[Magdalen] Temporarily Lutheran

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/15/2014 2:28:14 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jay.weigel at gmail.com writes:

I like  that the Lutherans are now eucharistically centered. The  Norwegian
Lutherans of my childhood most certainly were  not.>>>  
I don't think most Upper Midwestern ELCA Lutherans feature the
Eucharist as the main Sunday Liturgy.  Take for example, the
Lutheran "Minneapolis Cathedral" - Central Lutheran Church on the
edge of Downtown Minneapolis.  One can have the Eucharist there
every Sunday, but not at the main services.
 
The immigration from Norway was primarily during the
"Pietist" era, which was fundamentally anti-clerical.  Since it  required
an ordained clergyman for presiding at the Eucharist, they were
relatively "against the Eucharist" by default.
 
The modern anti-CCM "Word Alone" Lutherans are essentially for
lay presidency of the Eucharist, as a sort of final extension of the
Pietist dislike of clergy.
 
For that matter, I suppose a case could be made that Luther himself
was anti-clerical.  He strongly eschewed the idea of priestly  Sacrifice
and the prevailing theology of "Alter Christus" with the celebrant  acting
"in Persona Christi".  He wanted only the naked "Verbum" and held  that
the Words of Institution alone were all that were necessary to effect  the
Body and Blood.  He assumed that it was customary and salutary  that
there be an ordained presider, but left unanswered whether this  presider 
might be lay.
 
 
David Strang.