Wax

This week, I was introduced to the 18th century mystic, Jean-Pierre de Caussade. Several of my classmates had a hard time with a statement that he wrote: "The events of every moment are stamped with the will of God." What with there being evil and all, it begs the question, "Every moment? Really? Hiroshima was stamped with the will of God? Dachau? Phnom Penh? Santa Barbara?"
Yes. The events of every moment are stamped with the will of God. (he continues) How holy is His name! How right it is to bless it and to treat it as something which sanctifies all it touches....O Lord, may You rule my heart, nourish it, purify it, make it holy, and let it triumph over all its enemies. Most precious moment! How small it is to my bodily eyes, but how great to the eyes of my faith! How can I think of it as nothing when it is thought of so highly by my heavenly Father? All that comes from Him is most excellent and bears the imprint of its origin.
I couldn't help it - I thought of a wax seal. Here is a metaphor for baptism, that God came down in the holy waters of our baptism and sealed us as his own. The wax does nothing but receive the imprint of the king. We do not even create the softness - that's the heat of the Holy Spirit who does that. And the signet? It's a cross, of course, a simple cross that we are marked with, which will not be broken until the last day.
I am wax; God is the imprint.
The metaphor does not last, but in answer to those who doubt every moment are stamped with God's will, we can say, "The seal doesn't know the contents of the envelopes. It could be good news for king and country, or news of a defeat." Our job is not to determine the course of events; our job is to proclaim the image of our maker, no matter what news lies inside.

The hardest thing to do is to refrain from saying, "How could a loving God..." because then we are attempting to make God in our image. "How could a loving God..." do something that we don't consider nice or fair or just? "How could a loving God..." watch as an animal or race or field become extinct? "If God is good..." how could God disappoint me so?
Our purpose is not to skip to the loo over every one of the moments God gives us on this earth; that's lunacy, to rejoice when there are mass killings. Our purpose is to find in every moment the imprint of God, to choose the course of action God wills for each of us, and to live that out with purpose, to bear the imprint of our origin.

The Greatest Sport

This is a post on the Greatest Sport.
Not another plug for Ultimate, you might be thinking. Will the guy never give it a rest? What Would Jesus Play? The Holy Spirit of the Game. Yeah, we get it, Ultimate frisbee is a great sport.

True, but it's not the greatest sport.

What I love about Ultimate is many things, but many of those things are going away. I loved the idea of Spirit of the Game, that you play hard, but you play fair and you don't play dirty to win. I loved that it was self-refereed. I loved that I was good at it, and could keep up with my competitors.

Brodie Smith declares the Spirit of the Game doesn't work. We have "observers." And I can't keep up anymore. It is still a great sport, but what made it personally great for me is not so deep.

No, the greatest sport is one of the oldest, and that is wrestling.

The list, please:

1) It is man v man or woman v woman or woman v man. There is no ball, puck, shuttlecock, bow, arrow, sword, bat, frisbee, club, racket. sleigh, stick, weights, goal, water, gloves, paddle, bike, skates, horse, car, beam, vault, rings, hurdle, ski, board, javelin, pole, discus, bar, gun or stone. The only other non-equipment sports that I can think of are some of the martial arts, running and sumo wrestling. There's no actual contact with other humans in track - it's a race against the clock, mostly. If I had to say what the necessary equipment for sumo, it would be a Whopper. 

Wrestling pits you and the other guy/gal. There's no team mates to help/hide behind. There's no judges to bribe or blame or impress.

2) It is absolutely the brown shoes on the tuxedo of sport. The only people who like wrestling are wrestlers. And sometimes their families. Do you want to know how disrespected it is? It almost got bumped from the Olympics. Three levels of equestrian, ping pong and synchronized swimming are Olympic sports, but not wrestling? I don't mean to put horses down (!), but come on.

3) It builds confidence. Do you want to know how much confidence it builds? It builds so much confidence that wrestlers have resisted the urge to punch the millions who call their sport gay. That's confident. My coach, Ed LeBeau, was one of the most important men in my life because he taught me that trying your hardest, playing fair, preparing weeks and months for a six minute match is worth it on a spiritual level.

4) No greed. No wrestler is in it for the fat contract at the end. They wrestle because they love the sport, not because it is the path to a multi-million dollar payoff. It is a pure sport.

This fall, I hope to carry on where my father began 50 years ago, when he started the wrestling program at Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne, IN. I am not starting a program, but I'm hoping to join the group at Franklin Pierce High School. I look forward to working with the coaches and athletes, to rekindle my love for this sport and to make some friends along the way.

Stay tuned.

Our Savior Spenerian Church, part 2

Last week, I wrote about how Philipp Jackob Spener has influenced Our Savior Lutheran for the better, by spotting a hidebound tendency in the Lutheran church of his day, and reforming the Reformation.
The Word of God is used more extensively in our small group Bible Study, most of which talk about the sermons our pastor preaches the week before. Our youth subscribe to a daily Bible reading texted to their phones. One of our core values is that we are an equipping church, sending out the priesthood of all believers, trained by our staff, to do mission in their individual neighborhoods. Our motto is to Love God, Love People and Live Like Jesus, a phrase Spener would be very comfortable endorsing. In our apologetic approach, we avoid, like Spener, “fruitless disputation.” Instead of attempting to reason unbelievers into believing, we begin our discussions with “regular” people from a point of connection, not one of contention. And most importantly, our university-trained ministers always try to create sermons “in such a way that the hearers may profit from the sermon in life and death.”

Spener’s extensions would be heralded by the sainted Luther, who would have surely encouraged a better educated populace, as well as a more biblically literate clergy and flock. He would part ways, I think, in calling disputations “fruitless”; they may have been fruitless 100 years after, but they were certainly important at the outset.

Where Luther and Spener (and to an extent, Lutherans today) would part ways is in Spener’s emphasis on the inner man, and this is truly where the rubber meets the road. Spener writes: “Nor is it enough to be baptized, but the inner man, where we have put on Christ in Baptism, must also keep Christ on and bear witness to him in our outward life.” 

This is really an updated version of penance.

 Luther taught that there are two parts of forgiveness: confession and absolution. The Catholic church taught that there was a third part: satisfaction. It was not enough that you confessed your sins to God and heard God’s word of absolution, you needed to perform a righteous work to prove to God that you meant it. I believe this is part of Spener’s legacy: it’s not enough to be baptized, to go to communion, to confess and be forgiven, to read and hear God’s word – you have to prove it by the way you live. It would not matter to Luther that this proof is the way God wants you to live your life. Luther would not disagree that the way Spener wants his folks to live. In fact, if you read Luther’s works on confession/absolution (to give an example), he said the hearts of the newly absolved should then desire to go find the person that they’ve sinned against and asked for their forgiveness too. That looks like satisfaction, but – and here’s the sticking point – it is not required for God’s forgiveness. God’s grace does not depend on our deeds. Period.

If something is required, it trespasses into the realm of justification.

Taken to its logical conclusion, you do end up with a pietistic (not Pietistic) result. After saying that pious students should be promoted, while the impious (but more intelligent) students held back, he writes, “It would not be a bad thing if all students were required from their universities testimonials concerning their piety as well as their diligence and skill.”  Today, Christian universities typically ask for a student’s statement of belief, or at least a pledge to adhere to code of Christian conduct. Part of Spener’s legacy is seen by our expectation of Christians bound by a code of behavior, and in this way, we are not far from our brother Pharisees.

The week in review 7

Stillness: Recalling God's Presence
I felt the presence of God while visiting Pastor Steve this morning. I assumed I would be the recipient of more grace than I was doling out, him being a pastor and all, but he really did set my mind and spirit at ease about his condition and about his location in the place of God. Twice this week = Bob being the first- I have come across people in terrible situations - brain tumor, spot on kidney - that would have put some people in a tail spin, whereas these men of God saw this as an opportunity to proclaim their complete faith in and love for God, come what may. Very cool number, what God does to you.


Gratitude: Expressing Thankfulness
I'm thankful for my Sunday night group, who took a great small group idea - we are traditional-loving Lutherans - and have created a mission to get good enough at niche worship services - Holden Evening Prayer, Chicago Folk, Taize, Compline, Lutheran Evening Worship - to be able to offer that to the community. It won't happen over night and it won't happen without practice, but it will happen. 

Reflection: Looking Back on Your Day
Not the day off I planned, but a blessed day nevertheless. 
Planned day: wake up leisurely, read the paper, watch a movie in the morning, read ahead for next week's class assignments, have a nice dinner and go play frisbee at night.
Actual day: woke up at 8 in a panic, remembering that this is the last day to get Maeve's loan application in. We filled out all the forms this week, but we hadn't heard definitively that all the paperwork was in correctly. The email said that while she had my loan application, she had not yet received verification that Maeve had filled out the counseling session, which is required. Our 8 am is their 4 pm, so I filled out Maeve's counseling session pronto, and our friend in the financial aid office kept hitting the "refresh" button, and her status kept coming back "submitted," but not "accepted." In a panic, I had Maeve rush down to the office (5 minutes after her last final of the year - yay Maeve!), for I have no idea what reason - to cheer on the computer?. 10 minutes after our friend in the financial office was supposed to be off work - and off for a week's vacation - the refresh came back accepted. Now, if it didn't come back "accepted," Maeve would not have had enough money for the last bit of tuition, would not have had any money as downpayment on her apartment, and wouldn't have any money to get back to England. Just under the wire.
It's 9 am.
Also in that morning email is a note from Pastor Steve's wife saying he was taken to the emergency room and that his tests were not good; and that his children were gathering around him. I told Pastor Brian, who went in on his day off too; I missed him by 5 minutes, but had a great time (see above). Another of our members was in recovery from surgery at a different hospital, so I thought I'd pop in and have a quick prayer with her; she was in recovery for two hours, so I didn't get home until 2:15, but I had a lovely chat with her church member care giver in the waiting room. Bloom where you're planted, even when watching Say Yes to the Dress.
Finally home, we talk to Maeve and set about the beginning of our major back yard project (see below) and I'm too tired to go play frisbee. We sit in the hot tub and crash.

Sorrow: Asking for Forgiveness
My wife keeps planting trees, I keep killing them. I can't tell you the number of times I've mowed over baby plants, weed whacked blooming plants and stepped on thriving ground cover, but I can tell you the most recent one - today. We severely cut back our 25 foot Japanese maple with a chain saw (Roh-roh-roh!) and one of the major branches fell on our fence. So my job was to turn the big branches into little branches. So I let the wood chips fly - not knowing (or forgetting) that there was a sapling Japanese maple right in the middle of all the branches. Bren was even thinking - well, we're cutting down the diseased and dying maple, but at least the new one will be there during the lean years. I'm a murderer.

Hopefulness: Resolving to Grow
I'm hopeful that I will be able to create a Lutheran curriculum for missional communities. Give me time, give me wisdom, give me strength.

The troops

"I am an Nigerian soldier and I want to know, if I kill someone, is it a crime?"
Context is key to understanding how startling this statement was to me. This is not an unusual statement in a blog, or a quote from a news story, or in a book about war.
It was none of those. It was written in the sidebar of a on-line college course I'm taking at George Fox Seminary. For those who've never had the pleasure of taking a real-time, on-line college course, what usually happens is that a presenter - a professor or instructor - talks or presents either with video of him/herself in the center of the screen. But on the side, there is a place for dialogue from the rest of the participants; in this case, there were 22 others besides myself and the two professors.
And again, there is nothing particularly startling about the statement if we were talking about just war, or African conflicts; it might even have been appropriate if we had been talking about Nigeria, soldiers, killing or crime. We were talking about none of those things. The professor had merely said, "Does anyone have any questions," with the implication being, "about something we have just been discussing," which in this case was family systems theory.
One person asked a clarifying question, and then there was a pause, and the professor prepared to move on to his next point, when this flashed on the sidebar.
"I am an Nigerian soldier and I want to know, if I kill someone, is it a crime?"
Apropos of nothing, here was one of the participants with an obviously deep-seated, painful question. I don't know about my fellow students, but my reaction was, "Holy crap!" It felt a little like we had unearthed a time-bomb in this young man.
I do know what two of my fellow students thought, because they wrote underneath: "What an interesting question!" and "That's a good question."
And it is an interesting and good question. But, I'm sorry, when I meet this young man at our Face to Face in a couple of weeks, I'm going to have a hard time not thinking of him as a killer. Which he may not be yet, but probably will be, given his locale and the Times.
I have never been and never will be a soldier. I signed up for the draft when I was a kid, because in order to get a college scholarship, you had to. I saw a bit of the "baby killer" mentality of the post-Vietnam, post-Cambodian wars, and have been living in the backlash to that mentality, where the default clap line for any time or anywhere is to "support the troops." There seems to be a country-wide consensus that the two groups you can't say anything hateful about are gay people and The Troops. Even when we were vehemently against the war in Iraq or Afghanistan or almost-Syria, we would quickly add, "but of course I support the troops."
But why? Why this blanket pass on the military?
Of course, they throw themselves into harms way, and are brave and true. I have several former youth group members in various branches of the military and they are fine young men, one of whom has wanted to be in the Marines since the seventh grade.
And of course, they are making sure that our country is safe, which I'm grateful for.
But I didn't ask them to do that. I didn't ask them to kill pre-Christians - because that's what all non-Christians are, right, my fellow evangelicals? Just Christians waiting to happen? So by sending people to a place where they are not Christian and killing them, you have just sentenced them to an eternity in hell.
The Few. The Proud. The Killers of Unsaved People.
The loudest calls will be from those who say, "You'll be sorry when you have to learn Arabic/Russian/Korean."
No I won't. Christians throughout the millenia have had evil overlords, and their faith turned out just fine. They are floating on their own clouds right now. I believe the best thing that could happen to the religious life in this country is if Christianity were made illegal. Look at China. Look at Russia. Plus I've always wanted to learn another language, and about the only way that's going to happen is if I have an evil overlord making me.
So I think it's a good question, my Nigerian soldier friend. I will look forward to meeting you and saying, "While killing people is not a crime if you're wearing a uniform, it is still against God's law."

Facebook Strong

Facebook Strong: Saying something obnoxious for the expressed purpose of being able to late brag about it on Facebook.

This original Urban Word of the Day is based on an actual incident involving yours truly and a Helicopter Mom to End All Helicopter Moms.
I'm driving down the road towards my local Fred Meyer, and am entering the left turn lane to get into the store, when I notice there is a driver tail-gating me - she wanted to get to the left turn lane first, even though I was well ahead of her. She got into the left lane and accelerated just as I was getting into the turn lane. So I'm thinking, "I have an angry bee behind me" "bee" here not standing for anything other than the black and yellow flying thing. Just so we're clear.
I waited in the left turn lane for a second or two to allow the pedestrian, a young man of about 6 feet tall, to get onto the far sidewalk; I noticed there was just enough time to make the left turn before the oncoming traffic would get to me, but not enough time for me and the angry bee to both make it.
I want to be clear about this, because this is the point of contention - the young man was on the sidewalk before I turned.
So I park my car and am assaulted by the angry bee who is shouting across the parking lot - "HEY! IF THAT WAS MY KID THAT YOU ALMOST HIT, I WOULD COME OVER THERE AND KICK YOUR BUTT. IT'S A LITTLE KID, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!"
First reaction. Wha?
Second reaction: She must have thought that I turned too quickly, and that the pedestrian was in danger of being struck my me, which, as I've said, was clearly not the case.
Third reaction: Facebook Strong.
I imagined that she would race home - literally - and post something like, "I can't believe the insanity of drivers. This jerk in front of me came within an inch of vehicular manslaughter on a little boy at Freddies today. But did I take it lying down. I did not! I got out of my car and told him that if that was my kid that I would kick his butt."
Facebook strong.
Here's the ironic part. The "little kid," the six-foot teenager was actually walking in the parking lot, which I tried to tell her - "Hey, there's the kid right there - ask him if I almost hit him!" But when you're trying to have a rational discussion with an angry, self-righteous (tail-gating) bee (again, the black and yellow flying thing), it just sounds like shouting. She repeated, "IT'S JUST A LITTLE KID FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!" And the little kid was walking by her, towering over her.
And here's my favorite part of the moment. The "little kid" gave her a look like, "Who are you calling a little kid," and then he saw who she was yelling at - me - and gave me a look that said, "She's nuts."
Facebook Strong.

Our Savior Spenerian Church

The leader of a Lutheran church looked at the old way of doing things and thought it was time for a new reformation. He looked at a church in which the people went out of duty, rather than for the love of God. He saw a church in which the congregation was entirely dependent on "Herr Pastor"; it took no responsibility for its own spirituality. It met once a week, and they confessed their sins and went through the formula of the liturgy, and sang the same old hymns without joy. He saw a church that was satisfied with gaining new believers by opening its doors on Sunday and expecting people to just walk in. But most of all, the pastor looked at the Lutherans as having head knowledge about Christianity - they were all good catechumens, after all - but that the love of Christ didn't affect their heart in any way, shape or form.
He proposed radical changes in church, by first of all starting Bible studies in people's homes. After all, we are a priesthood of ALL believers, are we not? The leader sought to enliven the worship by not doing things the old way, but to bring in new ideas. He suggested that we could gain more converts to Christianity if we engaged those in the culture, befriending them, rather than lecturing them about what is right. Out of these holy huddles would form new missional communities, pockets of Christians who were attracted by the way we live, not just what we teach. He wanted a church that would live out the principals of Christianity on a daily basis, not just on Sunday. He wanted our schools and seminaries not just to teach the seminarians about Christianity, but to transform their lives, so that they would BE the City on a Hill, not just to talk about it.
He lived 300 years ago.
He is Philipp Jakob Spener (pro. SPAIN-er), the father of Pietism, and the true source of Our Savior Lutheran's heritage. It is my contention that our church follows more closely in the footsteps of Spener than Luther, and that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

We'll get to the bad thing next week.
The good news is that Spener was right - the Lutheran Church 120 years after Luther was in need of reform - and it remains so to this day. We are continually reforming as a church, as needs be. If Vatican II taught us anything, it's that a church needs a good enema every 300 years or so. The church during Spener's time (1635-1705) was rather fusty, just as our Missouri Synod churches were (are) fusty today. Our Savior blew some wind up Missouri's sails 15 years ago as it became the first LCMS church to worship exclusively in a contemporary manner. It is a point of pride in our church; I think it's interesting and has led to my nascent career (in my role as consummate contrarian) to lead a traditional worship service these past three years.
We'll be adding to this post next Tuesday, but for now, let's celebrate the wonder that is Spener, and the changes he wrought in the Lutheran Church, then and now.

Brahms in hell

While my typical choice of medium for Media Monday is Movies, this week I want to take the time to acknowledge a marvelous rendition of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) performed by the Northwest Repertory Singers at PLU on Saturday night. Lagerquist Hall at PLU is certainly one of the best places to hear any kind of music - we heard Tacoma Youth Chorus concerts for five years there - but this was incredible. Not only did we get to sit with new Breaking Bad afficianado Peter G, but got to hear his partner sing in the choir. Oh, and there was an orchestra there too -they added.
But the main thing I wanted to point out was that the requiem is an actual funeral mass, sung in German, with English notes on the side. I love the German language, and think if I were going to be bilingual one day, it will be German. So - friends, check; great music, check; German, check; AND to top it all off, every word sung was from the Bible. Bam. I keep forgetting how steeped in Christianity the composers needed to be. I mean, if you want to pay the bills, you better play some music they can hear in the pews.
At any rate, there was one line that struck me:
Tod, wo ist dein Sieg 
Hölle, wo ist dein Stachel
My high school German did not fail me on the first line-  Death where is your victory, but I did not know what Hölle was. The translation said it was Death where is your sting, but Tod is death, not Hölle. Well, I could have guessed it was hell, but I didn't - thanks, Google translate! But I noted those lines because they were sung with devastating power. I watched to see which lines the choir was particularly into, and that one seemed to hit everyone in the gut. It was the end of a section, as well, and I heard the air rush out of my partner's mouth - "whumph."
I like Brahm's translation of the line better, though. I wonder if that's what Luther's German Bible said, saying that the devil's hell has no sting because we know we're folded in with Christ's victory over "sin, death and the power of the devil." The English double death is not as interesting as Death/hell.
It's music that needs to be heard in church, but probably never will be. Maybe I'll save up and have it sung at my funeral. Along with Mahalia Jackson's version of Abide with Me.

The weeks in review part 6

Stillness: Recalling God's Presence
God's presence was noted twice today; I'll mention once here, and the other I'll save for reflection. I had a moment with one of the confirmands today - it's Confirmation Sunday, and we had 16 young Lutherans take the plunge today, their first step in their lifelong commitment to following Jesus. I had a bird's eye view of each confirmand as they knelt before Pastor Brian, and he laid his hands on their head and confirmed them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Most keep their eyes closed, or kneel uncomfortably on the top step or shift their eyes. But one young woman and I made eye contact - two actually, but the second looked away, embarrassed. The first one, though, gave me a thoroughly 14 year old girl look; unmistakably, "What?" So I crossed my eyes and made a face, causing her to laugh a little. It was a good moment with a young woman who will be intricately involved in youth ministry over the next four years!
Last week, too, during the creedal smackdown (the confirmands make their personal statements of belief in front of family and friends) I felt a moment of God's presence in the mature creed of a 19 year old man who started confirmation at 15 and in the heart-catching creed of the pastor's daughter, who admitted that while her biological family was close, her church family of so many grandparents and so many aunts and uncles and so many cousins more than made up for it. I truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in the words of these confirmands.

Gratitude: Expressing Thankfulness
I'm thankful that I have a good relationship with my kid. We had a great chat this afternoon - though my lack of nap is making itself known at this hour. We were going over some questions in the PAIR test (Personality Audit of Interpersonal Relationships, or something like that) and reveling in what it means to be a Llewellyn Ihssen. It's a good family that can answer "what would you do" and "who are you" kinds of questions for each other with such certainty.
Also so thankful for the help of the painters yesterday, especially Per and Chris who brought paint sprayers to finish the whole job. Fast, efficient and Christian; not a bad faith in action day,

Reflection: Looking Back on Your Day
Once again, writing on Confirmation Sunday, which started with a blessing of being able to sleep in; with no classes and no need to attend first service, nor even to handle the 10:30 service, thanks to our able lieutenant Che. Then the endless remarks over my appearance - I wear a suit once a year on confirmation Sunday - and went with a red tie, which caused even more adjectives - spiffy, dandy, debonair, nice, sharp, clean up nice, etc It's appreciated, truly, but I wonder if I wore a suit and tie each week if the brouhaha would die down. It's okay - I like the occasional brouhaha. The ceremony itself went well, no hitches, not trips, no fumbled names; the photographs looked good. My annual lunch at Frugals was tasty, followed by a trip to Trader Joe's to get mochi and boule for dinner at the H-Es. Then home for the Sunday nap - which didn't happen because daughter was on the line and wonderfully chatty. Then off to Evening Service, which is taking some getting used to, but I think we have a plan now. We are preparing ourselves so that we can offer a monthly evening service in the chapel! We will have the evening service, the Holden Village service, compline, Taize and other contemplative services. I believe it will be a necessary service for area contemplatives; and I believe we can do it well.

Sorrow: Asking for Forgiveness
i think I angered our Connections Minister today; I feel I caused covetousness by mentioning a donation we received from our painting lady, or else a well-deserved backlash over a boast. I didn't mean it to be a boast; meant it to be a praise, but the line between those two is sometimes tough to fathom. I am also behind on my school work - the new semester has begun - and I pray that I'll be able to make it up without angering my instructors.

Hopefulness: Resolving to Grow
I'm hopeful in turning our weekly evening small group into something that could benefit the Christian community. Once again, God has shown me that I keep underestimating the length of His arm. What I thought would be a great group of people meeting in a nice home is actually a castle God intends to live in.
I'm also hopeful that my friends in the district will be able to use my talents to their fullest, in the furtherance of God's kingdom.

Tolerantism

You can tell this has been a busy week - fewer blogs this week. My aim for consistency has not been reached; conversely, I have more blog ideas than ever, with so little time to act on them.
In preparing for the Equip History class, part 2, I believe I've coined a new word which I'm hoping will be of use to my fellow humans.
The idea of Tolerance is obviously a huge part of the last 500 years of Christianity. In the early days of the Reformation, the concept of toleration was not popular. When Luther split from the Church of Rome in 1517, it immediately spawned other Reformed beliefs, notably the Anabaptists (Rebaptizers) and the Calvinists. About the only thing the three Protestant groups agreed on was their distaste for The Mother Church, but from the Marburg Colloquy on, it was ugly and uglier. While it's hard to consider in these days, the prevailing thought was that if you did not believe the right thing - whether it be from Calvin, Zwingli, Luther or the Pope - you were going to hell. And by thing, they meant "my brand of Christianity." It makes sense, given that, that wars were fought; it became a kind of mission mind-set, that if my brand of Christianity did not prevail in war, souls would be lost forever. The concept of not baptizing your children as infants, as ludicrous as it now seems, became cause for murder and war. The pacifist Anabaptists were easy pickings - no better enemy than one who won't fight back - and when the Calvinists were shut out of the Peace of Augsburg, the Thirty Years War ensued, at which point, at the Peace of Westphalia everyone was so exhausted that they said, "Fine; you have your hell-bound country, and I'll have my City on a Hill." I never thought of it as an aid to healing before, but the concept of denominations was really a way to say, "We are all Christian, we are all saved, we just want to settle our disagreements by agreeing to disagree rather than throwing cannon balls at each other." That was the first big step toward true Toleration - of bitterly disagreeing with someone, but allowing that they have a right to their freedoms too.
The Act of Toleration in 1689 had to do with the Church of England allowing freedom of religion for several disparate branches of Christianity. Another step forward.
With the Enlightenment, Christendom was then asked to tolerate more than just fellow Christians. Whether or not he actually said it, Voltaire's Essay of Toleration has the ultimate toleration quote: "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." Seems obvious now, but it was radical stuff in the post-Inquisition, post-Counter-Reformation, post-exploration/conquest era.
No one would have said, as we say now, that all these religions (much less denominations) are basically the same. Aren't we advanced?
Which leads us to the word of the day:
Tolerantism: the belief that to be truly tolerant, one must hold that all systems of belief are equal; to claim one truth is more valid than another is (shudder) intolerant.
For a Christian (or a Lutheran, Muslim, Mormon, Baptist, non-denom or Unitarian - wait, they invented the idea...) to claim that they are the only way to salvation, and that their worldview is supreme, or even that there is such as thing as a dominant worldview, is intolerant.
Do you see the difference? Actual tolerance means that I can say to my Muslim brother, "While I disagree that Mohammed (peace be upon him) is The Prophet, I will not harm you for believing in it." True tolerance is a "willingness to accept feelings, habits or beliefs that are different from your own." Tolerantism states that you must accept all feelings, habits or beliefs as equally valid to your own.
The 21st century's biggest anathema is to be intolerant. No one wants that label.
I, for one, am intolerant of Tolerantism.

Picnic at Marty's

God bless you, Ted Turner, and your classic movies.
Discovered last week that I can cross a couple of my films off the 1001 Movies list by searching Turner Classic Movie's on demand selections. Over the last week, I've watched In the Heat of the Night ("They call me MISTER Tibbs.") White Heat ("Top of the world, Ma!"), Picnic at Hanging Rock ("Absolutely no catch phrase!") and today, Marty, which won a slew of Academy Awards, including one for McHale. That's how I knew Ernest Borgnine growing up, that and that he was in Willard, the rat movie which spawned the Michael Jackson love song. To a rat, not Ernest Borgnine. I was knocked over by Marty, which is the story of how a mom-pecked, friend-pecked and culture-pecked Italian butcher is able to find love at the Stardust Ballroom by taking the high road. It is an incredibly charming slice of life film. In no way would it be an Oscar winning film today, but it certainly is a simply-told tale of one really good 48 hour period in 1950s New York.
The other film I watched was Peter "Green Card" Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock, which is about the real life turn of the last century disappearance of three teens and their teacher at a mysterious rock formation in the Australian outback. No gore, no sex, no violence, no overt thrills, but yet it elicits all of those emotions with good old fashioned story telling. Besides, it is a real life mystery, so there is no resolution, and not even any theories. But it does have Zamfir, master of the pan flute.
Also saw a couple of films on Hulu (though finding an actual free movie is pretty tough.) They have a whole section of Criterion Collection films. If my rich uncle died and left me a million bucks I'd be sad for the fictirious rich uncle, of course, but after paying back all of my family's student debt, I would sink some money into purchasing the entire Criterion Collection. These are the finest films ever made, beautifully restored. At any rate, one of them happens to be Gertrude, which is 2 hours of Norwegian angst. The actors barely look at each other during their loooooong bouts of dialogue, about how love is unhappiness, love is pain etc. It's by Carl Dreyer, who did the spectacular Passion of Joan of Arc about 40 years earlier. It got to be very Dieter after awhile. Also from Hulu, I saw the Evil Dead (now Cabin in the Woods makes sense!) and Boudou Saved from Drowning (pretty amusing) and Killing of a Chinese Bookie (important. not especially fun.)
Great week of film, for the most part. I'm getting pretty good and forestalling the necessity for Netflix!

Irenic

These are some quotations I found from a word that I read in my Christian history book.

Irenic:

adjective

formal

adjective: irenic; adjective: eirenic

1

aiming or aimed at peace.

2

noun

noun: irenics; noun: eirenics; noun: irenic; noun: eirenic

a part of Christian theology concerned with reconciling different denominations and sects.

• From a Symposium of The Seven Trumpets of Rev. 8&9. What little of value that could be gained from the Bible could be ascertained from reason itself….Spinoza's mode of textualization was IRENIC because it embedded the Bible in ancient history, where it would no longer be able to trouble modern life…

• In Explorations in the Theology of Pope Benedict XVI, in a chapter written by Francesca Murphy. "This essay is a reflection on a "papal ecclesiology" conducted in an irenic and ecumenical spirit."

• In his article "Biblical Authority: A Personal Reflection," Prof. Walter  Brueggemann states that at Eden Seminary "there was no systematic theologian on the faculty until 1946, and things were managed well enough in a mood of trustful piety that produced not hard-nosed certitude, but rather an irenic charity of liberated generosity."

Then I found a critique of a critique of a pastor my pastor likes, Tim Keller, by theweeflea.

Firstly I am always wary of the person who comes to talk to me and begins the conversation with ‘I want to tell you this in love’.  It usually means that there is a broadside to follow and very little love accompanying it.  The ‘I want to tell you in love’ is really a self-justification for the particular complaint they are about to offload on you.  I’m afraid it is much the same here.  The authors talk about their ‘respect’ for Keller and then accuse him of  wrong teaching and harm on some pretty important subjects.  I suspect that Tim Keller, like most of us, would rather do without that kind of irenic grace!   In this case actions speak louder than words.  I am reminded of those who came to Jesus and began by stating “teacher we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” (Matthew 22:16), before they then went on to try and trap him.  Working on the principle of ‘do unto others’ perhaps each of the authors would like to reflect on how they would feel if fellow ministers were publishing books which accuse them of not teaching the full orbed Word of God?

Secondly if Keller is guilty of misleading the church about hell, creation, the Bible, evangelism, apologetics, the social gospel, sin and the trinity, then why bother being ‘irenic’ about it?  Was Jesus irenic when he called the Pharisees ‘white washed tombs’?  Can you imagine Paul saying to the Galatian false teachers, ‘I say this to you in a spirit of irenic love and graciousness, if you insist on circumcision, I wish you would go the whole way and castrate yourselves!’  The trouble is that the authors of this book are playing the modern Christian game – as long as you say it nicely and appear to be nice (gracious,irenic, loving) etc then you can say what you want.   Personally I find this both somewhat disingenuous and pathetic.  If Keller is dangerous then just say so.  Don’t hide it in modern reformed christianspeak.  

I want to know more about his book and the responses!

I was inspired to use this word on my Fbook page today. Yes, I know - it's more than one sentence, and might have even eclipsed the 140 character gold standard of brevity - but here it is:

Why is history important?
The term "denomination" started in the US during Wesley's Evangelical Revival as a form of tolerance among religious people who were "denominated" within the united body of Christianity. While we think of denominations as divisive, denominations were a way to say, "We are united in the body of Christ, even while we respectfully disagree with some of your doctrines."
So if denominations were formed to unite Christianity...what does that make non-denominational churches!
Ironic/irenic.

I used the word before I knew the second meaning of it, but it did come from the section on Pietism, so it does make sense that there is a field of study on how denominations can become more peaceful, come together, unite in Christian love called irenics. I’m also aware of how ironic my troll-worthy passage is; I’m not outright telling our non-denom brothers and sisters that they are, by definition, against peace in the church, but there it is. Probably a product of my being in a class of primarily non-denom seminarians!

Again, the word came to mind as I heard our speaker tonight, Dennis Trittin offer a challenge to the jr and sr high youth of our church to take the integrity challenge: for one week, only say or write things that are either neutral or positive.

In other words, be irenic.

Softball

I have a love/hate relationship with church softball.
On the one hand (the uninjured hand), I love the game, the guys I play with, the exercise I get running after balls. I love when the bat makes good contact with the ball (as it did twice tonight) and racing around the bases. We have this year a crazy entertaining pitcher, who sometimes pitches between his legs and dances around the pitching rubber as if it hooked up to electrodes. We are a weird team, almost evenly split between lefties and righties. I love how we have a good team spirit and how we pray after every game with our "foes."
On the other hand (the injured hand), I hate how my body aches like it didn't used to, how it takes me longer to get to first base, how my skills seemed to have sunk rapidly since I first started playing nine years ago. Time was, I was "triple Tim," who could scuttle around the bases like nobody's business. Now I'm happy if I get to first base. Time was, if I touched it, I caught it. Now I'm lucky if I catch it at all, even if it's right in my glove.And speaking of injuries, I've had season-ending injuries two years in a row. One was awesome - I pulled my hamstring making a game-ending, game-saving diving catch against the Mormons! Probably get a two-planet demotion for that, but it felt good, even though - and this is the worst part - that I was hobbled for another month, including the only time I got to play Ultimate frisbee in my home town with my relatives. I wanted to be in peak condition for that, but I played like an old man. They all still think I'm fair to mediocre. And then last year was the worst. As I was trying to hit a fairly well-hit pop up, I put up two hands to catch - like you do, with my right hand giving stability to my glove hand - and instead of the ball landing in my glove, it landed on top of my right middle finger, breaking it. Not only that, but I tried to drive myself to the hospital, and almost passed out on the way from shock.
Never again! I said. Especially since I just now finished paying for it.
So there I am out in right center field feeling a mixture of fear and trembling with excitement to be playing again. All for God and glory - and the glory of God, right?
I like that our sleeve says "Love God, Love people and Live like Jesus." But that has also has not always been the case, especially against the Lutherans.
Yes, I know we're Lutheran too, but up until last year, we were never able to beat them. So that rankled. The reason? They had some pretty non-church league players anchoring their line-up. They had three home run hitters, and when you can count on three runs each inning, that sort of puts you in an advantageous position. Our captain, my captain, sent a well-crafted letter to the pastor of the other church saying that their team was a bad witness to the other teams, who saw them as bullies. After all, they had not lost a game in six years. He suggested that the players who were their D-Rec players play in the D-Rec league and not in the church league. They agreed, midway through last season, and our team was the church champion! Yay us.
Here's the thing though - now we are the church team that probably won't lose any games this season. We have several players who don't go to our church, who have played for other church's teams that no longer have teams. So we're almost kind of the all-star team in the league; I've never been comfortable in the Goliath position.
So I thought "cookies." That's one way to be less of the 800 pound gorilla in the league, is by also being the kindest team in the league. So after we're done pummeling our opponents, we give them something sweet. I don't mind winning; I do mind being resented.
There's a difference between being the best team in the league, and being the giant undefeated team in the league who pulls in ringers from all corners in order to be the giant in the league. I want to be known as the kindest team in the league, and that will take some doing.

Walk on Water

We have tv friends and we have movie friends. Our tv friends watch tv series with us - we've watched Slings and Arrows , Episodes and now Bored to Death together, and they've all been enjoyable. We've had these friends for three years; it takes us awhile. We also love talking about the shows we like, and the next shows we're going to watch together.
Then we have our movie friends, and so far, we've watched five movies: Casino Royale, From Russia with Love (from them) and The White Balloon and Frankenstein (from us). It was there turn again this weekend, and, inspired by the Iranian descent of The White Balloon, our friends showed us Walk on Water, from Israel. P is right in saying that it is a movie that beggars categorization. It's certainly a drama, but also has to do with homophobia, Nazis, the Mossad spy agency of Israel and communes. And, the one thing everyone remembers about this film is the resurrecction of a long-dead Eurovision Song contest winner, Rockefeller Cinderella, an ear worm that rivals Mannah-mannah, 500 Miles and the Candy Man combined.
The plot is pretty simple - a Mossad agent who's had a trauma has been assigned to shadow the grandchildren of an alleged Nazi. If and when he learns information from them, he's supposed to alert his bosses who will probably kill him "before God does."
Like the White Balloon, this is definitely not a Hollywood spy story - there's no chases, or exciting music, or dramatic twists - it's a story that's told simply without straying and without true fantasy, though some would say the ending has fantastic elements (but don't all dreams?) Ironic, isnt't it, that a film called Walk on Water could be real! The more I watch movies from other countries - and in particular from the Middle East - the less I become excited about our American product. The last Hollywood movie I saw was Captain America; I'm looking forward to Godzilla, and I think I'm ready to see iconic American buildings being destroyed. I think this is probably a way for filmmakers to tap into the psyche of Americans who are barely a decade from getting used to the Twin Towers being destroyed, but just stop and think how many times you've seen the White House destroyed, or the Golden Gate Bridge. It's insulting, frankly. It's as if filmmakers don't trust us to feel anything except the most extreme destruction of our most treasured places. They sit in their offices and think of different ways to capture our heart, when all they have to do is think what it felt like to lose a lot of money that your parents gave you (it could be as much as 10 dollars!) My heart is no longer moved by the site of destroyed buildings; the best moment of the Avengers is the after-credit scene of them eating shawarma, sort of breathing heavy, sipping soda, not talking, thinking about all the creatures they'd destroyed. It was the most human, marvelous moment in the Marvel universe; not Tony Stark's house falling into the ocean, not Manhatten getting destroyed yet again by a maniacal alien.
The opposite conceit is what I call the "incredible normal" movies of Wes Anderson and Woody Allen, movies that pretend to be real, but are peopled by people I've never met. True, I've never met Woody Allen, and if I had, I would probably say, "Oh, now this all makes sense." Nor am I enamored of the realism of the French New Wave or the German Expressionist movement, or the dogme style, which is so "true" it rings false. This seems more like a one-off blog, so perhaps I'll come back to this at a later time.
But as you watch films, stop yourself and think "Come on. Is this true?" Regardless, people still go into the basement, they still walk down dark alleys and, according to movies, the only really good sex begins with being slammed against a wall, a floor, a table. It must be something hard, and there must be a struggle to get the clothes off.
So tedious.
Mike Leigh. Real and interesting. There, I named an English speaking director who takes reality seriously. Go see a Mike Leigh movie today.

The week in review part 5

Stillness: Recalling God's Presence
I noticed God's presence in our youth frisbee game Wednesday. Seniors Kelsey, Anders and Seth were there, along with Tyler from last year. Play a familiar game with old friends and new was a happy occurrence; I've done so many things the past four years with these particular group of people, it would require a yearly examen to catalogue them all. I was able to make a photographic memory for Kelsey this week, and it really did take me back. And I had dinner with her Wednesday - this is a young woman who is going places, and yet incredibly close to the Lord's path. She's a keeper, and I see the presence of God in her entire presence.

Gratitude: Expressing Thankfulness
See below.

Reflection: Looking Back on Your Day
I'm writing this on Sunday, and it was a big up and down day. It started with the Splash Leader's meeting, and there's currently a bit of confusion over how to proceed with the next steps in our Splash Group's life. Do we keep the 9th graders together as one big group, or do we integrate them into groups by existing leaders? Then the confirmands-to-be came and we went over their statements of belief. Not to be missed next weekend! There are some very good and personal statements of belief. We should all be so proud. 10:30 service was a downer - we only had 7 people, and that includes the pianist and me. I don't have a good feeling about the future of the traditions service. Then I met with a young man who has decided, after two years in confirmation, that he does not want to go through with it. He does not want to stand before his peers and parents and say things that he doesn't believe in. Honestly, I would prefer someone like this than someone who stands up there and goes through the motions, never intending to make faith in God part of their life. So it was sad for him - he felt like he was disappointing his mom - and his mom and brother - who felt sad that he felt sad. Tears all around. Great family. He'll be fine. Bought a computer for my daughter, went home and took the obligatory Sunday nap; got up and hauled some cheap pavers from my neighbor's estate sale then played frisbee for about 45 minutes. Normally, standing in the rain in sweatpants is not a pleasant thing, but I had a really good time; and I saw an osprey with a fish in its beak. So that was cool. But the highlight was definitely our dinner and evening worship small group inaugural event at the H-Es house. We sat and talked about what it might look like to be a traditional Lutheran based small group. We also discovered that three of us have a Kalamazoo connection - Joel was raised there, Gretchen moved there, I was on an journalism internship there. And I got my first cat there, Maud. Apart from that, we shared a nice evening worship service from the blue hymnal. We've slated May 18 as the next one. We're going to draw on each other's expertise and different devotionals. So that'll be great. And my wife's cookies were a hit!

Sorrow: Asking for Forgiveness
I continually forget that I have a "congregation" that will need to receive my personal touch. We had very few people today, and part of that is because I have not kept up with my worshipping community. I'll be making some calls this week.

Hopefulness: Resolving to Grow
I'm hopeful that I can convey the wonder and beauty of our church's history through the Equip classes this week. The last 500 years have been very important, I think, in the history of the world, and we'll be talking about several men and women who have played an important part in the furthering of the kingdom of God on earth. I'm hopeful about the ministry plan that will come together this month. To God be the glory.

Paper Part 4 and conclusion

The Return to Private Confession

This paper’s primary concern is not the cause of private confession’s disappearance nor its status as a sacrament; the concern is to return to the Reformer’s intention for Christians to go to private confession when needful, for, as Luther famously said, “Therefore, when I urge you to go to Confession, I am simply urging you to be a Christian.”[1]

Johnson maintains that the return of congregational private confession begins with the pastor, but not in the form of sermons, Bible studies, personal entreaties and blogs; the pastor first needs to go to confession.

Only the truly repentant can convincingly preach repentance. Only the truly penitent can teach penance. Only the confessor of sins can hear confession…If I as a pastor, desire to lead my congregation in the recovery of a fruitful penitential practice, there is one place to begin. I must go and kneel before a confessor, confess my sins to God and beg for that glorious life-bearing Word: “I forgive you your sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.[2]

            A local Lutheran pastor, who has been offering monthly confession for the past 22 years, said it took him thirteen years of preparation before he reinstituted the sacramental rite in his congregation.[3] Rev. Ronald F. Marshall, of First Lutheran in Seattle, offers confession from 3 to 5 pm on the third Saturday of each month. [4] After outlining the theological background for confession – we are terrible sinners; the wrath of God is real and not a joke; the proper response by a sinner is contrition and seeking true repentance; the saving power of Christ’s atonement; and finally that the pastor is respected as “neither a courtier nor a hired hand, but God’s servant and slave”[5]  – Marshall laid out a 15-point plan for the sacrament of absolution.[6] Most Lutheran hymnals have a form for private personal confession,[7] but Marshall does not believe it is strong enough, and mandates Luther’s form for the rite;[8] nor was the hymnal’s absolution powerful enough, so he substituted an Eastern Orthodox formula.[9] He sent this rite to the congregation, discussed it with the church council and put forth his argument in the newsletter. He announced he would be receiving absolution from a neighboring pastor and a consistent time was posted. Marshall always wears his clerical collar, black cassock and proper liturgical stole, befitting the sobriety of the rite. He has invited local Episcopalian, Roman Catholic clergy and laity to the sacrament.[10]

            Pieper simply says that “the public or veiled opposition [to confession] is overcome if by public instruction from the pulpit or in voters’ meetings.” Piepkorn claims that Lutherans have positioned themselves to be uniquely qualified to be the center of a renewed interest in Absolution:

Lutheranism has the sanest and most scriptural doctrine of confession of any church. We force no one to enumerate his sins; we make confession contingent upon the individual’s willingness…;we absolve without condition and without penance; yet, we can offer personal, individual, operative absolution. We have all of confession’s blessings, and none of its banes.[11]

            Wiecher, however, states that private confession in American Lutheran churches faces an uphill battle precisely because of the cultural impasse we’re up against, because “by its very form and practice, it was entirely antithetical to the American democratic ideals and the individualistic ethos of established American evangelical protestantism.”

Conclusion

            Most authors agree that private confession should be retained in the Lutheran church, even though it may be “unnecessary.” [12] Getting Lutherans to the point where they desire this is the challenge. In arguing for the inclusion of Absolution into the Sacramental realm, Klan states:

The sacraments serve the lived faith, that is, the faith that lives out of forgiveness; they become crystallization points for a daily exercise in Christianity….[A]bsolution as a God-given “sign” assists the believer to be sure of his salvation because God’s self-commitment is carried out in an external and visible way.[13]

            I believe Lutherans will be drawn to confession not because we add it to our list of sacraments, but because of our desire for an external, visible and audible sign of God’s love for us. While it may be a “pseudo-sacrament,” it can still be a valuable assistant to the two that we do have. Many Lutherans take the Lord’s Supper weekly, and of course are asked to examine their souls and consciences before they do; but how many use that time to look at what everyone’s wearing instead of examining their consciences?  Luther stated that confession is “nothing but a way and a return to baptism,” but almost by definition, Lutherans don’t remember their baptisms. If we follow Christ’s logic of our own forgetfulness (“do this in remembrance of me”[14]) could not private confession be that monthly reminder of us being buried and raised with Christ?

            While I appreciate the care and concern Marshall took in establishing private confession in his Seattle church, I don’t believe the Marshall Plan is the only way – 13 years preparation, 5 steps of confession, 15 consistent points, clerical collar only. Likewise, I disagree with Piepkorn that a simple sermon series on confession preached from the pulpit nor taking a vote in a voter’s meeting, will also not do the trick.

            Clearly, the confessional pastor needs to go to confession. The next obvious step is to begin teaching the rite to – and receiving the confession of – our church’s elders. Our particular group of elders is extremely bonded and would be very much open to this exercise. With very little training, they could then become confessors as well. The next group would be the established leadership of both adults and youth. Pastoral counseling should include an option for the confessional rite, and by this point, when you have 40-50 people talking about their changed lives, about the qualitative difference between hearing a word of absolution corporately and naming your sins to a fellow Christian and affirming the statement by your confessor: “Do you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?” [15] you have the beginning of a confessional church.

---

[1] Gassman and Hendrix, p. 107.

[2] Johnson, p. 16-17.

[3] Ronald F. Marshall, “Salvation Within Our Reach,” in Whatever Happened to Private Confession,  Lutheran Forum, Vol. 31, No. 3, 1997, p. 18.

[4]Ronald F. Marshall, Website for First Lutheran Church of West Seattle, last modified 2012, accessed April 25, 2014, http://www.flcws.org/worship.htm

[5] Marshall, “Salvation within Our Reach,” p. 19-20

[6] ibid, p. 21.

[7] William S. Wiecher, “Piepkorn on the Third Sacrament: An American Lutheran Reconsideration,” in Whatever Happened to Private Confession,  Lutheran Forum, Vol. 31, No. 3, 1997, p. 35.

[8] “Miserable person that I am, I confess and lament to you before God that I am a sinful and weak creature. I do not keep God’s commandments; I do not really believe the gospel; I do nothing good; I cannot bear ill. (Especially have I committed…which burdens my conscience.) I therefore ask that you, in God’s stead, would declare to me my sins forgiven me and comfort me with the Word of God.” Marshall, “Salvation within Our Reach, p. 21.

[9] “May God who pardoned David through Nathan the prophet when he confessed his sins, and Peter weeping bitterly for his denial, and the sinful woman weeping at his feet, and the publican and prodigal son, may that same God forgive you all things, through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and set you uncondemned before his terrible judgment seat. Have no further care for the sins which you have confessed. Depart in peace.” ibid.

[10] ibid.

[11]  Wiecher, p. 34.

[12] “While private confession and absolution are ‘unnecessary,’ they are a helpful gift that God has given to us. We know that God has forgiven us all our sins, but Christians frequently are troubled by specific sins. They need reassurance and confidence that they are really forgiven. Satan constantly tempts us to doubt our forgiveness and salvation. Private absolution gives us a powerful weapon and reassurance as we hear a fellow Christian embody Christ’s commission to forgive. They forgive us for specific sins in a concrete way. Christians receiving the gift of absolution often describe it as a liberating and uplifting experience. Certainly it is, because it is centered in the liberating and uplifting Gospel.”Stephen P. Mueller, Called to Believe, Teach, and Confess: An Introduction to Doctrinal Theology, Wipf and Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2005, p. 322.

[13] Klan, p. 12.

[14] Luke 22:19.

[15] Lutheran Service Book,  p. 293.

Paper Part 3

Absolution as a Sacrament

When asked what Luther’s chief gift to the church was, Luther’s chief lieutenant, lawyer and friend Philip Melanchton said it was Luther’s correct teaching and proper use of the Sacrament of Penance.[1] And yet it was Melanchton who wished to retain private confession as a third sacrament in the foundling church and Luther did not. Their dispute centered on their definition of what a sacrament is. Luther wrote:

it has seemed proper to restrict the name of sacrament to those promises which have signs attached to them. The remainder, not being bound to signs, are bare promises. Hence there are strictly speaking but two sacraments in the church of God – baptism and the bread…The sacrament of penance, which I added to these two, lacks the divinely instituted visible sign, and is, as I have said, nothing but a way and a return to baptism.[2]

Luther thought of private confession as “salutary, but not sacramental.” According to Rittgers, Luther considered it “a pseudo-sacrament, a means of returning to the inexhaustible supply of grace one received in baptism.”[3]  Melanchton, meanwhile, in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, counts absolution as a sacrament of repentance, of being a symbolic act as a witness of grace and the forgiveness of sins. He wrote in Article XIII, “Therefore, the sacraments are actually baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and absolution, (the sacrament of repentance). For these rites have the command of God and the promise of grace, which is the essence of the New Testament.” [4] If Luther needed an outward sign, then the laying on of hands by the priest to the penitent would suffice.[5]

The argument over private confession took a different turn in the German town of Nurnberg, where a famous preacher, Andreas Osiander, considered private confession as the only valid confession, banning the practice of corporate confession of sins – “a congregational recitation of a confession of sin followed by a clerical absolution spoken to the whole assembly”[6] – which was also widely practiced and accepted by the Reformers. Osiander’s argument was that “laypeople would not attend private confession if general confession were practiced, because they would think the individual encounter with a pastor redundant.” [7] While both Luther and Melanchton were sympathetic to Osiander, saying that private was superior to general confession, they agreed that both should be retained in Nurnberg.[8]

Out of this storm came the conclusion that private confession a) was not a sacrament b) was still commended, c) should not exclude a general confession of sins. The Reformers agreed that private confession should be retained as a practice for Christian living.

The Demise of Private Confession

So what happened to it?

Rittgers blamed Luther’s hedging. “Luther contributed directly to Lutheranism’s uncertainty about the status of private confession. For better of for worse, the new rite was his rite.” According to Jeske and Kuhlman, in the years following the Reformation, the practice of private confession waned due to a combination of

·       “familiarity breeds contempt”: Jeske concludes, “the institutionalization and establishment of any Gospel-centered practice will eventually lead to some abuse through negligence and indifference. So it was with private confession.”[9]

·       practicality: The sheer enormity of one pastor – John Winkler, chief pastor in Hamburg – confessing 30,000 people’s sins made a mockery of the rite.[10]

·       War: The Thirty Years war decimated Lutheran territories, and many Lutheran churches did not have pastors for those decades; naturally, confession fell into disuse.[11]

·       Pietism: Its emphasis on individual’s confessing their sins to God alone instead of to the pastor and his theory of the transformation of the inner man led Spener to criticize it for its mechanical quality by 1670.[12] By 1698, the Elector of Saxony ordered all confessionals removed from churches.[13]

·       Enlightenment: Calling it “this unhappy remnant of the Roman enslavement of souls,” [14] private confession was almost totally abandoned by the end of the 18^th century. [15]

Johnson concludes, “The evident fact is, contemporary Lutheranism lives in a combined state of ignorance and denial concerning this ancient churchly practice commended at several places in the Augsburg Confession and urged on us by the reformers and many faithful teachers in our own day…true Confession and Absolution have not so much been reformed as simply abandoned.” [16]

---

[1] Kuhlman, p. 29.

[2] Rittgers, p. 314, my emphasis.

[3] ibid

[4] Kolb and Wengert,  p. 219

[5] Werner Klän, “The ‘Third Sacrament’: Confession and Repentance in the Confessions of the Lutheran Church,” in Heilvolle Wende - Buße und Beichte in der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche Oberurseler Hefte, Ergänzungs­band 5, edited by Werner Klän and Christoph Barnbrock, translated by Mathias Hohls, Göttingen: Edi­tion Ruprecht, 2010, p. 9.

[6] Rittgers, p. 315.

[7] ibid.

[8] ibid.

[9] Jeske, p. 3.

[10] Jeske, p. 4.

[11] Kuhlman, p. 30.

[12] Kuhlman, p. 31.

[13] Mark A. Jeske, "The Practice of Private Confession and Absolution in the Lutheran Church," essay file, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library, last modified 2010, accessed February 6, 2014, http://www.wlsessays.net/node/1017, p. 4

[14] Kuhlman, p. 31.

[15] Jeske, p. 4.

[16] Phillip Max Johnson, “Exposed by the Light: Confessing our Sin and Naming our Sins,” in Whatever Happened to Private Confession,  Lutheran Forum, Vol. 31, No. 3, 1997, p. 15