Arthur Carl Piepkorn often said that German does not like to use loan words from other languages or Germanized versions of them and — because German had no German word for the Latin word "catholica" — late medieval translations of the Nicene Creed had long used "christliche" to translate "catholica." According to Piepkorn, therefore, "gemeine christliche" means "universal Christian." Both English translations of the German affirm the catholicity of the Church, but I think that Piepkorn's translation is a more accurate translation. ~Inasmuch, then, as our churches dissent in no article of the faith from the universal Christian Church, but only omit some abuses which are new, and which have been erroneously accepted by the corruption of the times, contrary to the intent of the Canons, we pray that Your Imperial Majesty would graciously hear both what has been changed, and what were the reasons why the people were not compelled to observe those abuses against their conscience. (ARTICLES IN WHICH ARE REVIEWED THE ABUSES THAT HAVE BEEN CORRECTED, 1. German: gemeine christliche Kirche Latin: ecclesia catholica. In Latin, adjectives usually follow the noun they modify, so Tappert's translation of "ecclesia catholica" as "church catholic" here and in AC 28:72 and in AC Conclusion 5 is an egregious mistranslation. The Reverend Charles L. McClean told me that Piepkorn said that translating "ecclesia catholica" as "church catholic" is like translating the Latin for "green tree" into English as "tree green." ~Our churches "ask only that [the who have remained loyal to the ] would release unjust burdens which are new and have been received contrary to the custom of the universal Christian Church Catholic." (Article 28:72. German: gemeine christliche Kirche. Latin: ecclesia catholica.) ~"In doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the universal Christian Church. For it is manifest that we have taken most diligent care that no new and ungodly doctrine should creep into our churches." (AC Conclusion, 5. German: gemeine christliche Kirche. Latin: ecclesia catholica.)

The phrase "Catholic Church" refers to the Christian Church before the division in 1054 between the Churches in the Eastern Roman Empire and those in the Western Roman Empire. In the ARLC Piepkorn refers to it as "the undivided Church." (13) The phrase "Church of Rome" (compare 14) is another name for the Western Catholic Church. Piepkorn refers to it as "the Catholic Church of the West" (12), or — in other writings — as "the medieval Western Church." The authors of the Book of Concord refer to themselves as "Catholic" and "evangelical" (which means "Gospel-centered"), but never as "Lutheran."8 The Book of Concord makes no mention of the Roman Catholic Church that we know of because, as we will see, it did not exist prior to the , as we will see. From the above it is clear that the authors and signers of the Augsburg Confession believed that our Church is a part of the Church Catholic that was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ and is referred to in the Creeds as "the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church."

Common Misunderstandings About the Origin of our Church

Some people think that our Church was founded by Martin Luther. That is what the Roman Catholic Church that we know of claims, but it was unthinkable to him and not historically true, as we will see.

8 ' free paraphrase of the Apology 15,44 states that our adversaries call our blessed teaching about love and the Holy Gospel a Lutheran (Lutherisch) teaching but that is the only place where the word for Lutheran appears in the Book of Concord. 11 of 71

Some think that our Church split off from the Roman Catholic Church, which also makes that claim, but that claim is also not true. This is evident when one remembers that denominations did not exist until during the and that Luther wanted only to correct some false teachings and abuses in practice in the late medieval Western Catholic Church. He wrote the 95 Theses on "The Power of Indulgences" in Latin and posted them on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, inviting other theologians to debate them with him. He dedicated them to Pope Leo X (Pope from 1513-1523), whom he assumed would support his call for reform. But they were translated into German and printed and were all over Europe in two weeks. Instead of supporting Luther, Pope Leo X excommunicated him in 1521. Since Luther and his co-Reformers were only trying to reform the late medieval Western Catholic Church, they considered the invalid, and Luther added it, as an afterthought, to a fire that was started to burn a copy of the ("ecclesiological") Law of that Church since it contained many of the abuses in practice.

The Diet ("assembly") of Augsburg and the Augsburg Confession of 1530

In those times most rulers demanded that the people in their kingdoms follow the ruler's religion or face imprisonment, exile or execution. Charles V, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, wanted to unify those who wanted reform from those who didn't, to counter the Ottoman Turks, who were besieging Vienna. So he summoned an imperial diet to meet in Augsburg in Germany and invited the princes and representatives of free cities in the empire to discuss the religious differences that had resulted from the Reformation. In keeping with this invitation the elector of Saxony asked his theologians in Wittenberg to prepare an account of the beliefs and practices of the churches of his land. That led to the preparation of the Augsburg Confession, primarily by , a lay professor of classical languages and colleague of Luther at the University of Wittenberg. The 21 articles in it can be read in ten minutes and should be read by most Lutherans. The seven articles on abuses in the late medieval church take longer. The Confession was read before Charles V on June 25, 1530. It is important to note that the authors and signers of the Augsburg Confession never refer to themselves as "Lutherans," but rather as "Catholic" and "evangelical." "Evangelical" means "Gospel centered," a term that is used by many denominations today that do not accept the Augsburg Confession. Because the Augsburg Confession uses the words "Evangelical" and "Catholic," some Lutherans at times refer to themselves as "Evangelical Catholics." Luther said late in his life, "Whatever you do, don't let them call us 'Lutherans." But those who opposed reform did, and the term came into common use because it distinguished Luther and his Co-Reformers from the followers of John Calvin. This does not mean that the word "Lutheran" is bad or cannot be used by us. At times we need to use it to identify ourselves. Because all Lutheran Church bodies subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, Piepkorn often referred to our Church as "the Church of the Augsburg Confession" and wrote the following on 12 of 71 the back of the Ashby Lutheran Church Calendar, which he edited for many years. It is still on the back of the current Ashby Lutheran Calendar.

The Church of the Augsburg Confession is not a new denomination that came into existence during the 16th century Reformation, but is a part of the Church that has existed ever since our ascended Lord commanded his disciples to be his witnesses to the end of the age.

Thus the Church of the Augsburg Confession, which came to be called the Lutheran Church took on its particular form at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. Since most people have never heard of the Augsburg Confession, I don't recommend that our Church adopt that name now. But the members of our congregations ought to know "the fact that the Church of the Augsburg Confession is "consciously and determinedly a part of the Catholic Church of the West" (12), which in turn is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ, and that is what people join when they become members of our Church. Piepkorn said in class one day that during his pastorates his conversion ratio was 9-1, meaning that for every Lutheran member of his congregations who left Lutheranism to become Roman Catholic, nine Roman Catholics left Roman Catholicism to become Lutheran. He told them that in doing that, "they had not ceased to be Catholic, but had become more Catholic."

The Roman Catholic Church that we Know of

Those opposed to reform created the Counter-Reformation to oppose the Reformation. After the death of Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII (Pope from 1523 to 1534), Pope Paul III (Pope from 1534-49) called the Council of Trent, which met off and on from 1545-1563 in Trento in northern Italy. It has been called the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation because it adopted some new dogmas that had not been required beliefs prior to that Council. The Roman Catholic Church that we know of took on its particular form at this Council. Since then the Roman Catholic Church that we know of has adopted other new dogmas: the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (1854), the infallibility of the Pope (1870), and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven (1950). So the Roman Catholic Church that we know of today is not the same as the Church Catholic that our Church is a part of.

St. Peter's Role

Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, which means "rock" in Aramaic and Greek, and founded the Church Catholic on that rock, which can refer to either St. Peter as the leader and spokesman of the apostles or to his confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:13-20) Tradition says that Peter, who was married, made it to Rome, but there is not a single shred of historical evidence that he actually did.

Summary: Therefore, as Piepkorn believed, the Church of the Augsburg Confession is both logically (because the Counter-Reformation was a response to the Reformation), and chronologically prior to the Roman Catholic Church that we know of today. 13 of 71

II. Whom We Are Most Likely to Reach

Knowing the fact that the Church of the Augsburg Confession is "consciously and determinedly" a part of the Catholic Church of the West (12), which in turn is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ means that the people our Church are most likely to reach is people who want to belong to a Church that is a part of that Church.

Piepkorn alludes to this it when he states the following in the ARLC: It happens that Roman Catholics will at least on occasion visit our churches; the kind of church that has a is more likely to be the kind of Lutheran Church that will attract Roman Catholics or former Roman Catholics in search of the evangelical certainty9 that our theology provides. (68) Sanctuary lamps draw attention to focuses of devotion. In most Lutheran churches, that will be the altar, which symbolizes the presence of God among the congregation and reminds worshippers of the sacrificial death of our Lord for all people. Thus altars are non-verbal witnesses to the Gospel. Roman Catholics are used to seeing sanctuary lamps in their Churches. So Lutheran Church that have sanctuary lamps are more likely to attract Roman Catholics or former Roman Catholics who are in search a Church like ours. Piepkorn insisted that our church is not a "Protestant" Church because there are more theological differences between our Church and most Protestant Churches than there are between our Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches or even the Roman Catholic Church. Most Protestant Churches, for example, do not share our understanding of the sacramental universe or of the Sacraments. Also today many Protestant churches have become extremely liberal in both doctrine and practice. For that reason some lapsed Protestants may also want to join a Church that is consciously and determinately a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of the ages. Some people who may have no religious background may also want to join such a Church.

III. How to Easily, Inexpensively and Effectively Reach People with the Holy Gospel and the Sacraments

Here again an event in my life may be helpful. Between my Junior and Senior years at St. Olaf College another student and I worked as life guards at a new beach on Goose Lake outside of Anchorage, Alaska. Since we did not have a car and the Lutheran Church was several miles away, we took turns (one of us always had to be at the beach) worshipping at a small Church a quarter-mile away. At the first service I attended, near the end of his the Baptist minister asked all who really wanted to be a follower of Jesus to raise their hands. I wanted to raise my and, but I noticed that no one else was doing that, so I didn't. I am glad that I didn't, because in time I realized that the minister was making "an altar call" and that if I had raised my hand he would have asked me to come forward, and that this was a Billy Graham type

9 Piepkorn said we have relatively more certainty than Roman Catholics because we depend on God's promises rather than on our merits, but not absolute certainty because we cannot prove that there is a God. 14 of 71 evangelism service like the one I attended in Minneapolis the previous summer to see what it was like. Our Church believes that worship services are primarily for the praise of God rather than primarily for evangelism. Evangelism therefore is often left to tracts and door to door surveys and follow up calls (I spent a summer doing them for a Church in St. Louis) and personal witness to Christ. In growing neighborhoods in some towns door to door surveys and calls may work, but it takes a lot of training and effort, can be very discouraging and sometimes has a negative effect on those whose doors are knocked on, and tends not to work in long established towns. There is a better way that Piepkorn does not discuss explicitly for the most part in his ARLC, but is evident in it. But it may be well to discuss an event that occurred early in Luther's career:

Luther's Unplanned Return from Hiding in the Wartburg Castle to Preserve Customs

Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt (1486 – 1541) earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Wittenberg in 1510, and then became the chairman of the department of theology and chancellor of the University and awarded Luther his doctorate in Old Testament theology in 1512. He then earned a double doctorate in canon and civil law at a University in Rome. He supported Luther's efforts to reform indulgences. But in late 1521 when Luther was in hiding in the Wartburg Castle because he was under the ban of the Empire, Karlstadt led the Christmas Day service in Wittenberg omitting many of the traditional customs and usages that Luther had retained, leading Luther to return from hiding and urge caution about the changes Karlstadt was making. In 1523 Karlstadt became the pastor of the Orlamünde church in which church music and art were banned. Luther eventually had to publicly oppose Karlstadt.

Crucifixes in the Old Missouri Synod Lutheran Churches in St. Louis

In class one day Piepkorn said that all of the old Missouri Synod Lutheran Churches in St. Louis originally had crucifixes in their chancels but they were removed during World War I so our churches, which contained many members of German origin would look more like Protestant Churches than like Roman Catholic churches that also has a lot of members of German origin. In at least one case, the that was removed is now in the vestry.

The Meaning Conveyed by the Worship Rites of Our Churches During the Reformation

Two statements that Piepkorn makes in the ARLC explain the meaning conveyed by the worship rites our Church used during the Reformation century, and where they came from. In the first statement he refers to the Lutheran Church as "The Church of the Augsburg Confession" as he often did: Concretely the Lutheran rites of the Reformation century — like the Lutheran doctrinal formulations of the Reformation century — reflect the fact that the Church of the Augsburg Confession is consciously and determinedly a part of the Catholic Church of the West. Absolutely considered and in essence, the Reformers are saying, we could be very radical without sinning 15 of 71

against an express precept of God; actually we recognize an obligation, born of our historic past and our historic situation, not to exercise the liberty that we could theoretically invoke. As little as they felt that they could dispense with the doctrinal categories, formulations, and terminology, which they had inherited, so little did they feel themselves competent to dispense with their inherited worship categories and formulations. (12)

In the second statement Piepkorn makes the important point that "where the historic Lutheran rite has been retained or restored" in our time, "it generally reveals a purer and older form of the Western rite" than the Post-Vatican II reformed rite that is used by the Roman Catholic Church today. "This early sixteenth century Lutheran liturgical conservatism is significant," he continues, because it

gives us a denominationally and confessionally distinctive rite to which we have historic title and which we have not dreamed up out of our own imagination or lately borrowed from alien — that is, Roman Catholic, Anglican or Protestant — sources. It gives us a rite which is an invaluable symbol of the antiquity, the historic continuity, and the thorough catholicity of the Church of the Augsburg Confession. At the same time it gives us a rite which is generally older than, and significantly and recognizably different from, the present Roman Catholic rite. (15)

These statements are further evidence that the Lutheran Church did not split off from the Roman Catholic Church that we know of, but is a reformed continuation of the late medieval Western Church Catholic.

The Necessity of External Ceremonies

Even if we wanted to abolish all liturgical traditions we couldn't because, as Piepkorn reminds us in the ARLC, "External ceremonies, understood in the broadest possible sense, are nevertheless necessary conditions of worship." (10) Congregants must either sit, stand or kneel for parts of the worship service. If hymns are sung with accompaniment, there must be a place for an organ or piano or other musical instruments.

The Authority to Change External Ceremonies

At the same time, external ceremonies need not be everywhere alike, and revisions are permissible and may be necessary from time to time. The authority to change the external ceremonies of public worship is vested in the Church — not, be it noted, exclusively in the of a local congregation. The exercise of this authority, according to the Symbolical Books, is assigned to the pastors of the Church. Their exercise of this authority, however, is subject to certain restrictions: Matters decreed by divine right cannot be changed lawfully by human dispensation; legitimate changes must be made circumspectly; pastors cannot set forth any ceremony as necessary in the sense that noncompliance could be regarded as a mortal sin; they cannot set forth a ceremony as meriting grace or forgiveness or or as capable of making satisfaction for sin; they cannot set forth or abrogate ceremonies with the intention of suggesting that there is no essential difference between Church of the Augsburg Confession the Church of the Augsburg Confession and a heretical communion; nor can they in time of persecution compromise with the enemy on intrinsically indifferent ceremonial matters in order to escape persecution. ( 10) 16 of 71

The Lutheran Conservative Liturgical Principle10

In the ARLC, Piepkorn states that the "iconoclasts" of the Reformation, meaning "the Reformed Protestants and the left-wing Radicals," brought strong pressure on the Lutheran Reformers as being too conservative. Reactionary sources in turn criticized the Lutherans as having exercised too much Christian liberty. Still the Lutheran Reformers followed their conservative liturgical principle. Architectural features among the traditional elements which the Lutheran Reformers retained and which the Symbolical Books specifically mention with at least implicit approval are: Altars, Eucharistic and other vestments, fonts, candles, and sacred vessels of gold for the celebration of the Holy . In addition, the Church orders, the private writings of the blessed Reformers, and the iconographic evidence of the period indicates that the Reformation retained generally statues and images, stained glass windows, organs, , the fabric ornaments of the altar, altar paintings and polyptychs, processional crucifixes, funeral palls, houseling cloths, tower bells, sacring bells, , and . The tradition of the sixteenth century continued to be cultivated and cherished during the era of classic Lutheranism that extended into the eighteenth century, nourished by a clear awareness on the part of the Lutherans of a fundamental (their own word) difference between them and Roman Catholicism on the one hand and between them and Reformed on the other. (16)

At the same time, one church should not criticize another church merely because the latter has fewer or more humanly instituted external ceremonies of public worship. External ceremonies have value in that they are pedagogically useful, contribute to external decency and order, help to identify the external society of the Church, and are vehicles of private and corporate devotion. To realize these values fully, ceremonies must be explained and understood; this is a responsibility of the Christian home, the Christian school, and the Christian Church. (11)

The Fundamental Principles of Our Church Before looking at the items cited in the Index, it may be helpful to review some of the fundamental principles of The Church of the Augsburg Confession. Piepkorn listed seven of them in his seminal “The Augsburg Confession for Our Time,” which — unfortunately — has only been published twice.11 In it Piepkorn asserts that one of the principles that Articles 22-28 of [I can't delete this blank area in Pages. If you know how, please let me know. This is a non-editable PDF.]

10 See also Augsburg Confession 15 Church Usages; 28:53-56; Apology 15 Human Traditions in the Church. 11 Response in Worship, Music and the Arts, 4, Advent 1962: 73-83. Reprinted in Arthur Carl Piepkorn, The Sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, Volume 2 in The Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn, by Robert Kolb, Introduced and edited by Philip J. Secker, Mansfield CT: CEC Press:, 2007: 177-92. Volume 2 and other documents by and about Piepkorn are now available on a CD from www.Piepkorn.org. 17 of 71 the Catholic12 Church.”13 As examples of ways in which the Reformation must remain the Catholic Church, Piepkorn cites the following: “communion under both kinds,” the fact that “it was customary for and to be married in the Christian Church of former times,” the fact that the “preachers of the Lutheran community diligently teach that private confession is to be retained,” and “the practice of celebrating Holy Communion at every .”14 Piepkorn then states that the "conservative attitude of the Lutheran Reformation toward liturgical tradition is underlined in Article 26,” which states that many liturgical traditions are kept, including “the of [the various] parts of the mass, the Biblical lessons of the Christian year, the Church calendar itself, and whatever else is profitable for maintaining good order and the awareness of the community and of the community of the Church. But even in these things” Piepkorn continues, “liberty responsibly exercised is itself a Catholic principle.”15

In the ARLC Piepkorn adds that this principle does not "mean that in the Lutheran Church each congregation or each clergyman is utterly a law unto itself or to himself, free to do as it or he chooses,” because as Lutherans "we recognize certain limitations upon our freedom.”16 Finally, and most importantly, these worship rites and what Piepkorn calls "external ceremonies" are effective and usually inexpensive ways of proclaiming the Gospel because they do not rely only on words as Scripture readings, and personal witness does, but use symbols, art, music, customs, gestures and actions — many of which cost little or nothing — to communicate the Gospel. It is also important to remember that using these rites and ceremonies is not mandatory and is not meritorious. Nor is it a sin not to use them. However, architects and their staffs, and parish building program members, members of the altar guild, elders, and pastors should go through the ARLC and make use of as many of the various items of cultus as they feel are appropriate to communicate the Holy Gospel in as many ways as possible.

12 Here and elsewhere, by the word “Catholic” Piepkorn means the universal and orthodox Church referred to in the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, and in the Book of Concord of 1580, which contains the official teachings and practices of the Lutheran Church. Its authors refer to themselves only as "Catholic" and "evangelical." No denomination has an exclusive right to use the word "Catholic," spelled with or without a capital "C." Piepkorn preferred to use the capital "C." Literally Catholic means "according to the whole (or universal) Church and the wholeness of Christian doctrine and practice." Piepkorn speaks of "the undivided Church" (13), meaning before the division between the Eastern and the Western Churches. By what he calls "the Catholic Church of the West" (12), he means the Western Church prior to the Reformation. What we call "denominations" did not exist until after the Reformation. The Church of the Augsburg Confession took on its distinctive form at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, but was called "Lutheran" by its adversaries. Although Luther said "Whatever you do, don't let our adversaries call us "Lutheran," the name stuck. What we know of as the Roman Catholic Church took on its distinctive Counter- Reformation" form at the Council of Trent, which met at Trento in northern Italy off and on from 1545-63. The claim of the modern Roman Catholic Church to have been founded by Jesus Christ is not true historically or theologically. 13 "The Augsburg Confession for Our Time," Third Principle, p. 183. 14 The word "mass" is used many times in the Book of Concord of 1580 for the order of Holy Communion, and is still used that way by some Lutheran congregations. 15 "The Augsburg Confession for our Time," p. 184. In the Book of Concord, "private confession" is usually referred to as "private absolution" to emphasize the importance of absolution. 16 See (3) in the ARLC. 18 of 71

Here are some examples. You can find many more in Piepkorn's ARLC and his Altar Decorum. The sign of the cross visibly traces a cross on our bodies, reminding us and others of Jesus' death on a cross for us. This is what Piepkorn says about it along with words that may be said or thought of as one does it: "The sign of the cross is a confessional gesture. It is made with the hand disposed as for a from the head ("My Lord Jesus Christ") ("came down from heaven") to the breast ("and was incarnate for me") to the right side ("and was crucified for me") to the left side ("and entered into my heart.") Catholics Touch the left side first. The Eastern Orthodox members and Lutherans use an older form, touching the right side first. When done in public it is witness to Jesus and to the fact that you are a believe and either a Greek Orthodox or a Lutheran. (Altar Decorum, III., p. 6) According to the Augsburg Confession 24:34 Holy Communion is celebrated "on every holy day" and on others days when the people ask for it. If your congregation does not offer it every Sunday, recommend that it do so. (See also the Apology of the Augsburg Confession 15:40, and 24:1.) It is a Lutheran custom to have a crucifix somewhere about the chancel. If your Church does not have one, recommend that it obtain one. See (45) for different types of crucifixes and where to place one. Having one is not only a witness to Jesus' sacrificial death for us, but a testimony that our Church is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, rather than one of the Churches that rejected the use of images and art in their churches during the Reformation. If your Church does not have a funeral pall, recommend that it adopt one. The symbols on one can be a powerful visual witness to the Gospel when the pall is on the casket. (16, 92) Candlesticks: 'The Lutheran tradition preserves the common pre-Reformation practice of putting the candlesticks and crucifix directly on the altar mensa. . . . The ornaments of the altar are two candlesticks, which have their proper place at the extremities of the altar (not immediately to the right and left of the crucifix). Here again the Lutheran tradition preserves a more primitive practice than the four, six or seven candles of the . In the case of a small altar of the primitive type, the two candles on the altar can be replaced by candlesticks standing on the chancel floor near the altar or by olive oil lamps suspended over the altar. The two altar candles are to be lit for all services; the idea that they are to be used only for the Holy Communion is a misconception that arose in the course of the so-called Catholic Revival in and that has become current in Lutheran circles through overly credulous acceptance of dubious authorities." (41-42) Philippians 2:9-11 states of Jesus: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The name that is above every name is the name "Lord." Every knee should therefore bow at the name of Jesus. That is impractical, so early in church history the custom of bowing the head instead developed. Of it Piepkorn wrote: "It is a confessional custom to bow the head at the , toward the Crucifix it at the Altar, toward the Holy Book if the Holy Gospel is being read, and straight ahead at other times. It is likewise proper to bow the head at the opening words of the Gloria Patria whenever it 19 of 71 occurs, and at the in the Preface to Holy Communion, and Te Deum. (Alar Decorum, III, p. 5.) If the baptismal font is located near an entrance to a church it reminds us that we entered the church through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. If you are using the Exchange of Peace, consider ending it, or using it only on the fifth Sundays of the month, because we may be turning away more potential members than we are gaining by using it. It is based on "Greet one another with a kiss of [Christian] love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ Jesus." (1 Peter 5:14) But the early Christians mentioned in Acts 4:32 that they held all of their possessions in common and that practice was not continued, so the kiss of love does not need to be either. Indeed all of these various "external ceremonies" are called adiaphora, meaning that they are neither commanded nor forbidden by God.

V. Suggestions for Members of the

These are just suggestions. You can find many more ideas in the ARLC and in the other manuals listed below. Buy copies of the Augsburg Confession and study it in Classes and in youth and adult confirmation classes. Encourage members to read at least articles 1-21. Obtain copies of Altar Decorum, The Conduct of the Service, and The Conduct of the Services (plural) available to the altar guild. See the Bibliography for information about them. Encourage your members to make the sign of the cross during the Invocation and at other references to the Holy Trinity and where a small cross is printed in the text of the liturgy, and teach them how to do it. (Altar Decorum, p. 5. Also in "How to Use the ARLC. . . .) If your congregation is not already doing it, use the word "catholic" when reciting the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. The original Latin word there and in the Athanasian Creed is "catholica." We say "catholic" when we use the latter Creed, why not in the former? It is a testimony that we believe that our church is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Piepkorn said it may be used with or without a capital "C" but preferred to use the capital C. Announce that our Church did not abolish private confession, though we prefer to call it Private Absolution. Practice it yourself so you can experience its value and because you shouldn't urge others to use it if you don't use it yourself. Be sure that you "accompany observances with instruction so that consciences may not be burdened by the notion that such things are necessary for salvation." (Augsburg Confession 15) If you use a public confession of sins during the worship (Luther didn't) use the declaration of forgiveness rather than the absolution, which can be confusing to members and visitors who do not understand that contrition and faith are needed. If you use the Exchange of Peace, consider dropping it or using it only occasionally because it is forced familiarity that may keep more people from our churches than it attracts. Wear a clerical suit and collar. They are the traditional street clothes of the clergy and a testimony that you are probably a member of the Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Roman Catholic or Methodist clergy. People will speak to you giving you an opportunity to witness to them. If 20 of 71 you wish, remove your collar when you vest for services, since a clerical shirt and collar are not vestments. Consider obtaining eucharistic vestments if you do not have some, and obtain vestments for any who minister in the sanctuary. Encourage men to remove their hats if they walk through the nave, even in cold weather, and instruct children not to run through the nave. It is all about symbolism.

VI. Arthur Carl Piepkorn's experiences as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in 1933-1936 in Chisholm, Minnesota

When Piepkorn graduated from Concordia Seminary in Clayton, Missouri, in 1928 he wanted to become a missionary to China. But he had skipped an elementary grade and eighth grade and consequently was too young to be ordained. So his seminary professors urged him to get a doctorate. The professor who had influenced him the most was William Arndt, a New Testament professor, but Piepkorn chose Old Testament studies, as Walter A. Maier, another of his professors had done. Maier did his studies at Harvard. Piepkorn specialized on Assyriology in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. After completing his doctor of philosophy degree in 1932 and a post-doctoral fellowship in 1933, the Great Depression was well underway and universities were not hiring Assyriologists. So he asked the proper authorities to assign him to "foreign missions or to some domestic appointment."17 He was assigned to be missionary-at-large in Chisholm, Minnesota, an economically depressed community five miles north of Hibbing on the Mesabi Iron Range. Chisholm's very diverse population had dropped by two thousand since the turn of the century, including fifteen hundred in the previous decade, bringing it down to 6,500. The exterior of Grace Lutheran Church was covered with black asphalt paper, as many buildings were along the Iron Range in those days. The Church had no basement, kitchen or office, and was heated by a wood stove. He was single. His parish consisted of 900 square miles and when he arrived he was able to find only "nine bona fide confirmed members and twenty souls" in Grace Church. Yet in 1936 he noted that "three years of hard work have multiplied those numbers nine-fold" and Grace Church had the highest per-communicant giving average in the Minnesota District. In the ARLC, Piepkorn discusses scores of external religious ceremonies understood in the broadest sense of the term. All of our congregations use some of them, for example, altars, banners, Baptismal fonts and vessels, bells, candles, crosses and crucifixes, funeral palls, Holy Communion vessels, organs, paraments, vestments, etc. Most congregations could use many more at little or no cost or effort as ways of communicating what is distinctive about the Lutheran Church, and as ways of communicating the Gospel verbally and non-verbally to the people the congregation is trying to reach. If we want our congregations to grow numerically, our members have to know that we consider our Church to be a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by

17 Philip J. Secker, "About Arthur Carl Piepkorn," The Sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, p. 301. 21 of 71

Jesus Christ. The members of our churches must also be certain that they are are communicating that fact in their outreach programs. One easy way to do this that Piepkorn recommended is to use the name "Lutheran" in names of our churches only when it is needed for identification. Thus the members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church should refer to their Church as "St. Paul Church" unless they need to include the word "Lutheran" to distinguish it from other churches named after St. Paul or to indicate the link of their Church with the Lutheran Reformation. Piepkorn recommended that we omit the word "Lutheran" from the names of our congregations unless it is needed for identification. Church signs could have, for example, St. Paul's Church on top, with "Lutheran," or "LC-MS," or "The Church of the Lutheran Hour" underneath for further identification. He was not ashamed of the word "Lutheran," but believed that doing this would emphasize that we are Christians first, Western Catholics second and Lutheran third, and then Missouri Synod or members of another Lutheran judicatory only fourth. Arthur Carl Piepkorn's monograph The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus18 may look like he was interested in liturgical traditions for their own sake, but nothing could be further from the truth. In 1952, in reply to a letter from a Minnesota pastor, Piepkorn replied: The , properly so described, is only peripherally and incidentally concerned about vestments, worship decorum and uniformity in the order of the liturgy. Its basic concern is the fullest possible use in our Church of the Gospel in the sense of Article IV of the Third Part of the . Its interest in the externals of worship, whether in rite or in ceremony, is limited to the legitimate practical and historical aspects that justify the existence of courses and books in the parallel areas of homiletics, hymnology, and Church History. If there is a liturgical movement which goes beyond this, I for my part am thoroughly unsympathetic toward it.19

In the ARLC, Piepkorn states that "external ceremonies have value in that they are pedagogically useful, contribute to external decency and order, help to identify the external society of the Church, and are vehicles of private and corporate devotion." (11).

Of those four values, the most important is that such ceremonies help to identify the external society of the Church. They don't prove that Churches who use them are a part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ, but they indicate that those Churches desire to be a part of that Church. Summary

With many Christian churches in decline today, it is more important for Lutherans than ever to emphasize that according to the Augsburg Confession of 1530 and the Book of Concord of 1580, our Church is not a new denomination that came into existence during the 16th century

18 Hereafter cited as "ARLC." For what Piepkorn means by "cultus" see footnote 25 on the first page of the ARLC. !19 The letter is in the Piepkorn Papers in the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I have a copy but do not have the box and file number on hand at this time. Article IV of the Smalcald Articles states that the Gospel is communicated through the spoken word, Baptism, the holy Sacrament of the Altar, the power of keys, and the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren. (Emphasis mine.) By "Gospel," Lutherans usually mean God's undeserved Love for all people because of what Jesus Christ did and does for them. 22 of 71

Reformation, but is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. Because that is true, we are more likely to attract people who want to join a Church that is consciously and determinedly a part of that Church, than people who do not have that interest, or even oppose that interest for one reason or another. An easy, often inexpensive and effective way to reach those people with the Gospel and the Holy Sacraments is to make use of the many ceremonies, observances, customs and other usages that developed in the Church Catholic prior to the Reformation and that communicate the Gospel verbally or non-verbally or in both ways helping our Churches to grow both spiritually and numerically through the working of the Holy Spirit. That worked for Arthur Carl Piepkorn in the parishes he served and has worked for others who have followed this same three-step plan that is evident in his ARLC. To my knowledge this edition of the ARLC is the first edition of it to be published. It contains a great deal of information for architects and their staffs, and parish building programs, vestries, altar guilds, elders, and pastors about everything from "ablutions" to the "west wall" of the chancel, as the lengthy Index shows. Soli Deo Gloria

St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor, A.D. 2017 Philip James Secker, Th. D. 35 Sherwood Street Mansfield, Connecticut 06268 -2290 [email protected] www.Piepkorn.org 23 of 71

PART TWO

The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus20

Provenance and Credits

In his Introduction to this monograph Piepkorn states that the lectures that make it up “address themselves to the features of church design and to those ornaments for which the architect and his staff, including the artist-consultants, normally have responsibility and which come into consideration in connection with the actual cultus.” See his Introduction and section II of the ARLC. It is unfortunate that many books by Lutherans fail to point out the difference between worship understood essentially as faith, and worship understood as activity or even as a worship service.21 According to a note that appears at the top of The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus, and according to personal letters that Arthur Carl Piepkorn wrote on January 29 and September 23 in 1963,22 Piepkorn prepared and then delivered a series of lectures with that title at a Workshop on Church Art and Architecture at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis during the summer of 1962. According to the note, the original lectures were presented with the rubrics of The Lutheran Liturgy in mind.23 The lectures were recorded and given the identifying number NA4800 P5 and the date “1963,” but in 2012 the Library of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis had no record of the tapes. The Seminary, however, has a handwritten copy of the lectures that has been bound into a book.

20 "Cultus" refers to external ceremonies, observances and traditions neither commanded nor forbidden by God. Often called adiaphora. For a detailed definition, see footnote 29.## 21 See for example the following definition of “worship” from the Glossary of a recent Lutheran publication: "Worship" means: The service to which God calls and gathers his people to give to them the gift of life and salvation by means of Word and Sacrament.” (Lutheranism 101, eds. Scot A. Kinnaman and Laura L. Lane, St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 2010, p. 298. 22 These letters are in box 101, folder 13 “Liturgics and , 1963” of the Piepkorn Papers, which are in the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Hereafter, references to these papers will be cited as “Piepkorn Papers,” followed by the box number and the folder number. 23 I am indebted to Charles L. McClean for the following information, which I have edited slightly for inclusion here: The title page of The Lutheran Liturgy (no date) includes this statement: “Authorized by the Synods Constituting the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America.” It was clearly edited by the old Committee on Hymnology and Liturgics, or a subcommittee thereof. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has never “unauthorized” it nor, for that matter, has the Synod ever "unauthorized" Lutheran Worship (CPH 1981) or its altar book, nor the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn Book (CPH 1912) with its altar book Liturgy and , nor — for that matter — the Kirchengesangbuch für Ev.. Luth. Gemeinden Ungeänderter Augsburgischer Confessio or its accompanying Agende. The Kirchengesangbuch now appears in English translation as the recently published Walther's Hymnal (CPH 2012), which is a real treasure not to be missed! So I suppose all these books have some authority. If people would only confine themselves to these publications we'd be way ahead, but that is highly unlikely. Note that Piepkorn’s The Conduct of the Service begins with this sentence: “The use of the church bodies comprising the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America is contained in four books - The Lutheran Hymnal, The Lutheran Liturgy, The Lutheran , The Music for the Liturgy.” 24 of 71

In the January letter, Piepkorn wrote to a Rev. K. that

Dr. Richard R. Caemmerer gave the Rev. Edward S. Frey, of the Commission on Art and Architecture of the Lutheran Church in America, permission to reproduce the lectures, and I adapted them to the rubrics of the . . . . Adaptation back to our rite would be a very simple thing, since nothing substantial is involved.

In the second letter, Piepkorn wrote to a Mr. W.:

You might be interested in obtaining . . . from the Commission on Church Art and Architecture of the Lutheran Church in America a copy of my lectures before the Workshop on Art and Architecture at Concordia Seminary a year ago entitled "The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus."

The note at the top of the version that follows states that the original lectures have “been adapted for publication to contemplate the rubrics of the Service Book and Hymnal, since that is the rite followed by most Lutherans into whose hands they will come.” I found a mimeographed copy of the ARLC in my files, but do not recall when or how I obtained it. I do not know who typed the original typescript, whether Piepkorn himself or someone else. Whoever did it was often inconsistent in the use of emphasis, for example underlining the word “Service” but not the word “Book” in the phrase “Service Book.” Some words were underlined for no discernible reason (for example, the word “behind” in the phrase “behind the altar” in paragraph 50 found in section V. I have corrected the inconsistent underlining of “Service Book,” but have left other underlining as it was in the mimeographed copy, except that I have put foreign terms into italics. Piepkorn has translated the very few foreign language terms that he uses, but I have provided translations in the footnotes where it may not be obvious that he has done so. I have retained the paragraph formatting he used, but added the paragraph numbers in the parentheses. All of the footnotes are mine. The PDF version of the ARLC is computer searchable and should be searched that way because the Index may be incomplete. The Index is included for printed versions and provide readers with a list of the many different topics that are discussed in the ARLC. Many of the topics in the ARLC are discussed in Piepkorn's Altar Decorum24 and The Conduct of the Service,25 and in Charles L. McClean's The Conduct of the Services,26 all of which should also be consulted. McClean has given me invaluable help and wrote much of which is in several footnotes. All pastors and members of building committees will benefit from obtaining and reading his enlightening article ": Why the Celebrant Should Face East," Gottesdienst , Vol. 20, Number 2, Trinity (2012:2), pp. 13-16; Number 3, Michaelmas (2012:3), pp. 13-16; Number 4, Christmas (2012:4), pp.17-18. I am deeply indebted to Joe Morrison who typed out the entire Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus, and to McClean, Donald Veitengruber, Joel Westerholm, and Paul Schulz for proofreading the ARLC monograph, and to the latter for adding the paragraph numbers to the ARLC, and then finding those numbers and adding them to the Index. —Philip James Secker

24 St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, 1963. Spiral bound. 42 pages. 25 St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, Revised Edition, 1965, 1972, 1975, 2003. Spiral bound. 44 pp. This is a revised edition of Altar Decorum. Note that the word "Service" in the title is in the singular. 26 St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, 1970. Spiral bound, 130 pp. Note that "Services" is plural because the monograph covers Matins and Vespers, and Holy Eucharist II and III from the Worship Supplement, 1969. 25 of 71

THE EDITOR’S OUTLINE OF THE ARLC

The original copy of this document is divided into sections enumerated simply I. - VII. I added the headings below as a general guide to the content of each section.

Introduction

I. Three limiting principles applying to adiaphora

II. The Lutheran Symbols on Worship

III. The Service Book and Hymnal

IV. The Sacred Scriptures

V. Features of the church and chancel

VI. Features of the nave

VII. The and its furnishings and contents

Conclusion 26 of 71

THE ARCHITECTURAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE LUTHERAN CULTUS27

For architects and their staffs, and parish building programs, vestries, altar guilds, musicians , elders, and pastors.

1963

Arthur Carl Piepkorn (1907-1973+)

These lectures were prepared for and delivered at a Workshop on Church Art and Architecture held at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, a theological school of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, at which the author is professor of systematic theology. Originally presented with the rubrics of The Lutheran Liturgy in mind, these lectures have been adapted for publication to contemplate the rubrics of the Service Book and Hymnal,28 since that is the rite followed by most Lutherans into whose hands they will come.

Introduction

(1) The scope of these lectures is limited by the title. They address themselves to the features of church design and to those ornaments for which the architect and his staff, including the artist- consultants, normally have responsibility and which come into consideration in connection with the actual cultus.29 This definition excludes such aspects as overall decoration, construction materials, educational wings, and kitchens. In general no attempt will be made to suggest concrete solutions to the problems proposed by the requirement[s]30 of the Lutheran cultus. Where solutions are outlined, the author's purpose is to suggest a possible procedure without implying that the course proposed is the only feasible one or even the best one.

27 Hereafter cited as ARLC. I have added the paragraph numbers in parentheses at the beginning of all paragraphs in the body of this monograph to facilitate easy reference to them in the Index and elsewhere. I also added the captions that follow the Roman numerals I-VII. 28 Hereafter referred to as the Service Book. 29 Dictionaries define "cultus" as the totality of external religious practices and ceremonies and observances of a religion apart from the religion’s sacred writings and the personal faith of its believers. Piepkorn states that "external ceremonies instituted by men are not worship." (9) "Understood in the broadest possible sense," he adds, they "are nevertheless necessary conditions of worship," even though they need not be everywhere the same. (10.) An example of an external ceremony or practice is kneeling in the pews. If worshippers wish to do that, there must be room for them to do it. Likewise, if worshippers wish to kneel for Holy Communion, a communion rail is necessary. (21-22, 49-50) Apart from the fact that in Holy Baptism "facilities must be available to apply water in such a quantity that one can speak of a 'washing' and the further fact that in the celebration of the Holy Communion the communicants must be able to eat the consecrated bread that is the Lord's Body and drink the consecrated wine that is His Blood, there is nothing in the Sacred Scriptures that gives us concrete specifications" with regard to "what Lutheran theology has come to call indifferent things, or adiaphora." (2 and 11) The architect and the architect's staff need to know about these external ceremonies and the facilities needed for the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and Holy Absolution, if a special place for the latter is desired. DELETE THESE WORDS 30 The original has “requirement,” but I think that is a typo for "requirements." 27 of 71

I. Three limiting principles applying to adiaphora (2) It may be well to stress at the outset that in this discussion we shall be operating with concepts that belong in the realm of what Lutheran theology has come to call indifferent things, or adiaphora. That is to say, the architectural requirements of the Lutheran cultus are for the most part not matters that the Sacred Scriptures prescribe and that are therefore intrinsically obligatory. Apart from the fact that in Holy Baptism facilities must be available to apply water in such a quantity that one can speak of a "washing" and the further fact that in the celebration of the Holy Communion the communicants must be able to eat the consecrated bread that is the Lord's Body and drink the consecrated wine that is His Blood,31 there is nothing in the Sacred Scriptures that gives us concrete specifications about our theme. Beyond the items mentioned, the Biblical principle is very broad — things must be done decently, in an orderly fashion, and in such a way that the holy community is built up in Christ.

(3) This does not, however, mean that in the Lutheran Church each congregation or each clergyman is utterly a law unto itself or to himself, free to do as it or he chooses. As Lutherans we recognize certain limitations upon our freedom.

4) The first limiting principle is that of liturgical law. Paragraphs 53 to 56 of Article XXVIII of the Augsburg Confession endorse the concept of the jus liturgicum,32 which in the Lutheran churches of America is exercised at the highest level by the synodical body and in the case of the American Lutheran Church and of the Lutheran Church in America finds expression in the prescriptive ("shall") rubrics of the Service Book and Hymnal (Philadelphia: United Lutheran Publication House,© . 1958) and of other directives that competent authority may set forth from

31 Piepkorn was usually careful never to refer to the consecrated elements simply as “bread” and “wine.”

32 Piepkorn translates this term as “liturgical law” in the first line of this paragraph even though it is often translated less literally as “liturgical use.” Piepkorn often illustrated the distinction he is making in the first three paragraphs of this section of the monograph by making statements like this, which he made about what he termed “The Essentiality of ”: “The verbs in AC 14 (debeat/soll) allow no option; they are the same words which describe the indispensable relation of good works to faith in AC 6. They have the force of the modern “must” rather than “should.” (“The Sacred Ministry and Holy Ordination in the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church,” The Church, ALPB Books: 2006, p. 71.) It should be noted that this is true even where “should” is used as the translation, as it is in AC 6 and 14 in the Tappert and Kolb-Wengert editions. In contrast, the verbs used in AC 15 (halten, servandi sint), have the meaning “are to be observed” and “should be observed,” rather than “must be observed.” Cf. the non-idiomatic translation of the German text of AC 15 in the Kolb-Wengert” edition: “it is taught to keep.” 28 of 71 time to time. So understood, these rubrics33 are obligatory, not in the sense that they bind under mortal sin,34 but in the sense that they represent in the area of worship the desirable measure of uniformity in practice that is one of the reasons for the creation of a synodical organization.

Congregations and clergymen ought not, therefore, nullify them or violate them without some cause that is graver than mere personal or parochial preference. There is ample room outside the area covered by the prescriptive rubrics for the exercise of a legitimate individuality.

(5) The prescriptive rubrics of the rites of the Lutheran Churches in America are not perfect. They have often been drafted by individuals unskilled in the difficult art of precise formulation. Too frequently their authors seem to have felt that archaistic language is a sufficient substitute for accurate phrasing. Often committees have worked them over so extensively that, while the committee members may have known at the time what they intended the rubrics to say, the rubrics themselves are at best ambiguous and at worst unintelligible. Like most laws the rubrics reflect in detail the culture and circumstances of the period immediately preceding their formulation; their implications for the future have rarely been thought through. Nevertheless, they are there, and their intent can be determined with reasonable accuracy. To that extent they ought to be accepted. Where they are inadequate, or where they are bad, there is always the possibility of having them changed in the next revision. Until then, they should be observed. To allow a local idiosyncrasy of a congregation or a personal peculiarity of a pastor to determine a permanent architectural feature of a church against the mind of the church-at-large as the prescriptive rubrics of the Service Book expresses it, is not merely disloyal, but it is also an offense against future congregations and pastors who will use the building and who may thereby be discouraged, dissuaded or prevented from a loyal obedience to the mind of the larger community.

33 Rubrics are directions.They are called “rubrics” from the Latin word for “red” because they were written or printed in red ink in the old service books to distinguish them from the liturgical texts that were written or printed in black ink. According to the Rev. Charles L. McClean two kinds of directions are called rubrics: “1) rubrics in the strict sense of the directions found in the authorized service book of the church, and 2) supplementary directions taken not from authorized service books but from the ceremonial tradition. Piepkorn’s The Conduct of the Service (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, Revised Edition 1965. 44 pp. 1972, 1975, 2003, which was based on his earlier Altar Decorum) and my The Conduct of the Services (Concordia Seminary Print Shop in 1970) are examples of the second kind of rubrics. As far as I can tell, Fr. Piepkorn deals only with 1) in The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus. We shall always need 1), and this type of rubric in fact continues to appear in our own and in the service books of the other liturgical parts of Christendom.” (Email to me, February 28, 2013.) Here are examples of the former in Divine Service, Setting One of the Lutheran Service Book, which was prepared by the Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (CPH 2006): “A HYMN OF INVOCATION may be sung.” (p. 151) The word “may” means that a rubric is optional. “During Advent and , the HYMN OF PRAISE is omitted.” (p. 154) The word “is” means that a rubric is obligatory, not in an absolute sense, but in the sense defined by Piepkorn. Here are examples of rubrics from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg Fortress, 2006): “The service may begin with confession and forgiveness.” (p. 94) “The assembly is seated.” (p. 102) 34 1 John 5:16-17. A sin that causes a believer to lose his or her faith by driving out the Holy Spirit. 29 of 71

(6) The second limiting principle is that of custom. The Lutheran liturgical principle is conservative, as the first paragraph of Article XV of the Augsburg Confession clearly shows. Even the prescriptive rubrics leave many areas of procedure and practice undecided. The history of Christian worship abundantly illustrates the fact that the actual liturgical practice of a place cannot be determined by consulting the service books. Thus no rubrics prescribed the use of the houseling cloths that Blessed introduced into the worship of the Church in Brunswick when he became Superintendent there, nor did rubrics prescribe the candles that were given to newly baptized children (in the person of their sponsors) in Lutheran Silesia for three and a quarter centuries after the Reformation. Custom is a flexible criterion; customs arise and disappear. What is, is not always right or desirable or defensible or expedient. In general, the principle of custom ought to be interpreted in the interest of the broadest conformity with the best practice of all of Lutheranism or all of Christendom.

(7) The third limiting principle is that of propriety. This is also a flexible criterion. Canons of propriety vary. Certain attitudes, however, are a common possession of Christians. We sense that that which is hallowed by its purpose or use in divine service should not be profaned by its use, disposal, or storage outside of divine service. We agree too that the Creator of beauty deserves to have the most beautiful things used in His worship that His worshippers in their respective situations are able to provide. We realize that the God who is to be worshipped not only in the Spirit but also in truth ought not to be insulted with dishonesties of design, material, or construction.

II. The Lutheran Symbols on Worship (8) We have already referred a number of times to the Lutheran Symbols, to which Lutherans customarily and properly appeal after the Sacred Scriptures.35 We look to the Book of Concord in vain, however, for any great amount of concrete guidance in connection with worship.

(9) Worship in its essence, say the Symbolical Books, is faith36 in God through Christ and faith in God through Christ is worship. That is to say, worship is the human response to God's revelation of His gracious self and His gracious will; it is an authentic sacrifice — although Eucharistic rather than expiatory in character. There can be no real worship except by Christians. Worship includes faith and the exercises and signs of faith. It is not restricted to religious services. External ceremonies instituted by men are not worship. To offer such ceremonies to God with the intention of meriting grace and forgiveness is wrong and impious.

35 Since Lutheran pastors and teachers are sworn to interpret the Sacred Scriptures according to the Book of Concord, Piepkorn does not mean “after” in a chronological sense, but in the sense that we believe that the Book of Concord is an accurate interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, which are “the only true norm according to which all teachers and teachings are to be judged and evaluated.” The Book of Concord is also a norm, but a norm with a different function, namely, that by which “all other writings are to be approved and accepted, judged and regulated.” Solid Declaration, Summary Formulation, 1., 2; and 10. See also The Sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, pp. xxxi-xxxviii. 36The documentation — including the actual text of the Symbols in most cases — of the statements made in the following paragraphs is in Piepkorn’s What the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church Have to Say About Worship and the Sacraments (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1952. 41 pages). 30 of 71

(10) External ceremonies, understood in the broadest possible sense, are nevertheless necessary conditions of worship. They need not be everywhere alike, and revisions are permissible and may be necessary from time to time. The authority to change the external ceremonies of public worship is vested in the Church — not, be it noted, exclusively in the laity of a local congregation. The exercise of this authority, according to the Symbolical Books, is assigned to the pastors of the Church. Their exercise of this authority, however, is subject to certain restrictions: Matters decreed by divine right cannot be changed lawfully by human dispensation; legitimate changes must be made circumspectly; pastors cannot set forth any ceremony as necessary in the sense that noncompliance could be regarded as a mortal sin; they cannot set forth a ceremony as meriting grace or forgiveness or justification or as capable of making satisfaction for sin; they cannot set forth or abrogate ceremonies with the intention of suggesting that there is no essential difference between the Church of the Augsburg Confession and a heretical communion; nor can they in time of persecution compromise with the enemy on intrinsically indifferent ceremonial matters in order to escape persecution.

(11) One church should not criticize another church merely because the latter has fewer or more humanly instituted external ceremonies of public worship. External ceremonies have value in that they are pedagogically useful, contribute to external decency and order, help to identify the external society of the Church, and are vehicles of private and corporate devotion. To realize these values fully, ceremonies must be explained and understood; this is a responsibility of the Christian home, the Christian school, and the Christian Church.

(12) Concretely the Lutheran rites of the Reformation century — like the Lutheran doctrinal formulations of the Reformation century — reflect the fact that the Church of the Augsburg Confession is consciously and determinedly a part of the Catholic Church of the West.37 Absolutely considered and in essence, the Reformers are saying, we could be very radical without sinning against an express precept of God; actually we recognize an obligation, born of our historic past and our historic situation, not to exercise the liberty that we could theoretically invoke. As little as they felt that they could dispense with the doctrinal categories, formulations, and terminology, which they had inherited, so little did they feel themselves competent to dispense with their inherited worship categories and formulations. Both categories comprised symbols. Absolutely considered, these symbols were only the vehicles, the shells, the husks, the larvae38 of the divine truth; the theology of the Reformers used verbal symbols, their worship

37 Our Church is a part of the Western Catholic Church, which is a part of the Catholic Church or "Church Catholic" referred to in the creeds and in the Book of Concord. To my knowledge, neither the Book of Concord nor Piepkorn ever uses or used the term “the Roman Catholic Church” to refer to the Church that existed prior to the Council of Trent, which met off and on from 1545-63 in Trento in northern Italy. From sometime in the 1930s on, Piepkorn repeatedly taught that the Lutheran Church (which he preferred to refer to as The Church of the Augsburg Confession) took on its particular form at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, and that the Roman Catholic Church that we know of today took on its particular "Counter-Reformation" form at the Council of Trent. That means that the Church of the Augsburg Confession is both logically (because the Roman Catholic Church that we know of is a "Counter-Reformation Church,"and chronologically prior to the Roman Catholic Church that we know of today. 38 Latin for mask. 31 of 71 used ceremonial symbols. But in both areas the symbol and the thing symbolized — when considered concretely, actually and historically — coalesced and could not without great peril be separated.

(13) The Reformers are familiar with the Greek rite and with the liturgical pronouncements of the Fathers of the undivided Church, and they cite both in support of their doctrinal position when appropriate. The basis of their liturgical rites and ceremonies, however, is the medieval Western rite as the Church in northern Europe observed it at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Unlike the Anglican Reformers, the Lutheran Reformers are not concerned about any large-scale conformation of their rite either to the Eastern Church's rite or to surviving accounts of the rites of the Primitive Church.

(14) The sixteenth century saw the beginning of extensive innovations in Roman39 ritual and ceremonial. In general, these innovations had not reached a great many of the ecclesiastical provinces of Northern Europe by the time that the Reformation began. Consequently they exerted only slight influence on the historic Lutheran rite.

(15) Where the historic Lutheran rite has been retained or restored, it generally reveals a purer and older form of the Western rite than the reformed Roman Catholic rite of today exhibits. This early sixteenth century Lutheran liturgical conservatism is significant. It gives us a denominationally and confessionally distinctive rite to which we have historic title and which we have not dreamed up out of our own imagination or lately borrowed from alien — that is, Roman Catholic, Anglican or Protestant — sources. It gives us a rite which is an invaluable symbol of the antiquity, the historic continuity, and the thorough catholicity of the Church of the Augsburg Confession. At the same time it gives us a rite which is generally older than, and significantly and recognizably different from, the present Roman Catholic rite.

(16) The iconoclasts of their day — the Reformed Protestants and the left-wing Radicals — brought strong pressure on the Lutheran Reformers as being too conservative. Reactionary sources in turn criticized the Lutherans as having exercised too much Christian liberty. Still the Lutheran Reformers followed their conservative liturgical principle. Architectural features among the traditional elements which the Lutheran

39 By “Roman” Piepkorn means the Church of Rome and churches that chose to affiliate with it. Elsewhere he refers to the Church in the West as “the Western Catholic Church,” or “the Church of the West,” or the “Western Church.” He also refers at times to “the medieval Church.” He believed that the late medieval Western Church continued in the form of the Church of the Augsburg Confession (which was given the name “Lutheran” by its adversaries) after the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, and in the form of the Roman Catholic Church after the Council of Trent, which met at Trento in northern Italy off and on from 1545-63. He never uses the term “Roman Catholic” to refer to any Church prior to the Council of Trent. Thus “Romanizing” can only refer to borrowing from the Roman Catholic Church after 1563, a practice he had no interest in doing. The authors of the Book of Concord refer to themselves as "Catholics" and "evangelicals," but never as "Lutherans." Piepkorn recommended that we omit the word "Lutheran" from the names of our congregations unless it is needed for identification. Church signs could have, for example, St. Paul's Church on top, with "Lutheran," or "LC-MS," or "The Church of the Lutheran Hour" underneath for further identification. He was not ashamed of the word "Lutheran," but felt doing this emphasizes that we are Christians first, Western Catholics second and Lutherans third, and members of the Missouri Synod or of another Lutheran judicatory only fourth. 32 of 71

Reformers retained and which the Symbolical Books specifically mention with at least implicit approval are: Altars, Eucharistic and other vestments, fonts, candles, and sacred vessels of gold for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. In addition, the Church orders,40 the private writings of the blessed Reformers, and the iconographic evidence of the period indicates that the Reformation retained generally statues and images, stained glass windows, organs, choirs, the fabric ornaments of the altar, altar paintings and polyptychs, processional crucifixes, funeral palls,41 houseling cloths,42 tower bells, sacring bells,43 censers, and sacristies. The tradition of the sixteenth century continued to be cultivated and cherished during the era of classic Lutheranism that extended into the eighteenth century, nourished by a clear awareness on the part of the Lutherans of a fundamental (their own word) difference between them and Roman Catholicism on the one hand and between them and Reformed Protestantism on the other.

(17) The Reformers' critical evaluation of the rites and ceremonies which they had inherited led to a general simplification of their services and to the actual dropping of many ceremonies as heretical. Of architectural interest is the disappearance (or at least the disuse) of the ecclesiastical ornaments used in the cult of the such as the ornamental aumbries44 known as Sacramentshaüschen,45 the processional canopies, and the monstrance or ostensoria;46 the elimination of the ornaments involved in the use of (such as stoups47 and aspersories48); the elimination of chantries,49 of most side altars and of many chapels; and the abolition of (both those used for the exhibition of ' and those sealed into the mensa50 of a church altar or incorporated into a portable altar stone). The decline of

40 Orders of worship. 41 Search this document for descriptions of Holy Communion and funeral palls. 42 A band of linen held by two servers in front of the kneeling communicants to prevent the inadvertent falling to the ground of a consecrated host or of a spilled drop or two of consecrated wine. Search the document for a Lutheran service that Martin Luther attended at which one was used. 43 A small bell or set of bells that are rung at the of the Body and during a Holy Communion service. 44 A recessed cupboard in the wall of a church near the altar, used to store consecrated bread and wine left over from a Holy Communion service. 45 Literally, houses for the Sacrament. 46 A monstrance or an ostensorium is a vessel originally designed to display relics of saints, now usually used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and Anglican churches to display the consecrated Eucharistic host during or the of the . 47 A stoup is a basin or font for holy water located at the entrance of a church. 48 An aspersory is a container for holding Holy Water. The is a stick-shaped implement with holes in it to dip into the aspersory and catch the Holy Water for sprinkling the people and things. 49 Endowments to cover expenses for the saying of masses and prayers, usually for the soul of the founder of the endowment. Here an altar or chapel endowed for the saying of such masses and prayers. 50 The top of the altar. 33 of 71 monasticism and of large chapters in collegiate churches led to the abandonment of the typical monastic chapel architecture.

(18) The double nature of the Church's corporate worship in Reformation thought should also be stressed. It was looked upon as a cultus, that is, as a sacrifice51 — defined as a ceremony or work which we render to God in order to afford Him honor and to give thanks and return gratitude for the forgiveness of sins that we have received or for other benefits that He has imparted. But it was also looked upon as an occasion for receiving the divine grace — in the chants and lessons from the Sacred Scriptures, in the and hymns and spiritual songs not of divine inspiration in which the Church incorporated and attested and proclaimed its faith, in the prayers of the Church, in the sermons, and, at the chief Sunday and holy day service or services, in the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of Christ. The sacramental and sacrificial aspects were not put into tension or opposition. The sacrificial aspect provided the framework for the sacramental aspect. While the values of the sermon were generously praised and the assertion was made — not in the Symbolic Books, however — that if the Word of God were not proclaimed it would be better for the people not to assemble, the service was not merely a liturgical framework for the sermon, a kind of supplementary embellishment to protract the service to a minimum of sixty minutes. While there were some services which consisted chiefly of sermons, this was not true of the main parochial services of the Lutheran Church. (The "sermon-church-building," the Predigtkirche, is a late 18th century development.)

(19) The ideal was a celebration of the Holy Communion with a sermon on the liturgical Gospel for the day. In passing, it might also be observed that proportionately fewer hymns were sung and that the organ was an integral part of the service and not merely a "chest of whistles" manipulated to provide mood music and to support the lackadaisical singing of a congregation.

(20) Holy Baptism was administered at fonts of invariably generous size, frequently located in roomy baptisteries so sited that the symbolism of Baptism as the sacrament of entrance into the holy community was obvious; very often the mode of infant Baptism was by immersion. Holy Absolution was administered individually — usually in a confessional, which at least in the seventeenth century was on occasion almost indistinguishable from the kind familiar to us in the Roman Catholic Church. Holy Matrimony was administered either at a designated portal of the church or in the church. Funerals, at least those of the more prominent members of the church, were held in the church.

III. The Service Book and Hymnal (21) We turn now to the Service Book. Its rubrics contemplate the following things and features: A church; a chancel in which there is an altar and sufficient space for the minister and the communicants (and, if Holy Absolution be accompanied by an individual laying on of hands, for the penitents); a space for the congregation, designed to permit the congregation to stand and to kneel; a book — either a Bible or a lectionary — from which the liturgical lessons are read;

51 Defined as a Eucharistic sacrifice in paragraph 9. 34 of 71

"proper” vessels for the administration of the Holy Communion; a container or containers in which to receive and carry to the altar the offerings of the faithful; facilities for administering Holy Baptism; altar candles; altar hangings; falls for pulpit and lectern (if these ornaments are in use in the church in question); stoles; a fair linen cloth on the altar; a ; a pall; purificators; at least one ; at least one burse.52

(22) Not prescribed, or, as far as the rubrics of the services contained in the Service Book are concerned, not even implied, are a communion rail, a lectern, a pulpit, kneeling-desks, clergy seats, and hymn-boards (to say nothing of a , houseling cloths, a processional crucifix, processional candles, tenebrae hearses53 and banners).

IV. The Sacred Scriptures (23) There is no such thing as a Biblical justification for any ground plan. The Sacred Scriptures nowhere in the New Testament prescribe any particular relationship of nave to chancel, any specific shape, any particular place for the or organ, any set ratio of width to length to height, any specific materials, any architectural or artistic style, or idiom. That is not to say that the way in which the Sacred Scriptures were understood or taught in a given period or at a given place did not have an effect upon the architecture and adornment of the churches built in that area and in that period. Nor is it to deny that the effort has been made to provide Biblical justifications for particular ground plans, styles, and idioms. The inclination to vindicate one's preferences by an appeal to Sacred Scripture is an incurable malaise of fallen man. But to use Holy Scripture for this purpose is a misuse, just as it is a misuse of Holy Scripture to make of it a textbook of history, of botany, of geography, or of natural science.

(24) We are told from time to time that a particular architectural feature, or ground plan, or style symbolizes something. This is quite possible; a reasonably ingenious person, especially a theologian, can make almost anything symbolize almost anything. But the symbolism is always posterior to the sign; that is, the symbolism is always read into the sign, and the sign rarely is wholly self-explanatory. Thus it may well be that a particular ground plan, or style, or idiom has in a particular culture come to have a significance that makes it unusable; but then the theological fault lies in the symbolism that is read into the sign and not in the sign itself.

(25) If now we rightly avoid the temptation to vindicate our preferences by an appeal to Scripture, we ought to be just as alert to avoid the equally dark opposite impulse and to invoke a species of natural theology to justify our preferences. There is nothing particularly holy or metaphysically right about a rectangle or a parabola or an ellipse or a circle or a sphere or an octagon or a square or a cube or the number three or the color blue or any other shape or number

52 Search the document for descriptions of these items. 53 Tenebrae (Latin for 'shadows' or 'darkness') is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of . The distinctive ceremony of Tenebrae is the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms is chanted or recited. A tenebrae hearse is a candlestick with 15 candles used during the service. 35 of 71 or color. Only the credulous who enjoy swallowing myths or believing in magic will imagine that there is.

(26) The range of shapes that churches have historically taken is marked by the basilica at one end of the continuum and at the other end by the circular (or polygonal, usually octagonal) church with the altar more or less central and the congregation more or less surrounding the altar. The intermediate variations are innumerable.

(27) Historically, the best case can be made for the basilica, but certain practical considerations speak for the circular shape under certain circumstances. It has the very great advantage of putting the maximum number of people close to the center of the action. If our worship were primarily a stylized drama, as much pagan worship is, the circular shape would be an almost ideal choice. But where, as in our case, a large part of the service is kerygmatic54 and didactic, a central altar presents a double problem: First, it is difficult to locate the preacher in a place where he has the whole congregation in his direct view; second, with different elements of the congregation facing one another, the problem of distraction is an almost insuperable one.

(28) The basilican plan calls for (1) a sanctuary, usually hemispherical or polygonal in plan, containing the altar and seats for the clergy, and (2) a place for the congregation. The latter area is basically rectangular, but the addition of aisles enables it to approximate a square. Originally the choir had its place more or less centrally located in the congregation's area. The floor is generally flat.

(29) In the interest of economy and flexibility, lofts or galleries were sometimes erected for women, for noble families, for cloistered monastics, for choirs, and for organs and organ consoles.

V. Features of the church and chancel (30) The central feature of the church and of the chancel or sanctuary is the altar.55 For the sake of altar visibility and emphasis there is virtue in having the chancel raised above the level of the nave and the altar raised above the level of the chancel. Chancel steps and altar steps must, however, be used with discretion. The smaller the church, the fewer and the lower must be the steps. In most churches as we now build them, a single step from the nave to the chancel and a single step from the chancel to the altar footpace is quite adequate. Only a huge church needs to have the chancel raised the traditional three steps and the altar the traditional three steps more.

(31) The altar itself has only one relatively fixed dimension. Since males average 68 inches in height,56 the altar must be 39 inches to 42 inches high. Toe space should be provided, so that the

54 Kerygma is an English transliteration of the Greek New Testament word for the proclamation of the gospel. A kerygmatic sermon is one that proclaims the gospel. 55 Piepkorn nowhere mentions “pulpit-altars” in this monograph. See the “Note on “Pulpit/Altars” below. 56 In 2013, the average height is about 69 inches. 36 of 71 officiant can stand close to the altar. The traditional material for the altar is stone. An altar of wood is regarded as a temporary one. The altar traditionally should rest upon the earth. If there is a space below the chancel, such as a basement, a shaft is traditionally installed to carry the altar. The top of the altar must be a minimum of 30 inches across, to accommodate an outspread corporal, but it should not be a great deal deeper. The width of the altar will be determined by the design of the church and the scale of the chancel. The earliest altars were often square. An important issue today is the relationship of the officiant to the altar, whether he stands in front of it while officiating or behind it, facing the congregation across the altar.57 A position in front of the altar is probably implied by the rubrics but they do not explicitly say so and it would be possible technically to conform to them in the "basilican" or "westward" position. This position has undeniable advantages: it is easier to maintain rapport with the congregation, and it eliminates one problem with which some converts and potential converts have difficulty, usually expressed in the complaint: "The pastor turns his back on the people."

(32) It is also undeniable that the basilican position is more demanding and exacting from the officiant's point of view, in that there are no merciful interludes when he can turn away from the congregation. Hence it requires greater attention to appearance and posture and gestures, since all of the officiant's actions take place in full view of the people.

(33) While the basilican type of free-standing altars has been uncommon in Lutheran circles in the recent past, the earliest Lutheran churches to be constructed in the sixteenth century had altars of this type. The trend in Western liturgical denominations is in the direction of the basilican position; it is no longer to be regarded as a concession to Protestantism, especially if other concessions to Protestantism are not simultaneously made. No new Lutheran church should be built which does not contemplate the possibility of the basilican position, even though for the time being the officiant may continue to minister in front of the altar. The altar itself should

57 I am indebted to the Rev. Charles L. McClean for this explanation: "Research that was not available when this monograph was prepared has established the fact that the celebration facing the people was not common in Christian antiquity. To be sure most altars were free standing. But what mattered was not 'facing the people' but facing east. And so if the chancel happened to be at the west rather than the customary east end of the church (as in the case of Peter's in Rome), the celebrant would stand behind the altar not in order to ‘face the people’ but so that he might pray toward the east. The church sees in Christ the Sun of Righteousness, the Dawn from on High who will at the Last Day gather His saints for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of which the Eucharist is pledge and foretaste. Cf. Uwe Michael Lang, Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004); Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), The Spirit of the Liturgy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), p.78. In a letter to Dr. Peter Brunner dated December 4, 1974, Dr. Hermann Sasse questioned Dr. Brunner's advocacy of the [Latin for facing the people] celebration and defended the eastward position, noting among other things that ‘the anticipated Parousia takes place so to speak on the altar’ (Dr. Hermann Sasse, “Corpus Christi: Ein Beitrag zum Problem der Abendmahlskonkordie” [translated by C. McClean], Lutherische Blätter, 31. Jahrgang, Nr.117-118 hrsg. von Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf [Erlangen: Verlag der Ev. Luth. Mission, 1979], pp. 105f) cited by Charles L. McClean, "Ad Orientem: Why the Celebrant Should Face East" (Part 1) in Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy, Vol. 20, No. 2 (2012:2), pp. 13-16).” Email sent to me by by Charles L. McClean, on St. Thomas Apostle Day, A.D. 2012. 37 of 71 accordingly stand with at least five feet between it and the back wall of the chancel, or it should be capable of ultimately being moved forward at least that much. Actually the distance can be greater. In the ancient churches with semicircular apses, the altar stood with its front edge on the diameter formed by the juncture of chancel and nave. If some kind of temporary compromise is called for, the altar may be of normal width and the footpace should extend a minimum of 36" on the front and sides and to the back wall behind the altar.

(34) If the relatively small altar of the primitive church is used, the problem of making the altar architecturally significant may arise. In a large church the traditional solution is a canopy supported on pillars. In a smaller church a hanging tester may well serve this purpose; or one can suspend a crucifix or a corona of candles over the altar. The cupola or dome over the altar admitting light from above is an Eastern solution. Solutions using contemporary lighting techniques and contemporary idioms deserve to be canvassed.

(35) Strictly speaking, the altar should be completely covered on all sides and at all times (except when the altar is stripped during the triduum sacrum,58 from Maundy Thursday through Holy Saturday). This is true regardless of the material or the degree of ornamentation of the altar. The frontal should depend to the floor or at least to the top of the toe space. If the altar stands free, the frontal should be duplicated at least on the opposite face and it may also be duplicated on the sides paralleling the long axis of the church, since according to the Service Book rubric the fair linen cloth depends only one third or two thirds of the way to the long axis of the church floor. (The rubric of The Lutheran Liturgy allows it to depend all the way to the floor.)

(36) The frontlet (sometimes called superfrontal) is merely a device for concealing the rods and hooks from which the frontal is suspended. It also serves as a convenience in permitting the changing of frontals without stripping the altar. Where this convenience can be dispensed with, the frontlet is not necessary. It should not be used in lieu of, but only in addition to, the frontal. Strictly speaking, the use of the frontlet without a frontal — common as the practice has become through unthinking imitation — is comparable to the action of an individual who would carefully don a belt with a beautiful buckle or suspenders with a captivating pattern but neglect to put on the trousers that the belt or suspenders exist to support.59

(37) Panels of material suspended from various parts of the altar are not satisfactory substitutes for a proper frontal. The frontal need not be of fabric, but may be of wood or metal. The frontal should be in the color of the day or season; the frontlet, if used, can be of a material that will harmonize with all the frontals that will be used with it. The rubric of the first and second editions of the Service Book requiring that the fair linen cloth be a "span in front" of the altar has been dropped in the Third Printing.

58 Latin for “The Three Sacred [Days],” Maundy Thursday through Holy Saturday. 59 This illustration is typical of Piepkorn’s dry sense of humor. 38 of 71

(38) The altar should be so designed that the celebrant can actually minister from either the front or the rear. That is, the should not be permanently built into the altar, nor should the electric wiring for control switches, microphones, and other devices be introduced in such a way that the altar can be used in only one position. (Actually such items should not be installed on or in the altar at all. If microphones are to be used about the altar either for radio-television or for a public address system, the architect should solicit the cooperation of competent technicians early in the planning, so that it will not be necessary to have microphones standing on or built into the altar; microphone designers have achieved such a level of competence that a well designed and executed installation will obviate the necessity of microphones on the altar or on the celebrant.)

(39) Octagonal or circular altars and bizarre shapes (such as lozenge-shapes, break-fronts, or circular counters with the celebrant in the middle) should be avoided.

(40) The altar may have incised upon it at the four corners and at the center five crosses with arms of equal length, traditionally symbols of the five holy wounds of our Lord, and these may be embroidered in white thread in the fair linen cloth. Otherwise, it is not customary to embroider the fair linen cloth.

(41) Wherever the altar stands, it should not have a gradine60 at the rear. The Lutheran tradition preserves the common pre-Reformation practice of putting the candlesticks and crucifix directly on the altar mensa. Where the gradine is used in Lutheran churches, it is generally, either directly or indirectly, an importation from Roman Catholic practice.

(42) The ornaments of the altar are two candlesticks, which have their proper place at the extremities of the altar (not immediately to the right and left of the crucifix). Here again the Lutheran tradition preserves a more primitive practice than the four, six or seven candles of the Roman rite. In the case of a small altar of the primitive type, the two candles on the altar can be replaced by candlesticks standing on the chancel floor near the altar or by olive oil lamps suspended over the altar. The two altar candles are to be lit for all services; the idea that they are to be used only for the Holy Communion is a misconception that arose in the course of the so- called Catholic Revival in Anglicanism and that has become current in Lutheran circles through overly credulous acceptance of dubious authorities.

(43) A third candle, the so-called "Sanctus light," lit from the Preface to the end of the Communion of the people, may be affixed to a wall of the chancel on the so-called side.

(44) The use of candelabra on the altar itself should be avoided. If something of this sort is desired or necessary the candelabra should be tall enough to stand on the chancel floor near the altar.

60 A ledge above or behind an altar on which candles, a cross, or other ornaments stand. 39 of 71

(45) Somewhere about the chancel, in the Lutheran tradition, there should be a representation of the , not merely a cross. Generally this has taken the form of a crucifix upon the altar, although if there is a large crucifix or a so-called (Our Lord on the cross, flanked by the Mother of God and St. John) at the entrance to the chancel, either on the -beam or suspended in the form of a hanging rood,61 no crucifix on the altar is necessary. The same would be true if there were a large crucifix or a pictorial or mosaic representation of the Crucifixion on the back wall of the chancel, or if a crucifix were suspended over the altar. In the past this crucifix has generally been realistic in idiom, but there is no reason why a symbolic crucifix of the Christus Triumphator62 or Christus-Rex-et-Sacerdos63 type should not be employed. The suggestion that a cross without a corpus is Evangelical over against a Roman Catholic cross with a corpus, or that the crucifixion represents Christ defeated in His passion while the empty cross is the Easter cross of triumph, are both myths. They ultimately go back to the encounter of the so-called Catholic Revival in Anglicanism with the basic of that denomination and its doughty insistence that a crucifix is an idol whose graven image is of the kind that the Protestant "Second Commandment" forbids.

(46) Whether or not the altar is of the type that has become common in the Western tradition, set close to the back wall of the chancel, with the celebrant officiating with his back to the people, the treatment of the east wall area behind the altar may receive a considerable amount of architectural attention. The possibilities are almost endless — a dossal curtain64, with or without a tester and with or without side or riddel curtains; a mural painting or mosaic; a reredos65, painted or carved; a triptych or polyptych that can be wholly or partly closed at different seasons so as to present a varying appearance in the course of the church's year; a stained glass window (provided, of course, that natural light is available to shine through it). The gigantic cross of wood or metal projecting from the wall, on or off center, and sometimes silhouetted by indirect fluorescent lighting, has become so trite that even good examples suffer from the hackneyed imitations; a moratorium on this particular device (and on the triple cross) is long overdue. Some of the examples could be rescued by attaching a decent corpus. An ancient tradition, worthy of wider emulation, is to use the area above the altar, however treated, to identify by means of a symbol or a graphic representation the mystery or the person after which the Church is named. Too many Lutheran churches do not have in their interior even the faintest suggestion of the name which the congregation has chosen for itself.

61 “Rood” was originally the only Old English word for the instrument of Jesus Christ’s death. In churches, the rood or rood cross is often a roughly life-size crucifix with figure usually of carved wood displayed at the chancel arch, often on a rood beam spanning the nave at the entrance to the chancel. 62 Latin for The Triumphant Christ. 63 Latin for Christ, King and . 64 A curtain behind the altar. 65 An altarpiece, or a screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images. 40 of 71

(47) The chancel requires, if only for practical reasons, that it be roomy and uncluttered. Traffic- ways should contemplate an absolute minimum of three feet of width at such points as the steps about the altar, the entrance to the pulpit, the space between the altar rails; much greater width is desirable. Standard candlesticks and candelabra, flower-stands, planters, Christmas-tree stands, and sockets for banners, processional crucifixes, and (if they cannot be avoided) national and so- called "church" flags,66 require an absolute minimum radius of three feet at the least of clear space about them in every direction; more is desirable. The smaller the church the more serious attention should be given to eliminating these ornaments. Sometimes candelabra can be attached to the wall. So can sockets for banners and processional crucifixes. (Sockets for national, state and other flags can be affixed to the west wall of the church.) Even for a small church a minimum chancel depth of seventeen feet is almost essential. The width should be in scale; if the nave is well-designed the chancel will not be (if at all) narrower than the nave.

(48) Unless the seats for the clergy are behind the altar (that is, normally against the back wall of the chancel), they should be at the sides of the chancel facing the altar, not the congregation. They should not flank the altar. Increasing numbers of Lutheran clergymen are coming to wear a at the celebration of the Holy Communion, in line with the primitive Christian and historic Lutheran tradition. Cognizance should be taken of this by eliminating, or at least greatly reducing in height, the back of the clergy sedilia67 so that with a minimum of effort the back of the chasuble (or a ) can be dropped over the back of the clergy seat. A portable kneeling desk that can be set before the officiant's seat at matins and vespers is useful, but a permanent kneeling-desk can be inconvenient at other services. Increasingly Lutheran parishes are — again in line with ancient precedent — availing themselves of the use of ministrants about the altar. These should be seated with the clergy, or at least in the chancel. Provision should therefore normally be made for six seats, three on a side; this would take care of the celebrant, a liturgical deacon and , a and two servers; room should be provided for an additional two or four seats on each side for occasions of special dignity. (49) A kneeling-desk in front of the altar steps is not necessary. The celebrant and his ministers (if he has them) should kneel on the floor or against the center of the lowest step — not at the (if there is one) to the right or left of the central opening in it. If the celebrant is physically so frail that he cannot kneel without support, let the ministrants kneeling at his side help him to kneel and rise. An altar rail is (1) unnecessary, and (2) a relatively recent piece of church furniture. If one must be used, certain considerations arise. First, the anatomical structure of the users must be considered. The kneelers of most altar rails are too high; including the pad, they should not be more than six inches above the ground. The tops of the kneelers should be flat; the communicants should kneel on them, not against them. The pads should be fairly firm without being uncomfortably hard and unyielding. The rail should be psychologically as transparent as possible so as to interpose a minimum of visual interference between the altar and the worshippers when the rails are not in use. The smaller the church the more important this

66 Congregations that serve international students or international visitors should be aware of the misleading impression that a national flag can give. 67 Latin for “seats” or “chairs” 41 of 71 consideration becomes. A rail of wood or stone is almost always a visual barrier; it is made worse when the space between the uprights is filled in with panels. Properly designed wrought metal altar rails, finished unobtrusively, are most likely to achieve this ideal of psychological transparency; they can be very inexpensive, but they also allow scope for significant elaboration and ornament where the wealth of the parish makes this desirable.

(50) Although no rail should extend solidly across the chancel, any kind of gate arrangement is quite unnecessary and is likely to be a nuisance. The time for the reception of Holy Communion should be reduced to the fewest minutes possible without unseemly haste. Administering Holy Communion by rails, even if there be only the celebrant distributing both the Body and Blood of Our Lord, is a waste of time. As the number of celebrations increases in the direction of the Lutheran and early Christian norm of every parochial service every Sunday and major holy day, and as the number of communicants increases in the direction of the Lutheran and early Christian ideal of every communicant present receiving, such wasting of time demands elimination. A very minor change in practice is all that is needed. The Service Book does not prescribe the formula of at all; it explicitly permits its use once "after all have been communicated." It directs the minister to say to each communicant only the ancient formulas: "The , given for thee," and "The Blood of Christ, shed for thee." Let each communicant be taught to rise from the rail immediately after receiving Our Lord's Precious Blood and to return to his seat. Then let another communicant kneel to take his place. Thus the number of persons kneeling at the rail at one time becomes a matter of minor importance. It is not necessary to devise some kind of gate or sliding rail in the center to increase to the ultimate maximum the number of communicants. The empty opening involves only the negligible extra time that it takes for the minister to walk past it. The time required to communicate a given number of communicants is often as much as halved by the procedure described.

(51) It is more important in the Lutheran rite than in the Roman Catholic rite for the rail to be as close as convenient to the altar. The Roman Catholic priest administers only Our Lord's Body from a that can contain a hundred or more hosts. The Lutheran rite, in obedience to Our Lord's injunction, requires that the communicant not only take and eat but also that he drink; the must usually be replenished after about twenty communicants have received from it. For this reason and to minimize the danger of spilling that inevitably increases the greater the distance that the minister who administers the cup must carry it, the rail should be no farther away from the altar than necessary. If the method of distributing urged above is adopted, the rails need not encircle the altar nor need they extend across the entire chancel. In most instances, the needs of even a large congregation of communicants will be adequately met by a total of eight places divided between two rails, with four places each, one rail on each side in front of the altar.

(52) Such an arrangement will also minimize the traffic-flow problem, often a neglected factor in chancel design. In the happily disappearing days when the Holy Communion was celebrated four times a year, this may have been merely a rarely felt omission. But with frequent celebrations and large numbers of communicants the traffic flow of the communicants from the pews to the chancel and back to the pews demands careful consideration on the part of the planner. In 42 of 71 general, adequate traffic flow patterns will require walkways, or aisles in the common sense of the term, at the sides of the church in addition to a central aisle, and possibly, in the case of a very wide church, additional aisles separating sections of seatings. If the seatings extend all the way to the walls, it means that communicants will frequently have to clamber over other communicants when entering and leaving their seats, a procedure which disturbs the devotion of both. In general, communicants will prefer to proceed to the altar by way of the central aisle, so that when they move down the more prominent central axis of the church they will have their backs to the other worshippers and will be facing the other worshippers only when they return by the more unobtrusive side aisles.

(53) The Service Book does not refer to the altar service-book (or "missal") in the rubrics, and it does not indicate on what the book is to rest. First of all, it should be noted that — contrary to the practice of all too many pastors — the altar service-book is not normally held in the hand of the celebrant. The single exception is that an unassisted celebrant holds the service-book or lectionary when he reads the liturgical lessons at the Holy Eucharist. At all other times during the service, the service-book reposes on the altar. The celebrant should be sufficiently familiar with the preparation that precedes the service and with the few formulas in the service itself that he addresses to the people; "The Lord be with you," "Let us pray," "Lift up your hearts," "Let us give thanks unto the Lord our God," "The peace of the Lord be with you alway[s]," "Bless we the Lord," and the blessing — that he does not have to read them from a book.

(54) The commonly-used missal stand is probably not the best solution of the problem of a rest for the book. If a missal stand is used, it should be so designed that it can be picked up and carried handily by the celebrant or an assistant in the service; it should not be too heavy; it should not be of the collapsible type. Whether it is made of metal or of wood, the traditional practice of covering the desk with a piece of cloth that matches either the frontal or the frontlet has the very practical advantage of protecting the binding of the missal from scratches and other damage. Instead of a missal stand, a cushion that matches the frontal or frontlet has much to recommend it, both from the standpoint of looks and practicality. A pair of matching cushions obviates the necessity of carrying the cushions from one side to the other of the altar when the celebrant is not assisted by a liturgical deacon and subdeacon. It is perfectly proper, however, for the book to lie directly on the altar.

(55) The service-book itself (as well as the lectionary and Bible) need not be just another of a few thousand identical books bound in red or black morocco. The artist who collaborates with the architect might very well essay the design of an appropriate binding that would challenge the abilities of the best craftsman in this art. The binding does not have to be leather, or even leather with gold stamping. It might well make extensive use of metals, including precious metals, engraved, chased, hammered or fashioned in relief, and be set with precious or semi-precious gems where the wealth and the devotion of the parish warrant it. Here too, the name of the parish might well provide part of the inspiration for the design. 43 of 71

(56) The desirability of putting flowers, living or cut — that is, dead — on the altar is open to question. It would seem more appropriate to put them in ceramic vessels on the chancel floor or in brackets or on stands around the chancel walls, being careful to insure that they are not in the way of any of the ministrants.

(57) This may be the best place to speak of another chancel ornament that has no authority in our service-books but that has been laudably revived in some parishes — the Paschal post or Easter candle.68 Most Paschal posts are too low. The Paschal candlestick in the medieval era that devised it was generally quite high and the candle itself was an impressive example, of the candlemaker's art. Since we have no rite for the blessing of the , it is doubtful if we want to use the elaborately, and sometimes not too meaningfully, decorated candles that our separated brethren of the Latin obedience employ. The Paschal candlestick might well be designed especially for the parish church in harmony with the general style of the structure.

(58) Crucifixes and candlesticks need obviously not be catalogue items. Both offer the artist and craftsman welcome opportunities for distinctive and creative design and execution. The architect's concern will certainly be with the scale of these ornaments; unless careful attention is paid to this point, they can either overpower the altar by undue size or, in spite of intrinsic beauty, they can appear puny and unworthy if they are not big enough.

(59) Since the altar's primary function is to provide the place where the bread and wine are consecrated to be the Body and the Blood of Christ, the so-called sacred vessels can well be spoken of here. In general, Lutheran churches are badly provided as far as sacred vessels are concerned. Too often we have been speciously dishonest, placing on the altar what seemed to be vessels of silver but which were only base metal with a thin and shiny veneer. Plated metal has no place among the sacred vessels. If the church is too poor to have vessels of gold or silver, let it be content with poverty's traditional surrogate, tin, at least until such time as the wealth and devotion of the congregation make a precious vessel appropriate.

(60) The design of the vessels has become shockingly debased. I recall a very faithful Lutheran woman artist who consulted me on a point of design a year ago and who bewildered me by talking about the church's "compote and goblet." My bewilderment must have showed, because she cheerfully glossed her meaning by saying, "You know, the silver bonbon dish that they give the bread from at the Lord's Supper." Again, our clergy and our people often talk about the "flagon," which the dictionary defines as "a vessel for liquors, especially one with a handle and a spout and usually a lid, but sometimes merely a large bulging bottle."

(61) Some rethinking is obviously in order. It should be noted that the only essential vessels are a simple plate-like and a chalice. The footed paten — my artist's compote or bonbon dish — should be given back to the hostess; it should not be used for the hosts. The paten should have a

68 An Easter candle may be lighted near the font for , but otherwise if the candle is kept in the chancel all year, lighted or not lighted, it is not an Easter candle. 44 of 71 shallow well, preferably coordinated in design with the chalice, so that the well of the paten fits comfortably but not tightly into the chalice when the paten is placed on the chalice with a partly unfolded purificator between them. The well of the paten should not be too deep nor the sides too close to vertical to make the cleansing of the paten difficult. Chasing or engraving on the upper side of the paten should be avoided altogether; the only kind of defensible decoration is an inlay that leaves the surface perfectly smooth. The chalice should be carefully designed. One shape is not intrinsically better than another shape, but whatever the shape, whether hemisphere, a flattened hemisphere, or straight sides, consideration should be given especially to the balance (so that when filled with wine the chalice does not become top-heavy) and to the diameter (which should not be so great as to make it difficult for communicants with small mouths to drink from it without danger of dripping at the sides of their lips). There should be no sharp points, which could catch on fabric ornaments and heighten the danger of spilling, about the foot of the chalice. The rim should be plain; a beveled rim may be too sharp, and a rim turned in on itself at a right angle, although superficially it looks like a good idea that would minimize the peril of spilling, actually makes drinking from the chalice more difficult because of the added thickness. The chalice above the knop should have no engraving or chasing inside or out; here again the only defensible decoration is an inlay that leaves the surface perfectly smooth.

(62) The material of both chalice and paten should be gold or silver; the inside of the paten and of the cup of the chalice may well be covered with gold wash. This is not dishonesty; it is a practical means of preventing the silver surface from oxidizing. An adequate silver chalice and paten are within the reach of every mission and every parish; they are as essential as any item used in worship or administration and should be budgeted for as a matter of course. If the number of communicants is greater than the number of hosts that with utmost safety can be placed upon the paten simultaneously, let the celebrant place on the paten the eight or so hosts that he will use at one time to communicate the communicants and let him place the rest on the outspread corporal. Sixteenth century iconographic evidence attests this as a completely acceptable and thoroughly Lutheran practice. If the number of communicants is greater than he can communicate from one chalice full of the consecrated wine, let him bring the necessary additional quantity of wine to the altar in decent but inexpensive wide-mouth glass , available in eight-ounce, pint and quart sizes. These need not be silver mounted nor do they need to have an ecclesiastical symbol sand-blasted on their sides. They will be perfectly adequate with plain glass stoppers. Actually, cruets are much better than the traditional flagons, because they are more flexible in view of the various sizes in which they come and they are much more easily cleansed. As the wealth and devotion of the congregation grows, the next item to be added should be a or host box; a simple circular one will do very well. The next item would be a ciborium, a kind of chalice with a fitted dome-shaped metal lid, from which to distribute the Body of Our Lord at large communions. The artist who collaborates with the architect could provide designs capable of elaboration as time goes on. Not all the enamel and gems that devotion might desire need be placed on the sacred vessels at once. One can begin with vessels of good design, completely unadorned, and let the embellishment be added as means permit. 45 of 71

(63) In addition to the metal ornaments used in connection with the celebration of the Holy Communion, we must give brief consideration to the fabric ornaments. Here too our churches are generally deficient.

(64) The fabric ornaments — in addition to the fair linen cloth covering the altar — are basically four in number. The first is the corporal, a piece of linen usually twenty-seven inches square which is spread out in the center of the altar and on which the consecration takes place. The custom of consecrating the hosts and the wine on either side of the service-book lying open in the center of the altar is cumbersome, unnecessary, complicated and contrary to the best historic Lutheran practice; it is an iconographically incontestable fact that, like Christian antiquity before it, the Church of the Reformation consecrated in the center of the altar, with the book at the celebrant's left. Originally the corporal was about 54 by 27 inches; a roughly square portion was spread out on the altar and the rest folded at the back of the altar. When it was desired to cover the paten and the chalice, the folded portion of the corporal was drawn up over them. It was soon found that it was more convenient to use two corporals about 27 inches square. So the second corporal, folded into nines, making it about nine inches square, was simply laid upon the top of the chalice and paten; after the Communion and until the ablutions it was opened up and draped over the chalice and paten. Thus the second of what was known as a "pair of corporals" served both as chalice pall and as veil. Subsequently these two functions were differentiated. The veil came to be made of brocade; the pall became a seven or eight inch square of cardboard covered with brocade or linen on top, with linen below. The Service Book knows it as a small square of cardboard covered with linen. The final development among Lutherans was the veil of lace or linen, large enough to cover both the huge "flagons" and the rest of the vessels used at the Holy Communion.

(65) The use of a pall is not explicitly demanded by the Service Book; it would seem that a corporal folded into nine squares would not be unlawful. It certainly would meet requirements as well as a piece of cardboard (or aluminum or plastic) covered with linen. A folded corporal is much more convenient and is much more easily cleansed, since it needs only washing, whereas the cleansing of a pall usually involves the ripping out and basting in of threads as well. In consequence, where a pall is used it all too often does not continuously meet the standards of cleanliness that one should want to see in connection with the Holy Eucharist.

(66) As far as the veil is concerned, if one uses cruets instead of metal "flagons," the cruets do not have to be covered and it is possible to use a considerably smaller veil. Each side of this smaller veil should be twice the height of the chalice plus the diameter of the paten. It may match the frontal or the frontlet in material and color. (Concordia Seminary has a beautiful reversible veil, one side trimmed with silver for penitential seasons, the other side of variegated brocade for use at other times.)

(67) The purificators are pieces of linen about nine inches square used to cleanse the sacred vessels during and after the administration of the Holy Communion. Even a small parish should 46 of 71 have a supply of at least twelve. None of these linen ornaments require embroidery; even the discreet cross in white thread that has become conventional is not necessary.

(68) Any focus of devotion in the church, such as the altar, a statue, a picture, or a memorial of one kind or another, can be identified by means of a sanctuary lamp hanging from the ceiling or bracket, or supported by a stand. This lamp should be fed with oil or an oil-and-wax combination mixture; the usual type of seven-day candle minimizes maintenance. It happens that Roman Catholics will at least on occasion visit our churches; the kind of church which has a sanctuary lamp is more likely to be the kind of Lutheran Church which will attract Roman Catholics or former Roman Catholics in search of the evangelical certainty that our theology provides. For the sake of these visitors, it would seem to be well to avoid two kinds of glass in our sanctuary lamps — red, since to the Roman Catholic this is the usual, if unauthorized, sign that the Blessed Sacrament is reserved nearby, and clear, since this is the authorized, if unusual, Roman Catholic sign that the Blessed Sacrament is being reserved. We have enough variety with blue, green, violet, and amber — these colors will not confuse the Roman Catholic visitor, and they may also disarm the suspicions of a Lutheran whose knowledge of sanctuary lamps is limited to the occasions when he has seen them in Roman Catholic churches.

VI. Features of the nave (69) We turn our attention to the nave.

(70) We have already spoken about the aisles.

(71) It may be well to consider briefly a neglected ornament of the nave, the hymn boards. First, there should be enough of them. One may be enough for a small church, and two for a church of moderate size, but a larger church requires more hymn boards to accommodate the increasing number of older people with less than perfect distant vision. Second, if there are enough hymn boards, they do not have to be so obtrusively large. A hymn board is a purely utilitarian device; it should not be any larger than necessary. Third, there is no reason why, even though hymn boards are utilitarian, they have to be as ugly as most hymn boards are. The letters and figures, for instance, do not have to be shaped as though they had been modeled after the characters on a Snellen eye-chart. Nor do they have to be little pieces of cardboard that rapidly deteriorate with use, especially when the ushers are obsessed with the idea of an economy of effort and use just as many of the last service's numbers as they possibly can for the next service so that the low digits, the ones, twos and threes, rapidly become tired, bent, creased, dirty, and dog-eared. A common device in Europe that American church designers might elect to employ more frequently is to have no hymn boards at all, but merely pins set into the wall from which cutout numbers and letters and words can be suspended from holes near their tops. As long as the ushers who mount the numbers use gloves to keep from marking the wall, this actually is the best arrangement of all, because only as much wall area is used as the circumstances actually require. 47 of 71

(72) Offering plates are strictly ornaments of the nave and not of the altar or chancel, although an alms-bason69 sufficiently large to hold all the alms-plates used in a service might properly be kept in the chancel. In lieu of alms-plates, alms-bags with double handles might well be used. An alms-plate that is inadvertently dropped usually shatters the devotion of even the most disciplined congregation for a good ten minutes. A well-designed alms-bag is not as likely to be dropped as an alms-plate. If it is dropped the muffled thump creates much less commotion and consternation than the clatter of brass or wood and silver when an unsteady hand lets a poorly balanced or overly heavy alms-plate fall. Alms bags could be embroidered with a symbol associated with the name of the parish. Alms-plates and alms-basons need not be catalog items from a church supply house but could well be designed for the parish church.

(73) One of the overriding concerns of most congregations engaged in building or rebuilding a church is the number of seatings. In all too many cases this concern becomes so exclusive that almost every other consideration is disregarded or relegated to relative insignificance. A corollary of this concern is the desire to make the number of seatings as great as possible for the area enclosed by the walls of the nave. As a result the aisles are often reduced intolerably in width and sometimes in number, the areas of narthex and chancel are encroached upon, galleries and lofts are made unnecessarily large, the necessary flow of worshippers into and out of and around the nave is impeded, and the rows of chairs or pews are put far too close together. This unhappy fact is not without bearing on the architectural requirements of the Lutheran cultus. Our rite requires the congregation to stand fairly frequently. (I shall cheerfully admit that neither our normal practice nor the rubrics of our service-books seem on this point to reflect a consistent rationale. I shall also admit that in the exercise of Christian liberty some clergymen have the congregation rise either more frequently or less frequently than the rubrics contemplate. The fact remains that the congregation is expected to stand fairly frequently.) This immediately takes church-going out of the realm of a spectator activity like watching television or going to the movies and puts it at least partly into the do-it-yourself category. To be able to rise and sit with comfort means either seats that can be raised and lowered — a noisy procedure — or it means a reasonable amount of space between rows of seats. There is another directive, permissive, but endorsed by long tradition, which asserts that for certain parts of the service all may kneel. This does not, at least not necessarily, imply kneelers. Kneelers are a convenience and if well designed they may be a comfort; but they are not a necessity, and some of our foam-padded versions (especially when the worshipper relaxes his derriere against the pew seat) seem to be the physical analogies of Robert Herrick's question: "Is [Lent] to quit the dish / Of flesh, yet still / To fill / The platter high with fish?" This is accordingly not a plea for either kneelers (with which I should gladly dispense) or for hassocks, but it is a plea for enough room to kneel down. The congregation that puts its rows of seatings thirty or thirty-two inches apart on centers is

69Archaic for "alms-basin." Charles L. McClean, "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage" by H.H. Fowler (Oxford University Press, 1944) has this: "basin, bason. first spelling is both commoner and better; the second is probably due to the established pronunciation (ba'sn)." McClean added that he has on occasion seen "alms- bason." 48 of 71 effectively nullifying for itself, and for all future generations that will use the nave, the authorization: "All may kneel."

(74) I have deliberately, be it said in passing, spoken of rows of seatings rather than pews; pews, like some other items of frequently installed items of church furniture, take only minimal cognizance of the anatomy of the worshippers. In general, the smaller the church the less desirable pews become, because there is no way of really or even apparently modifying their scale. In the interest of flexibility, avoidance of the distraction that prolonged sitting-down (even for twenty minutes) involves, cost, and design factors, a church engaged in a building program ought at least to consider the desirability of individual seatings in preference to pews.

(75) The pulpit is an ornament of the nave, not of the chancel. It is taken for granted in the Service Book, which speaks of "pulpit falls." But it is not absolutely necessary. Sermons at the Holy Eucharist were often delivered from the altar steps; the very word "" — from "post illa verba,"70 the formula for introducing the on the Gospel that followed the liturgical singing of the Gospel for the Day — indicate this. One can therefore get along without a pulpit, but it is probably better to have it. For most preachers it is a physically and psychologically helpful ornament. Its practical function should be reflected in its design; it is a device to get the preacher into a physical position where he can most effectively preach to his whole congregation. Its scale is dictated by the size of the building. It is quite immaterial if the pulpit be on the Epistle or Gospel side; the main consideration is that it be not too high and that it be so located that it does not interfere with the unobstructed view of the chancel or with entrance to and egress from it for the communicants. A crucifix behind the preacher in the pulpit and a dove carved into or drawn on the underside of the canopy over it, if there be one, accord well with the tradition of our Church and with the Lutheran conception of the preached word as the primary form and office of the Gospel, as the Smalcald Articles say (Part Three, IV).

(76) The pulpit should have a Bible of suitable size, dignity, and binding. It should be complete, that is, in accordance with historic Lutheran tradition; it should include the Old Testament Apocrypha.

(77) Much less necessary than a pulpit is the lectern, also an ornament of the nave rather than of the chancel. If the celebrant is not assisted by a liturgical deacon and subdeacon, he ought to sing or read the Epistle and the Gospel for the day from the horns of the altar. To read both from the lectern obscures the difference between the two lessons. If he is assisted by these ministers, the lectern is still not necessary; the subdeacon chants the Epistle from the altar step, the deacon should go as far as possible into the nave to chant the Gospel. If the deacon uses a lectern it should be a highly portable and collapsible device; better still, let the subdeacon hold the book for the deacon to chant the Gospel from it. Conceivably, the lectern has value as the place from which the lessons at matins and vespers are read, but the limited use it would receive for this purpose in most of our churches makes it an indefensibly expensive ornament. Even for this

70 Latin for, literally, “after these words.” 49 of 71 purpose it is not necessary, since the can just as well chant or read the lessons by rising in his place and facing the congregation. If there be a lectern, it should be as unobtrusive as possible.

(78) The falls that cover the desks of the pulpit and lectern, according to the rubric of the Service Book, must be of the color of the day. Such falls should cover the desks and should not merely be thumb-tacked to the fore-edge.

(79) The font should not be in the chancel. It is best located as close to an entrance of the church as possible, to underline the dogmatic point that we enter the church by being baptized. The font should not be a mere bowl; it should be monumental, to imply the importance of this sacrament and to serve as a regular reminder to all the faithful of their baptisms. Tradition prescribes that about the baptistery there be a representation of the Baptism of Our Lord, in the spirit of the Lutheran Symbols, which in the Taüfbuchlein71 appended to the Small Catechism relates our baptism to the Baptism of Our Lord, whereby God, in that His Son allowed Himself to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, "sanctified and ordained Jordan and all waters," when connected with His sacramental Word, "for a saving flood and an abundant washing away of sin." This representation of Our Lord's Baptism may take the form of a window, a mural or fresco, a mosaic, or even the decoration of the font cover or font bowl. About the baptistery there should also be a shelf on which the service-book and baptismal towel can be put, the baptismal candle can be set (if one is used), and the chrisom (if one is used) can be laid before it is placed on the child.

(80) A baptismal shell is a great convenience in administering the Sacrament. We sometimes think rather statically in terms of water as the "material element" in Baptism. Actually, the "material element" is not the water but the washing with water, whence the Lutheran pastoral principle derives that invariably there be enough water employed that it runs over the candidate's head, that is, that some kind of washing, and not merely a dampening, takes place. Here is where the shell helps in enabling the officiant to direct the flow of the water in such a way that the requirement of a washing is met without blinding the candidate or, in the case of adolescent or adult female candidates, ruining a hairdo.

(81) A crucifix and two candles are not an essential part of the baptistery decoration. Where there is no possibility for a separate baptistery, it may be possible to fence off a sufficient area of the nave near one of the doors for this purpose; in such cases it has been traditional to lower the level of the font area by one step to recall the ancient baptism by immersion that the fourth section on Holy Baptism in our Small Catechism still implies. If it be deemed important that the font be at the front of the church — something that is not at all necessary — and there is neither a baptistery nor a chapel nor a transept to house the font, it would be advisable to build a door into

71 Or Taüfbuchlein. “Baptism Booklet.” Piepkorn believed that this booklet and the “Marriage Booklet,’ both by Martin Luther, are parts of the Book of Concord. (See his “Suggested Principles for a Hermeneutics of the Lutheran Symbols,” Concordia Theological Monthly, XXIX: 1, January 1958, p. 10.) Translations of both booklets are in the Kolb-Wengert edition of the Book of Concord. 50 of 71 the nave near the font and to furnish a kind of secondary narthex if necessary where the first part of the baptismal rite takes place. If "living" water from a spring can be piped into the font, so much the better, but an electric heating coil should be provided to temper the cold of spring water.

(82) The narthex does not come under our purview directly, except as the scene of the first part of the baptismal rite. Indirectly, a generous narthex is a necessity for the devotional conduct of the service; it serves as a receptacle for late-comers and permits the orderly disposition of outer clothing that could very well interfere with the service if carried into or doffed and donned in the nave.

(83) Of the organ I shall not speak beyond (1) encouraging church-builders to secure competent and impartial professional advice, and (2) pointing out that no organ functions well if the pipes are consigned to organ chambers.

(84) The location of the choir is less crucial an issue today than it was two decades ago. We need to remember the function of the choir in our rite; it is there not to entertain the congregation, but to support the singing of the congregation and on occasion to render settings of the propers and the too difficult for the congregation itself. Within modest limits it may supplement the propers with appropriate music. The choir thus does not belong in the chancel, far less does it belong on the other side of the chancel from the congregation, whether behind a screen or shamelessly out in the open. Its effectiveness is at least limited if it is put into a transept. It usually does fairly well in the west loft, provided that the loft does not have an overhang covering part of the nave, and provided that the loft is not too high up.

(85) The ideal location is in the midst of the congregation. For this we have the precedent of early Christian practice, not to speak of the utterly practical nature of this solution. Admittedly, this solution will not work out as well in a small church as in a large church, but even in a small church a choir enclosure of realistic size could well occupy the center of the nave, the central aisle dividing and flowing around it. Where this proposal would seem too daring, one can try a modification of the old retro-choir that has worked out very well. Let the entrance or entrances at the back of the church be at the side, not at the rear, one bay east of the liturgical west wall. Let there be a decently wide cross aisle extending behind the last row of seatings the width of the church, and let the choir be seated on a slightly raised platform (not over two steps high) in the westernmost bay. This is better than putting the choristers in a loft, because they are to be singing with the congregation, not over the other worshippers' heads. The choir can share the bay with the organ console and the font. If the usual arrangement of narthex and nave is imperative, the choir (and, if desired, the organ console) can be placed in the last few rows or half-rows off the central aisle, again raised not more than two steps above the level of the congregation.

VII. The Sacristy and its furnishings and contents (86) A sacristy is all but essential. In the sacristy should be adequate storage space for the fabric ornaments of the church and for the vestments of the sacred ministers. Frontals, , and 51 of 71 require a considerable amount of room if they are to be stored properly, that is lying flat, but this space should not be skimped.

(87) An adequate lavatory is a convenience, almost a necessity. In addition to a lavatory there should also be in a sacristy a sacrarium, sometimes called a , that is to say, a kind of lavatory with the drain running to mother earth under the church rather than into the common sewer. If the communicants or the celebrant do not consume the consecrated wine that remains after the Communion, it should be poured into the sacrarium. To rinse the sacrarium out after this use, at least a cold water faucet will be very handy. The sacrarium will also be used to receive the ablutions of the sacred vessels, the water from the font after a Baptism, and the water in which the purificators, corporals, palls, and other altar linens have been rinsed before they are sent out to be laundered. If there be no sacrarium provided, a proper place outside the church should be made prepared as a substitute. This should be located where it can be used unobtrusively and where neither people or animals will walk over it. It should be a clearly marked hole, 12, or 18 inches in diameter and going below the local frost line. After it has been dug, the hole should be filled with coarsely crushed stone to within a foot or so of the top and the balance filled up with gravel. After any liquids have been poured into this hole, they should of course be rinsed down so as not to attract insects or animals.

(88) A ewer of brass, pewter, or precious metal for use at baptisms will normally be kept in the sacristy. It should be of sufficient capacity to fill the bowl of the font, with a large enough diameter at the top to make it possible to keep the ewer scrupulously clean. The handle and the lip should be designed for ease of handling and pouring.

(89) The sacristy should also provide storage space for the sacred vessels and the reserve stocks of wine, hosts, candles, and tapers. These will normally best be kept under lock and key.

(90) The rubric on the burse in the Service Book is badly drawn. It states that "the sacramental linens" — presumably the corporal, pall, purificators, and veil (if made of linen) — "when not in use should be properly folded and kept in the burse, a square envelope made of strong cardboard covered with silk or heavy linen." Actually the burse is not the best device for storing sacramental linens when they are not in use. Traditionally its function has been to provide a convenient means of transporting the corporal(s) and/or pall from the sacristy to the altar before the service and back to the sacristy afterward. 91) The rubrics prescribe that the celebrant shall place in the proper vessels only "so much of the bread and wine as in his judgment will be required for the administration" of the Holy Communion for which he is preparing. It is not anticipated that either a great number of hosts or a great quantity of wine will remain. The un-Lutheran practice of many clergymen of consecrating a liberal oversupply of hosts and reconsecrating them again and again is thus by implication strongly discountenanced, as is the un-Lutheran practice of pouring consecrated wine into bottles containing unconsecrated wine. As far as the excess hosts are concerned, if the celebrant or the communicants do not consume them after the communion, the celebrant should remove them from the paten and put them into a fit container against the next communion. This 52 of 71 implies (1) that he will not put them into a cardboard box, which falls short of being a fit container by the church's standards of propriety, and (2) that he will segregate them from the unconsecrated hosts in order to insure that they are used at the next Communion. He may place them on the paten, or in a ciborium, or in a separate pyx; he should store them safely, preferably under lock and key to avoid superstition and profanation. Lutheran theology tolerates no cult of the reserved elements. They should therefore not be reserved in the chancel. A sacristy wall aumbry, preferably divided into two sections, one for empty sacred vessels and one for the vessel containing such hosts as may from time to time remain from one Communion to another, would seem to be the best solution. The Service Book does not appear to contemplate reservation of the consecrated elements for the possible communion of the sick.

(92) In the sacristy one would also keep in orderly compartments such other ornaments as find occasional use in the service: The processional crucifix, banners, torches or processional candlesticks, the censer, the boat, a supply of incense and charcoal, the Paschal post, the tenebrae hearse, confirmation for female recipients of this benediction, and similar items. One item which every parish ought to own is a funeral pall, an almost invariable part of the inventory of every early Lutheran church. Such a pall should be of rich fabric, properly ornamented (preferably not with skull and cross bones), and long enough in each dimension completely to cover the casket (and the bier upon which it rests). It should remain in place from the time that the body of a departed communicant is brought into the church until it is either buried in the church-yard or consigned to the hearse. Funeral candlesticks, though not unknown to the Lutheran tradition, are not as common.

(93) For occasions of ceremony, the sacristan or another officer of the church can carry in procession a wand, which could well be tipped with a device reproducing the seal of the church or with some symbol identifying its name. Between occasions of use it can be kept in the sacristy.

(94) The sacristy will be fitted with the necessary devotional appointments, at least a crucifix, a kneeling desk, and a shelf for suitable books of private and corporate devotion for the preparation of those engaging in ministries about the altar. A sacristy for the ministers in addition to the "working sacristy" is much to be desired.

(95) Even if the sacristy is properly furnished and is convenient of access to the chancel, it will probably be desirable to have a or a credence bracket in one of the side walls of the chancel, to hold the offering plates after they have been taken from the altar, the alms basin, the when they are not being used by the celebrant, the deacon or the subdeacon, the bowl, and the of water and the purificator used in cleansing the celebrant's fingers before he begins the consecration and after the communion, and possibly the supply of hosts and wine intended for the Communion, or a ready reserve supply in those occasional situations when the exact number of communicants cannot be accurately determined in advance. 53 of 71

(96) I have finally a few words to say about a very painful subject — the use of individual communion cups. They are, unhappily, a datum of the lives of many of us; even though there are hopeful signs that fewer parishes are adopting them and that more and more parishes are abandoning them. It is obvious to anyone who has had to use them that it is difficult to administer with them reverently, that it is almost impossible to cleanse them properly, that they are noisy, that they needlessly prolong the administration of the sacrament, and that they have generated all kinds of undesirable practices in order to overcome the disadvantages and inconveniences inherent in their use. (I am thinking here, for instance, of the unedifying racks attached to the altar rails or to pillars about the chancel to receive used individual cups.) It should further be observed that there is probably no congregation where individual cups are unfortunately in use in which some communicants would not definitely prefer the common chalice. Where the common chalice is used, every effort to displace it with individual cups ought to be sturdily and sedulously resisted, and where the individual cups can be replaced with the common chalice this ought to be done at the earliest opportunity.

(97) Where some kind of compromise must be effected, I pass on to you the solution of one Lutheran clergyman who reports considerable success with it. He uses a full-size chalice fitted with a carefully executed pouring lip which is almost wholly devoid of dripping even when the chalice is moderately full, so that an ordinary purificator is found to be quite adequate protection against inadvertent spilling. At the entrance to the chancel is an unobtrusive stand with a supply of empty individual glass communion cups. Those communicants who insist on using individual communion cups may take one and are instructed to hold it up when the minister administers Our Lord's Precious Blood. If a communicant does not hold up an individual cup, the minister administers to him from another part of the rim of the common chalice than the pouring lip; if the communicant does hold up an individual cup, the minister pours into it a small quantity of the consecrated wine from the pouring lip of the chalice. Communicants who have used the individual cups deposit the used cups in a tray at the opposite side of the chancel. By careful, evangelical teaching, this colleague states, he has been successful in reducing significantly the percentage of communicants using the individual cup without putting them in bad faith. In any case, even when the individual cups must be used for the congregation, the common chalice should stand on the altar and the celebrant should use it for his own communion and for the communion of his assistants. (Administration of both kinds simultaneously by dipping a host in the consecrated wine does not adequately meet the Lord's command, "All of you, drink of it.") Conclusion

(98) Let me close with a few words about a somewhat opposite practice. When Blessed Martin Chemnitz came to Brunswick, one of the features that this doughty Lutheran Church Father restored was the houseling cloth, a band of linen held by two servers in front of the kneeling communicants to prevent the inadvertent falling to the ground of a host or of a spilled drop or two of wine. We should probably find it a bit difficult to restore this ministry of two servers, but bands of linen laid over the communion rail at the time of the Communion would to a great extent serve the same purpose. In addition, they would help to remind the congregation that the 54 of 71

Holy Communion began as a meal at a table in the Cenacle on the night in which Our Lord Jesus Christ began His saving passion for the health of the world, to Whom be glory in the Church and in the Church's worship, with the Father and the Holy Paraclete, for ever and ever. Amen.

—Arthur Carl Piepkorn

————

I am indebted to Don Veitengruber, Charles L. Mc Clean, Paul Schulz and Joel Westerholm for their comments on and proofreading of this PDF. —Philip James Secker

See also the “Note on ‘Pulpit/Altars” and the Quiz that I have added after the Index. 55 of 71

INDEX OF TERMS

The ARLC is computer searchable and should be computer searched since this index may be incomplete. The purpose of the Index is to suggest words to search on. In the Index the first word under each letter of the alphabet is in boldface type to make it easier to search the Index. I added paragraph numbers to all of the paragraphs in the body of the article so it can be searched by entering a number preceded and followed by a parenthesis.

Ablutions – 64, 87 Absolution, individual - 20, 21 Ad Orientem ("facing the East"). See Officiant, position at the altar – 31-33 Adiaphora. See indifferent things; ceremonies – 2-7, 11, 13, 17

Aisles – 28,52,73

Alms-bason (or basin) – 72, 95 Altar – 16, 17, 21, 26-28, 30, 31, 33-49, 51-54, 56, 58, 59, 61, 64, 68, 75, 77, 87, 90, 94-97

Altar service-book or "missal" – 53, 54, 55, 57, 64, 73, 79

Apocrypha. See Piepkorn’s two articles on this in volume 2 of his Selected Writings, and William C. Weedon's The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes, CPH, 2012. – 76

Augsburg Confession of 1530 – 4, 6, 10, 12 note 20, 14 note 22, 15 Aumbries – 17, 91 Banners – 22, 47, 92

Baptism by immersion – 81. See also "Baptismal water, quantity of. Baptismal candles – 6, 81

Baptismal ewer – 88 Baptismal fonts – 16, 20, 79, 81, 85, 87-88,

Baptismal shell – 80 Baptismal water, quantity of – 2, 6, 80

Basilican position. See Officiant, position at the altar – 27, 28, 31, 32, 33 Basis of Lutheran rites and ceremonies – 11, 13, 17

Beauty, principle of – 7

Bells, Tower - 16; Sacring – 12 Bible. See Sacred Scriptures. – 21, 55, 76 56 of 71

Biblical principle – 2

Book rests or stands

Calendar, Church – See the Editor's Introduction Calvary (so-called) – 45 Candelabra – 44, 47

Candles, candlesticks – 6, 16, 20-22, 34, 41-43, 47, 57-58, 68, 79, 81, 89, 92

Easter candle – 57 Paschal candles – 57 Canopy. And see Tester. – 34, 36, 75

Catholic, Catholicity of Lutheran doctrine and rites – 12 note 20, 14 note 22, 15

Catholic Church of the West (= prior to the Reformation) – 12 note 10, 14 note 22.

Censers – for incense 12 Ceremonies, external – 9-11, 17 authority needed to change them – 10

heretical – 17, 10 instituted by men – 9, 11

limitations on those with authority to change them – 3, 9-10, 17, 73 revision of – 10

Chalice – 51, 61, 62, 64, 66, 96, 97 Chancel – 21, 23, 47, 30, 30-31, 33, 42-48, 50-52, 56-57, 72-73, 75, 77, 79, 84, 91, 95- 97

Chantries – 17 Chapels – 17

Chasubles – 86 Chemnitz, Martin – 6, 98

Choir, location of – 16, 23, 28, 29, 84-85

Church of the Augsburg Confession – 10, 12 not 20, 14 note 22, 15 Ciborium – 51, 62, 91, compare with pyx 62, 91

Clergy seats – 22 57 of 71

Confession, Private – See Absolution Conservative character of the Lutheran rite – See the Editor's Introduction and 6, 16 Cope – 48, 86

Continuous serving of Holy Communion Corona of candles – 34

Credence table or shelf – 95 Crosses, without a corpus – 45; pectoral crosses – See index

Crucifer – 48 Crucifixes – 12, 22, 34, 38, 41, 42, 45, 47, 58, 75, 81, 92, 94

Cultus – 1, 2, 18, 73 Cupola over altar – 34

Custom, The principle of – 6

Deacon and subdeacon – 48, 54, 77, 95 Dismissal formula – 50

Dishonesty of design, material or construction – 62 Disposal of what is hallowed – 7

Dome over altar – 34, 62 Dossal curtain – 46

Earlier rites Eastward position.

Electric wiring – 38, 81 Electronic devices – 38

Elements remaining after Holy Communion – 91 Embroidery of fair linen cloth – 67

Essence of worship – 12 Exercises and signs of faith – 9

Fabric ornaments – 16, 35-37, 61-67, 86, 92

Facing the people – 31-33, 48, 52, 77 58 of 71

Fair linen cloth – 21, 35, 37, 40, 64

Faith as worship – 9, 18 Falls (for pulpits and lecterns) – 21, 75, 78

Flags, "church" and national – 47 Flexible criteria – 6, 7, 62

Flower stands – 47 Flowers – 56

Focuses of devotion – 68 Frontal, altar – 35, 36, 37, 54, 66, 86

Frontlet, altar – 36, 37, 54, 66 Funeral pall – 16, 20, 92

Funerals, where held – 20

Gradine – 41 Ground plan – 23, 24

Historic continuity of the Lutheran rite – 15 Holy water, ornaments of – 17

Houseling cloth – 6, 12, 22, 98 How to administer Holy Communion – 50, 51, 96, 97

Hymn boards – 71 Hymns, number of – 19

Ideal Sunday worship service – 19 In a case of persecution (or confession) – 10

Indifferent things – 2, 10 Individual cups – 96, 97

Innovation – 14 Kerygmatic and didactic parts of the service – 27

Kneeling desk – 48, 94

Lamps, olive oil – 42 59 of 71

Lavabo - Latin for "I wash," a bowl for water to wash one's hands - 95 Lavatory – 87 Lectionary – 21, 53, 55

Legitimate individuality – 10

Lessons, Biblical and traditional use of – Piepkorn's Introduction [paragraph 4] Liberty, Christian, and misuse of it – Piepkorn's Introduction [paragraph 4], 3-5, 12, 16, 73 Limitations on our freedom – See Liberty

Liturgical law (jus liturgicum) – 4, 5

Liturgy, Order of the parts – Piepkorn's Introduction [paragraph 4] Local idiosyncrasies – 5

Lofts – 29, 73

Loyal obedience – 5

Luther, Martin – Luther is not cited, but his Small Catechism and Smalcald Articles are - 75, 79, 81 Lutheran liturgical principle – 6, 16

Lutheran Symbols or Symbolical Books or Lutheran Confessions– 8-10 and notes 18-20, 16, 79. And see Note on pulpit/altars, and the Augsburg Confession of 1530. Matrimony, where administered – 20

Microphones – 38 Mind of the larger community – 5

Missal, missal stand – 54 Monastic chapel architecture – 17

Monstrances – 17 Mosaics – 45, 46, 79

Murals – 46, 79 Name of the church – 46, 55, 72, 93

Narthex – 73, 81, 82, 85

Natural theology, misuse of – 25 Nave – 23, 30, 33, 47, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77, 81, 82, 84, 85

Offering plates, alms-plates, alms-bags – 21, 72, 95 60 of 71

Officiant, position of at the altar – 31, 32, 33

Organ – 16, 19, 23, 29, 83, 85 Ornaments used occasionally – 92

Ostensoria – 17 Paschal post - another name for an Easter or Pachal Candle - 57 - historically worn only by bishops, so Piepkorn kept his in his shirt pocket Personal or parochial preferences – 4, 23, 25

Personal peculiarities – 5 Pews – 52, 73, 74

Plaques including how to reduce Post-Confirmation drop out — 60 Planters – 47 Polyptych – 16, 46

Processional canopies – 17

Processional crucifixes – 16, 22, 47, 92 Profane use of what is hallowed – 7

Propriety, canons of – 7 Piscina. See Sacrarium – 87

Pulpit. And see the “Note on Pulpit/altars” below. – 21, 22, 47, 75-78

Pyx or host box — 62, 91, compare with ciborium – 62, 91 Rail, Altar or Communion – 22, 27, 47-51, 96. 98 Rail gate – not necessary if Holy Communion is served continuously - 50 Real worship, who can do it – 9 Relics of the saints – 17

Reliquaries – 17 Reredos – 46

Reservation of the consecrated elements for the sick – 91 Retro-choir — an extension of a church building — 85 Riddel curtains – 46 61 of 71

Roman Catholic Church, not the same as the as the late medieval church that Luther grew up in – 14 and note 22, 15. And see Romanizing.

Romanizing – Why it does not apply to the recommendations in ARLC - 12 note 20, 14 note 22, 15. And see Roman Catholic Church. Rood, hanging – 45

Rood-beam – 45 Sacramental, as distinguished from sacrificial – 18

Sacrarium – 87 Sacred Scriptures – 2, 8, 18, 23

Sacred vessels – 16, 21, 59-62, 64, 67, 87, 89, 91. Gold for Holy Communion - 16, 59, 62 Sacrificial, as distinguished from sacramental – 18

Sacrifice, Eucharistic – 9, 16 Sacrifice, expiatory – 9

Sacring bell – 12 Sacristy, for ministers; Working – 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 Sanctuary lamp – 68

Sanctus light (so-called) – 43 Seating in the nave, – 52, 73, 74

Sedilia ("seats") – 48 Sermons – 18, 19, 75

Servers – 48, 98 Service Book and Hymnal – 4, 5, 21, 22, 35, 50 53, 64, 65, 75, 78, 90, 91

Shapes of church buildings – 26, 39 Side altars – 17

Stained glass windows – 16, 46

Statues and images – 16 Storage of what is hallowed – 7 Superfrontal – 36

Symbolism, manufactured meaning of – 24 62 of 71

Symbols, ceremonial – 12. See also Lutheran Symbols.

Tester – 34, 46, 95 Third candle – 43

Time needed to administer Holy communion – 50

Tradition(al) – Editor's Index [4-5], 3, 5, 16, 30-31, 40-42, 45-48, 54, 59, 62, 73, 79, 81, 90, 92 Traffic flow in the chancel – 52 Triple crosses – 46

Triptych – 46 Uniformity, desirability of – 4

Unthinking imitation – 36 Use of what is hallowed – 7

Versus populum ("facing the people") – 31-33, 46, 57,77

Vestments – 16, 48, 86 West wall – 47, 85

Westward position of the officiant – 31 Who can do real worship – 9

Worship as faith and faith as worship – 9

A WAY TO REDUCE THE POST-CONFIRMATION DROP OUT As a youth I carried bricks from a pile near the back of my home church to where they were used to construct the east wall behind the future altar. I think of that every time I worship there. Have the catechumens go through the Index and select an item on it that the church does not have or that needs to be replaced. If the catechumens are in a two year program, they could spend two years on the project. If it is expensive it could be done by confirmands from more than two years. The Youth Group could do the same thing. That should be an incentive for the catechumens to be confirmed and give them a sense of ownership every time the see the church or worship in it. I recently saw two plaques in a small church that list the names of members who had been baptized or confirmed or died as members of the church, and the date of the event. It provided a brief history of the church, though I recommend that separate plaques be used for those who had baptized, confirmed or died as members. I also recommend that the plaque come with blank names tags that can be easily removed to have the names and dates added, as that will keep them perfectly in line. Many stores that sell trophies or sporting goods have machines that will do the engraving in minutes, A plague listing the names of those who served during World War I, World II, the Korean War, etc. would also be a wonderful project. All churches should do it at least for those who lost their lives in war. Catechumens could also take photos of the activities of their church while they were catechumens and put them in a digital album for whoever wanted one. ~Philip James Secker, ThD 63 of 71

Note on “pulpit/altars” by the editor

After the Reformation some Lutheran Churches in Germany installed a pulpit/altar (German, Kanzelaltar) or even a font/pulpit/altar in their chancels. A number of Lutheran Churches in Texas have a pulpit/altar. So does one about 30-40 miles west of St. Louis and, I am told, some in Perry County, MO, where the founders of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod settled. Nevertheless, Arthur Carl Piepkorn nowhere refers to them in the Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus nor, to my knowledge, in any of his writings. I also never heard him mention them.

The April 2013 The Lutheran Witness contains an article about pulpit/altars by the Rev. Laurence L. White, D.D., who is the pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas. (“Serving the Gospel,” pp. 6-8). Our Savior Church has a hand-carved “pulpit/altar.” In his article Pastor White states:

Worship is the people of God gathered together at God’s initiative around the means of grace through which God conveys to us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. In the centuries that followed [the Reformation], Lutheran churches were built in various styles and configurations. But what remained consistent was the emphasis on the means of grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.

The development of the Lutheran pulpit/altar in which the pulpit and the altar were literally combined into a single structure was the pinnacle of this concept. Scholars consider the pulpit/ altar to be the single most important contribution of Lutheran theology to the history of church architecture. (p. 8)

Interested in learning more about pulpit/altars, I wrote to Pastor White and asked him what his sources are. He kindly replied with this:

My source for the comment was a great study by Dr. Harmut Mai, Der evangelische Kanzelaltar - Geschichte Und Bedeutung, p. 202 (VEB Max Niemeyer Verlag, Halle, Salle: 1969). Dr. Mai spends most of his study reviewing the challenge which confronted Lutheranism in its reassertion of Biblical Word and Sacrament liturgical worship against "the despotism of Rome and against the fundamental hostility to liturgy of legalistic biblicists and enthusiasts." The development of the pulpit/altar became the architectural expression of Lutheranism's theology of worship in response to that challenge. Mai concludes his study with this observation: "The Pulpit/ Altar the unique creation of Evangelical church architecture, and thus the most significant contribution of Protestantism to the history of art. Its design is a confession of the unchangeable validity of the Gospel." (p. 202) I hope this will be helpful. (April 16, 2013, email.)

When I wrote Pastor White again asking for other names, since the article mentions “scholars,” he replied with this:

I never wrote a formal paper on the subject, and therefore unfortunately do not have a readily available list of footnotes. Here are a couple more references. Hopefully they will be helpful. “The development of the pulpit/altar or ‘Kanzelaltar’ was perhaps the most eloquent statement of the Lutheran view of the equal importance of both Word and Communion, 64 of 71

combining the two sites into a single piece of furniture in which the pulpit hovered directly above the altar.” Sacred Power - Sacred Space An Introduction To Christian Church Architecture, Jeanne Haldrin Kilde (2008). “In Germany the trend continued to place the font, altar, pulpit and organ together, as closely as possible. The result was to be the pulpit/altar, the greatest Lutheran contribution to church architecture. Not only was it a piece of art, but the pulpit/altar was a conscious doctrinal statement about the nature of Lutheran worship.” Worship Space In the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod In the Context of Historical Christian Architecture and Art, Daniel Laitinen, 2008. (April 25, 2013, email)

Someone who knows more about pulpit/altars than I do told me the following:

I am not at all persuaded that the altar/pulpit arrangement is somehow a great contribution of Lutheranism to church architecture. I have in hand Friedrich Lochner's superb Der Hauptgottesdienst der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche (St Louis: CPH, 1895), which was apparently the liturgics text in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod until the German language was no longer in use in our seminaries. Lochner appends to his own work Das evangelische Kirchengebauede. Ein Rathgeber fuer Geistliche und Freunde kirchlicher Kunst, herausgegeben in Verbindung mit Baurath Dr. Mothes in Leipzig und Architect Pruefer in Berlin von Victor Schultze, Prof. der Theologie. Leipzig, George Boehme, 1886. This appears at pp.[279]-294 in Lochner's work. Its remarks on the altar/pulpit combination are negative.

Many notable churches that were built in our Synod certainly did not have this arrangement: Trinity and Holy Cross in St Louis, Trinity in Milwaukee, Martini and Immanuel and St Paul's in Baltimore, St Paul's and Zion in Fort Wayne, and "Historic St. John's" in Milwaukee.

There is also a doctrinal consideration: despite the frequently asserted statement that all of the “Means of Grace” are somehow “equal,” that does not appear to be the case. Surely the Sacrament of the Altar is the crown of all of the “Means of Grace.” How can it be otherwise since the incarnate God is truly present in His body and His blood? Francis Pieper's Dogmatics is very weak on this whole matter - as Herman Sasse and others have pointed out. It seems to me that the attempt to subsume baptism, absolution, the Eucharist, preaching under some broader category has led to a great deal of confusion. (May 2013 email)

For Lutherans, Word and Sacrament are not dichotomous categories since the Word is active in the Sacraments as well as in sermons. Consequently there is no need to bring the pulpit to the altar to indicate that the Word is not being slighted, and traditionally the pulpit is a fixture of the nave, not of the chancel. Piepkorn preferred to call the “means of grace” the “means of the Holy Spirit,” but he would agree that all of the means of grace (or of the Holy Spirit) convey the forgiveness of sins in the broadest sense of the term, that is, as including also “life and salvation,” and no one should doubt their efficacy no matter where they are spoken or administered.

Second, if the pulpit is located above the altar, as it is in some configurations, it may replace the altar as the architectural center of focus, and some may conclude that preaching is superior to the Sacraments, and that the sermon, rather than the reception of the Body and Blood of our Lord, is the liturgical and devotional “high point” of the service.

Third, if the Baptismal font is located in the chancel, it cannot be placed near the entrance to the Church as a symbol of the fact that we become members of the Church only through Holy Baptism, even though people can come to faith before they are baptized in the name of the Trinity. (See Acts 8:14-17). 65 of 71

With proper instruction, of course, these misunderstandings can be averted. However, if we agree that church architecture and ornaments should reflect our beliefs, then it seems easier and better to keep the font, pulpit and altar in their traditional locations. That may explain the fact that although pulpit/altars have appeared in Lutheranism, they have never become normative for Lutheranism, and are not recommended or even mentioned by Arthur Carl Piepkorn in the Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus.

--Philip James Secker

The Bibliography and a quiz with answers follow. 66 of 71

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Piepkorn, Arthur Carl. Altar Decorum. St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, 1963. Spiral bound. 42 pages. Reprinted in 1972, 1975, and 2003(?). The 2003 date may be a reference to the 2003 edition of The Conduct of the Service by Emmanuel Press in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I have a reference to a 1965 edition with 44 pages in it, but I am not sure that there is such an edition. His 1965 The Conduct of the Service is a revised version of Altar Decorum. A free edited copy of the 1963 edition is available via email attachment on www.Piepkorn.org or from the editor, whose email address is available on lcms.org.

———. “The Augsburg Confession for Our Time.” Response in Worship, Music and the Arts, 4, Advent 1962: 73-83. Reprinted in Arthur Carl Piepkorn, The Sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, pp. 177-92.

_____, The Church. Edited and introduced by Michael Plekon and William S. Wiecher. Afterword by Richard John Neuhaus. American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Books: New Delhi: 1993, 304 pages. 2006, 346 pages. Both editions need an errata because parts of sentences are missing. A free errata covering both editions and Volume 2 (which does not need one as typos can be figured out) is available by email attachment from www.Piepkorn.org.

——-. The Conduct of the Service. St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, Revised Edition, 1965. This is a revision of his Altar Decorum. Spiral bound. 44 pp. I have not been able to find an earlier edition. Maybe it was mimeographed but never formally never published. Or maybe it is a revised version of Altar Decorum. The 1965 Revised Edition was reprinted in 1972, 1975, 2003. A free copy of this will be available via email attachment from www.Piepkorn.org in late 2017.

_____, Profiles in Belief: The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada, Four Volumes in Three. Edited by John H. Tietjen. Harper and Rowe: New York: 1997-79. Unfortunately, Piepkorn died before he did any work that I have been able to find in his papers in the achieves of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or of the Graduate Theological Union, so everything in Volume II, Part 1, on Lutheran, was done by others. When I began locating and publishing Piepkorn's publications and papers in 2003, my own very incomplete bibliography of his personal and private writings was very short but was longer than any others that I found. I found articles by him in more than thirty different journals, most of which were not available in any library anywhere. My current incomplete and partially annotated bibliography, which is available from me gratis by email attachment, contains more than one hundred entries. The author of Chapter 2 in Profiles in Belief ("Doctrine and Theology") and Chapter 3 ("Nature and Function of the Church") in Volume II, Part 1, "Lutheranism" does a good job when he is summarizing one of Piepkorn's articles, but in those chapters he cites only 21 different documents written by Piepkorn, probably because he did not know of or have access to many more. Probably in an effort to compensates for that small bibliography the author of those two chapters cites the Lutheran Symbolical Books extensively. But they do not contain a systematic theology of Lutheranism. For example, as Piepkorn notes, "we look to the Book of Concord in vain . . . for any great amount of concrete guidance in connection with worship." (8) Indeed Piepkorn said that he did not think it was even possible to write a theology of the Book of Concord since there are so many topics that it does not cover. Consequently, the author of those two chapters had to construct much of Piepkorn's understanding of Lutheranism. In those two chapters the author uses the following neologisms: "sinnerhood," "Godness," "empiricality," "coercer," "corporalness," and "repentance-emptied." To my knowledge Piepkorn never used those or any other neo-logisms. That suggests that the author, who did not have access to many of Piepkorn's writings was largely writing his own understanding of Lutheran theology rather than Piepkorn's. Therefore, there is a great need today for someone to write Piepkorn's understanding of Lutheranism using a much wider 67 of 71 selection of Piepkorn's writings than the 21 cited in the two chapters of Profiles in Belief referred to above. My partially annotated incomplete Piepkorn Bibliography is available on www.Piepkorn.org and the current version is available gratis from me via email attachment at [email protected]. I am currently trying to make as many of the documents in that Bibliography available as I can.

____, “The Sacred Ministry and Holy Ordination in the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church,” The Church, American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Books: 2006, 2007.

_____, The Sacred Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, Volume 2 in The Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Preface by Robert Kolb, Introduced and edited by Philip J. Secker, Mansfield, CT: CEC Press, 2007. 313 pages. Volume 2 and other documents by and about Piepkorn are now available on a CD from www.Piepkorn.org.

McClean, Charles F. "Ad Orientem: Why the Celebrant Should Face East," Gottesdienst , Vol. 20, Number 2, Trinity (2012:2), pp. 13-16; Number 3, Michaelmas (2012:3), pp. 13-16; Number 4, Christmas (2012:4), pp.17-18.

_____, The Conduct of the Services. St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Print Shop, 1970. Spiral bound, 130 pp. Heavily influenced by Arthur Carl Piepkorn. Prepared in cooperation with George W. Hoyer, Mark P. Bangert, Robert R. Bergt, John S. Damn, David C. Yagow, Earle Hewitt Maddux, and Arthur L. Gillespie. (The word "Services" in the title is in the plural because this monograph covers the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with the altar placed against the wall, and with the celebrant facing the people, and the Holy Eucharist II and III from the Worship Supplement.)

_____, “Statement to the Students of S-101 and S-828.” I found this in the Piepkorn Papers in the ELCA Archives in Elk Grove, IL. I have a photocopy of it but, I have yet to unpack all of my boxes from a move and don't recall what its box and file numbers are in the Archives.

_____, What the Lutheran Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church Have to Say About Worship and the Sacraments. CPH, 1952, 1955, P. 10. I have put this classic monograph into a PDF and plan to make it available in April 2019.

Sasse, Hermann, We Confess Anthology: Three Volumes In One Translated by Norman Nagel. CPH: 1999.

For additional documents see footnote 13.

A quiz with answers follows. 68 of 71

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THE ARCHITECTURAL REQUIREMENTS

OF THE LUTHERAN CULTUS?

The Lutheran cultus, that is, the external religious ceremonies and observances of the Lutheran Church, impose certain requirements on the architect and the architect’s staff, including the artist-consultants. Members of building and re-modeling committees need to know and inform the architect of those requirements. They also need to know the limitations that our Church recognizes upon our freedom with regard to adiaphora, that is, things that are neither commanded or forbidden by God. This quiz is intended to alert such members to those limitations and requirements, as well as to various possible solutions to the latter.

Searching on the words in parentheses will take you to a discussion of the topic. A second search on the same words will take you back to where you were in this quiz.

Arthur Carl Piepkorn’s answers are at the bottom, with a few comments by me.

--Philip James Secker

1. T or F Where solutions are outlined to the problems proposed by the requirements of the Lutheran cultus Arthur Carl Piepkorn’s purpose is to suggest a possible procedure without implying that the course proposed is the only feasible one or even the best one. (the best one)

2. T or F Piepkorn believed that to allow a local idiosyncrasy of a congregation or a personal peculiarity of a pastor to determine a permanent architectural feature of a church against the mind of the church-at- large is not merely disloyal, but is also an offense against future congregations and pastors who will use the building and who may thereby be discouraged, dissuaded or prevented from a loyal obedience to the mind of the larger community. (to allow a)

3. T or F The “material element” in Holy Baptism is water. (washing with)

4. T or F In Holy Baptism water may be applied by sprinkling, pouring or immersing. (some kind of)

5. T or F Since adiaphora are neither commanded nor forbidden by God, congregations and pastors are free to do as they choose with regard to them. (free to do) 6. T or F As little as the Lutheran Reformers felt that they could dispense with the doctrinal categories, formulations, and terminology which they had inherited, so little did they feel themselves competent to dispense with their inherited worship categories and formulations. (worship categories)

7. T or F The Lutheran Symbols reject the concept of “liturgical law.” (of liturgical law)

8. T or F The Lutheran Church rejects the idea that any rubrics are in any sense “obligatory.” (rubrics are) 69 of 71

9. T or F The prescriptive rubrics of the rites of the Lutheran Churches in America leave no room for legitimate individuality. (outside the area)

10. T or F According to the Symbolical Books, “worship in its essence is faith in God through Christ and faith in God through Christ is worship.” (is faith)

11. T or F Worship as we understand it is in no way sacrificial. (double nature)

12. T or F There can be no real worship except by Christians. (by Christians)

13. T or F The authority to change the external ceremonies of public worship is vested in the Church — not exclusively in the laity of a local congregation. (is vested in)

14. T or F The exercise of the authority to change the external ceremonies of public worship, according to the Symbolical Books, is assigned to the pastor of the congregation. (is assigned to)

15. T or F External ceremonies have value in that they are pedagogically useful, contribute to external decency and order, help to identify the external society of the Church, and are vehicles of private and corporate devotion. (vehicles of )

16. T or F Concretely the Lutheran rites of the Reformation century — like the Lutheran doctrinal formulations of the Reformation century — reflect the fact that the Church of the Augsburg Confession is consciously and determinedly a part of the Catholic Church of the West. (a part of)

17. T or F Our theology uses verbal symbols and our worship uses ceremonial symbols. (verbal symbols)

18. T or F Where the historic Lutheran rite has been retained or restored, it generally reveals a purer and older form of the Western rite than the reformed Roman Catholic rite of today exhibits and gives us a denominationally and confessionally distinctive rite to which we have historic title and which we have not dreamed up out of our own imagination or lately borrowed from alien — that is, Roman Catholic, Anglican or Protestant — sources. (purer and older)

19. T or F The Lutheran rite is an invaluable symbol of the antiquity, the historic continuity, and the thorough catholicity of the Church of the Augsburg Confession and at the same time gives us a rite which is generally older than, and significantly and recognizably different from, the present Roman Catholic rite. (older than)

20. T or F The Lutheran Reformers of the 16th century retained generally which of the following items: (check as many as apply) __ statues and images __altar paintings and polyptychs __processional crucifixes __funeral palls __houseling cloths __sacring bells __censers (censers) See question 29. on housling cloths.

21. T or F The traditional Lutheran custom of having only two candles on the altar is a more primitive practice than the four, six or seven candles of the Roman Catholic rite. (six or seven) 22. T or F Somewhere about the chancel, in the Lutheran tradition, there should be a representation of the Crucifixion, not merely a cross. (merely a cross)

23. T or F The suggestion that a cross without a corpus is Evangelical over against a Roman Catholic cross with a corpus, or that the crucifixion represents Christ defeated in His passion while the empty cross is the Easter cross of triumph, are both myths. (a cross without)

24. T or F An altar rail is unnecessary. (an altar rail) 70 of 71

25. T or F A gate arrangement is unnecessary and does not save time if Holy Communion is served continuously rather than by tables or rails. (gate arrangement)

26. T or F The Lutheran and early Christian norm is for Holy Communion to be celebrated at every parochial service every Sunday and major holy day. (every Sunday)

27. T or F The desirability of putting flowers, living or cut — that is, dead — on the altar is open to question. (living or cut)

28. T or F In accordance with historic Lutheran tradition, the pulpit Bible should be of suitable size, dignity, and binding, and should include the Old Testament Apocrypha. (in accordance with)

29. T or F The rubrics of the Service Book and Hymnal prescribe that the celebrant shall place in the proper vessels only "so much of the bread and wine as in [his] judgment will be required for the administration" of the Holy Communion for which he is preparing. (so much of)

30. T or F Piepkorn questioned whether dipping a host in the consecrated wine (“intincture”) adequately meets the Lord's command, "All of you, drink of it." (dipping a host)

31. T or F A housling cloth is a band of linen held by two servers in front of the kneeling communicants to prevent the inadvertent falling to the ground of a host or of a spilled drop or two of wine. (drop or two of wine)

32. T or F Liberty responsibly exercised is itself a Catholic principle. (Catholic principle)

33. T or F Piepkorn had a pectoral cross but kept it out of sight. (pectoral cross)

34. T or F. Neither of the orders of worship edited by Martin Luther contained a public confession of sins. (confession of sins)

35. T or F. The Exchange of Peace may be keeping visitors from joining our churches. (forced familiarity)

The answers follow. 71 of 71

ANSWERS: 1. True. 2. True. 3. False. It is commonly said that “water” is the element, just as bread and wine are the elements in Holy Communion. That has led some to think sprinkling is sufficient. Recognizing that “washing with water” is the element, rules out sprinkling. 4. False. 5. False. 6. True. 7. False. 8. False. 9. False. The traditional services allow for great individuality: the prelude and postlude, the hymns, the Psalms used for and , the Scripture readings, the prayers, the sermon, seasonal changes in the parts of the liturgy, the paraments on the altar and pulpit and lectern, the anthems sung by choirs, the vestments, special candles such as the Advent and Easter candles, the use or non-use of incense, various special services, different musical settings, etc. 10. True. 11. False. 12. True. 13. True. 14. False. Note that the word “pastors” is in the plural, and that “the Church” is broader than an individual congregation. 15. True. 16. True. See my footnote on The ARLC statement quoted in question 16 (a part of). 17. True. 18. True. See the comment on 16. above. 19. True. 20. All of the items should be checked. 21. - 28. are all true. 29. True. This is easier to do than it sounds and solves the problem of having left over consecrated bread and wine. Elders can assist with consuming any consecrated elements that remain. 30. True. 31. True. 32. True. The quotation is from Piepkorn’s “The Augsburg Confession for Our Time,” which I cite in my Introduction, but it describes The ARLC very well. As Piepkorn states in section I: “in this discussion we shall be operating with concepts that belong in the realm of what Lutheran theology has come to call indifferent things, or adiaphora. That is to say, the architectural requirements of the Lutheran cultus are for the most part not matters that the Sacred Scriptures prescribe and that are therefore intrinsically obligatory. . . . This does not, however, mean that in the Lutheran Church each congregation or each clergyman is utterly a law unto itself or to himself, free to do as it or he chooses. As Lutherans we recognize certain limitations upon our freedom.” Those limitations are described in section I. See 3, 12, 16, 73. 33. True. Piepkorn had a pectoral cross on a black cord, but kept the cross out of sight in his shirt pocket because traditionally pectoral crosses were worn only by Bishops (in the hierarchical sense). I assume that he believed that out respect for our Bishops and District and Synodical Presidents, other members of our clergy should not wear them in the open. He does not discuss this in his ARLC. 34. True. Public confessions of sin are not essential parts of Lutheran orders of worship and may be confusing to visitors, especially if the pastor absolves the entire congregation. 35. True. There are a number of reasons to believe that the Exchange of Peace is a form of forced familiarity that many people do not like and that some oppose for fear of picking up a cold, etc.