VDMA
It seems we disagree.....
IMO, some insist that all Lutherans must worship exactly the same way. I actually think that's contrary to our Confessions (and history and example). It's not a "traditional" vs "Contemporary" issue, it's not a "high church" vs. "low church" issue. It's not a 1941 hymnal vs. 2006 hymnal issue. IMO, not only is diversity allowed but a good thing.
IMO, the issue should be not worship styles but whether the TEACHING presented is theologically sound. You have "problems" with a particular song (that evidently some Lutheran church used). Well, in my view, the problem is not the musical style or instrumental accompaniment or denominational affiliation of the writer of the lyrics, the problem is the bad theology of the lyrics. People of all denominational affiliation and all musical traditions are capable of bad teaching. And good.
Yes, I think it sound (and Confessional) to expect the words taught in Lutheran worship to be theologically sound. Honestly, I doubt any Lutheran would disagree with that. But instead of actually addressing WORDS used, Lutherans love to fight over STYLES. And of course, there's that age old problem that everybody should do like I do.... "Lutheran" being whatever self grew up with or does in their own parish; conformity with self is (unfortunately) an element here.
I suspect we'd be on the same page IF your point was the bad lyrics of a popular song... and therefore shouldn't be used among Lutherans. We'll agree. And perhaps we'd note that this is FAR from a rare case and has NOTHING to do with it being contemporary; there are a LOT of awful traditional hymns too (including some in the 2006 LCMS hymnal).
Blessings!
Josiah
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You are correct we are not in agreement. We are divided synod, because we’re not in doctrinal agreement. It’s not all about style, there are some flexibility with worship…to a point. Doctrine shapes practice…which includes worship practice.
You claimed it has nothing to do with being contemporary. It's just coincidental that all our problematic churches that struggle with confessional integrity are contemporary. There are a couple of hymns I would have left out of the LSB... there's the good the bad the ugly.
I’ve been in many of these so-called quasi LCMS churches with the contemporary praise bands in their man centered worship. They claim to be confessional Lutherans but when you hear him speak, at best many vaguely know the Catechism let alone the other Confessional documents. They finish singing in their praise band and they walk back to the seats with a smile making eye contact with glowing approval from family and friends. Job well done for that performance as they received their approval from man. They say it's all for outreach and that they need to be relevant to culture. It's what the young generation wants...As they catechize themselves with the latest music from the so-called "Christian music" station.
What is wrong with that contemporary service? Second, consider the following service schedules:
Sunday morning service schedule in the early 1990s:
8:00 Traditional
9:45 Contemporary
11:00 Traditional
Service schedule in 2006:
8:00 Traditional
9:45 Contemporary
11:00 Contemporary
Service schedule in 2020:
8:00 Heritage Service (traditional)
9:30 Praise & Worship Service (contemporary)
11:00 nXt (adapted from “Next,” i.e., a special ser-vice for Generation “X”)
This is a schedule from the same church. Do you see what’s happening…do you see the problem?

I see a major problem that’s alarming! The worship does not line up with Lutheran theology. It’s a death sentence to confessional Lutheranism.
Now that we jettison hundreds of years of liturgical practice for modernism and pietism we need to make a change to the name of the church or drop Lutheran from our name. Shocker: that's the trend of American evangelicalism. And we need to water-down our worship so it doesn’t resemble the ancient Church... that's "way to Catholic" (in reality it's Lutheran). This is all done to be relevant to the culture...
A Pew Research Center released poll showed that only One-third of U.S. Catholics believe in Real presents in the eucharist. Those silly modernist Roman Catholics…It got me thinking, I don’t think we would fare any better in these quasi-Lutheran churches in the LCMS. I have my suspicions that many probably don’t really believe the receiving the true blood in the body of Christ. The nave, the alter, the chalice, the crucifix, the Stainglass windows our sacred...Do many of these churches really believe anything is sacred in the church. This stuff really does matter.
Anyway’s you’re correct we are not in agreement. There’re a few LCMS churches I will refuse to step foot in, and if I had to for some reason I would not commune.