Changes in church
I have been WELS most of my life. Over the last three years, I have seen WELS churches not only change the liturgy and the creeds but even the Lord’s Prayer. Since the Lord's Prayer came from the mouth of Jesus himself, how do WELS pastors feel they can change those words? Also, the benediction, as spoken now, takes away from the majesty of God's house. “Look upon you with favor" does not carry the same impact of "May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you.” I also learned from a synod convention a few years ago that a decision was made to allow pastors to use three different Bible translations to pick and choose from to use as their resource(s) for their sermons, etc. I have found that I may move to a city where a church uses the old blue hymnal and the KJV, both original and new versions as their only Bibles. Also, they use the "Thee, Thy, and Thou" as written. The changes in WELS have made me sad.
The items that you listed—that sadden you—are called adiaphora. That word (adiaphoron, singular) describes matters that God has neither commanded nor forbidden.
God has not prescribed a specific way of worshiping him as a family of believers. He leaves that to our Christian freedom and judgment. Yes, Jesus spoke the Lord’s Prayer, but we have to translate his words from Greek into English. There are many ways of putting the Greek words into English.
When it comes to “Thee, Thy and Thou” in the King James Version (KJV), those words reflect Elizabethan English usage of pronouns. And so in the KJV we find Jesus addressing Pontius Pilate with “Thou” (John 19:11). God even addressed Satan in the Garden of Eden with “thee” (Genesis 3:15). Because we do not speak as the translators of the KJV did in 1611, it is appropriate and useful for our Bible translations to read as we speak today. The original languages of the Bible do not have special pronouns to give reverence to God. It is the nouns, the names and titles of God, that engender our respect.
In a similar way, one wonders how many people know what “countenance” is and what it means for the Lord to “lift up” his countenance toward them. Hearing that the Lord “looks on you with favor,” and does not turn his back on you because of your sins, can bring home the intended meaning of that part of the benediction.
In the recent past, synod conventions addressed the subject of what Bible translations to use for our synodical publishing purposes. Congregations and their pastors have been, and are, free to use Bible translations of their choosing.
The changes you have cited are not doctrinal; they are matters in the realm of our Christian freedom. I would encourage you to recognize the difference and put changes like these in perspective. Forms of worship are helpful, but we do not want to let them become more important than the content of our worship: praising a merciful and forgiving God (Psalm 103).