This is Lutheran?

When I was a kid growing up Lutheran (Missouri Synod) I remember a reverence and other-worldliness about the church service.  We didn't have sanctus bells or incense, but we had everything else.  Then, I'd say around the time the last of the German speaking pastors retired, things really went to pot liturgically.  Things started getting a bit more laid back, casual.  Now, when I see videos from the same parish where I grew up, where my mother still attends, I'm shocked how unconcerned everyone is about reverence in church, respect for the space.  Altar servers wearing shorts and sneakers, ill-fitting albs.  The pastor's vestments look more like a burlap bag tied up with a bit of rope, a wide felt stole around his neck.  The liturgy looks cheap, the clergy and servers unprepared, untrained.  I ask my mom often what the hell happened to the Lutheran liturgy?  Things used to be so fabulous.  Holy day services were feasts for the eyes, the ears, and the soul.  Now, the Divine Liturgy of Easter Sunday is more like an easter egg hunt in a public park set to music.  

And so tonight, I find this video of a church in Tulsa that actually has reclaimed the liturgical heritage of Western Christianity.  Amazing!  This is the type of liturgy I remember as a kid.  Is this a trend within Lutheranism or just a flash in the pan?  The next best thing to this is a good Episcopalian Rite I service, or even a well executed Rite II with the full ceremonial .  There's still something about being home at a Lutheran church though.  I guess until there's a parish that's finally bold enough to reclaim the tradition like Grace Church in Tulsa, I'll remain somewhat in exile at Canterbury.  It's not terrible by any means.  But there's something to be said about one's own faith roots.  And for me, those run deep from the heart of the Reformation, firmly planted with the hammering of the Theses on October 31, 1517.  

Casual Lutheran liturgy, the "come as you are" mentality of worship is a really big turn off.  If we're that pedestrian about our attitude towards worship, what really should we care about the whole salvation thing in general?  That's the message I get from this recent Lutheran casualness.  Call me old fashioned, but I just wasn't raised that way.    If it's church then it needs to be Church.  I can be casual and laid back at home in my PJ's drinking coffee on a Sunday morning watching a decent choir and listening to a self-help sermon from the Chrystal Palace or whatever that mega church is called.  I don't need to get into my car and drive somewhere for that.