2026, Family, Gatherings, Uncategorized

High Church, Low Church

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Last month Husband and I became members of the ELCA Lutheran Church in our MN town. It is the church I grew up in, and the church we were married in. We had been members of the ELCA Lutheran Church in our ND town since 1987. Although they are both ELCA churches, they are quite different from one another. Both churches have women pastors, I should add.

Our MN church was founded by Norwegians. The ND church had German and German Russian roots. The ND church is quite formal, with a liturgy sung/chanted by the pastor. There is very little talking as people are being seated and wait for the service to begin. The congregation relies on the choir to lead the singing. The music is quite formal and traditional. It is definitely what I would consider “High Church”.

Our MN church currently has no full time choir since the 90+ year old choir director died and they haven’t found a replacement for her. There is a good organist. People talk and laugh and drink coffee as they sit in the pews and wait for the service to start. We were very much involved with the choir and handbell choir in our ND church, and it is different for us to be in the congregation and not in the choir loft. While the order of service is the same, the congregation is much more involved in the service, and sings very loudly. They also sing in tune, which is wonderful to hear. There is a worship music team that plays contemporary songs, although the old hymns are also sung. It is definitely what I would consider “Low Church”.

I admit I prefer a more formal service and music. One of my favorite memories is attending a very full Solemn Evensong service at King’s College, Cambridge and being seated in the choir loft right next to the baritone section. It was wonderful.

It is a comfort to be back in my childhood congregation. There will be choir that sings Palm Sunday and we will participate in that. There used to be a handbell choir but not enough players at the present time. and there was quite a lot of excitement expressed when I mentioned that Husband and I were ringers. It may be only a matter of time that we are church musicians again.

Even if you don’t believe or attend, are you High Church or Low Church in how you live your life?

22 thoughts on “High Church, Low Church”

  3. i was an alter boy in 1963 and 6 minths after learning all the latin the catholics switched to english. i enjoy the folk masses but in chicago i enjoy loyolas formal services. these days i dont go but my mom and sister brlong to st joans hippy church where the jesus people file grievience with the bishop over the lack of formality and the non maga perspectives. the bishop stopped having meeting with priests and says he’ll send a memo instead unless something he considers worth his attention pops up. those old catholic tunes are kind of like singing god bless america or oklahoma vs the jazz blues version of the our father or the other tunes that minnesotas music scene sidemen rock the joint with. they have a choir but guest artists pop in and the keyboard players are former prince sidemen and jazz accompianists with various jazz scene singers around town .
    i dont do either regularly but enjoy both on accasion. i prefer the message at the hippy church vs the starch collar at the formal settings but can appreciate both.
    does lavurne have the bells from when they did have enough players or would you have to find funds to crank it up again?

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    2. I first learned of St. Joan’s through my sister and brother-in-law a few decades ago. As a baptized and confirmed Lutheran, I chose to become a parishioner (and choir member) at SJA because of its dedication to social justice and its very welcoming atmosphere – “We welcome you wherever you are on your journey”. Those are my kind of people (as are my fellow baboons). Definitely low church.

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  5. In the ND church we had to adjust to an assistant pastor who can’t carry a tune in a bucket. The organist tried to help her but she just couldn’t hear what she had to chant, so she started speaking it instead.

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  6. Low church all the way but I’m an agnostic for as long as I can remember, so actually no church like Bill. But if I was a churchgoer, I prefer relaxed and casual over stuffy and formal. Formality in almost all ways is pretentious and a ploy by the wealthy to make average people feel unworthy. Very class warfare-ish.

    The few times I’ve been in formal situations, I’ve always been uncomfortable. Most people seem to be acting a part (rich, sophisticated, superior) just because they wear formal clothes and spend big $$ on dinner, theater, opera, classical music concert, whatever. I feel you never get to know the real person in a formal situation. And I’m not a good enough actor to pretend to be something I’m not.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  7. Church? Huh?

    Pretty low church, I guess, or no church at all. I mean, I’m really a tree-hugging dirt worshipper. There is no formality about how you express your reverence for the earth in my religion. The task is to do your best to protect the earth every day in all your actions. I dislike evangelism so I don’t try to introduce others to my beliefs.

    There is a really cool church here in Northfield – the United Church of Christ. They’re accepting of everyone. The two women (preachers? Ministers? Priests? I don’t know) are gay. If I had to join a church, it would be that one.

    I do love choral music though, and you get a lot of that in church and almost nowhere else, unless you seek it out.

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  8. I do like to attend a High Church service (or event – i.e. a concert) once in a while. But for every week – esp. since I’m involved with some planning at our UU Fellowship – I’m glad we have a low church operation.

    We get the coffee made ahead of the service, then bring it out right after – thus averting spills…

    More later if time allows.

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  10. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I live a low church life, but I miss the music from the traditional high church. I love organ music, as well as choral music (or instrumental music) that is in tune and played or sung by skilled musicians. Lou wanted to return to a local church near our house that we had attended for years. The minister is outstanding, the service is casual, but the music there I find so irritating. It is not inspiring. Over Christmas season I could not attend. The sanctuary was filled with poinsettias which I am allergic to, so I would sneeze and cough. Now I enjoy my lazy Sunday mornings and have had difficult getting myself to attend again.

    OT: we are having a new kitchen floor laid down today after the vinyl tile we had fell apart. McGee is really upset by the lack of his usual routine and wants to play with our contractor which does not help the project!

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  12. GK had a field day with Unitarians, and sometimes I can see why.. Our hymnal: though it has a lot of music I’d never heard before, many of the hymns are tunes from protestant hymnals with altered lyrics. We’re very informal, and the service is structured much like a standard church’s service except for one thing. There is a Joys and Concerns segment where people can put a Shell in the Water (bowl) for one of these, and briefly tell about it. It’s interesting how it serves as a way to get to know each other.

    Our choir is quite small this year; we sang “Imagine” a couple of weeks ago, and it was well-received. Our “guitar band” is no more, since its true leader died a couple of years ago – we sang a lot of great music from the 60s and 70s, that would fit with the day’s topic. People still miss that.

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