Undoing the Reformation?

With Reformation day on Saturday, a post for the Reformation . . .

Undoing the Reformation?

One of the things that greatly helped the cause of the Reformation was technology - the advent of the printing press. Could technology now be undoing the Reformation?

Before the Reformation, the people were largely spectators in church. People watched what was happening (when they could see), but didn’t participate. There was very little preaching. Many didn’t understand the language (Latin), they didn’t sing (the choir did that), they seldom received the Sacrament of the Altar. It was for most “ocular” communion - the belief that they could receive some kind of benefit just by seeing the Body and Blood of Jesus lifted up by the priest, whatever “hocus pocus” had caused the bread and wine to be changed. For most, it was the “professionals” who were doing what needed to be done. The people just watched (when they could see), or prayed at side altars.

The Reformation changed all that. With the German Mass, people sang parts of the liturgy in their own language. They sang hymns that taught the faith. The Words of Jesus in the Sacrament were spoken loudly and clearly for all to hear. They received the Body and Blood of Jesus (both kinds, not just one), and frequently. Church was for them again!

But today, and especially with the rise of Covid, many people have reverted to watching church again. Because people could not come to church, churches (including mine) now live stream services on the internet. But I wonder - are people participating? Certainly, they cannot receive the Body and Blood of Jesus at home, but what else are they not doing? Do they stand at the appropriate times? Speak the congregational parts? Kneel? Confess? Bow their heads? Or do people just sit and watch as spectators again? The situation is not quite as bad as before the Reformation, since the preaching and liturgy are in the language of the people, but I wonder how many are watching the whole service? How many fast forwarding to the sermon? How many not even listening to the whole sermon?

Live streaming and recorded services can be good and provide a valuable service . . . for those who must quarantine, those who cannot physically come to church, the sick, and perhaps also as an introduction to the church for those unfamiliar with it. It is easier to click and watch before stepping in the door. Those are good things. But if the electronic church becomes a substitute for those who can come, and should come, if it makes the people into spectators again (as sometimes happens in some “contemporary” services, which are more of a show than participation by the congregation), then are we unwittingly undoing the Reformation (at least in regard to worship)? Leaving church to the “professionals” again. That would not be good.

An Interesting Juxtaposition

My church does not have its own building. We rent space in a Spanish Seventh Day Adventist church building. At times, this creates some interesting conflicts and dynamics. This week is one of them. The Adventists are having a revival this weekend, and on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Why not Wednesday night, too? That’s our night to use the building, and it’s Ash Wednesday.

So notice the contrast: although I have not been to an Adventist revival, the revival model is to stir up the people to action using emotion and motivational speaking. Nineteenth century America was awash in this kind of effort (which is when Adventism was born) with tent revivals and itinerant rvivalists. One of the most famous was Charles Grandison Finney, and a book (historical fiction) about this is Elmer Gantry - an entertaining read. Our church is having a kind of revival too, but of a much different sort. It is a call to repentance and the discipline of Lent. It is a call to look at our sins in sorrow and focus on the cross and forgiveness of our Saviour in joy. 

At first, the difference between these two might seem to be outward versus inward - revivals focusing on being on fire and going out to win the world for Christ, while Lent is focused inward, on self examination and repentance. But the difference is far more significant than that. It is really the difference between a focus on what man does and a focus on what God does. Revivals speak of Christ, but the focus is on you and what you do. So get out there and do it! But Lent is focused primarily on what Christ does - a season leading to the remebrance of His death on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter. Yes, repentance is a focus, but even this is the work of the Spirit in man (John 16), convicting of sin and turning us to our Saviour to receive His gifts.

And it is this focus on our Saviour and His work for us that produces deep and lasting results. It is not a few days dedicated to special and fervent service, followed by burn out and a return to life as we know it (which often cannot measure up to the emotion of the revival, and so quite a let down), but a change of heart that can only occur through Word and Sacrament. A change of heart not for a few days and then a return to life as we know it (or which now seems worse), but to “create in me a new heart” (Psalm 51) and a return to our life callings (vocations) for the long haul. To live for others where the Lord has put us, in those callings He has given us, as parents, spouses, children, workers, friends, neighbors, and more. Callings that are intricate parts of our lives, not outside of them.

So on Tuesday and Thursday, the building we meet in will be filled with fervor and the stirring up of emotion and excitement. On Wednesday night, it will be quiet, reflective, and repentant. On Tuesday and Thursday, the word will be “go out and do it!” On Wednesday night, the words will be: Dust you are, and to dust you will return . . . I forgive you all your sins . . . Take, eat, this is My Body; Take, drink, this is My Blood. Quite a contrast, don’t you think? If only those walls could talk . . .

I Like this Guy

Here is a blog I go look at from time to time - by a conservative Catholic priest. What I like is when he puts up the Latin of their collects and then translates them; he is helping me learn Latin (and helping me figure out how to translate these things to pass my Latin exam for school!)

Today, however, he posted a question from someone about re-instituting traditional practices in the parish. These questions (and problems) run through every denomination. I thought he gave a good answer.

The Joy of Worship

My next quote from Harrison's book:

"What is it that makes Christian joy, and the joy of worship, so profound, so expansive, so freeing, so . . . well, joyful? For me it's the continued surprise and wonder of not being rejected by Christ. It's the delight of being invited into his presence - not to perform or recount my deeds, but to be forgiven and accepted precisely as a sinner, to hear of the deeds of Christ recounted for me and be the recipient of those deeds here and now. My heart and mind are struck ever new, and constructed anew, in ways I cannot predict. I come burdened, I leave in joy. Greatest wonder of wonders, the Lord rejoices precisely over sinners! "He will rejoice over thee with joy!" (Zephaniah 3:17)"

One of the things that struck me about this quote was this: "My heart and mind are struck ever anew, and constructed anew, in ways I cannot predict." I wonder if one of the problems with much new and modern worship is that in all its efforts to be unpredictable and ever new, it works awful hard to work toward a predictable outcome - of emotion, of response, of being "spirit-filled," or so forth. Yet the liturgy, with its comfortable predictability, produces unpredictable results, as the Word and Spirit of God do the work, and we are "constructed anew" in the way He knows we need. And the result is joy. Joy in His work. Joy in the life He gives. Joy in His forgiveness.

Tirade

I gave one of my tirades in Bible Class today. Why? The church who owns the building we rent for services is preparing for their big holiday stuff next weekend, and they are turning the church building into Bethlehem and environs. I wouldn't mind if it were just the hall, hallways, and classrooms, but when the sanctuary also starts getting changed, I get grumpy. It's their church and they can do what they want and we have to work around it . . . just makes things hard. But what I pointed out is that when you don't have the sacraments, this is what happens - something rushes in to fill the vacuum. Therefore, how do you celebrate Christmas or Easter? How do you remember? How do you put yourself in the story? You have to act it out. You have to try to put yourself there. But we don't have to do that! The sacraments are what unite us to Christ and make us participants in the story. We don't have to try to go to Bethlehem when Jesus comes to us in His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. So at Christmas, there is no better way to remember and celebrate than receiving the Lord's Supper. That is where heaven and earth meet. You cannot get closer to him than that. So, I'm not against plays or pageants if you want to do them (just leave the sanctuary alone, please!), but to borrow some words from the apostle Peter, we have something more sure! Let us rejoice to receive Him there.

Christ is Risen!

He is not here. He is risen, as He said!
A blessed celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord to you all.
Divine Service at 10:15 am

Holy Saturday

A Blessed Holy Saturday to you all.
Join us for the Great Vigil of Easter, 7:30 pm
at the home of Jonathan and Viviana Malekzadeh
[click here for directions]

Great and Holy Friday

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
May God bless your time in His Word, prayer, and meditation this day.

Joins us for:
The Way of the Cross, 12:30 pm
at Greenspring Village
[click here for directions]

Tenebrae Service, 7:30 pm
at the home of Jonathan and Viviana Malekzadeh
[click here for directions]

Holy Thursday

A blessed Holy Maundy Thursday to you all.
Divine Service this evening at 7:30 pm
at the home of Jonathan and Viviana Malekzadeh
Click here for directions.

Christ Active in the Liturgy

"For what Christ was and did, he still is and does: it is he who preaches his Word, he who calls us to himself, he who binds the wounds of our sins and washes us in the waters of salvation, he who feeds us with his own life, he who is the pillar of fire leading us across the horizon of our own salvation history, lighting our sin-darkened path. He does it in Word and Sacrament . . ."

(Taft, Through Their Own Eyes, 139-140)

"For to be baptized in the name of God is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God's own work. From this fact every one may himself readily infer that it is a far higher work than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what work greater than the work of God can we do?"

(Luther, Large Catechism)

A Wonderful Surprise

What a wonderful surprise awaited us Sunday when we received the gift of a beautiful new communion chalice and paten! We are going to bless and dedicate them before our Divine Service on Holy Maundy Thursday and use them for the first time that night. Pictures below. Thank you to those who purchased this for us!

Christmas Day

Christmas was difficult for me this year, for a number of reasons, which I won’t get into here. I always feel a certain sense of relief when the services are finished and I can finally relax with my family. This year I was able to relax a bit more as we did not leave right away to visit our extended families. [My wife worked last night (a nurse in pediatric oncology) and so we are not leaving to see family until this afternoon.]

I must say, though, that I was pleasantly surprised at the number of folks who came to the Divine Service on Christmas Day! Still not a large gathering, to be sure, but more than expected. And what made it great was the variety of people we had – we had a retired Chinese pastor and his wife; our Ethiopian family; a man from our Spanish Bible Study; an Iranian man and his Norwegian wife who are friends of our congregation; and one of our adopted seminary students and his family! It was truly a picture of the “people of every tribe, people, and language” that we hear of in Revelation. And then to receive the body and blood of our Lord on the day we remember His birth, nothing is better than that.

Christmas Intimacy

Many churches have very large services for Christmas Eve. It is a special time with the church filled and sometimes overflowing. I give thanks to God that so many will hear the Word of God proclaimed that night.

However, in my congregation, it is quite different. Many of my folks leave the area at Christmas and so for us, Christmas Eve is not a large, overflowing service, but a much smaller and intimate gathering of the faithful. It took me a little while to get used to that, and though I sometimes miss the full church, I have come to love this time with my flock as well, as we ponder the mystery of the incarnation.

I wonder how many churches are like mine?