The liturgy is our catechist. . .

My little tirade on putting too much in the Small Catechism and putting too much on the catechumens got some interesting responses -- not the online ones but conversational with pastors and with people in the pews.  The gist of those against my thought asked why wouldn't we want to give and expect the most from the youth and adults being catechized?   After all, this is a big commitment.  Of course it is.  It says so right there in the Rite of Confirmation and in the Reception of New Members.  A commitment to suffer all even death to walk away from this confession and church.  Enough said.  My point is not what we expect to join but what we expect to remain within the good graces of the fellowship.

Catechesis is not like education.  You do not pass tests or proceed to the next grade or graduate.  Catechesis is a lifelong pattern of growth in faith, growth in holiness, and growth in life in Christ.  Most of this does not happen in the Bible study room or the Sunday school class or the catechism instruction.  It happens in the liturgy.  It happens on Sunday morning in the Lord's House, on the Lord's day, around the Lord's Word and the Lord's Table.  This is where our lives grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We do not learn interesting details and minutiae about God but learn who God is by what He has done and does and who we are are because of what He has done and does and why we exist because of what He has done and does.

The liturgy is the primary catechist in the Church -- not pastor or priest or teacher but the Divine Service.  Complete with the cycle of appointed readings for each day and Sunday and reaching its twin peaks within the Word preached and the Body and Blood of Christ eaten and drunk, the liturgy is our teacher and catechist.  If only we would listen and pay attention!  I am tired of the constant need to program what ought to be inherent within our participation (fellowship, koinonia) within the life of the Church.  We do a disservice to God by presuming that what happens in the classroom is better than what happens within the liturgy.

When I first got to this community, a neighboring Baptist congregation had put on their signboard the milestone of 1,500 in Sunday school.  They were rightly proud.  When I inquired of the pastor how many were in the pews on Sunday morning, it turned out to be less than 1,000.  He did not see the conflict between those two numbers.  I thought it would have been obvious.  The presumption on most of those not in worship was that Sunday school was an apt substitute for worship.  We Lutherans may not be so quick to fall into that trap but what happens when we schedule Sunday school during a worship hour or when we borrow the whole idea of children's church to segregate our kids away from us so that we can worship without distraction?  Are we not giving a similar witness?  Our children need the liturgy more than they need Sunday school.  They need to be in worship with their families and within the greater family of faith that is the congregation.  They need to see us model and witness what it means to reverence the Lord and His gifts, receive them with faith and thanksgiving, and return to Him the praise that is His due and our duty.

Another blog posted what I had intended for its occasion in the Lutheran Treasury of Daily Prayer on June 15.  But it is too good not to repeat so here it is again.

“The Sundays during the Pentecost cycle develop three great themes. The first is Baptism and its graces. We are baptized and grounded in the graces of Baptism. Every Sunday is a reminder of Baptism and a small Easter. The second theme is preparation for the second advent of the Lord. It is treated in detail on the final Sundays of the season. The remaining theme, the burden of the Sundays midway after Pentecost, may be summarized as the conflict between the two camps. Although we are placed in the kingdom of God, we remain surrounded by the kingdom of the world. Our souls are laboring under Adam’s wretched legacy and waver continually to and fro between two allegiances.

By these three great themes the liturgy covers the whole range of Christian life. In Baptism the precious treasure of the Spirit was conferred. Through it we are God’s children and may call God Father. Through it we have become temples of the Holy Spirit, heirs and brothers of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, Baptism has not translated us to a paradise without toil or trouble. Rather we are sent into a troubled world to work and struggle. We must guard the holy land of our souls against costly attack. We must learn to know and conquer the enemy, and such is the task that will continue until we have taken our final breaths.

The Church serves as both the heroine, who teaches us the art of warfare, and our strong fortress and shield in the conflict. Through Holy Communion, she bestows aid that repeatedly frees the soul from the entanglements of temptation. How does she do this? Courage and strength and perseverance flow from the Word of God in the Service of the Word, and they flow in even fuller measure from Holy Communion. Of ourselves we are helpless creatures, wholly unable to withstand the attack, but in Holy Communion, another battles for us. The Mightier, Christ, vanquishes the mighty. By means of Holy Communion, we are enrolled in our Captain’s forces. And thus Christ’s battle becomes our battle and His triumph our triumph, and His wondrous strength renders us invincible.”

— *The Church's Year of Grace* (1964), pp. 94-95 cited by *Treasury of Daily Prayer*