Were you always Baptist?

Newtheran said:

As far as the hymns go...

The Top 25 Hymns Lutherans Sing

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God 656/657
Amazing Grace 744
Beautiful Savior 537
Children of the Heavenly Father 725
Crown Him with Many Crowns 525
Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice 556
Go, My Children, with My Blessing 922
God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It 594
I Know That My Redeemer Lives 461
Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure 533
Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus 685
Lift High the Cross 837
Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word 655
Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds 465
O Lord, We Praise Thee 617
O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright 395
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded 449/450
Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow 805
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty 790
Savior of the Nations, Come 332
Silent Night, Holy Night 363
Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness 636
The Church’s One Foundation 644
The Tree of Life 561
Thy Strong Word 578

You should be able to look them up on Youtube; the numbers refer to their numbering in the Lutheran Service Book.

Here's a slightly humorous look at Lutheran hymnody. Slightly.


This is one of my personal favorites...it's a piece sung prior to our service being dismissed after receiving communion at the divine service every week...


"O Lord, now let Your servant
Depart in heav’nly peace,
For I have seen the glory
Of Your redeeming grace:
A light to lead the Gentiles
Unto Your holy hill,
The glory of Your people,
Your chosen Israel."

"Nunc Dimittis
Another Lutheran contribution to the church's liturgy is the use of the Nunc Dimittis as the post-communion canticle: “Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace.”

At first glance it appears that we're taking the words of Simeon completely out of context. After all, what does his experience have to do with ours?

How can Holy Communion ever compare to Simeon's unique honor of holding the infant Jesus in his arms during the child's first visit to the temple at the tender age of 40 days (Luke 2:25-38)?

Of course, we would love to have been in the temple and shared in the experience with Simeon. For that matter, we would give anything to have been the first — along with the shepherds — to see the infant Jesus, or to have been with the Magi as they offered their gifts to him.

But, as Luther so insightfully taught, we don't find Christ in those places. Through the events of his incarnation, birth, crucifixion, and resurrection our Lord has accomplished our salvation.

But the benefits of his saving work — forgiveness, life, and salvation — are distributed to us through his means of grace, his Word and Sacraments. We can't go back to stand with Simeon in the temple. The good news is that we don't have to.

So when, following our reception of the Lord's Supper, we sing Simeon's ancient song of faith — “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace” — nothing could be more appropriate. Indeed, our eyes have seen his salvation. Better yet, we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).

So, what could be better than holding the infant Jesus in our arms? How about eating and drinking his body and blood given for the forgiveness of our sins? This truly is heaven on earth, because here we have Jesus and all his benefits."

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As far as a 'lot" of Lutherans, not really...just like you don't see a "lot" of Orthodox. As far as confessional Lutheranism goes, our services are relatively long, with weekly participation in the Lord's Supper. We're very similar to the Orthodox in that respect, consider it sort of like grad school for serious Christians. If you're looking for a pop concert and a Sunday morning social hour once a week - or a church that's going to compromise to the culture of the day, we aren't it.

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helmut said:

I was "born into" the main protestant church (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, EKD) in Germany, which is a federation (is this the right word?) of the former (19th century) state churches in protestant German lands, some Lutheran, few Reformed (Calvinist, Presbyterian) some Uniting (uniert) of Lutheran and Reformed. The Protestant church in the Rhineland (Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland, EKiR) is Uniting, but not (as other churches) in an uniform way, the local congregation may be Lutheran, Reformed or Uniting (I was told that there are five shades in that spectrum!).
When I was about 10, my parents got into contact of a Landeskirchliche Gemeinschaft, a peculiarity of Germany (and maybe some other countries?). In their Silesian home-region (which was given to Poland in 1945) they had been in such a "community", and were glad to find one again.
A Landeskirchliche Gemeinschaft is a sort of denomination within the EKD. The Landeskirchliche Gemeinschaften originated from home gatherings of pious people who missed faith in the Church (see Pietism in Wikipedia, though I see that the description of being "within Lutheranism" is too narrow), but developed (at least some of them) into a "complete" Church which is legally a "free work" within the EKD. This I consider the spiritual home I came from. One thing that is deeply in my "spiritual genes" is the awareness that "my church is not the whole Church of Christ, there are believers in other Churches".

When I did my military service (the first time being not at home for a longer time) I attended a Freie evangelische Gemeinde (Free Evangelical church - AFAIK the British counterpart, though part of the same international Federation, is of a somewhat different flavor). I naturally asked for information about this Church, and when I heard that they practiced believer's baptism, I asked: "So you are Baptists?" - "No, if you want to join a baptist Church, you have to undergo believer's baptism before, but we accept people that regard their infant baptism as valid baptism, though we don't baptize infants." (This was so in Germany, indeed!) I immediately decided: if I ever will undergo believer's baptism, it will be in such a church. For I was unsure in that question, though it was no urgent topic for me.

Some Years later, I decided to be baptized, became member of a Freien evangelischen Gemeinde. and was baptized there. This was a shock to my parents, and because I didn't anticipate it, that was a shock to me ... Well. it didn't have any lasting consequences to the relation to my parents.
And about three decades later, I became a member of a "Oncken" Baptist church (evangelisch-freikirchliche Genḿeinde (Baptisten)). It was a pragmatic decision to move to a church nearby, no theology and no quarrel with anyone involved.

I should add that meanwhile there are not a few Russian-German baptist churches in Germany, and that some of the the "Oncken" Baptists congregations now accept members that did not undergo believer's baptism. But this was no point relevant to my decision, I'd done the move anyway.

This is not my complete "spiritual way", I only told what is related to the question "Were you always Baptist, or how did you become one?"

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helmut said:

Ah, I see.


Perhaps you should alter the "title" manually? Just enter in "custom title" (in your profile) what you consider appropriate. Why the CF system considers you as a newbie I don't know. Maybe a moderator can explain that?

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