Prepared by the Commission on Worship
The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
January 2000

Click here to download "A Review of With One Voice" in PDF.

The Apology of the Augsburg Confession articulates the proper distinction between Law and Gospel in the following manner: "Thus the service and worship of the Gospel is to receive good things from God, while the worship of the law is to offer and present our goods to God. . . . The greatest possible comfort comes from the doctrine to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness." (Ap. IV, 310; Tappert, 155). This review will consider the recent publication, With One Voice (WOV) in light of the Lutheran Confessions' application of this proper distinction to the church's liturgy and song.

Dom Odo Casel (1886—1948), a Benedictine monk of Maria Laach, Germany, was a major figure in Liturgical Movement of the twentieth century. For Casel the core of Christianity was the mysterium. The mysterium is to be found in the actions or deeds of God, in particular, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Human beings participate in this mysterium through ritual action. Casel states: "The mysterium is a holy cultic action in which a fact of salvation becomes reality beneath the rite; when the cult-congregation carries out this rite, it participates in the act of salvation and thereby procures salvation for herself."

The church therefore is gathered not to be given to but to accomplish something. She is to get in on the action of the Christ's sacrificial death at Calvary as it is re-presented through ritual action in order to acquire salvation for herself. The sacrifice of the Mass, therefore, is a re-presentation of Christ's death on the cross. For Casel, real presence language concerns itself with the real presence of an action, not necessarily the real presence of a physical substance such as Christ's body and blood. The Words of Institution become words of commemoration (anamnesis–"Do this in remembrance of me"). This commemoration makes the sacrifice of Christ a present, redemptive work.

In sum, Dom Odo Casel teaches that the sacrifice of the Mass draws the church into Christ's sacrifice. By means of her Baptism, the church and her Bridegroom are one in the re-presented action of His sacrifice. The liturgy, as the work and possession of the people, turns the Lord's sacrificial dying into a co-operative sacrifice through the actions contained in the rite of the mysterium. It is a liturgical synergism. Bride and Bridegroom behave as one. The church, as she acts out the mysterium as the body of Christ, shares in the sacrificial act of Christ. Through the actions of the rite, the church does what the Lord did, and in doing so, she makes the Lord's act present. This re-presentation through ritual action has had ecumenical appeal.

Dom Gregory Dix (1901—52), a Benedictine monk of the Church of England, influenced by Casel, was another influential leader of the modern Liturgical Movement. Despite the variety of liturgical practice of the eucharist due to various localities and times, Dix argued for a basic ritual pattern or shape. He investigated later liturgies and then moved to earlier liturgies to substantiate his claim. According to Dix, this shape or pattern was fourfold: taking, blessing, breaking, sharing.

The significance of this fourfold shape was its action. Attention is focused more on what is done than what is said. Dix argues that the fourfold shape is contained in the Words of Institution, in particular, "Do this." But the meaning of the fourfold action is to be found in the eucharistic prayer which Dix says has come from the apostolic era.

This scholarship of the modern Liturgical Movement has been carried through by the hymnal Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW). It is readily apparent in The Great Thanksgiving sections of the communion liturgies which contain various eucharistic prayers. The influence of the modern Liturgical Movement evident in LBW is continued in WOV.

Two brief examples follow. First, WOV's introductory explanation regarding the nature of Holy Communion is titled: "Holy Communion–Shape of the Rite." The predominant emphasis here is on our action. Furthermore, there is no reference to the Lord's body and blood, but only to bread and wine as "simple signs of God's love."

Second, included in WOV's "Foundations for the Christian Assembly," is the statement of the Constitution on the Liturgy (1963) from the Second Vatican Council, where the liturgy as ritualistic action or as the work of the people remains foundational. Yet, WOV's introductory comments regarding worship say absolutely nothing about the forgiveness of sins through the preached and sacramental Gospel, nor is there any word concerning the sinner's justification by grace through faith.

The phrase, "we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves," (WOV, p. 11) lacks clarity and forthrightness. There is no acknowledgment that our sin rightly deserves God's wrath and punishment. When one compares this prayer of confession to that of the hymnal, Lutheran Worship, note what is lacking: "we are by nature sinful and unclean," and that, "we justly deserve your present and eternal punishment." In WOV's prayer of confession, the sinner is not clearly saying back to God what God has said to him in his Word. When the doctrine of sin is weakened, the doctrine of salvation and the work of Jesus the Savior are consequently diminished.

In WOV, the creed's words, "He descended into hell," are now optional and can be replaced by the alternative, "he descended to the dead." Yet, the Latin and German of the Apostles' Creed are very clear as to where Christ descended (infernus and Höllen respectively): he descended into hell. When the Creed states "on the third day he rose again from the dead," it uses mortus (German Todten), and not infernus. As far as the Latin original and German translation are concerned, WOV's alternative translation "to the dead" cannot be maintained.

There are three services for Holy Communion in WOV: Light of Christ, Setting 4; Bread of Life, Setting 5; and All Times and Places, Setting 6. Each setting contains a Great Thanksgiving. Each of them places the Words of Institution in a prayer addressed to God. The main thing confessed here is the action of thanksgiving. This expresses the fundamental presupposition of the modern Liturgical Movement and is a fundamental shift in theology, especially in the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Altar. The shift is from the clear words of our Lord to the words and ritual action of the Christian assembly which bring about the event of Calvary. This turns the Words of Institution from Gospel proclamation to the people into a prayer by the people offered to God. While WOV would have us find the meaning of the Lord's Supper in our ritual actions–worship according to the Law–Jesus directs us to his Gospel words.

The introduction to WOV prepares the reader for intentional use of feminist language. Hymn #769 ("Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth") is a clear example of what this means. Hymn #741 ("Thy Holy Wings") speaks of Jesus in feminine terms: "within thy downy breast . . . peace within thy nest." Hymn #683 ("Loving Spirit") refers to God as "mother," "friend," and "lover"! Hymn #697 ("Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters") petitions God that "by your milk may we be fed." The subject index of WOV includes the category: "Feminine Images for God." Nine hymns are listed.

One of the changes noted above in the wording of the second article of the Apostles' Creed is repeated here–from "his only Son, our Lord," to "God's only Son." God the Father does not generically have a Son. The creed confesses that the Son, Jesus Christ, is his (the Father's) Son. Such tampering according to feminist sensibilities undoes the Trinitarian nature and shape of God Himself.

The theme of social justice is prominent in a number of hymns contained in WOV. Such a theme emphasizes an earthly and visible kingdom of God realized in proper social action by the community. Some problematic hymns include:

• #628, stanza 2, "When race and class cry out for treason, when sirens call for war, they overshout the voice of reason and scream till we ignore all we held dear before."
• #629, stanza 1, uses the language of God's "truth and justice to set everybody free."
• #633, stanzas 2-3, "to shatter all hatred and blindness . . . and weapons be broken asunder."
• #684, stanza 4, "With bold new decisions your people arise."
• #750, stanza 5, "Oh, praise the tide of grace that laps at every shore with visions of a world at peace, no longer bled by war."
• #753, stanza 2, "You are the new reign of God built on rock, where justice and truth are at home."
• #756, stanza 4, "May your care and mercy lead us to a just society."
• #757, stanza 3, "Redeeming God, your arms embrace all now despised for creed or race; let peace, descending like a dove, make known on earth your healing love."
• #762, stanza 1, "May swords of hate fall from our hands, our hearts from envy find release, till by God's grace our warring world shall see Christ's promised reign of peace."