I eliminated a link because, lo and behold, it is no longer a personal website but an advertisement for porn. Those guys swoop in and use any website they can get their hands on.

I have been reading some about WELS and worship and trying to figure out how the synod ended up where it is now and what might be done to improve the situation as it stands. It's not that WELS is in a bad place. I just think things could be made better. If I were on the WELS Commission of Worship, these are the changes I would make.

The Common Service (aka pg 5 & 15 (TLH) or DS I (LW))

First thing is make sure to show one is allowed to make the sign of the cross on oneself when invoking the triune name of God without being Catholic. It is OK to make the sign of the cross. I do it all the time at my new church. Fire and brimstone doesn't fall on my head when I do it. Purgatory doesn't swallow me up. They do have the right idea having the pastor face the altar rather than facing the congregation and making the sign of the cross.

The second thing is moving the Kyrie into the confession of sins. It shows that the liturgists in WELS need to do a better job of educating their people and pastors as to what the Kyrie is and why it is in the liturgy. The Kyrie is always one of those parts where the temptation to move it is there. We shouldn't.

Third, the verse is an opportunity for the congregation to sing praise to God. The pastor says it instead. I miss singing the verse.

Fourth, get rid of the translation of the Nicene Creed. It's bumbling, doesn't read well, and is gender neutral, which I dislike. There is no reason for our synod to use an ecumenical translation when we're not all that ecumenical.

Fifth, why did they move the offertory to before the offering? That's putting the cart before the horse.

Sixth, The Lord's Prayer is in the same place, communion or no communion. It's placed after the general prayer. It needs to be moved back to its proper role before the verba in the communion setting.

Finally, they need to bring back the majestic language in the Proper Preface. Singing "with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven" is better than "with all the saints on earth and the hosts of heaven."

Anyway, many of the complaints I have for the common service also hold for the other services. In the Service of Word and Sacrament, the Kyrie is where it is supposed to be. I just wish they had used the traditional language of the liturgy rather than inventing something new.