So it Begins!

To kick off Worship, Gotham!, Christian and I thought that it would be best to start with a place that was familiar to at least one of us. We decided to go to Trinity Lutheran Church, a Lutheran Church in Astoria, Queens that Christian and his wife regularly attend. Part of the thinking in choosing this church was that since we already had a network of people that we knew around us, hopefully I would feel somewhat comfortable even as I, the religiously ignorant Jew, found myself in the middle of a traditional Lutheran service.

Since we are still trying to figure out the scope of Worship, Gotham! and what exactly we are trying to do, I was a little unsure how to approach writing a summary of the experience. I thought it would be best just to give you a short description of my thoughts on the service, highlight things that stood out during the experience and give you description of what I learned about the Lutheranism even if it's not all that much. I would have liked to have been able to give you a good overview of both Lutheran theology and the Lutheran liturgy, but I think that's way too ambitious a task and is something I have neither the time nor training to do. So here it goes:

The main thing that struck me was how Roman Catholic everything seemed (I have gone to Mass once or twice at Roman Catholic Churches, so I have some frame of reference). The building itself, both outside and in, looked very much like a Roman Catholic Church. The Pastor was dressed in robes that looked similar to those that a Roman Catholic priest would wear and there was other imagery, including the presence of an altar, candles, a choir and that guy that brings the cross down the center aisle (Crusifier? Cross-bearer?) that would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for me to know that it wasn't a Roman Catholic service if I didn't know otherwise.

As for the actual theology that was expressed in the service, to be honest, I am just as confused about Lutheranism and Christianity now as I was before the service. In terms of general Christian Theology, I am still confused about the basic idea of the Trinity. Shortly before the service began, I had the opportunity to read the Athanasian Creed (which is accepted as truth by all Lutheran Churches and by many other Christian Denominations) for the first time and this only confused me more. Apparently, Lutherans, and Christians generally pray to three distinct concepts that are in fact one. The Creed states:

We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.
For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.
But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.

It goes on to say:

Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.
Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God.
Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.
As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

I assume the idea of how three beings are actually one has been flushed out by countless theologians. The general idea seems to be that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all distinct, but yet at the same time are one. How this actually works out is still confusing. This might seem like basic Christian theology, but my knowledge of Christianity leaves a lot to be desired (the correction of this problem is one of the main points of Worship, Gotham!).

As for Lutheran specific theology, I wasn't able to learn much more of Lutheran theology than the basic outline that is on Trinity Lutheran's website. For me, the most interesting aspect of what I know of their theology is their belief in salvation by grace instead of by good works. As they put it: "we do not save ourselves with good works, or by right doctrine. We are saved by God, as a gift of love." This seems to be a large departure from Roman Catholic teaching, which, I thought, stresses the importance of doing good deeds on earth and believes that simply belief alone is not enough.

After the service, I had the opportunity to talk a little bit with Pastor Michael Church, the Pastor of the Congregation. We didn't get a chance to discuss the real differences between Lutheranism and other sects of Christianity, but he was able to briefly outline the history and organization of Lutheranism in the United States. While I can't remember a lot of what he said (I really should have been keeping notes), I do remember some of the more basic organizational aspects of the Lutheran Church in America.

Apparently, the Church is split into two major denominations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and a bunch of other minor denominations. Of the two major denominations, the ELCA is the more "progressive" and the Missouri Synod is the more "conservative". As examples of the progressive attitudes of ELCA, Trinity Lutheran, which is a member of ELCA, has a few openly gay congregants and the communion (where they eat the wafer and drink the wine) was open to all "baptized Christians" and not just baptized Lutherans. According to members of the congregation of Trinity that I spoke with, both of these are not "kosher" at Missouri Synod churches.

Pastor Michael seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of both Lutheran theology and Lutheran history inside and outside the United States. He offered to sit down and discuss religion in more detail with Worship Gotham! sometime soon. He is probably going to be an invaluable resource in learning more about Lutheranism specifically and Christianity in general through the course of this project and I am looking forward to meeting with him again.

In all, even though there is still a fairly large amount I don't know about Lutheranism, I think today was a success. First, I got to meet a bunch of good people. Everyone at Trinity was amazingly welcoming and friendly. Before I even entered the Church, when I was standing outside trying to figure out if I was in the right place, a member of the congregation came up to me and made sure I was OK and assured me that the doors were open and I was welcome. When I got inside, this friendliness continued. Within minutes after I walked in and sat down three people came up to me, introduced themselves, and welcomed me. Secondly, I got to experience my second Lutheran service and my first traditional Lutheran service (the first involved electric guitars and a rock band and was a totally different experience).

Lastly, I managed to get out of bed before 1 pm on a Sunday, which is amazing for me. All in all, it was a good Sunday.