In reply to John J. Flanagan.

I agree with you my dear friend. Please see my comment to James Gibbs above. I believe that the reason for our lack of uniformity is indeed as a direct result of looking with the wrong perspective at this statement that “no specific form of worship may be required.” Years ago, there was much more uniformity. When one traveled about, you could easily expect to find each Lutheran church you visited throughout the country to be quite similar in the worship service. I think the 1960s changed this, with individuals thinking they had authority to monkey around with the worship services without regard to what was already in place and without any thought to what they were removing.