The Church as tradition

After some time away reading the wonderfully thought provoking book "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, I'm back to reading theological books. My current book is "Lutheranism" by Gritsch and Jenson (see side bar). So far this has been an interesting read even with Jenson's somewhat dense writing style. I was, however taken with this paragraph:

As a community of a story, the church lives by tradition. That is, the church depends at any time on being told this story, and therefore on those who have already heard it; and the church cares for it own future by in turn telling the story. The reality of the church at any time is the reality of a link in the tradition; the reality of the church is a hermeneutic event of the move from hearing to telling. So also an individual believer belongs to the community as one who hears from others and then speaks to others: faith, to, is a hermeneutic reality, and occurs in tradition. Both the church and the individual believer therefore depend on "the" tradition, on the totality of witnesses from which, at any time, we have heard the gospel.

I thought "What a wonderful explanation of the church and why tradition matters so much!" Even if we can't define it as satisfactorily as Jenson, we know this to be the case. One would think Lutherans should the first to say "Amen" to Jenson's take on what the church is. Sadly, this is not necessarily so.

When I read that paragraph I was immediately reminded of something I saw at worship a number of Sundays ago. I was at the early service and had some time to burn. I passed the extra time by reading, waiting for Mass to start. Then I saw Dr. Paul Manz. If you are a Lutheran, you ought to know who Dr. Manz is. For those who don't: Dr. Manz was the preeminent Lutheran organist, improvasationalist and hymn writer for more than 40 years. He spent over twenty years as my churches cantor and it has been easily that long since I had seen him. He was old and bent which was a bit sad but he still looked as I remembered him so many years ago. It just so happened that Dr. Manz and his wife sat two pews in front of me that morning.

As the service progressed I wondered how much of the new worship book (ELW) Dr. Manz would know (if he knew any of it) and how much he would approve, or disapprove. As providence would have it, we used one of the hold-over LBW liturgies. Dr. Manz would have his wife help him and with some of the page flipping (for the hymns) otherwise it was by memory. I appreciated tradition that morning more than most.

Jenson's take on how the church "lives" was reinforced by my observation on that Sunday; it is this tradition of story that connects us, in every time and in every place, to all the saints before us and to those that follow.

And yet, Jenson says:

Under the authority of Scripture and the whole tradition, we will become free to worship in other ways than we have done, and, in whatever ways, for other reasons than that we have always done it so. The church cannot avoid being a social force; under the authority of Scripture and the whole tradition, the church will be a cell for the future rather than the past, and be free to alter its own social structure in order to be this. Any attempt to decree that a particular form of government, or of ministry, or of worship, or of social presence, is permanently necessary to the church is a declaration of independence from the Scripture and creeds.

Something to chew on.

Eucharistic Theology

One good thing about reading other blogs is that you are introduced to the coolest stuff. Fr. Tobias Haller's blog "In a Godward direction" had this link to a quiz about Eucharistic Theology. I'm not of a theologian, but I like to think that I'd get at least a "C" in Lutheran Theology. So this quiz made me feel a little better. Below are my results:

Eucharistic theology

You scored as a Luther

You are Martin Luther. You'll stick with the words of Scripture, and defend this with earthy expressions. You believe this is a necessary consequence of an orthodox Christology. You believe that the bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Christ, but aren't too sure about where he goes after the meal, and so you don't accept reservation of the Blessed Sacrament or Eucharistic devotions.

Orthodox 75% Luther 75% Calvin 63% Catholic 19% Zwingli 13% Unitarian 0%

So, what's the deal with the high Orthodox score? Hmmm. Blame it on Mannermaa's book. BTW, its a great book. However, I can't explain the high score for Calvinism. Maybe it's the protestant in me. And the low Catholic score? Weird. Oh well, it's fun just the same.

Coveting stuff...

Ever wonder what denomination you would be in if you weren't in the denomination that you're in now? I do. It's mostly when the polity stuff (read acceptance of homosexuals) of the ELCA starts wearing me down that I entertain this notion. I ask myself "If the ELCA implodes because of fill-in-the-blank, where would I go?"

As you can tell from my previous posts, I'm a liturgical Lutheran. This means that all of the Reformed denominations are out. I could go to the Orthodox church (everybody else seems to) but the Orthodox church is too, well, eastern for my western sensibilities. I'm sure I could learn to love the Orthodox church but there is too much western Christianity in me to make the switch. That leaves the Episcopal(Anglican) church or the Catholic church. Regarding the Episcopal church: talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! Nope, can't do that. My constitution is not strong enough. This leaves the Catholic church. Since I am a liturgical Lutheran, I'm a cousin once (or would it be twice) removed from Rome. The Catholic liturgy is nice (for those churches who don't do funny "contemporary" Eucharist). The music is a little weak in the Catholic church but I could probably get over that deficiency. All in all I might be able to be Catholic. And I think about this almost every day since I pass by a Catholic church on my drive home from work and there is one a block away from my home that I jog by three days a week.

But just when I think that I could, in pinch, cross the Tiber, I read something that just poisons the waterhole. To wit.

Apparently "commingling with Protestants" is a sin of the same order as homosexality or masturbation. That's rich.

As good ol' Charlie Brown liked to say "Good Grief!"

On Becoming Orthodox

Well, summer vacation is over and it's time to start blogging again. If anyone still reads this blog it will be proof of divine providence. Only the Holy Spirit would keep people reading this blog after such a long absence.

Anyhoo, over at WithoutAuthority I read about this article in the New Republic about the movement of evangelicals to the Orthodox Church (in this case the Antiochian Orthodox Church) . It's an interesting read and quite illustrative of where some postmodern evangelical worshipers are headed.

The motivations for this exodus are fascinating....

The first seems to be an exhaustion with the secularization of the evangelical protestant worship. As I've blogged about before, this secularization (mostly to grow attendance) is ultimately a dead-end. Eventually, these churches will cease to be contemporary and when that happens their main reason for existing disappears. Marketing and entertainment for the sake of growth needs to be constantly relevant (read, changing) to feed that growth; especially in today's overly marketed culture that demands the new over the old. Apparently, this constant churn is wearing folks out.

The second is the need for a more contemplative, thoughtful, and stable worship. Of all the attributes one can say about evangelical worship, contemplative isn't generally one of them. This movement back to more ancient worship forms is a reaction, I feel, to postmodern society. When I blogged about this last year I thought it was mostly younger people who desired this movement to older worship forms but I've changed my mind. Whether young or old, our lives are in constant flux. We accept this flux as a cost of living in a postmodern world but we yearn for something more stable, deeper, and bigger than ourselves. I seen this yearning in my own church most Sundays as I watch visitors at my church receive Holy Communion. The very fact that they are attending worship that is not contemporary makes me hopeful. Only time will tell if this is a permanent trend or just a fad.

The third was the desire to separate worldly political issues from religion. Considering that these folks are disaffected evangelical protestants who's religious fervor has been used and manipulated by others for 30 years for political gain (with little to show for it), it's no surprise that they want a break. Oblique political references in worship are OK when they relate to the lectionary text for that Sunday but that was certainly not what these folks were experiencing. I feel that church ought to be about communion with God in the midst of our bothers and sisters in Christ. There is plenty of time to discuss how our faith should play out in the world before or after Mass. Let's give God some time just for God. We can work out how we further his kingdom on our own time.

Now of these three motivations, it's number two that I'm most interested in. Protestant churches, and especially Lutheran congregations, can learn a thing or two from our Orthodox brethren. Being relevant is a laudable and salutary goal. We should do this when ever possible. But unless these changes are informed by our heritage and the New Testament witness it's just another form of secularization. And in some cases can be gratuitous. Ultimately it could lead us away from God in Christ because we feel our own ideas are better than the received tradition of the faithful before us. Hopefully, there are enough wise men and women to gently guide us in the right direction.

Control or Trust

One of the most intractable secular ideologies among moderns is our sense that we have (or can have) singular control over our lives; that we are the captains of our own ship so to speak. This, of course, is a foolish notion; we certainly have control over our own actions but that doesn't mean we control our lives. We think we do, but ultimately it's the actions (good or bad) of others --whether those others are our family, friends, or society -- that have as much of an affect on our lives as the sea does to the ships voyage. Many times it's complete strangers who have the biggest impact on our lives. And yet this ideology persists. Blame it on technological success of the last 100 years and the commensurate feeling of control it has given us.

What a stumbling block for modern Christians! How does one submit to the will of God and give up that sense of control? Is it even possible for moderns Christians to do so?

Over the last few weeks I've been reading Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" and I've come away from this reading with a feeling of awe not only for the compelling way Bonhoeffer describes this letting go, this submission, but the way that Bonhoeffer actually gave up control of his life and submitted to God's will.

I say all this by way of introduction to a "Hymn of the Day" my church sung a couple of Sundays ago. Appropriately, it's in the "Trust, Guidance" section of the hymnal. The tune is a haunting one that sticks in your head long after you've sung it. And although I'm not overly emotional, the text moved me to tears when I sang it.

"If You But Trust in God to Guide You" (ELW translation):

If you but trust in God to guide you
with gentle hand through all your ways,
you'll find God is there beside you
when crosses come in trying days,
Trust then in God's unchanging love;
build on the rock that will not move.

What gain is there in anxious weeping,
in helpless anger and distress?
If you are in your Savior's keeping,
in sorrow will he love you less?
For Christ who took for you a cross
will bring you safe through every loss.

The Lord our restless hearts is holding,
in peace and quietness content,
We rest in God's good will unfolding,
what wisdom from on high has sent.
God, who has chosen us by grace,
knows very well the fears we face.

Sing, pray, and keep God's ways unswerving,
offer you service faithfully.
Trust heaven's word; though undeserving,
you'll find God's promise true to be.
This is our confidence indeed;
God never fails in time of need.

We are the Champions......

So, I'm perusing my other theology/religion blogs some mornings ago and I noticed that the blog In A Godward Direction recieved a nomination for Best Religion Blog from the Bloggers Choice awards. My interest pequed, I navigated my way over to that page to see the other "best of" blogs; particularly religious. And as I scrolled through the first two or three pages of religion blogs, I noticed a distinct lack of diversity. To wit: the top, say, 50 were mostly (>90%) Catholic. But not just Catholic; ardently, stridently, in some cases vociferously, Catholic. Why?

It's true the bloggers tend, like other hobbiests, to form cliques that feed off one another, so one could say this is just favoritism. Maybe. I also noticed that the top 10 blogs all were conservative in their outlook; again in some cases vociferously so. Another thing I noticed was that there no Lutheran blogs in this list. None! I know for a fact there are good Lutheran blogs out there in the blogsphere. So why no nominations? I might chalk it up to modesty, but that only applies to Minnesota Lutherans.

Admittedly, these blogs don't represent all Catholic opinion. Nor does the fact that other denominations are underrepresented mean much in the grand scheme of things . But the paucity of blogs from other denominations seems odd as does the tenor of the top religious blogs in this "best of " list. Oh well. Food for thought.