Is that a small thing?

It has been said that an appeal to church councils is not as much as some think.  In fact, Luther himself says as much in his work On the Councils of the Church (first section) and again in his Treatise to the German Nobility (written some 18 years apart).  He is defraying the position of Rome and the Pope as well as conciliarism in general by seeming to demean them for merely explaining and asserting what is already there in Scripture.  I get it.  He is right, of course.  Faithful councils did not make up answers to the vexing questions of the day but concerned themselves with what Scripture says and then applied that to those vexing questions of the day.  But doing that is not a small thing.  It is the same problem I have who insist that ordination is merely apostolic custom -- well, yes, but, is apostolic custom something small or something important?

We tend as Lutherans to sound like we are demeaning both the testimony of the fathers and the edicts of the great councils as if they were not doing anything much at all but simply repeating Scripture and applying Scripture to the problems of the moment.  We are certainly NOT saying that this is a small thing.  They could have invented positions for the Church without Scriptural substance or support.  There were plenty who did (some of those deemed heretics and some who have a rather orthodox reputation).  We as Lutherans labored against all sorts of things not explicitly or even implicitly found in Scripture -- from the treasury of merits to purgatory to papal infallibility to a host of things down through the ages.  Inventive theology is fun and interesting but it lacks the warrant of God's voice and the blessing of His Spirit.  We need to stick with Scripture and then to apply Scripture even to those things not explicitly addressed in Scripture and then to shut up instead of venturing far from God's Word.  We are counseled by God's Word neither to add to it nor to detract from it even as we are called to heed its voice and hold fast to what it says.  But, of course, sometimes folks are of no mind to listen to what God says.  So when the Church can muster the courage to speak what God has said, it is never a small thing.

When a body like the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod comes together to commend what Scripture says and what our Confessions affirm and even what the fathers have said and councils have judged, it is not a small thing.  We live, after all, in a world in which inventive theology (and liturgy) is the regular practice of some, even many.  If that were not true we would not have seen the ordination of women, the embrace of same sex marriage, the promotion of birth control as normative and good, the acceptance of abortion as a women's health issue, the support for the myriad of genders, and so many other things.  These can only occur when we skip over what Scripture says and appeal to another authority or listen to another voice over what God has said.  So when we come together and say again what the Bible says, councils have confessed, fathers have testified, and confessions have adopted, it is never a small thing at all.  For the reality is that everywhere around us churches are ignoring what God has said in favor of all kinds of authorities in competition with God's Word.  So don't demean that as something unimportant or small when it happens that the Church marshals the courage to say this is what God has said and this we believe, teach, and confess.

At the same time, however, we must admit that there are many who disagree over what Scripture is even saying and who spend their days in creative exegesis in order to make God's Word say something different than what it does.  So when we promote the faithful exegesis and confess the truth of God's Word and, in so doing, appeal to council and the testimony of the fathers, that is a good thing.  It does not give councils or the fathers an authority greater than God's Word but it does show that we are not promoting novelty nor are we falling into the creative exegesis temptation so prevalent today but that we stand with those who have stood before us on the truth of God's Word.  That is not a small thing either.  Appealing to the witness of councils and the fathers in support  of what Scripture says is doing exactly what we ought to be doing as assert and give support to the fact that we are building upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, living in faithfulness to the traditions handed down to us, and giving care to holding to the sacred deposit once given to us and which we commend to those who follow us.  None of this is a small thing but a very important way that we testify to the catholicity and apostolicity of the faith we confess and which we live out around this Word and Sacrament. 

Hubris. . .

Hubris, a noun, meaning overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance or excessive pride, presumption or arrogance (originally toward the gods), or overbearing pride or presumption.  It originated in ancient Greece, where it was considered a dangerous character flaw that threatened to provoke divine punishment.  Though it has its roots in Greek and not in Christianity, it has a textbook example in the fall of Adam and Eve.  This took place not primarily because of the enticement of the serpent (devil) but the desire of Adam and Eve to be like, if not to actually be, God.  That presumption happened because Adam and Eve had distanced themselves from the Word of God.  It remains the singular problem of sin today.  We do not hear God's voice nor do we heed it.

That hubris led all of humanity to be cast under the shadow of death and for the perfect pleasure of Eden to be interrupted and their lives ordered by a harsh labor to fall upon both husband and wife and all those who proceed from their union.  The hubris of those who refuse to hear and heed God's Word is still not without consequences today.  Look at the empty shell of Christianity left when liberal and progressive church bodies have set aside God's Word and listened to another voice over God's.  Words, especially liturgical and creedal words, become mere words without meaning or influence.  They become part of the noise of the world instead of being the heralds of the Kingdom who bring God's order to the chaos, His life to death, and His restoration to what has gone astray and lies lost in the maze of error.   

Scan across the the ruins of Protestantism and the uncertainties and diversity of Evangelicalism and you find the same hubris in the willingness to either ignore or set aside what God says in favor of the internal voice of feelings or the prevailing views of society or culture.  It is even voiced in religious terms when, for example, the trans person speaks of being "born again" by their affirmation of a gender different from their body or DNA.  In place of God and His Word, the glorification of desire has eroded not only the definition of marriage but its purpose, replacing procreation with pleasure.  The embrace of climate change in the extreme in which man is viewed as an intruder and interloper in creation is but another example in which the voice of God is silenced and the views of society replace God's Word.

Distance from God's Word is the first step to departing from that Word.  As soon as we become embarrassed or even ashamed of what God says, we are ripe for casting aside His voice and replacing it with the myriad of voices from within and across the landscape of culture and society.  It is as if Eden's conversation with the temptation of self and the world dominated by the devil is being replicated over and over again as moderns become uncomfortable with God's Word.  We do not need to rewrite the Scriptures if we can succeed in ignoring it and setting it aside in favor of the voices of others.  The crisis of Christianity is not that orthodox Christianity has lost its soul but that too many Christians seem to be comfortable living outside the sphere of orthodox Christianity, with a truth that appeals to them but is unknown to God.  The Church will not be undone by the likes of Satan and his power but the Church can be diminished in the world as those who claim to be God's no longer hear or follow the voice of their Good Shepherd.

You do not need to sit on a mountain top or dress oddly or demand sacrifice to play God.  Indeed, all you need to do is to honor the Lord in public piety but ignore what He has said.  This is surely what the Lord was talking about when He says they honor Him with their lips but their hearts are far from Him.  I wonder if this is the shape of the future for those who once claimed not only to love the Word of God but to heed it and now do neither.  

This day in history. . .

Unless I am mistaken, and I often am, it was on this day in 70 AD that a Roman assault during a revolt of the Jews burned the Second Temple burned to the ground.  It is no small day.  When we attempt to date the books of the New Testament, we look for signs that would either address the Temple's destruction or give, by silence, the testimony to its continued existence.  Furthermore, it was the sign that Jesus Himself pointed out as the end of one era and the beginning of another.  Jesus did not equivocate. The Temple would be destroyed “with not one stone left standing upon another” making this an unmistakable sign of a profound moment in history.  Billy Joel said he didn't start the fight but somebody did and it was always burning until it was no more.

The Temple was simply a piece of real estate esteemed by the Jews.  It was the House of God, symbol and instrument and locus of God’s presence on earth. Jesus Himself called this “my Father’s house” on two occasions recorded by the disciples and perhaps more often (Luke 2:49; John 2:16).  He jealously cleansed the Temple when it had deviated from its purpose for the Divine Service and become merely a place of commerce, even holy commerce.  This place figured large on the day of Jesus' death, with the record of “the curtain of the temple,” which veiled the innermost place of God's dwelling literally “torn in two” to expose there the mercy seat which had been revealed upon the cross.  This is, at least, how the writer to the Hebrews describes Christ's opening of the sanctuary “through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.”  A new Temple not made with hands rose up on Easter and made us living stones of its continued construction.   Yet that structure in Rome did not fall down all at once but seemed to continue on for nigh onto forty years, even refreshed in its appearance along the way.  Then, following Christ’s Ascension to the right hand of the Father, the place that had been the meeting place of Jews and Jewish Christians literally had to give way to the prophecy of Christ.  The Temple burned and fell.  (See Luke 24:53; Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:21; 21:26–30)

The priestly ministry of the Old Testament is described in Hebrews 6 -- including the lampstand (menorah), table, and altar of incense.  With the destruction of the Temple, the building was stripped of all its adornments and the Temple’s menorah was carried by its conquerors processing into Rome.  These adornments had become the spoils of victory in the conquest of Judaea by Titus.  The celebration was not about a building brought down by fire but an end to the pesky people who had been a thorn in the side of Rome more irritating than their size or importance belies.  The history of the Jews was not over but the Old Testament people of God whose identity included a priestly caste to sacrifice (the Passover lamb, for example) was done and would never be the same.  The Sadducees also came to the end of a line and the Pharisees gave birth to rabbinic Judaism as a replacement for their own dominance.  And the Christians also were sent forth from the Temple along with everyone else.  It was not only an end to the Jews as we had known them but the first step of Christians beyond shadow of their spiritual forebears.  The next mention of the lampstand and the altar would be in the book that proclaims the future to come when everything is brought to its ultimate consummation.   The Revelation to St. John picks up the story not in Israel or anywhere on earth but in the heavenly gates, with the heavenly liturgy, where the saints and all who have loved His appearing are gathered unto Himself eternally.

Still time to sign up. . .

 

We're just about two weeks away from our fifth annual Henkel Conference, which aims to provide a forum of the best Christian speakers on theology and culture for the encouragement of God's church on earth. And we're elated to announce the additions of Carol Swain, Korey Maas, and Nathaniel Pullmann to an already spectacular lineup, which now includes  ·    Mollie Hemingway, Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist, Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College, Fox News contributor, and best-selling author ·    Scott Yenor, Chair of the American Citizenship Initiative at The Heritage Foundation and Professor of Political Science at Boise State University ·    Carol Swain, Former Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University and Co-chair of the 1776 Commission ·    Alex Newman, President of Liberty Sentinel Media ·    Noelle Mering, Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in the Life and Family Initiative and columnist for the Catholic Herald ·    Korey Maas, Chairman and Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College ·    Nathaniel Pullmann, Headmaster of Redeemer Classical School (Fort Wayne, IN) With a slight change to prior years, we're excited to conclude the conference with a discussion on free speech with panelists Mollie Hemingway, Scott Yenor, and Carol Swain and moderator Alex Newman.  We wish not only to host great speakers for the church's edification, but also to offer a merry gathering; hence, we’ve once again booked the best pizza joint in Nashville for dinner after the opening day. A local Christian bookstore will be selling the works of the speakers and other items during the conference. Scholarships remain for high school and college students (inquire for the promo code via the email link below), and feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested in attending.  Rev. Gregory Bauch Ascension Lutheran Church, Madison TN   Register Now   Email Us   More Information

Worship preferences. . .

It has become part of Lutheran mythology to suggest that the liturgy just might be what is keeping good folks from becoming Lutheran and that the "high church" component of the liturgical crowd is creating its own impediment to Lutheran growth.  As often as this is repeated, it is still probably mostly false.  In fact it is a Lutheran straw man used by those within Lutheranism to exert their own preferential choice for a liturgical style (or lack of one).  

In the 46 years I have been a pastor, if there have been complaints about Lutheran worship they have come not from those interested in Lutheranism or those new to Lutheranism but primarily from those whose issue is that is not like the Lutheranism I grew up with.  While I am not here arguing for or against more or less ceremonial, I will insist that my own experience has shown that the most likely culprits for complaints about the worship service being too formal or ceremonial or liturgical are not those just learning about Lutheranism or those fairly new to the faith but the folks who are already Lutheran and do not like it.  Since everything in this age is all about likes or preferences, they want it to be known that they do not like high church worship.  Instead of simply admitting this, they feel the need to transfer the cause of their complaint from themselves to those who might become Lutheran except for the ceremonies -- too many of them!

The weak in the faith or those just new to the faith are generally the folks cited as the reasons for a simpler liturgical style or even one without any ceremonial at all.  Again, based on my own experience as a pastor for 46 years and a ministry to congregations returning to a more traditionally Lutheran liturgical life, the new people were drawn to the liturgy and the ceremonial of the liturgy was not an impediment for them but a sign, in their minds, that we took what we said seriously.  Many of them, coming, as it were, out of a non-denominational background or one with an evangelical church style of worship were not simply rejecting what they found missing or wrong in the theology of these churches but also how that theology was expressed liturgically.  Coming to Lutheranism, they encountered not simply words which said what we thought or said we believed but a liturgical life and practice that said exactly the same thing.

Some, who insist that anything that smells Catholic is an impediment or stumbling block to church growth, are forgetting that they folks coming from church lite are looking for catholicity, for a church deep not simply in theology or history but in liturgy that practices with reverence and solemnity what we actually say about God.  The creeds and confessions of our churches are a lex in search of a ratio, a belief which has an actual practice or shape in real life.  They do not hold this against Lutheranism but just the opposite.  They respect Lutheranism for holding to what these other churches have long ago jettisoned or never practiced at all.

In fact, the only folks who ever asked for incense in my parishes were those who came from these church lite kind of backgrounds and wanted the fuller the better.  Smells and bells did not seem out of character for them because they took what we said we believed so seriously that they expected smells and bells.  One family said we should begin the regular use of incense in the Divine Service with Christmas Eve.  I smiled on my face but in my heart I knew that it could be the very thing the Lutherans in the congregation would use to stir up trouble.  Not the new folks or weaker brethren but the Lutherans strong enough to know how to throw their weight around.

Now, full disclosure, I am NOT at all suggesting that any pastor damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead into a full medieval ceremonial to accompany the words and music of the Divine Service.  No pastor worth his salt would do that ever.  Longevity and teaching are required to usher in serious and long term change.  That said, every pastor I know would admit that the folks more likely to complain about any introduction of a new ceremony or practice are those who have been there longest.  How odd it is that in one case (some years ago) an LCMS pastor was lauded by the District and many of his peers for his foresight in ditching the traditional service which had been slowly moved earlier and earlier on Sunday morning until it began at 7 am before it never began at all.  They were, according to many, the loving pastors who really cared about the Gospel.  Other pastors who tried to restore the traditional service to a congregation which had long ago forgotten Lutheranism ever looked like that were derided as uncaring and hard men who loved liturgy and ceremony more than Jesus and more than the people in the pews.  I have to admit I cheered when I found out that the traditional folk who had been pushed out of the congregation took their wallets with them to the tune of some $175K a year!  Others complained that they were too rigid and should have learned to go along with the flow.  That is the dichotomy of how we deal with liturgical practices and worship preferences in the LCMS.

If Missouri dies it will not be due to our catholic liturgy but it could very well be due to our lack of a liturgical identity that mirrors our theological confession.  At least the early Missouri Synod and Walther agreed with this when they insisted that this fledgling Synod strive for liturgical uniformity, using only pure agendas and hymnals, which reflects a narrower standard than simply y'all do what seems right so long as it is not too crazy or catholic.  Reverence today takes on many forms, it would seem, except the look of the Old Testament.  Okay, take you best shot to dispute me.