“Ever to Emmaus”: Where to Find the Book
Our thanks to a subscriber who emailed me, asking for information about where to buy the Art’s book.
What poor marketing we have done thus far! To purchase the book, click here.
Sacraments
Inverting the Three “BEs”: Believing, Behaving, Belonging
Rhoda’s First Adventure at a Lutheran Camp – Part 3
This will be my final installment of my first experience at a Lutheran camp (as the keynote speaker at the LCMS Northwest District Youth and Family Ministry Conference, held at Camp Lutherhaven, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho). My apologies to CAMP LUTHERHAVEN! I have been using the wrong name for the camp, but corrections have been made on the previous blog posts.
The video, below, is a quick look at the Dexterity Competition, another event at the “Name the Gift Olympics.” This Olympic event was based on chapter 7 of Journey to Jesus, “The Path to Conversion: Belonging, Believing, Behaving.” For the Dexterity Olympic event, participants had to flip the two upside down cups upright and then fill both with water (another baptismal allusion). One of the two cups had the words (from top to bottom) “belonging, behaving, believing” written on the side (see the featured image, above). The “inversion” indicates one of the major research findings Kent and I discussed in chapter 7. Here’s the relevant excerpt from our book:
[Diana Butler] Bass asserts [in Christianity after Religion] that, at least since the Reformation, Western Christianity has followed this sequence: belief, then behavior, “and finally belonging, . . . [a] pattern [that Protestants and Catholics] turned into rituals of catechism, character formation, and Confirmation.” Her assessment rings true to us, based on the historical evidence and on our personal experiences as “cradle Lutherans” in the LCMS, where full membership was attained through the rite of confirmation, which was also the gateway to the Lord’s Supper (when one truly “belonged”) and the point at which the newly confirmed received contribution envelopes. Based on our research, we find compelling Bass’s assessment that our contemporary context calls for a reshuffling of the BEs, one that moves belonging to earlier stages of the process, for in three of our four case studies belonging is the dominant theme in participant interviews.
Worth repeating here is the wisdom of Pastor Bruzek: “When I was young, we used to ask people what they thought [or perhaps, believed]; now people ask, ‘How do you feel?’” In answer to that question, people today respond that they feel “empty, lost, broken, listless, betrayed, miserable, angry, loveless, afraid, victimized, alienated, oppressed, in despair”—all of which can be compressed into the statement “I feel alone and unloved.” … That so many of those interviewed in our research used language of belonging persuades us that social disconnection and loneliness are the spiritual crises of today that the church is called to address (Journey to Jesus, 124-25).
Just as it was a challenge to invert the cups in this event, it’s challenging to think about reordering what we have done for scores of years. We do point out that it’s less about reordering—each of the three BEs is essential to the process of faith formation—and more about a matter of emphasis.
Our research reveals a predominance of “belonging” language from those interviewed at St. Mary’s, Redeemer, and St. John; at Living Faith, “believing” was the dominant theme. A deeper analysis of the data uncovers the presence of all three BEs in all four congregations in varying degrees and emphases. But rather than a clear succession of formation and incorporation into the life of the church one B-word at a time, the interviews disclose a simultaneity of belonging, believing, and behaving within the stages of the formation process. By exploring this simultaneity along with the “dominant” BE-language in each congregation, we hope to awaken readers to the creative possibilities inherent in an adult faith formation process in their contexts (Journey to Jesus, 126).
Catechetical Series III – The Lord’s Supper and The Lord’s Prayer
I offer these comments about the selection of the Scripture readings and hymns to help the reader understand how I arrived at the scripture readings, hymns, and sermon texts and titles that were chosen for this part of the sermon series.
Sermons on the Sacrament of the Altar
The four passages that are the biblical basis for the Sacrament of the Altar are assigned as lectionary readings for this four-part series (Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34). The Sacrament of the Altar is stated to be Christ’s Last Will and Testament, reflecting the wording of the Verba in the LSB liturgies and in the text of LSB’s Catechism. See also Luther’s work “A Treatise on the New Testament, that Is, The Holy Mass” (LW 35, 75-111). Additional details about lectionary choices are included in the document with lectionary and hymn options.
When preaching on the Sacraments of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar, some mention needs to be made about the thread of blood and water running through the Old and New Testaments. Blood and water were the agents of cleansing from sin, consecration, and purification in the Old Testament (Leviticus 1:4-5, 8-9; 8:6, 15, 23-24; 16:3, 14-16, 23-28; Deuteronomy 21:3-9). The New Testament recounts Christ’s coming to His Church in blood and water (1 John 5:6-12). John in his Gospel emphasizes the truth that when Jesus’ side was speared on Good Friday, blood and water flowed out (John 19:31-37). Today Jesus comes to His Church and the world with the cleansing flow of blood (The Sacrament of the Altar) and water (The Sacrament of Holy Baptism), which delivers from sin and gives the blessing of eternal life (Matthew 26:26-29; Acts 2:36-39; 22:16). This blood and water thread can be included in the sermons or taught in a Bible class accompanying the sermons on Baptism and/or the Lord’s Supper.
Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer has seven petitions and an Introduction and Conclusion, so there are nine parts to this series. A sermon on prayer in general was not included, although one could be added, bringing the total in the series to ten. The Explanation section in the LCMS’s edition of the Small Catechism includes a section on prayer in general [Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (CPH 2006), pp. 174-180]. These readings or others more fitting with one’s congregation could be used for a sermon on prayer in general – Genesis 18:23-32; Daniel 6:10; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18; Matthew 7:7-8; Matthew 26:36-44; Luke 6:12.
For all the sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, I suggest that the biblical text of the particular petition be the basis for the preaching, using the text from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. Other Gospel readings have been included in the lectionary, reflecting variations over the years. And since the Lord’s Prayer is part of the liturgy, I suggest that the catechetical reading be read/confessed either before or after the sermon.
A number of scripture readings were selected because they were included in the explanation section of Luther’s Small Catechism.
Hymns and Themes for These Series
Two of Luther’s hymns on the Sacrament of the Altar accompany the sermons on the Lord’s Supper (LSB 617 & LSB 627), as well as his hymn on the Keys (LSB 607), and Luther’s catechetical hymn on the Lord’s Prayer (LSB 766) is sung in sections corresponding to the part of the Lord’s Prayer that is the theme of the sermon.
These sermons should encourage Christians to be regular in receiving the Lord’s Supper to be forgiven of their sins, to strengthen their faith in Christ, to be further equipped for their lives of service in the Church and the world, and to look forward to receiving their spiritual inheritance in heaven. Sermons on prayer should encourage regular daily prayer, family and personal prayer time, scripture reading, devotional time, a devotional use of the Catechism, the use of devotional tools like Portals of Prayer and other such aids.
To review or download the complete list of lectionary selections, sermon title and text, and hymn recommendations, click here. To contact Dr. Boehme, send an email to Rhoda@FormingLutherans.org, and she will forward your questions or comments to him.
+++
Banner Image: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), The Last Supper wood block print; photo from The humiliation and exaltation of our Redeemer, in 32 prints, representing the original wood-blocks of Albert Dürer. London: G. Routledge & Sons, 1867.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_humiliation_and_exaltation_of_our_Redeemer,_in_32_prints,_representing_the_original_wood-blocks_of_Albert_D%C3%BCrer_(IA_humiliationexalt00drer).pdf
A Catechumenal Vision for Compact Congregations: How and Where to Celebrate the Rituals
Many congregations with an adult catechumenate include rituals that mark the transitions from one stage of the catechumenate to the next. Our regular readers know that Kent and I are strong proponents of ritual for a variety of reasons. These are suggestions for how and where the traditional rituals might be celebrated throughout a catechumenal process conducted jointly by several congregations. Titles for rites and quotations are from Welcome to Christ: Lutheran Rites for the Catechumenate (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997).
Rite of Welcome of Inquirers to the Catechumenate
The opening rubric states “This welcome of those inquiring into the Christian faith and life may be used whenever there are people who desire to begin a more public relationship with a Christian congregation” (9). We suggest that this ritual could be included in a jointly sponsored Reformation service that involves all the congregations in the catechumenal process; this is a fitting date, since fall is also the preferred time to begin the process. The core ritual moment is “Signing with the Cross” on various parts of the body: forehead, ears, eyes, lips, heart, shoulders, hands, and feet. Each has a specific blessing spoken as the signing is done (11). Here are two examples.
Receive the cross on your ears,
that you may hear the gospel of Christ, the word of life.Receive the cross on your heart,
that God may dwell there by faith.
The action of signing will make a deeper impression on the recipient than a plethora of words spoken without gesture and touch would.
Rite of Enrollment of Candidates for Baptism
This rite can also be adapted for a rite of remembrance and renewal for those already baptized but who are seeking to reconnect to the church or those preparing for confirmation in the Lutheran church. It marks the transition from an inquirer to one who is has heard God’s call to follow Christ in a life of discipleship; the weekly gatherings can take on a more intense time of instruction and faith formation. The recommended day for this ritual is the First Sunday of Lent (19). We recommend that this ritual take place in the congregation where the “inquirers” will become formal members. Thus, participating pastors will need to have individual conversations with participants to determine which congregation each will join. Such decisions might be easily made. For example, if a person has friends or relatives in a congregation; or in a rural area, the closest congregation to the person would be the logical choice; or if the person was drawn into the catechumenate because of a relationship with one of the pastors who provided pastoral care in a major crisis, this would be the obvious choice.
Vigil of Easter
If one participating congregation has a tradition of celebrating the Vigil of Easter, it would be appropriate to hold the service at that congregation and encourage members of all the participating congregations to attend as well. If no congregation has this tradition, we suggest starting a tradition of a joint Vigil of Easter. To encourage participation among the membership of the congregations, good musicians from the various congregations could be recruited to chant the opening Service of Light; strong lay readers could be recruited for the Service of Readings; all the pastors could participate in the Service of Holy Baptism (which would include the Rite of Confirmation, if appropriate). The rite in Welcome to Christ includes a thanksgiving for baptism (45) full of rich biblical imagery of water as source of death (the flood) and life (deliverance at the Red Sea), and language from Romans 6; the whole assembly participates in the renunciations and confession of faith. For those baptized and/or confirmed, this is also their first partaking of Holy Communion; what rich meaning would be conveyed as those participating for the first time would do so with people of faith from several congregations!
Affirmation of the Vocation of the Baptized in the World
This ritual marks the end of the post-baptism teaching, called mystagogy in the early church, because it included teachings about the “mysteries,” that is, the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, which the neophytes had experienced for the first time at the Vigil. Ideally, this ritual would take place on or near the Feast of Pentecost, the end of the Easter Season. We suggest a potluck meal hosted by one participating congregation, at which the ritual could be done prior to the meal in the church sanctuary as part of brief service of preaching and prayer. The ritual also marks the end of the catechumenal process of weekly gatherings.
Has this series piqued your interest in exploring a joint catechumenal process? Do you still have questions about next steps to implement such a venture? We would love to hear from you! Scroll to the bottom of the web page for our contact information.
+++++++
Photo: Baptismal font, St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota
Photo by Rhoda Schuler
A Theology of Christian Initiation
We move on to chapter 4 in A Pastoral and Theological Commentary on the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults titled “A Theology of Christian Initiation” by Dr. Kimberly Hope Belcher (who is on the faculty at Notre Dame). Belcher introduces this chapter by noting that in the ancient world, where participation “convey[ed] a share in the reality one participated in” meant “that by participation in Christian initiation, the Christian has come to be another Christ.” Such a theological claim is more difficult in our current context, where many people, by equating “real” with “physical,” miss the import “of the symbolic nature of the sacraments” (43-44). Belcher claims that theologians speak of this symbolic nature
… because they [the sacraments] address human beings, who come to know by symbols truths that cannot be empirically proved or stated as a proposition. The liturgical symbols express mysteries: our deepest loves, hopes, and commitments. They change us because they speak to a human level that is deeper than the material world (44).
She offers five themes expressed through the Christian initiation, giving greatest weight and attention to the first, the paschal mystery. Like Luther’s baptismal theology, this concept is anchored in Roman 6, “the symbolic act of death in baptism” through which the initiate is joined with Christ’s death and resurrection; his death “is the revelation of the eternal love of God for creation and also the source of the forgiveness of sins” (44). The implication of this joining is true freedom. Belcher writes that “Christians after baptism have been liberated from worldly values, preparing for the death they have already begun to experience” (47).
The remaining themes flow from this first. The Trinity (second theme) is revealed through the person of Jesus, whose passion, death, and resurrection “is a manifestation of an endless cycle of self-giving and selfless love that is characteristic of the Trinity” (48). The moral life (fourth theme) has a trinitarian framework informed by the initiation rituals, which reveals the love the Father, joins one to Christ, and in which the Christian life, expressed in love of neighbor, is supported by the Holy Spirit (52). Of eschatology and cosmology, the final theme, she writes: “The blessing of the baptismal water points toward the heavenly consummation … The catechumenal journey should be celebrated within a community that undertakes to be a foretaste of that heavenly life, despite their human frailties” (53).
I close with her third theme, ecclesiology, to which she gives significant attention regarding those enrolled in OCIA who “have been validly baptized.” Yes, participating in the OCIA process for these baptized people is “initiation into full communion with the Catholic Church,” but she stresses that through baptism a person enters into “the universal Christian church, which is fragmented into various communities not in communion with one another” (50). She continues, “The OCIA balances two complementary theological principles: respect and pastoral care for the person who presents herself or himself for inquiry, and respect for our ecumenical partners, other churches or ecclesial communities who believe in the Trinity and baptize.” To keep that balance “candidates’ baptism in and formation by other churches or ecclesial communions deserves honor from the Catholic communities where they are finding a new home” (51). This language not only resonates with me, as a member of an “ecclesial community,” but it also reflects the sacramental theology with which she began: “The liturgical symbols express mysteries: our deepest loves, hopes, and commitments. They change us because they speak to a human level that is deeper than the material world” (44). But most of all, her sacramental theology comes close my own; to her words “that by participation in Christian initiation, the Christian has come to be another Christ” (43), I would add these: that in baptism one is joined to Christ and, by daily dying to sin, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
+++++
Banner photo
Laxfield, UK; All Saints Church: 15th-century Seven Sacraments font. Photograph by Michael Garlick
© Copyright Michael Garlick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laxfield,_All_Saints_Church,_c15th_Seven_Sacraments_font_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6554421.jpg
Images of Baptism: New Birth and Adoption
To read Images of Baptism is a bit like being back in the classroom (as I was three decades ago) with Maxwell E. Johnson, whose teaching style was direct, straight forward, to the point, and thus quite engaging. His introduction to chapter 2, “Baptism as New Birth and Adoption,” begins by stating liturgical scholarship’s “accepted” evolution of baptismal theology in the early church: Eastern traditions had an emphases on regeneration, new birth, and adoption “rooted in Jesus’ own baptism in the Jordan” and the West had a focus on “baptism as a ritual of death, burial resurrection in Christ” (Images of Baptism, 39). He continues, “To say that baptism as ‘new birth’ or adoption ‘by water and the Holy Spirit’ is only a characteristically Eastern image or focus, however, is simply incorrect…. The image of new birth and adoption is as much Western as it is Eastern” (42, emphasis in original).
Johnson’s goal is to expand our baptismal theology to include the full range of images and metaphors expressed in Scripture; as he says, “How one thinks of baptism will shape how one views Christian life and identity” (64). He succinctly summarizes the two primary images of baptism shaping Christian identity:
For one spirituality, baptism is the tomb in which the sinful self is put to death in Christ. For the other spirituality, baptism is the womb through which the Mothering Spirit of God give new birth and new life (64, emphasis in original).
In good Lutheran fashion, Johnson does not see these images as either/or but rather as both/and, embracing the seeming paradox of baptism as a sacrament that calls for the death of the sinner while at the same time declaring that the one being baptized is a beloved child of God. This latter image, with the baptism of Jesus as the paradigm, links Christians to the Incarnation, as Athanasius said, “God became what we are so that we could be made what he is” (quoted by Johnson, 64).
I close with two of the questions Max Johnson poses in this chapter (Images of Baptism, 64-65), inviting comments from you, the reader (a new feature to our blog posts).
What might it mean to say in our catechesis of parents who present their children for baptism, that in a real sense they are presenting “their” children for “adoption” into a whole new family network of relationships …?
What might such [language] mean for the identity, nature and mission of the church in the world, empowered by the baptismal Spirit, which understands itself to be so closely united with Christ that, as the very body of Christ, it shares in the divine nature?
+++
Banner photo: Font at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois. By Rhoda Schuler.
Awe-Inspiring: Pre-Baptismal Anointing in Eastern Rites of the Early Church
Last week Kent wrote about the post-baptismal anointing in the West (with Ambrose as our source) and its ritual connection with the coming of the Holy Spirit. This week we’ll look at an earlier stratum of baptismal anointing from East Syrian and Armenian sources. In the 1970s liturgical scholar Gabriele Winkler broke new ground in her dissertation work, noting that these earliest sources in Syriac and Armenian have only a pre-baptismal anointing and that this anointing is linked ritually to Jesus’ baptism. She writes:
… in the oldest Syriac documents, Christian baptism is shaped after Christ’s baptism in the Jordan. As Jesus had received the anointing through the divine presence in the appearance of a dove, and was invested as the Messiah, so in Christian baptism every candidate is anointed and, in connection with this anointing, the gift of Spirit is conferred. Therefore the main theme of this prebaptismal anointing is the entry into the eschatological kingship of the Messiah, being in the true sense of the word assimilated in the Messiah-King through this anointing.
Winkler, “The Original Meaning of the Prebaptismal Anointing and its Implications,” Worship 52 (1978): 36.
She points out the many images in these East Syrian and Armenian texts that draw on the Old Testament narratives of the anointing of kings, associated with the coming of the Spirit. She quotes from the Disascalia, “… the Lord in baptism, by the imposition of the hand of bishop, bore witness to each one of you, and uttered His holy voice, saying, ‘Thou art my Son. I this day have begotten you’” (Ps. 2:7). She asserts that this and other references in these East Syrian texts point to “the deeper meaning of this Old Testament imagery: The anointing of the priest-king of the old covenant prefigured the anointing of the Messiah. Jesus is revealed as the Messiah-King at the Jordan through the descent of the Spirit in the appearance of a dove.” Thus, she continues, “It is also no longer puzzling why the anointing, and not the immersion in the water, forms the central part of baptism in the Syriac sources” (Winkler, 36-37).
In support of Winkler’s hypothesis that in the earliest baptismal rituals “Christian baptism is shaped after Christ’s baptism in the Jordan” and the giving of the Holy Spirit was a central meaning of the rite is the word “Christian.” Luke records that “it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christian’” (Acts 11:26). The Greek word “Christos,” translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, means “anointed one.” As a Lutheran steeped in the dominant baptismal motive of Scripture and the Western Church (Romans 6, joined with Christ his death and resurrection), studying with Dr. Winkler 30 years ago opened me to the multivalent gifts of baptism: the forgiveness of sins, the giving of the Holy Spirit, and being chosen by God, begotten as God’s child in this sacrament.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Image: Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan; Fresco in the Rila Monastery, Rilakloster, Kloster Rila, Рилски манастир, Bulgaria 2009
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rilakloster_Wandgem%C3%A4lde_a_20090407_014.JPG
The Lord’s Supper and the Communal Shape of the Christian Life
Last November the Rev. Dr. Peter H. Nafzger was the speaker for the annual Vern Gundermann Reformation Heritage Lecture sponsored by Concordia University – St. Paul, Minnesota. Much of what Dr. Nafzger said resonated with aspects of our research on the adult catechumenate and its role in congregational life. With his permission, I’m sharing some of the main points of his lecture and drawing connections with our research congregations.
Structured around Ricoeur’s three “worlds of the text,” in part I, The Defigured World (a renaming of Ricoeur’s “prefigured world”), Nafzger argued that the current “defiguring” of Christianity is its over-emphasis on the Christian life as one that is lived individually. Citing research on younger generations within the church, he concluded that a major cause for their absence within the church and abandonment of Christianity is that “young people are not experiencing community” in their local congregations.
In part II, “Toward a Configured World,” Nafzger used social science research to identify the problem or malady in the here and now of society, citing the “loneliness epidemic” in our country and the “social frailty index” to demonstrate the human need and desire for community. Yes, he notes, people find community outside the church, but it is self-selected, temporary, and tribalistic; thus, it is helpful today to highlight the communal nature of the Christian life, the “Configured World.”
Deep into part II, just as I began to question how this material could be considered a “Reformation Lecture,” Dr. Nafzger introduced part III, “The Refigured World,” finding the remedy or solution to the core problem in our society (and church) in one of Luther’s early writings on the Lord’s Supper—before the main controversaries of the sixteenth century, Transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Christ in this sacred meal—dominated the theological discussions. I would add that those controversies continue to shape the Lutheran focus on and interpretation of the Lord’s Supper. We have, to use the language of a Roman Catholic liturgical scholar, overemphasized this sacrament as individual reception of “sacred food” and thus lost any sense or meaning of the sacrament as a “holy meal” shared in community.[1]
In “The Blessed sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, and Brotherhoods” (1519), Luther declared:
The significance or effect of this sacrament is fellowship of all the saints….
This fellowship consists in this, that all the spiritual possessions of Christ and his saints are shared with and become the common property of [the one] who receives this sacrament….
Then we may … say, “Though I am a sinner … nevertheless I will go to the sacrament to receive a sign from God that I have on my side Christ’s righteousness, life, and sufferings, with all holy angels and the blessed in heaven and all pious [people] on earth. If I die, I am not alone in death; if I suffer, they suffer with me … all my misfortune is shared with Christ and the saints because I have a sure sign of their love toward me” (Luther’s Works, vol. 35, pp. 50, 51, 54, emphasis added).
In a “Refigured World,” congregations would have a robust communal identity and practices—precisely what our research supports. Those who had participated in the congregation’s adult faith formation process expressed a deep appreciation for the sense of community and belonging they experienced within these parishes; one important commonality of the four research congregations is weekly celebration of Holy Communion. Dr. Nafzger’s lecture breaks open the possibility of correlation between the frequent offering of this sacrament with the formation of a community that “bears one another burdens,” living in love with one another. According to Luther, “It is Christ’s will, then, that we partake of it frequently, in order that we may remember him and exercise ourselves in this fellowship according to his example” (56, emphasis added).
This Holy Meal is an intimate union between Christ and all the saints, a joining together of Christ the Head with his Body, the church, a community that is, in Nafzger’s words, “chosen by God, eternal, and hospitable.”
[1] Mitchell, Cult and Controversy (New York: Pueblo, 1982).
+++++++++
To view Dr. Nafzger’s full lecture, click here.
For the Surgeon General’s report “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” click here.
For research on the social frailty index, click here.
Image from Wiki Commons: Reformation altarpiece depicting means of grace, center (The Lord’s Supper). Artists: Lucas Cranach the Elder; Lucas Cranach the Younger and workshop (1547); Marienkirche, Wittenberg, Germany; photo by Feldstein, 2017; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Reformationsaltar%22_in_der_Kirche_St._Marien_in_Wittenberg-Lutherstadt.jpg
