Who's more high Church?

[TheDude28]

I am curious who do you think in your expierience is more High Church LCMS,WELS or the more liberal ELCA?

 

[Aibrean]

I'm pretty sure that's going to depend on congregations specifically.

 

[DaRev]

In my experience, many ELCA congregations have more "high church" type services. The LCMS seems to span the spectrum from very high church with all the smells and bells to very low church with almost no liturgy. The WELS is liturgical but not what I would consider 'high church', but their practice is much more uniform synod wide, at least from my understanding.

 

[bach90]

My local LCMS Church is very high Church.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

I've never been to an ELCA service that was high church.

I know there are several WELS guys who preach high church services and there's lots of LCMS pastors who do so.

You could probably categorize our congregation as mid high church.

 

[Tangible]

My local LCMS Church is very high Church.

You are very blessed.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Pastor William Weedon (LCMS) is a good resource for high liturgical Lutheranism: St Paul Lutheran Church Hamel, Illinois Home Page

Brian

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Pastor William Weedon (LCMS) is a good resource for high liturgical Lutheranism: St Paul Lutheran Church Hamel, Illinois Home Page

Brian

Indeed he is.

I serve on the LCC East District Worship Committee, and we promote it through seminars, special services, and and bursaries for Church Organists. The Pastor who heads this Committee, the Rev. Dr. Ken Voege (Our Savior, London Ont.), is our local resource.

In my experience, our East District tends to have a lot of Congregations which lean toward High Chruch practice. In Onario, most of the ELCIC Congregations do not.

My own Pastor and Parish is very High Chruch also, and I love it!

 

[WildStrawberry]

(off topic...sorry) I always have to remind my inner fan girl that Pr Will Weedon is NOT Wil Wheaton. (/OT)

My LCMS church is middle of the road. I sort of wish it were higher because that's what I grew up with (in the same church, different Pastors) but I like our church anyway. *G*

 

[JTornado1]

My LCMS church is high church, in that the worship services are very formal, but we don't use incense. I wish we did.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

My LCMS church is high church, in that the worship services are very formal, but we don't use incense. I wish we did.

I know it can be a nice touch, but I also know that for my family, attending a church that used incense would be a medical nightmare...

 

[twin.spin]

I don't know if this counts....

but the WELS church in Flagstaff is @ 7200' elevation....does that qualify as a high service?

 

[filosofer]

I know it can be a nice touch, but I also know that for my family, attending a church that used incense would be a medical nightmare...

Yeah, I like incense, but my body does not. I get stuffed from the flowers on Easter (to the point where it is sometimes hard to speak)... need I say more about incense.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

I know it can be a nice touch, but I also know that for my family, attending a church that used incense would be a medical nightmare...

We have not taken the step to incense either.

There is, IMO, good incense and bad incense.

Years ago, when I worked as a Funeral Director, when the Casket was brought into a Catholic Church, it was blessed with Holy Water and incensed, before being taken to the front of the Church. I remember it being very "heavy", and not all that pleasant.

A year ago, I attended a Tridentine (Latin) Mass at Assumption Church in Windsor, Ontario. The incense that they used, and they used a lot of it, was great. The best way that I can discribe it would be a combination of evergreen forest, and fresh sawn pine/fir lumber, the arroma filled the whole Church, and It's a big one. There were lots of people there, and not one sneeze or cough was heard. If we ever decided to use it, I would find out what they use, and get us some of that!

The Augsburg-Fortress store in Kitchener carries a wide varity of incense... I wonder if one could try before you buy?

 

[Kalevalatar]

I don't know if this counts....

but the WELS church in Flagstaff is @ 7200' elevation....does that qualify as a high service?

Yes, yes, enquiring minds want to know: this high enough?





And what happens if it's not? Fail to reach Heaven or something, maybe?

 

[goldbeach]

I've been to some churches that smell to high heaven and they don't use incense.


.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

The acoustics in that church must be AMAZING!!

Yes, yes, enquiring minds want to know: this high enough?





And what happens if it's not? Fail to reach Heaven or something, maybe?

 

[alexnbethmom]

...very high church with all the smells and bells...

i guess this is my elementary sense of humor but this phrase just makes me giggle like crazy....

our church doesn't use incense - and honestly, even though it smells neat, i'm kinda glad they don't....i'm afraid i would be nothing but a sneezing, coughing, leaking mess if they did.....

 

[lux et lex]

Just a quick poke in...the church I grew up in (ELCA) was high church...I would say it was the "highest church" (wow sounds like a competition...lol) in my city, second only to another ELCA church that had kneelers in the pews. But at my church, if you went to the traditional service, it was very much high church...kneeling for communion, traditional liturgy, creeds, traditional dress for the pastor, the pastor makes the sign of the cross, etc. I also went to a lot of Catholic mass as my parents have a "mixed marriage" and the differences were no incense (fine by me and my allergies), no chanting, no sprinkling of holy water and no interpretive dancers.

 

[SyntheticPaper]

My church (LCMS) is definitely high church. No incense, but it has chanting and all that.