Afraid to Drink

Thoughts from Thunder Mountain

["Huachuca" - A Chiricahua Apache word meaning "thunder."]

Afraid to Drink

It has been said, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." This is usually meant to express the thought that one can point a person or group of people to a correct and beneficial course of action, but you can't force them to actually carry it out. This is true enough, and has been demonstrated frequently throughout history.

But do you know why a horse sometimes refuses to drink? The answer is - fear. That's right, fear. I have a couple of horse experts in my congregation out here in the West, near the old Cavalry post of Fort Huachuca, and they tell me that this is very true. You see, they reminded me that horses are "prey" animals, they must always be aware of their surroundings and on guard against being eaten! So, when they come upon an unfamiliar water hole they are sometimes very afraid. Perhaps it's the movement of the water, or the reflected light from the surface that scares them. Sometimes it can simply be their own reflection that they're afraid of! That's right, they're afraid of themselves! How silly, huh!?!

OK, what does this have to do with Intrepid Lutherans? I bet you can guess. For three years now we have been trying to lead Pastors and laypeople of the WELS who object to the Church Growth elements of our synod to stand up and speak out against these traits: entertainment worship, sermons plagiarized from Arminian preachers, "felt-needs" based outreach programs, and much more. We have provided plenty of information and documentation regarding these matters. We - mostly Mr. Lindee; thank you, Douglas - have even pointed out how much of this trend comes from anti-Christian and anti-Biblical Post-modernism. I personally don't believe anyone can seriously deny that these things aren't taking place in the WELS. Yet, there hasn't exactly been a great rush by confessional Pastors and laypeople to publicly and passionately attack these trends. Why not?

I can only conclude that the reason is - fear. Yes, fear; fear of being "eaten!" Fear of laypeople being preyed upon by their pastors, and fear of pastors being preyed upon by their leaders; and in the case of Pastors, especially fear of being "blackballed" from Call Lists for the rest of their ministries. Perhaps it is time, my friends, to stop being "prey," and instead become "predators!" Can we put away our fear; can we trust in our Lord; can we follow the example of Luther and the Reformers, and confront the opponents of confessional Lutheranism? I certainly hope so. Just do it!

 Deo Vindice!

Pastor Spencer 

 

Intrepid to the Last: Rev. Paul Rydecki has been Suspended from WELS

Dear Friends and Readers of Intrepid Lutherans,

It is with great personal distress that we inform you, earlier this week Rev. Paul Rydecki was suspended from WELS on the charge of teaching the “false doctrine” of Justification by Faith Alone. This drama has been drawn out over the past few months, issues surrounding which even leaked into our blog posts, as some had discerned from topics we treated during July in The Theological Disciplines, and the nature of theological discourse in WELS from a layman's perspective and Theological Discourse in the post-Modern Era. It is an understatement to say that we are not only disappointed by the process we witnessed, but shocked by its conclusion.

The position of Intrepid Lutherans regarding the doctrines of Scripture remains clear, and has not changed since we put them in writing on our What We Believe page at the time of our inception two-and-a-half years ago: we believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and we fully and unreservedly subscribe to the Book of Concord of 1580 as a faithful confession of Scripture's teachings. These are the only two norms of doctrine and practice among us Lutherans. There are no other norms. It is our opinion that it would be most fruitful for those parties who dispute the Scriptural or Confessional integrity of doctrinal positions, whether those positions are merely stated or written in documents outside Scripture or the Book of Concord, if they would begin by engaging in good faith debate over the points at issue, rather than remain intractable. While Rev. Rydecki's situation remains his, this dispute is not over. It is just beginning. Nevertheless, our What We Believe page has not changed, and will not change; the issues we stand for remain those stated there, as Rev. Rydecki himself promised our subscribers when they were informed of his situation a month ago, stating:

“Let me be very clear, your subscription to the What We Believe statements remains just that, a subscription to those specific What We Believe statements, nothing more and nothing less. Your subscription does not mean that you either agree or disagree with me about everything I say or write, or that you personally question the WELS on its teaching of justification, and we will point that out again on the blog before any discussion of this begins.”

Rev. Rydecki remains both an editor and an officer of Intrepid Lutherans, Inc., although his contributions will, understandably, remain infrequent over the next several weeks as he focuses on more pressing local issues. However, in order to protect Rev. Rydecki from any slander that would result – from gossip or other “private discussion” that gets passed around by people who have had no direct involvement – he will supply a brief description of the issues along with a brief defense of his position. That post will be published by the middle of next week.* Later this month, a series of posts will be published which will provide much greater detail regarding this affair.

As in all situations, the Lord is in control, and He knows what He is doing.

Editors of Intrepid Lutherans, on behalf of Rev. Rydecki

Rev. Steven Spencer

Rev. Paul Lidtke

Mr. Douglas Lindee

Mr. Brian Heyer

* NOTE – Rev. Rydecki's brief description of the issues and defense of his position has been published: Suspended from the WELS - Why?

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For those who may be unduly distressed, we submit the following words of encouragement offered by Dr. Martin Luther, from his commentary on the Old Testament Book of Genesis, Chapter 7, verse 1.

"For I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation."
Genesis 7:1

This is in truth an awful picture of the ancient and original world, as Peter calls it (II Pe. 2:5); by this designation he appears to attribute something extraordinary to that age in comparison with people in our age. What more awful statement can be made than what we hear in this passage, that Noah alone was righteous before the Lord? A similar picture of the world occurs in Ps. 14:2-3, where it is stated that the Lord looked down from heaven to see whether there was anyone with understanding or seeking God. "But," He says, "all have turned aside; they have been found useless, and there was none who did good, not even one."

Moreover, this verdict about the world is in agreement with Christ's statement; for because the last times will be similar to the times of Noah, Christ correctly declares (Lu. 18:8): "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith?" It is dreadful to live in such an evil and ungodly world. Since we have the light of the Word, this present time, by the grace of God, is still a golden age. The sacraments are properly administered in our churches, and godly clergymen disseminate the Word in its purity. Although the government is weak, wickedness is not yet beyond hope.

Christ's prophecy reveals that there will be very distressing times when the Day of the Lord is at hand, and there will be no sound teachers anywhere while the church is being suppressed by the ungodly. The counsels of our adversaries are threatening to bring about this very situation. The pope and ungodly princes are intent with all their might on destroying the ministry of the Word, so that when all true pastors have been either suppressed or corrupted, everyone may believe what he pleases.

The situation requires fervent prayer and great concern, that a purer doctrine may be handed down to posterity. If at Noah's time there had been more godly teachers, a larger number of righteous people might also have been expected. Since the righteous have been reduced to such a small number that Noah alone is declared righteous, it is now sufficiently clear that the godly teachers either had been killed or had been turned to heresies and idolatry, so that there was left only Noah, the one "herald of righteousness," as Peter (II Pe. 2:5) calls him. When the government had been turned into tyranny and the household had been ruined by adultery and fornication, how could the punishment hold off any longer?

Such a danger is also in store for us, since, of course, the last times will be similar to the times of Noah. Truly, the popes and the bishops are working hard to suppress the Gospel and to destroy the right established churches. In this way the world is striving with great effort to achieve an age similar to the age of Noah, in which all men will go astray in the darkness of ungodliness once the light of the Word has been put out. When preaching has been done away with, faith, prayer, and the right use of the sacraments will not be able to exist.

Such, writes Moses in this text, was the character of the original world at the time of Noah, even though that was the youth of the world and its best part, when the finest minds flourished everywhere and, on account of length of life, had acquired very great ability because of much experience. What will be in store for us in this insane state of a world that is growing old? Therefore we must not put aside our concern for our descendants, but we must diligently pray for them.

Just as the ancient world was the most corrupt, so it was also subjected to horrible punishment: not only did the adults perish, who had provoked God by their evil deeds, but even that innocent age which has no knowledge whatever and cannot tell right from left. Without a doubt many had been deceived because of their artlessness. But here God's wrath makes no difference; it overwhelms and destroys the adults together with the infants, the cunning together with the artless...

It is truly an awful picture of the world when God testifies that He saw that Noah alone was righteous before Him and mentions neither the little children nor others who were led astray through no fault of their own.

We must take note of the phrase "before Me"; for it means that Noah was righteous not only in regard to the Second Table but also in regard to the First Table, that is, he believed in God, hallowed, preached, and called upon the name of God, gave thanks to God, condemned ungodly teachings, etc. To be righteous before God means to believe in God and to fear Him, not, as they were accustomed to teach in the papacy, to read Masses, to free souls from purgatory, to become a monk, etc.

This phrase serves to condemn the ancient world, which, after it had disregarded the worship of God in the First Table, was also most perverse in complying with the Second Table. They derided Noah as a fool and condemned his teaching as heresy. Meanwhile they complacently continued to drink, eat, and celebrate their feasts. Thus Noah was not righteous before the world; he was a condemned sinner.

The Lord... comforts him with this statement in order that he may ignore the blind and wicked opinions of the world and not worry about what the world is thinking or saying, but close his eyes and ears and be intent only on the Word and opinion of God, in the faith that he is righteous before God, that is, that he is approved by God and is acceptable to God.

Surely, great was the faith of Noah that he was able to believe these words of God. I would certainly not have believed them. I realize how serious a matter it is if the opinions of all men assail one solitary individual and condemn him. We are condemned not only by the opinions of the pope but also by those of the Sacramentarians, the Anabaptists, and a thousand others. But these things are child's play and a pastime in comparison with the troubles of righteous Noah, who, apart from his own children and his godly grandfather, did not find one human being in the entire world who approved either of his religious views or of his life. We, by the grace of God, have many churches that are in agreement with us, and our princes shun no danger in defense of our teaching and religion. Noah had no such protectors; he saw his opponents leading a life in leisure and enjoying themselves in perfect peace. If I had been he, I would surely have said: "Lord, if I am righteous and please Thee, but they are unrighteous and displease Thee, why dost Thou bless them in this manner with riches? Why dost Thou heap all kinds of favors upon them, while I, together with my people, am maltreated in various ways and have almost no support at all?" In short, I would despair under such great misfortunes unless the Lord gave me the same spirit that Noah had.

Noah is an illustrious and grand example of faith. He withstood the opinions of the world with heroic steadfastness and was able to believe that he was righteous, but that all the rest of the world was unrighteous.

Whenever I think of those saintly men, John Hus and Jerome of Prague, I reflect with the greatest admiration on their great courage; for these two men withstood the verdicts of the entire world -- the pope, the emperor, the bishops, the princes, all the universities and schools throughout the empire.

It is profitable to reflect on such examples often. Such conflicts are fomented by the prince of the world, who with his flaming darts (Ep. 6:16) is trying to create despair in our hearts; and we must be equipped not to yield to the rage of the enemy but to say with Noah: "I know that I am righteous before God, even though the entire world forsakes me and condemns me as a heretic and an unrighteous man." Thus the apostles forsook Christ and left Him standing alone; but He said (Jo. 16:32): "I am not alone." False brethren likewise forsook Paul. These perils are not new or unusual. Therefore we must not despair in them but courageously hold fast to the sound doctrine, no matter how much the world condemns and curses it.

"Walking Together Sunday" - The Sermon

Below is a paragraph by paragraph summary of the Walking Together Sunday sermon (based on Revelation 14:6) that was sent out from synod office to all WELS pastors. It seemed wiser in the blog format to summarize the sermon, especially since the observations that follow are not meant to "nit-pick" every phrase and thought, but mainly to identify how Law and Gospel are used throughout the sermon. The Second Use of the Law is highlighted in green. The Gospel is highlighted in yellow. The Third Use of the Law is highlighted in blue. (N.B. – talking about Law and Gospel does not count as proclaiming Law and Gospel.)

Introduction

• North Carolina has a license plate that claims, “First in flight.”
• Truly “first in flight” was the gospel, flying to hearts and minds throughout the world.
• It looks like the gospel isn’t flying anymore. Is it?
• John’s Revelation assures us that…
• The Gospel Is Flying
1. Through God’s People
2. To All People

Part 1: The gospel is flying through God’s people.

• The Wright brothers faced challenges when they invented flight.
• The flight of the gospel faced bigger challenges in John’s Revelation – Satan himself, the secular government and false teachers.
• John had a nightmare in which he saw the saints dying and the church in a terrible fight.
• We are living John’s nightmare:
1. Some missionaries are coming home for financial reasons,
2. seminary graduates are not all receiving calls on assignment day,
3. ”WELS membership statistics show slight declines.”
• “If this isn’t living in a nightmare, I don’t know what is.”

A brief observation: The "nightmarish" vision cast above by the author of the sermon in this paragraph seems awfully contrived in the context of Revelation 14. When compared with the murder and imprisonment of the saints that the Apostle John witnessed, the political and social persecution of the Church and the demonic attacks on the Church's life and doctrine, the three examples mentioned by the author do not seem to have much to do with the "nightmare" John was referring to.

Is the Great Tribulation really to be understood as a slightly declining membership in a visible church organization?

• But Jesus’ promise to John and us is: “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on earth – to every nation, tribe, language and people.”
• The word “gospel” is used only here in Revelation. It means that the angel had “good news to proclaim good news to those on earth.”
• John is talking about the good news of salvation. For example, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” So God says about us in the gospel, “I have written your name in the book of life. I wrote your name in the book with the ink of my Son’s blood. Believe it. You’re mine.”
• Who is the angel? Lutherans think of Luther, through whom the gospel soared.
• The angel is more than just Luther. The gospel flies through all God’s people, like
1. Ms. Betty talking to her class,
2. the pastor who baptizes in New York City,
3. professors at our synodical worker training schools.
• The gospel flies as every single WELS man, woman and child witnesses in their lives, like
1. Jimmy witnesses to Jamie in Hong Kong,
2. Timmy studying the Bible with Johnny in Times Square,
3. Matt praying with Sara in Montana,
4. Pastor Bob explaining the gospel to Helen in Japan,
5. Jane telling her friend that death for a Christian means eternal life.

So far, the Law has not been mentioned in any of its three uses. In explaining the term "gospel," the sermon does apply the gospel to the hearers briefly, as highlighted in yellow.

Part 2: The gospel is flying to all people.

• (This paragraph given word for word) But let’s get personal for a second. Is the gospel flying through you? I am not talking about the person sitting next to you anymore. I am talking about you. Is the gospel flying through you? To find out, take a little quiz: #1) Do you always look for opportunities to witness to the love of Jesus to others? #2) In your personal budget, what receives the larger share: your offerings or your entertainment? Which number should be bigger? #3) When is the last time you brought someone brand new with you to church? #4) Have you done everything in your power to share the gospel? It is a question of honesty with yourself and God. If the gospel is not flying on all engines in your life, you have sinned against God.

This paragraph is the only Second Use of the Law in the sermon. In fact, as noted in the post regarding the WT Service, this is the only Second Use of the Law in the whole proposed service for WT Sunday.

But of the four "quiz" questions used to apply the Law's bitterness to the hearer, none of them come from the mouth of God, but instead, are arbitrary condemnations by the sermon writer himself.

#1 – If this were intended as a Third Use of the Law - to encourage God's people to always be looking for opportunities to witness, it would be fine. But as a Second Use, it's inappropriate. To "always look for opportunities to witness to the love of Jesus to others" is not one of the Commandments. To "always love your neighbor and be a good neighbor" – that's a commandment, and when it's broken, there is sin. To "never be ashamed of Jesus" – that's a commandment, and when it's broken, there is sin. But when it's phrased as in #1, it reduces a Christian's service to God to his opportunities to "witness." Never once did Jesus command his disciples to "always look for opportunities to witness." We are told to "make the most of every opportunity" (even then, in a Third Use context). There's a difference. God commands preachers to preach. That is their vocation. God commands his people to be faithful in their vocation and to love those around them, and even when they're not "looking" for opportunities, opportunities arise.

#2 – Which "number should be bigger"? A Christian's entertainment budget or his/her church offering budget? I don't know. God has never reduced this to an equation, even in the Old Testament. This is another manmade law. The Law condemns me for loving myself more than my neighbor and for not being generous toward God in proportion with what he has given me. The Law does not reduce this percentages of a budget. But what if I answer, "My offering budget is bigger!" Am I then to understand that I am righteous?

#3 – "When is the last time you brought someone brand new with you to church?" How sad that the sermon condemns God's people for something God's Word does not command. What about the member who has invited all his friends and relatives to come to church, and each one has refused? The way this "Law" is worded, that poor saint has failed in the sight of God. And what of those who are in no position to bring anyone to church? Or who have no unchurched friends or relatives? Have they sinned, too? Worse – if I answer, "I brought someone brand new with me just last week!", am I therefore righteous?

#4 – "Have you done everything in your power to share the gospel?" What an unscriptural guilt trip to send God's people on! How does one even know what's in one's power when it comes to sharing the gospel? When phrased this way, the Christian is under constant obligation to be "evangelizing" from dawn till dusk, and even afterwards, if it's "in his power" to stay awake a little later and continue fulfilling the "sharing the gospel" Law.

• (This paragraph given word for word) Yet, see the trouble for what is it. We remain the redeemed of God. Our eternity remains secure. Our names are written in the book of life. Your sins are forgiven. So are your neighbor’s sins. Even more, God has made sure that angel after angel after angel has flown into your life to make sure you remain in Jesus. Our parents, our teachers, our pastors, and even our children are God’s messengers to us, proclaiming “Jesus has forgiven you for all your sins. Yes, he forgives you for the sins of timidity, fear, and selfishness.” He sends to you angels to personally speak the words of the gospel, just like he did for the shepherds. There were just a few shepherds in the field the night of Jesus’ birth, yet God thought, “It is worth it for me to send thousands of angels to proclaim peace on earth.” Your God loves you and comes to you through angels.

I classified this paragraph as Gospel, but parts of it are questionable. First, there is no call to repentance or mention of it (even though no sins have yet been identified, according to the Scriptures). The thought process goes: "You have sinned, but that sin doesn't harm you or your relationship with God, because your sins are already forgiven, so don't worry about it." This is not the proper application of the Gospel. Christ's atoning death on the cross and satisfaction for sin is mentioned nowhere.

Then it goes on to say, "So are your neighbor's sins." What does this mean? To whom is the Gospel being applied? If he means the person sitting next to me in church, for what purpose does he assure me that his sins are forgiven? If he means my atheist neighbor, then he's simply wrong. My atheist neighbor does not have the status of a forgiven child of God, for my atheist neighbor still rejects the Son of God and remains condemned in the devil's kingdom. If he wanted to say that Jesus died for my atheist neighbor and wants him to be saved, too, then he should have said that.

• Now that you have the gospel, God makes you an angel so that the gospel may fly to many others – fly, not sleep or walk or stroll or sprint.
• The angel in Revelation had good visibility, was flying “in midair” so that many people could see him.
• How can we make it so that everyone hears the gospel? You make it happen because you’re part of a synod that makes it happen. We are “Walking Together,” or maybe it should be “Flying together.”
• “Together in the Wisconsin Synod, the gospel really is flying to every nation, tribe, language, and people.” Example: Sure Foundation Lutheran Church.

Conclusion:

• Just as the Wright brothers faced many nay-sayers, we face Satan. But the gospel will prevail and it’s ours to proclaim. Let’s fly with it! Amen.

Once the Law paragraph and Gospel paragraph are out of the way, the rest of the sermon preaches neither Law nor Gospel, except for two short, guiding encouragements that "we are angels," so "Let's fly with the gospel!" The rest of this part is spent explaining how we are already carrying out God's will simply by being members of a synod that is practicing evangelism.

In summary, any sermon writer can have a bad day – many of them, in fact, in the course of his ministry. But this sermon was prepared, sent out and promoted by synod headquarters as a model sermon for pastors to emulate and even copy and paste portions into their own sermon (although I doubt any did). I don't know who authored the sermon. I doubt that the synod president saw it. But it must have had the opportunity to be reviewed by any number of pastors. If any sermon should reflect solid exegesis and bold, confessional Lutheran Law/Gospel proclamation, it ought to be one that's sponsored by the synod itself.

As with the service, maybe next year? Then again, maybe a sermon doesn't have to be written and sent out to pastors at all. We have been trained to prepare our own sermons for the people God has entrusted to us.

"Walking Together Sunday" - The Service (Updated!)

The specially created Order of Service offered as a resource for the WELS Walking Together Sunday is outlined below. I’ve noted in parenthesis how Law and Gospel are used throughout the service.

• Hymn: CW#556 – (Gospel, Law – 3rd Use)


• Invocation (Gospel)


• Opening Litany: Isaiah 60:1-6, read responsively (Gospel)


• Confession and Absolution: Ps. 51:1-4 and 1 Pet. 2:9-10, read responsively (Gospel)


• Hymn: CW#64 (Gospel)


• Prayer of the Day


• First Lesson: Daniel 7:13-14


• Psalm of the Day: Psalm 67


• Second Lesson: Revelation 14:6-7


• Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12


• Hymn of the Day: CW#570 (vv. 1-2) (Law – 3rd Use)


• WELS Connection Video


• Hymn of the Day: CW#570 (vv. 3-4) (Law – 3rd Use)


• Sermon: Revelation 14:6


• Creed (not specified)


• Offering


• Responsive Prayer of the Church


• Lord’s Prayer


• Hymn: CW#394 (Gospel)


• Responsive Prayer


• Blessing (Gospel)


• Hymn: CWS#778 (Law – 3rd Use)

Observation #1: The Use of Law and Gospel

As noted above, there are several proclamations of the Gospel in one form or another, and some proclamation of the 3rd Use of the Law (Guide) in some of the hymns.

The proposed service itself does not proclaim the Law in its Second Use (Mirror). This is not a criticism of the service, but a simple observation, the point of which will become clearer in the post on the sermon. A regular liturgical service doesn’t usually proclaim the Law in its Second Use, either, except at times in the Scripture readings for the day, or in an occasional hymn.

I’m not referring here to the result of the Second Use, that is, the contrition of the sinner or the sinner’s prayer of confession or supplication to God. I’m speaking only of the actual proclamation of the Law that "afflicts the comfortable," either from the pastor to the people or from the people to the people. Again, just an observation that will be clarified in the next post.

Observation #2: The “Confession and Absolution”

The “Confession” in this service consists in the congregation reading Psalm 51:1-4. That’s not a bad confession of sins, and it’s by far preferable to a “new” confession crafted for this particular day.

But the “Absolution” is not really an absolution. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10). At best, it’s an indirect and impersonal absolution in which the pastor quotes a Scripture verse to the people, speaking to them as if he had applied the loosing Key, without actually applying the loosing Key. 1 Peter 2:9-10, in context, reminds Christians of what we are by faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The Absolution is intended to be more than a reminder, but to actually apply Christ’s atoning sacrifice to us and give the forgiveness of sins to the penitent.

Observation #3: A Non-liturgical Service

A synod that wants itself to be known as a confessional Lutheran synod would do well to promote a service that retains at least the basic structure of the historic Lutheran (i.e., Christian) Liturgy, which the Lutheran Confessors retained and devoutly celebrated.

[Update! This paragraph has been added since the original post.] Part of being non-liturgical is setting aside the Church Year in order to preach on a topic of choice. The Gospel for the day in this order of service is the Epiphany Gospel, Matthew 2:1-12. This illustrates the point about swapping in "special service" readings for the regular Lectionary readings. The Church has known for centuries that the Festival of the Epiphany - January 6th - has a special "missions" emphasis. Why bring the Magi into the Proper of the Pentecost season three months before Christmas? Why insert this Gospel artificially in September when it fits into the Church Year so naturally three months from now? Speaking of the Proper...

One could say that the service includes a sort of Proper (in the hymns, prayers and Scripture lessons), but since it’s disjointed from the liturgical calendar, it’s a Proper without an anchor, and if having hymns, prayers and Scripture lessons qualified a service as liturgical, then practically any Christian denomination could be considered liturgical.

But the Liturgy includes more than this. It also includes the Ordinary. The Ordinary, however, is almost entirely missing from the WT service. Of the five historical parts of the Ordinary (the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Nicene Creed, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei), only the “Creed” remains, and since it’s not specified, the Apostolic Creed will likely be used in many cases, thus leaving none of the historic elements of the Ordinary.

This does not make the service “sinful.” But it does make it non-liturgical, together with the following observation…

Observation #4: Where is the Sacrament?!?

The Liturgy includes the Sacrament. This, to me, is the most glaring omission from the proposed service. We all know that most congregations in the WELS do not celebrate the Sacrament every Sunday. And no one is suggesting that the Synod ought to compel a congregation to celebrate the Sacrament on Walking Together Sunday.

But would it be too much to ask the Synod to at least encourage that a congregation include the Sacrament with the Word, or at very least offer an option for including the Sacrament in this “special service”?

Instead, the service suggests showing the WELS Connection Video between stanzas of the Hymn of the Day! This is not an improvement.

WELS president Mark Schroeder recently defined well what the essence of Lutheran worship is:

“Lutheran worship is primarily the proclamation of the gospel in Word and sacrament. As we gather together for worship, God speaks to us in his Word. Through the preaching of his law he crushes us with the stark and painful reminder of our own sin and unworthiness; he causes us to tremble at his holiness and justice; he speaks to us his urgent call to repentance. But in that same time of worship, a gracious God speaks to us words of full and free forgiveness. He points us to Christ and to the cross where his sacrifice paid the price of our sin, removed our guilt, and opened the door to heaven itself. In that same time of worship, we poor miserable sinners kneel side by side and receive the same body and blood that were given and shed for us. We commune with our God and with each other."

If only the Order of Service published by the WELS that promotes Walking Together Sunday in the WELS reflected the same Word-and-Sacrament emphasis that WELS President Schroeder describes! Wouldn't a service with Holy Communion reflect and inspire a much more real "Walking Together" with our brothers and sisters in the faith than any video ever could? United together as “one loaf” around the Lord’s Table, proclaiming together the Lord’s death until he comes, singing the ancient texts that the saints have been singing on their walk together for centuries, and giving thanks to God for the Gospel that he has graciously placed into our trembling hands in the WELS – wouldn’t that make for a truly “special service” on Walking Together Sunday?

Maybe next year?

"Walking Together Sunday" - The Concept

In this month of September, congregations in the WELS were encouraged to pick a Sunday and celebrate “Walking Together Sunday,” aka “Synod Sunday.” This encouragement came mainly through the office of the Ministry of Christian Giving, though it was also featured in one of the biweekly “Together” e-mails that go out from our president. Packets of information were mailed to my congregation (and I assume every congregation), and resources were made available online for all pastors to use at their discretion. These resources included a Bible study, a one-time Order of Service with special readings to use in place of the regular Lectionary on that day, and also a complete sermon based on Revelation 14:6. Another option suggested in the materials was “to do a shortened regular service and end with a Walking Together emphasis that includes showing the video, praying the Prayer of the Church, singing a hymn, and referring members to the special offering opportunity highlighted in the brochure.”

I am fully in favor of promoting the work of our synod, and if a pastor chooses to take a Sunday and have a special emphasis on the synod that day, I have no problem with it. I don’t do it at my congregation, but that is my preference. I don’t see the wisdom in setting aside the Lectionary for this. The Lectionary has a balanced emphasis, which includes missions and the Church. Picking a random Sunday in September because there is a general “Pentecost theme of preaching the gospel across the world” seems to miss the point of the Lectionary.

Instead, at my congregation we promote the work of our synod by regularly praying for our missionaries, pastors, teachers and synodical leaders, and by sending in a generous percentage of our offerings to support the synod’s work, including special offerings like the “Jubilee” offering last year. I try to keep my members informed of the work that is being done and of special needs that arise, but I have found that the less I try to “sell” the work of the synod, the more interested they are in supporting it. People can recognize an advertisement when they see it, and frankly, they are tired of being the targets of mass marketing campaigns in our advertisement-laden culture.

Don’t get me wrong. Talking about the Lord’s work and the Lord’s kingdom and our place in it is not “advertising” per se. As a world missionary, I was asked to visit congregations and talk about our mission and the work the Lord was accomplishing there. I would encourage people to support our synod so that these missions could continue.

But even when a congregation asked, I would decline doing a slide show in the middle of the Divine Service, insisting instead on doing such presentations before or after the service, or at another time. And my “missionary” sermon was always a Law/Gospel, text-based sermon, with a few examples of how the Word and Sacraments were producing fruit in the foreign country to which I had been sent.

I recall once, after such a service, the pastor reprimanded me rather sternly, saying, “They can hear all that Law and Gospel stuff from me anytime. You were supposed to tell them what mission work is like in foreign countries. That’s what they came to church to hear about today.”

My mistake.

In any case, I’m not bashing the concept of a special “Missions” Sunday or of a “Walking Together Sunday.” Even if it wouldn’t be my preference, I can see it being a positive thing, depending on how it’s carried out. As I’ve said before, I think President Schroeder is doing an excellent job at promoting confessional Lutheran doctrine and practice in our synod, and I don’t fault him in the least for encouraging congregations to celebrate a WT Sunday.

Although I wasn’t planning on using them, I did peruse the resources being offered to our congregations this year. (I mean, a lot of time and money went into preparing, sending out and promoting them.) I found them to be – less than helpful. They may well be promoting our synodical “Walking Together,” but if we mean to be “walking together” as a confessional Lutheran synod, we can put forth better materials than these.

I won’t comment on the Bible study materials. They weren’t bad. In the next two posts, I’ll comment on the Order of Service and the Sermon that were provided.