So what does Rome teach about non-Roman Christians communing there?

From John Paul II:


"While it is never legitimate to concelebrate in the absence of full communion, the same is not true with respect to the administration of the Eucharist under special circumstances, to individual persons belonging to Churches or Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In this case, in fact, the intention is to meet a grave spiritual need for the eternal salvation of an individual believer, not to bring about an intercommunion which remains impossible until the visible bonds of ecclesial communion are fully re-established."
 and

"In this context, it is a source of joy to note that Catholic ministers are able, in certain particular cases, to administer the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick to Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church but who greatly desire to receive these sacraments, freely request them and manifest the faith which the Catholic Church professes with regard to these sacraments. Conversely, in specific cases and in particular circumstances, Catholics too can request these same sacraments from ministers of Churches in which these sacraments are valid. The conditions for such reciprocal reception have been laid down in specific norms; for the sake of furthering ecumenism these norms must be respected."

from Canon Law:

"If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgement of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed."

From Benedict XVI:

"56. The subject of participation in the Eucharist inevitably raises the question of Christians belonging to Churches or Ecclesial Communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. In this regard, it must be said that the intrinsic link between the Eucharist and the Church's unity inspires us to long for the day when we will be able to celebrate the Holy Eucharist together with all believers in Christ, and in this way to express visibly the fullness of unity that Christ willed for his disciples (cf. Jn 17:21). On the other hand, the respect we owe to the sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood prevents us from making it a mere "means" to be used indiscriminately in order to attain that unity. (172) The Eucharist in fact not only manifests our personal communion with Jesus Christ, but also implies full communio with the Church. This is the reason why, sadly albeit not without hope, we ask Christians who are not Catholic to understand and respect our conviction, which is grounded in the Bible and Tradition. We hold that eucharistic communion and ecclesial communion are so linked as to make it generally (my emphasis) impossible for non-Catholic Christians to receive the former without enjoying the latter. There would be even less sense in actually concelebrating with ministers of Churches or ecclesial communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church. Yet it remains true that, for the sake of their eternal salvation, individual non-Catholic Christians can be admitted to the Eucharist, the sacrament of Reconciliation and the Anointing of the Sick. But this is possible only in specific, exceptional situations and requires that certain precisely defined conditions be met (173). These are clearly indicated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (174) and in its Compendium (175). Everyone is obliged to observe these norms faithfully."

My own comments:

Because there has been confusion over what the Roman Catholic Church says or does not say about those outside the umbrella of Rome receiving the Eucharist (or other sacraments) from a Roman Catholic priest or parish, I am indebted to a former Lutheran, Australian David Schutz, now Roman Catholic, who has provided the appropriate and authoritative words on the subject.

I might note that the words of John Paul II in the first two citations sound pretty much like the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in its stance toward intercommunion between churches in general and its practice of close(d) communion with pastoral discretion in particular.  It would seem that in this there is great affinity between the positions of the Roman Catholic Church and the LCMS in this area and that those who practice open communion or who view Eucharistic sharing as a means to greater unity of doctrine and confession stand on the outside of mainstream catholic and universal practice both in antiquity and now.

The catechesis you forget. . .

Pastors are replete with stories of parents who do not wish to force religion on their children and so they do not make them go to church or Sunday school or catechism class.  The parents presume that theirs is the nobler path -- that God loves people who want to go to church more than those who attend because spouse or parents require it.  There is something almost unseemly about forcing a child to do what the kid does not -- even when it is probably in their best interest.  Such has surely helped fuel the resistance to childhood vaccinations as much as any rational arguments.  Nobody wants to see their children cry.  So we pastors are often left with little recourse but to take what is handed to us and be happy with the little time for instruction a reluctant parent and a rebellious child will allow.

But the parents and pastors often forget that catechesis will take place even without the formal instruction of a Sunday school or catechism class and even apart from the formal liturgical setting of Sunday morning Divine Service.  Every day our children are being catechized but it is the subtle catechesis of the media, of the school system and the values hidden in textbook and classroom, and of their peers.  Children do not grow up values neutral.  They do not escape influence from teachers and their teaching.  There are no truly objective settings for knowledge to be imparted.  In fact, by not requiring children to go to church, Sunday school, or catechism class the parents are exhibiting values and teaching their children something about religion.

My point is relatively simple.  Your children are listening to what they hear in music and media and movies.  They are paying attention to what they see you as parents do (and what you do not do).  They are being influenced by the values of others who may or may not mirror the same moral code and truth to which the parents adhere.  It will happen and it is happening.

No parent has exclusive right to the influence and instruction of their children.  In our age and culture this is shared by people with whom we might agree and those with whom we have no choice but to adhere and those we are not even paying attention to. . .   So even when the parent DOES require the child to go to church, to attend Sunday school, and to be a part of a catechism process leading to confirmation, that is but one side of a multi-faceted source of influence and instruction.

The parent is always the primary teacher and example for their children.  By choosing to ignore worship, Sunday school, and formal catechesis you have already taught your children about the esteem in which you hold Scripture, catechism, and the worship of God.  When you agree with the coach who insists that your child must attend every practice, you are teaching your child something and when you disagree with the church's call to worship regularly (weekly?), pray daily, learn the Scriptures and catechism you are teaching your children a powerful lesson about what is important and what is not.

Teach your children well...   At home and at church!  Teach them first from your own voice and your regular example and then using the full resources of the parish (from Sunday school to catechism class).  And make sure that they understand that as a family you come to the Lord's House on the Lord's Day.  It is no guarantee that your children will continue in the faith but it will balance the anti-religious teaching and immoral value system that is inherent in most of our entertainment oriented culture.  Just don't lie to yourself about how you want your child to desire worship and instruction in the faith on their own...  You have already decided for them that the voice of the faith will be silenced while all around them people are shouting what is right, what is wrong, what is valuable, what is important, and how to live their lives.  There is nothing noble about abdicating your responsibility and turning over the hearts and minds of your children to one point of view -- one that you have forgotten even to acknowledge -- because you worry about forcing them to do something they do not want to do.  In fact, it is the cowardly way!

None greater but the least in the Kingdom...

Sermon for Advent 3C, preached on Sunday, December 13, 2015.

    John was more than a prophet but at least a prophet.  He was more than a martyr but at least one.  He was more than all the prophets who went before him... but according to Jesus, he is less than the least in the Kingdom of God.  Now there is a paradox.  John was the greatest of those born of women but those in the kingdom of God are greater.  The contrast here is between those born of flesh and blood and those born of water and the Spirit.  This is the paradox of the righteousness given greater than the righteousness earned.  And it causes us to rejoice as we grow closer to the Manger in Advent.
    John is the most excellent of all those born of a woman but the Kingdom of God is born not of woman or the desire of man.  It is God who makes the Kingdom and who makes us members of that kingdom and who clothes us with Christ’s righteousness so that we might be rightly called holy, blameless, and righteous.  God working through water and the Word gives the new birth that clothes us with Christ's holiness and makes us greater than all born of woman.
    The John we meet today is at the end of his life.  His days of galvanizing the attention of crowds and calling a world to repentance to prepare the way of the Lord had given way to the John in prison, alone, wounded, and wondering.  Is Jesus who He claims to be?  Have you ever noticed this question is seldom asked with life is good, when things are going our way?  But when life breaks, we ask it.
    John’s faith is not perfect.  He is not above the thorns of fear and the anxiety of doubt.  He longs for reassurance.  Just like you and I seek confidence in time of test.  Doubts do not depart this life because we believe.  Doubts grow only where there is faith to feed upon.  Not until death silences the old Adam in us will the voice of doubt be silenced and then once for all.  We daily seek certitude in that which we know by faith -- this is what John seeks.
    So we come here week after week the same way John sent his disciples to Jesus – to be reassured in the things he had been taught, the faith he believed, and the peace that alone can comfort us in our weakness, brokenness, and pain.  And what does Jesus say?  It might seem that Jesus points to Himself.  What do you see and here in Me?  But John knew Isaiah and it is to the Word that Christ fulfills that Jesus points John’s doubts.
    What do you see and hear is the call to faith.  John did not see or hear personally the things of which Jesus speaks.  John was locked up in prison, waiting to die.  He was blinded by his own afflictions, shackled by his chains, an untouchable leper in a world the feared religious zealotry, deaf to the voice of hope, dead already with no way out, and without good news to sing about.  Have you ever felt that way?  Does it seem that God gives to others the very things you seek?  Yet Jesus calls John to see not with eyes but with faith that God has not abandoned him and that his time had come.
    The blind see, the lame walk, the sick are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor hear good news, and sinners forgiven are all signs of the Kingdom promised by Isaiah.  Jesus was asking John not simply to see with his eyes but to remember the Word of the Lord that endures forever and to look through the lens of trust in God's promises.  How hard it is when you eyes see only your wounds, your doubts, your pain, and your fears!  Faith sees but not with eyes in the head.  Faith sees by the Spirit given trust in the promises and Word of God, by watching and waiting upon the Lord to deliver what He has promised. 
    John lived not live in the leisure of palaces or finery or riches but in the wreckage of sin and in the shadow of death.  Exactly where you and I live.  On one hand, John is like none of us -  the kinsman of Jesus who baptizes and preaches the preparation of the Lord’s way.  On the other hand he is exactly like us.  He lives with troubles, trials, doubts and fears – hoping against hope for that which he sees all around him and in the mirror of his soul and seeking reassurance when what you see with your eyes and what you believe in your heart conflicts.
    Yet his faith endures.  He is no reed bent by the wind of change but planted in grace.  That is the problem with too many Christians.  We are blown to and fro on the wind of change and the next new thing.  John's call is for something more solid -- the Word that endures forever.  Will you join him?  Will you also trust the wisdom of God, wait for His mercy when your eyes do not see what want, and wait for the Lord when time is ticking away?  Will you look at life through the lens of faith, pray always and give thanks in all circumstances? 
    The least in the Kingdom are greater than John not because of what they have done but because of what Christ has done.   Jesus speaks not to disparage John but to lift us up.  Wearing the clothing of Christ’s righteousness, seeing through the lens of faith, humble and righteous by faith, those born of water and the Spirit are declared greatest of all.  YOU are those of whom Christ speaks, for whom Christ came, and in whom Christ lives.  You are great not because of what you do but because of what Christ did.  You are not afraid to pray, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner,” because you know God loves and forgives sinners.  You are not captive to death; your life is now hidden with God until you shed this flesh and blood and are remade in glory!  This is the joy that carries us to the manger and the cross.  This is the cause of our joy that no terrible circumstance of life can overcome.  We belong to the Lord.  God has esteemed us not according to what our eyes see only too well but according to the righteousness in which we were clothed in our baptism.  Pray, brothers and sisters, that we may also see this even more clearly than the things that test, trouble, and tempt us.  Amen!

The shape of theological education. . .

America’s oldest graduate seminary is once again blazing a trail for other mainline Protestant institutions to follow. But this time it’s a path many would rather not travel.  On Thursday (Nov. 12), Andover Newton Theological School announced plans to relocate and sell its 20-acre campus in Newton, Mass. The move will be part of “a bold new direction” for the 208-year-old school as it struggles with big deficits.

“God is doing something new in this time,” said Andover Newton President Martin Copenhaver. “We have to figure out what it is and get with the program.”  Whatever God is doing, it will be with a smaller faculty, lower overhead and new partnerships. On the table are two options: become embedded within a more stable institution such as Yale Divinity School, where discussions are ongoing, or shift to a lean cooperative learning model. The latter would strip away broad elective offerings, focus on core subjects and dispatch students to do much of their learning in local congregations.

I maintain that the academic model and the accreditation process has helped to kill seminaries and increase the whole cost of seminary education to the point where we question its value.  By academic model, I mean that seminary education today is profoundly shaped by what happens in the secular realm of the university and graduate school.  By the accreditation process I mean the impact accreditation agencies have over the faculties, the courses, and the graduates of most seminaries.

The truth is that most seminaries bestow professional degrees.  A Master of Divinity is a professional and not a true academic degree the way a Master of Sacred Theology degree is.  That does not mean to say at all that those who have an M. Div. are not thoroughly trained or professional.  That is not what I mean.  My point is that the academic model has taken over the arena of theological education and the whole endeavor is shaped by things larger than the doctrine of the church, the formation of pastors, and the certification of graduates for service to their church.  I am not sure it matters much what degree we bestow upon pastors -- at least to us (pastors and congregations).  But it does matter to the institution granting those degrees, to the agencies accrediting those institutions, to the government who provides educational loans to the students, and to the foundations whose money also enters the mix.

The accreditation agencies have great impact over who teaches, what academic degrees the teachers have, and what courses are required or offered in most seminary curriculums.  Accreditation is not a bad thing but it has become that which drives the whole endeavor.  And it is costly to conform to the academic model and to satisfy all the requirements of seminary accreditation.  I maintain that the residential seminary model is still the best one, that off site and online models are neither as effective or as reliable, and that the investment we make as churches and pastors is worth the high and noble calling of the pastoral ministry.  But I am frustrated by the fact that churches are dragged along by their accreditation agencies and by university models and that these may not be serving the overall best interests of either the churches or the pastors they produce.

Though now for a little while. . .

Funeral Sermon for Rodney Randash, preached on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015.

There is that great scene from the movie Field of Dreams.  Ray built the baseball diamond but found no comfort for himself among all the things he saw.  Then he recognized his father.  O my God, it’s my father... My God! I'd only seen him years later when he was worn down by life. Look at him. He's got his whole life in front of him...
I could say the same for Rodney.  I never knew him except as a man wearing the scars of too many afflictions and battles with heart, cancer, and tumors.  I never saw him walk.  He was tethered to a scooter chair.  I saw him not at the beginning of his life but in the final chapter when the suffering, weakness, and diseases had taken their toll upon his body.  But not his soul.

This was a man who had been to Viet Nam as a Navy corpsman, who had suffered a stroke, multiple bouts with a mitral valve problem, brain tumors removed and returned, and then struggled at the last  to become strong enough simply to go home one more time.  Through it all the unmistakable costs of suffering had left him with difficulty speaking and mobility issues.  But they could not tame his spirit.

You see that is how it is for all of us.  Sure, Linda has known him longer than anyone but even then she did not seem him run as a child toward hopes and dreams that no one could diminish.  We each see glimpses of one another, snapshots of a whole life that is seen and know fully only by God Himself.  And this is our comfort.  God knows.  He knew the twists and turns of Rodney’s life and His promise endured through it all.  He knew the sufferings and struggles no one would know until they came and when they did, God was there.  He knew the weakness of flesh and blood that wear out, that don’t work like we want, and that leave us a shadow of our former selves, but God is hidden in our weakness with the fullness of His strength.  He sees us all, from beginning to the end.  He loves us through the beginning and at the end He gives to us eternal life.

God has hidden in our weakness His strength, His peace, and His mercy.  Though now for a little while we suffer, for eternity we shall be free from suffering.  Though now we sin much and we come in repentance seeking His forgiveness, for eternity we shall not know sin or any evil but live as the perfect, perfectly covered by Christ’s holiness and righteousness forevermore.  Though now we grieve for the loss of what was, for the promise of what might have been, for eternity we shall know perfect peace, without regret, without disappointment, and without any more weariness to weigh us down.  Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.  We were baptized into His grace and born anew to a lively hope that no one and nothing can steal.  Through the journey of this mortal life we have this promise held for us, an inheritance we cannot fully possess until the things of this life and this moment are fully left behind.  But they are no less ours when we hold onto them by faith than when we see, now like Rodney, the Lord and His mercy face to face.

What is important to us is that the tests of life that come, and they surely will, refine us and the hope that is within us, purifying our faith and proving that faith genuine.  For Rodney, those tests are complete; he has fought the good fight, and now he is given the gift of rest to the resurrection of all flesh and the new and glorious body no longer subject to any limitation.

For now this is our hope.  We hold onto it as those who grieve but who do not grieve without hope in the promise and Word of Christ.  We cling to it when it seems all there is for us is disappointment, suffering, and trials.  We rejoice in it when there is nothing left of life to rejoice in.  And when the moment comes and this flesh and blood surrender themselves to death, we will be raised with Christ to new and everlasting life where death, darkness, disease, and doubt no longer can diminish our joy or test our faith any longer.

I never knew Rodney before the ravages of too many ills had stolen his mobility and slowed his speech.  But God knew him from the beginning of his life to the last breath.  And the Lord loved him with the everlasting love that death cannot overcome and illness can no longer touch.  We had him for a while – that is as long as we have anyone in this mortal life – but the Lord has marked him in baptism for eternity.  This is our comfort in sorrow and our hope – for the resurrection of the dead, for our own joyful reunion with those whom we love, and for the recreation of our mortal bodies into the glorious flesh Christ already wears.  This is the promise of Christ’s death and the hope of His resurrection.  Our sins died, death died, and we live.  Imagine that!

Rodney loved the hills of Montana and next year his remains will be laid to rest there.  But the life he lives, he lives to God and the strength of the hills is now his forever.  It was never in the earth or the stone but in the Lord who made those hills.  That is our comfort today.  Rodney’s strength was never in his body but in the Lord who made him for eternity.  Whatever life tried to steal from him, God has given back a hundred fold.  Eye has not seen, mind has not imagined, nor heart desired what God has prepared for those who love the Lord.  This is our hope and Rodney’s possession.

Now to you comes the same promise that sustained Rodney through all the struggles of his life.  When life steals your energy, when it tests your mettle, when it disappoints you, and when it wounds you, you belong to the Lord and not to the afflictions and scars of this mortal life.  These things you have now for a little while but Christ you have for eternity and in Him is everlasting life and light, hope and peace.  So in your grief, do not lament what you did not know or did not see or did not share with Rodney in his life.  Rejoice that in weakness and in strength, the Lord was with him, carrying him through the troubles and delivering him from the idea that this present moment is all we have – for good or for ill.  Rejoice in the expectation of eternal life, the blest reunion with those who have before, and blessed gift of everlasting life that death cannot touch, not now, now anymore.  For this is our comfort and our hope.

In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Sometimes parishes want a puppy instead of a pastor. . .

Pastors generally work long and hard, feel guilty about what they did not get done, and make great sacrifices for the sake of their people.  I do not say this so that you pity your pastor but that this is a general truth and fact (even no matter the denomination).  So when you read a column by a well meaning individual whose basic point is that pastors should not be doing what they are doing or they will prevent the church from growing, it is like twisting a dagger into the back of a hard working and well meaning pastor.

When the pastor has to visit every sick person, do every wedding and funeral and make regular house calls, attend every meeting, and lead every bible study or group, he or she becomes incapable of doing almost anything else.  Message preparation falls to the side, and providing organizational leadership for the future is almost out of the question.  The pastoral care model of church leadership simply doesn’t scale.

It’s somewhat ironic, actually.  If you’re a good pastoral care person (and many pastors are), people will often love you so much that the church will grow to two hundred people, at which point the pastoral care expectations become crushing.  Inevitably, pastoral leaders with larger churches can’t keep up and end up disappointing people when they can’t get to every event any more.  Caring for 30 people personally is possible. Caring for 230 is not.  Many pastors burn out trying.

There is some truth to everything -- even wrong headed criticism.  It is true that pastors cannot and should not do everything.  It is true that pastors often do what is visible and urgent while allowing what may be more important to slide by.  It is true that people have very unrealistic expectations of their pastors.  But the model so often given a pastor by the mega church is that you are too important to do pastoral care and we need you to be the visionary leader instead.  And this is just plain wrong.

Pastoral care IS exactly what the pastor is charged with doing and must do.  There are a host of things pastors do that they need not do (vision casting, administration, and kingdom building are a couple of them) but pastoral care is what ONLY a pastor can do.  By pastoral care I do NOT mean visiting everyone all the time or attending every meeting or running the business of the church.  I mean caring for the people of God with the means of grace.  THAT is pastoral care -- whether in the hospital room or living room, nursing home or apartment, to individuals or to large groups.  Pastoral care is what the pastor and only the pastor can do -- serve the people of God with the means of grace.

That means giving great attention to worship, to the liturgy, to the preaching that takes place within the liturgy, to the rhythm of life through the church year, to the instruction of young and old (catechesis), to the visitation of the sick and shut-in, to the admonition of the erring and those who neglect the means of grace, hearing confession and absolving sinners, burying the dead, preparing people for baptism and parents for the baptism of their children. . .   These are exactly what pastors can and must do or they are not pastors.

Yes it is true.  Churches want puppies rather than pastors, pets rather than shepherds.  Pastors are guilty of being people pleasers and wanting to be loved by their people more than they want to be faithful to Christ.  We are flawed and sinful individuals, to be sure.  Where is it that God has said that pastors are judged by the numbers of people in a building rather than by faithfulness to the Word and to the responsibilities exclusive to the pastoral calling? 

The goal of Christian leadership is to lead, not be liked.  There it is.  Pastors are not really pastors at all (according to this way of thinking) but are leaders.  When the Scriptures speak of the ministry they do not speak of leaders (at least as this author defines them) but as the shepherds who care for the sheep with the means of grace God Himself has provided.

I will admit it.  I do a ton of stuff I probably should not be doing in the parish.  I feel personally responsible for everything that happens here.  I want us always to be our best and do our best as a congregation.  I am conscious of the money entrusted to us for programs and resources and insist that we be the best stewards of these resources for God's glory.  I am too often tied and worn out.  But the funny thing is that in the business world this would be normal and yet in the church I stand condemned by those who think there is a more efficient use of my time.  They may be correct about some things but that is not the kind of pastor I want to be or I believe I was called to be.  I am the shepherd whom God has placed among this people to administer to them His gifts through the Word and Sacraments.  That is what is given to the pastor to do.  The people also have a distinct and profound minister of service to one another and to the stranger who does not yet know Jesus Christ.

I do not make sheep and I am not called to manufacture them.  I am called to faithfully preach and teach the Word of God and to administer the means of grace and God has promised to do the rest.  Whether or not my congregation grows may be my fault if I am unfaithful in this administration of the means of grace but if I am faithful within the boundaries of my mortal flesh, God will produce the results He has intended.  His Word cannot return to Him empty handed.  I will try to spend less of my time doing what is not my urgent priority or calling as a pastor but I refuse to be the kind of  Christian leader like this author and so many others intend.  The Church is not a business in search of market dominance but the kingdom of God in which the Word and the Sacraments are the means through which the Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole people of God.  I wish we Lutherans could rejoice in this instead of living in envy of every big box mega church down the street.

I used this book as a resource, and told them that we would never break 200 in attendance unless I stopped doing pastoral care.  It was a tough, but we made it.  We now have a church of 2300 people with almost 1100 in attendance on weekends.  If that is what it takes as a business model to have a church succeed in worldly terms, well, I guess I will have to learn to be content with failure.