An Outsider's Perspective: Observing a Service at the LDS Church

The only religious service I’ve attended, aside from my weekly attendance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was the Christmas Roman Catholic Mass with a friend of mine in high school. I remember a lot of kneeling down, standing up, a really thick worship book that included all sorts of hymns and written out portions of the service. There was a baby grand piano, an electric guitar, a drum set, and a girl that sang the majority of the sermon at a podium. The room was dark—much darker than any LDS chapel I’ve seen. I remember reciting the Lord’s Prayer, and a recitation that had something to do with Mary.

Since I’ll be visiting a Lutheran church, and the Lutheran church originally broke off from the Catholic Church, I anticipate that the service will be fairly similar to Catholic mass. I imagine there will be recitations, and that a pastor will lead us in those. Since this is Provo, and not Alabama (where I went to Catholic mass), I doubt there will be electric guitars and gospel music, but there will probably be a lot of singing.

Over the summer I watched the LDS series Fires of Faith. One of the episodes focused on Martin Luther. In the film, he wore long brown robes and was balding. It’s probably ridiculous for me to base anything on the film Martin Luther’s appearance, but when imagining the pastor at the Lutheran church, I see an old balding gentleman with long brown robes. The episode also mentioned Luther’s 95 theses and all the problems with the Catholic Church. This is probably wrong of me to do, but because of the 95 theses I imagine the Lutheran church will be fairly cynical and judgmental of other churches. I anticipate that at least some of the sermon will be about how other churches are wrong. Also, because we’re in Utah and a majority of people here are Mormon, I imagine the Lutheran church is somewhat resentful of Mormons and will mention them in the sermon. Overall, I imagine that the Lutheran church will be similar to Catholic mass, with more resentment towards other churches.

After the Visit

Comparing the experience to pre-recorded expectations

As I consider my experience at St. Mark’s Lutheran church in comparison with what I expected, I don’t feel that I was very far off in my expectations. The service was very similar to the Catholic mass I attended a few years ago. There was a lot of singing and we recited the Lord’s Prayer several times. There was a large book—about 900 pages—with hymns in the back, and word-for-word services written in the front. The services in the front of the book were clearly labeled to show the congregation what the pastor was saying, and to tell the congregation when to stand, when to sit, what to say, and what to sing. The majority of the service was very interactive. The pastor would say certain things, and the congregation would either recite or sing things back to him. It wasn’t at all disorderly—no one yelled out “Hallelujah!” or “Amen!”—everything was precisely written out, and everyone followed the pre-chosen sermon with exactness.

There was no kneeling at St. Mark’s Lutheran church, except for the sacrament portion of the service. The rest of the service was divided almost evenly between sitting and standing. The electric guitar, drums, baby grand piano, and singer at the Catholic mass were replaced by a simple organ at the Lutheran church; and the pastor did not sing at all, but merely spoke the words and had us sing back to him.

The pastor was actually very similar to what I had imagined to be. He was balding, and he wore long robes. However, he also had a short, fluffy, white beard and wore white robes with green and gold accents instead of brown robes. He seemed to be a very friendly gentleman, but I was right about the resentment and cynicism towards other churches. I was surprised to find that a good portion of the pastor’s sermon, which was the only part of the service not contained in the large worship book, focused on how wrong, and even bad, other churches are. After the service I looked at the church’s website and found a whole page dedicated to disproving other churches, with links to anti-Mormon websites, along with anti-Catholic websites and websites against other churches as well. However, the pastor and the members of the congregation were very friendly to me, even knowing that I am a student at BYU and a Mormon.

Most striking or impressive thing about the experience

The most striking thing about the experience for me was that I got to witness a baptism during the service! I did not know ahead of time that I would have that opportunity, but I’m so grateful I did. The baptism was very different from the baptisms in the LDS faith. The girl being baptized was seven or eight years old, and the pastor mentioned that usually they do baptisms for babies, but this girl’s family had not had her baptized when she was first born. The little girl wore an adorable silver dress and shiny black shoes, and she leaned over a wooden baptismal font. The font was basically a wooden pedestal with a wooden basin filled with holy water. There was a little lid with a golden cross that was removed before the girl leaned over the water. There were five people standing up with the girl: her mother, her father, the pastor, an assistant pastor, and the little girl’s sponsor (I think this was another relative or friend of the family, possibly her godmother). The assistant pastor lit a candle and brought it over, holding it during the baptism. The pastor asked the sponsor a series of questions from the worship book, and the sponsor replied with the pre-written responses in the worship book. Then the pastor took a little silver cup/spoon, filled it with water, and poured it on the top of the little girl’s head as she leaned over the basin. He did this three times, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. After this, the pastor wiped off the little girl’s head and gave her a little handkerchief that he called a garment, symbolizing her becoming one of God’s children. After this, the assistant pastor gave the little girl the candle, symbolizing that she now had the light of Christ.

I was really amazed by the baptismal service. I enjoyed watching it and thinking about how different it was from my own baptism. The symbolism was different, the method of baptism was different, the garment was given to the little girl at baptism instead of in the temple as is done in the LDS faith, and the candle was involved too. Before the baptism, the pastor said a series of prayers over the little girl and drew crosses on her forehead and over her heart—this is somewhat comparable to LDS confirmation, but does not involve the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am so glad I got to see how another faith performs baptisms!

Most surprising thing about the experience

The most surprising this about the experience for me happened after the baptism when the pastor gave his sermon (which is comparable to a talk in the LDS church). The pastor’s sermon focused on the need for baptism and the reason babies are baptized. He said that all children inherit sin from their parents, along with original sin from Adam and Eve. This surprised me for two reasons. First, in the LDS faith we believe that men shall be punished for their own sins—we don’t believe that anyone can inherit the sins of another person, or that they are born guilty. We believe that children are innocent until they reach the age of accountability (eight) when they can tell the difference between right and wrong. Second, it didn’t really make sense to me—if the parents have been baptized and live righteously, then their sins are forgiven and they are clean, right? If that is the case, then what sins are the babies inheriting from their parents? The St. Mark’s Lutheran doctrinal belief in a need of baptism for babies really surprised me.

Most similar elements in relation to my own religion

I was really amazed by how many things the St. Mark’s Lutheran church and my religion (the LDS faith) have in common. The use of hymns was very similar. They opened the service with a hymn, had several hymns throughout the service, had a hymn before the sacrament, and closed with a hymn, just like we do in LDS sacrament meetings. And one of the hymns we sang at the Lutheran church is actually in the LDS hymnbook (I was really glad to see a song that I knew, and was able to sing along without messing up).

The other thing that was really similar was the sacrament. St. Mark’s Lutheran church uses wafers/crackers and wine, unlike the LDS use of bread and water. Also, each person went up to a long wooden plank and knelt down as the pastor gave them each a wafer and a sip of wine. So those things were definitely different from the LDS administering of the sacrament, but the fact that the Lutheran church has sacrament and that they call it by the same name was wonderful and very interesting.

Most different elements in relation to my own religion

Definitely one of the most different elements of the Lutheran faith was the baptism. Baptizing babies, pouring water over the person’s head, having a sponsor, using a candle, and having a garment as part of the service are very different from the baptizing of eight year olds, baptism by immersion, the use of witnesses, the lack of a candle and garment, and the confirmation after the baptism done in the LDS faith.

Another very different element of the Lutheran church was the attire. The pastor wore long white robes with green and gold accents with symbols that were repeated on green banners and decorations throughout the chapel. In LDS chapels during sacrament meeting, the bishop wears a suit and tie, and there are no banners or embroidered symbols anywhere. The congregation’s attire was also very different. Some people wore jeans and t-shirts, and others wore corduroy pants with a button up shirt, and only a few wore skirts or dresses. There wasn’t a suit to be seen in the entire room. For LDS sacrament meetings, the members of the congregation generally wear dresses or skirts for the women, and suits or at least button-up shirts for the men. In both religions though, everyone is accepted no matter their attire, and are welcomed in.

Conversation with member of the Lutheran faith

There was a wonderful woman, about 35 years old, who sat behind me. She came up to me before the service began, explained the program, told me about the worship book, explained what to do during the sacrament and when the collection plate came around, and welcomed me warmly to their congregation. I asked her a few questions after the service was over.

One of the things the pastor mentioned during the service was the Holy Trinity. The sweet lady who sat behind me came up and sat beside me and expounded on that belief a bit. She explained that in the Lutheran church they believe that Jesus Christ is true God. He is the only begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. She went on to explain all about how Christ is the Savior of the world and how his grace has save all of us, sinful creatures though we are. She also explained that unlike the Catholics, the Lutherans believe that the sacrament is not literally the flesh of Jesus, and that it is only a symbolic representation of Christ’s body and blood.

We talked a little bit about the baptism, and I asked her to tell me what she loved most about baptismal services. She said that holy baptism is a way that God comes to us individually and gives us his love, and that she loves how personal that is. She also explained that when you repent, it’s like Christ is standing with you in the waters of baptism and you are made clean again. I thought that was a beautiful way of thinking about repentance.

I also asked her about some of the symbols on one of the banners hanging above the organ. She explained that the cross was, of course, the cross on which Jesus died for our sins. Below the cross was Α and Ω with “I AM” written between the Greek letters. She explained that this represents not only that God is referred to as the Great I Am, but also that He is Alpha and Omega—the first and the last. This represents God’s eternal nature and reminds the congregation that He is always with us.

Changing perceptions

Attending the service of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church taught me a lot of things. I have a much better idea of their beliefs and doctrine. I came to understand the differences between the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church, which were not clear to me before. I gained a deep respect for Lutherans and their love of Jesus—He is absolutely central in their lives and in their worship, and for their love of the scriptures, which were a major part of the worship service. I also was able to see that there are in fact religions that teach that babies need to be baptized, that some faiths do baptize by pouring water over the person’s head, and that some religions do teach that children inherit sin. All of those ideas were just hearsay to me before, and I was kind of skeptical as to whether or not churches actually taught about children inheriting sin or if that was just something that used to be done but is now just a myth passed around by some members of the LDS faith. It was interesting to see that that is actually taught and that those things are actually done. It made me appreciate my own religion even more, and the experience I had in the Lutheran Church actually strengthened my testimony and faith. Overall, I am extremely glad I had the chance to experience the worship service of the Lutheran faith, and my perception of the religion is much more accurate now.