The Augsburg Confession has been used both in preserving liturgical worship and in advocating nonliturgical worship. In a recent post Article XXIV was used to defend the use of the Mass.
Yet we are not slaves to the Mass. Article VII tells us:
Also they (the congregations under Lutheran guidance) teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike. As Paul says: One faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, etc. Eph. 4, 5. 6.
We are sinful yet powerful human beings. We can turn any Gospel into Law with our own bare hands. We can look at the ancient liturgy and ask, “Do we have to?” When the rituals point to Christ, the answer is, “No, but why would you not want to?” True, you don’t find an order of worship in the Bible, but you can find a lot of the Bible in a liturgical order of worship.
