The Lord be with you
First, we “honor” the Holy Spirit by believing and trusting in Jesus. This is his work. As the Small Catechism says, the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel, enlightens me with his gifts sanctifies and keeps me in the true faith. The “gifts” referred to are the word and sacraments. These gifts do not cause confusion. Simply saying you are honoring the Holy Spirit does not make it so. We know we honor the Holy Spirit by sticking with his inspired word, which points us to Jesus, the Father and the Spirit, One God, now and forever. At least in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, we do not worship One Person of the Trinity to the exclusion of the other Two, though our emphasis is on Jesus as is the emphasis of the Bible. God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, therefore a “Lutheran” worship service that is confusing is a rather odd idea (1 Corinthians 14:33). Indeed, most LC-MS churches even have words about doing things “decently and in order” in their constitutions. Our hymnals are excellent sources to help us accomplish the proper focus in worship and to do so “decently and in order.” As far as asking why God would allow ANY church to fall under some delusion, that is beyond the scope of any human to answer. God does what God knows is best. Perhaps it is to teach the congregation how far they can fall once they leave behind the Bible and the Confession in favor of personal experience. Perhaps not. There are other possible answers, I’m sure. We can ask God on the Last Day.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Rickert
