[Magdalen] Pentecost and Confirmation among the Lutherans in New Market, VA

[Jay Weigel]

So this morning being Pentecost, I put on my patchwork skirt that has a lot
of red in it and a shirt that goes with it and hied myself off to
Reformation Lutheran to see how things are done there. The first thing I
noticed was that yes, lots of Lutherans DO wear red on Pentecost, but other
than that, the red collars on the choir robes, and a lot of red geraniums
on the altar, there wasn't much decoration. No balloons, streamers,
banners, flags, or any other cool stuff like Episcopalians do. And no
processional....they only process on Christmas and Easter, apparently. No
Gospel processional. No readings in different languages. IOW, none of the
Pentecost "stuff" I'm used to and have done even in smaller churches. I
missed that. And then there was the music. It started out well enough with
the choral prelude, which was "Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire"--yep,
*that* one--by our big tenor and the choir. For some reason it made me
think of Capers and I got teary. The rest of the music, however...I don't
know who chooses it, but a lot of the time it leaves me shaking my head
sadly. (Besides which, I'm going to make some not-nice comments about a few
things in the new LBOW) The opening hymn was "Spirit, Spirit of
Gentleness," which basically makes me want to barf...not exactly my idea of
the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, let alone the Spirit that moved upon the face
of the deep......  Then "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy", and wouldn't
you know it, with the wonderful Calvin Hampton tune staring at us from
across the page, whoever chose it picked the *other* tune, some unsinkable
thing that nobody knew and nobody sang but the choir. The last hymn was
called "God of Tempest, God of Whirlwind" (considering the weather lately
in the Great Plains I'm not so sure that was a great choice!) and was set
to the tune Cwm Rhondda...but who in heck reconfigured the harmonies in the
new LBOW? They SUCK! I sang the alto part I knew, and it didn't clash.
(They've done this to several well-known hymns, and so far I've found that
the parts I have always sung fit okay, so I sing what I know. I looked it
up in my 1980 when I got home, and yep, that's what I was singing, so the
Lutherans *have* messed with it.)

The confirmation part was interesting. It was extremely low-key, not even
as formal as I was used to seeing when my Lutheran friends were confirmed
eons ago in Wisconsin, and of course nothing like an Episcopal
confirmation. It was pretty much like any mainline Protestant "joining the
church" type thing. There were three confirmands, two boys and a girl, all
of whom are about to finish 8th grade I think. Kids are sure tall at that
age now, and the girl was taller than either of the boys! She looks like
she might be a basketball or volleyball player. At the reception afterwards
there was a lot of comparison of how "pastor's class" and "confirmation
class" used to be, which was pretty funny since there are not only old
school Lutherans but people from Catholic, Episcopal, Church of the
Brethren, Methodist, and a few other backgrounds in the congregation.
Classes ranged anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 years! I remember my Lutheran
friends trotting off to "pastor's class" every Saturday morning for 2 years
in 7th and 8th grade back in Wisconsin in the 1950s.

As far as the new Lutheran hymnal, I have some serious quarrels, not only
with the harmonies that someone has messed with, but with some of the
content. Too much OCP/St. Louis Jesuits stuff, for one thing, and too much
"praise music" which is really not suitable for congregational singing. And
while they've left most of the oldies and goodies in (some with unfamiliar
texts) I could not find Mit Freuden Zart anywhere, which annoyed the hell
out of me. And I will NOT sing ANY hymn to the tune of "Barbara
Allen"....that's just gross. I'm having my own struggles with the service
music, but at least this church has picked some that isn't TOO crazy. I
hope when the Episcopalians revise they don't go quite so far into left
field. /rant mode off