Worship Weblog

Report from St. Olaf conference

Posted by CICW

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Report on last week’s Conference on Worship, Theology and the Arts from student assistant Tracie Wiersma: (read more reports)

The five days I spent at St. Olaf last week were the first encounter I have had with Lutheran worship. As I reflect on my time at this conference, I feel that much of what I experienced most pointedly was a result of Lutheran teaching and tradition. In my education at Calvin, I learned several times about the Reformation and the Church. Even though Calvin College was built upon the teachings of John Calvin, in my music history classes, we spent a little more time learning about Martin Luther. Unlike John Calvin, Martin Luther encouraged many kinds of musical and artistic expression in worship (not just unison Psalm singing.) I couldn’t help but wonder this week if that respect and enthusiasm for music has shaped the Lutheran tradition to this day. Surely St. Olaf is a special case, even more so since this conference was heavily focused on church music, but this conference showed me an appreciation for the partnership of music and the church that was greater than anything I experienced at Calvin College. This was even demonstrated in the acoustically brilliant architecture of their chapel. The music at this conference preached to me in a powerful way and has enthused my spirit for my own work with church music. As Christians, we do not endorse “music for music’s sake,” but we can also recognize the power music has to lift up our hearts to God. The music at this conference helped me to do just that.

Another thing that struck me at this conference was the experience of Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. I have never before been served communion six times in a five-day span. The experience was all very communal as we all went up together to receive the bread with open hands and the wine in good-sized individual ceramic cups. The experience was abundant and the atmosphere calm and unhurried. Actually, there was a sense of calm throughout the entire conference. The leaders never looked flustered or hurried, even when time was short or when things went awry. There was a lot of breathing time in each day that helped me personally to absorb what I was learning. (I wondered if this, too was a reflection of Lutheran tradition, as opposed to our Calvinist efficiency and work-ethic.)

So in summary, I would have to say that I learned a lot about Lutherans and Lutheran worship at this conference and, while I may not have agreed with everything, I feel that there were some great things to learn. The experience of community and collaboration between Christian denominations is one I hope to repeat. When we can come together to learn, it is a beautiful experience.

Tags: Calvinist, event reports, Lord's Supper, Lutheran, music, St Olaf conference 2010, St. Olaf, tradition