ATP: The Sharing of the Peace

"Peace be with you." This is the greeting after the prayers in Setting 4 of the Divine Service. Why do we do it? What should we say? What does it mean?

In learning this new setting of the Divine Service, the greeting after the prayers has more than a few people confused. Some have wondered what they should be saying. Others have inquired why we do this in the middle of the service. Still others have complained that it seems to break up the flow of the service.

What is this greeting? First, what it isn’t. It’s not a time for conversation, not a time to welcome visitors, not a time to catch up with friends, not even a time to say “hello.” When it becomes any of those things, the complaint that it breaks up the flow of the service is correct.

So what is it? A word of peace. The rubrics instruct, “Following the prayers, the people may greet one another in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘Peace be with you,’ as a sign of reconciliation and of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Matt. 5:22–24; Eph. 4:1–3).” In short, it’s a word of forgiveness.

This is a time to set aside past hurts, to give up grudges, to promise not to dwell on sins committed against you. This is a time of saying, “Since in Christ God has forgiven me an insurmountable debt, I will freely and fully forgive anyone who has sinned against me.” It’s what we pray God would enable us to do in the 5^th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Those who have been forgiven forgive one another.

“The sharing of the peace is an opportunity for the worshippers to be reconciled and to express the great love they have for one another” (Maschke, Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church, 146).

Why Go to Church?

A guest post from one of the elders here at Hope, Mark Kloempken:

"Most reasons for skipping church on Sunday are all pretty hollow. It’s boring. I get nothing out of it. I don’t like. I don’t like the Pastor or the congregation. Someone said something to me. Someone failed me in some way. I, an autonomous individual have decided I have spiritual authority and I don’t need church.

"Basically, none of us have got past Genesis 3, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Since the days of Adam and Eve, we have lived in the age of the autonomous individual. Some newspaper editors sent G.K Chesterton a question, what is wrong with this world. He replied, “I am.” G.K. Chesterton got it. He was the problem. God was the answer. But how does God get that answer to us?

"And why go to church. The biggest misunderstanding we have is that we go to church so that we are doing something for God when it is precisely the opposite. We go so that God may do for us through the word and sacrament. It is not that we may do but that God may do for us. What is the obedience of the Church? It is the reception of God’s gifts. It is all counterintuitive and foreign to our way of thinking, in other words bassackwards. God created you without you and will save you without you. And the way in which He does this is through Word and Sacrament. You may not think it. You may not feel it, but when you hear the Word proclaimed and preached God is at work. You may not feel edified. You may not feel an emotional high, but it is true none the less. God’s grace is communicated through the Word and the Sacraments. When a child is baptized, the child is present, the parents are present, the sponsors are present, the congregation is present, the Pastor is present and God is present and He is at work. Through the waters of baptism and the proclamation of the word, God gives the child the gift of faith. But God does not just tip his hat and wish the child well with the fond wish that the child will make it to heaven. He continues to work through the Word and the Lord’s Supper to strengthen and preserve that child’s faith unto eternal life.

"By rejecting Church, we are making ourselves our own saviors and rejecting God’s salvation in Christ. When this country was settled, some men were known as pathfinders. The explored the wilderness and then showed settlers the way through the wilderness. Fathers are pathfinders for their children. They lead the way through life’s wilderness. There have been studies that have shown that children are most likely to continue in the faith when their fathers by their behavior show that they value their faith. This includes study of the Word, behavior toward the neighbor and attending church. We live in an age where everyone would like to see God do something and we refuse to met Him in the one place He has promised to work – Church. And that is the reason why we go to church – it is where God is at work."

Dependent Spirituality

“I’m just not able to do anything anymore. I feel like a burden to my congregation because I can’t help out the way I could before.”

Such was the lament of an aging member of a sister parish. The older she got, the less she could contribute. Most of the time we look forward to old age and the frailties it brings with anxiety. “I don’t ever want to be a burden on my family,” people wish. “I don’t ever want to be that dependent on others.”

More often than not, God leads us out of this life the same way he brought us into it: completely dependent on others. As infants, we relied on others to give us food, change our messy diapers, bathe us, clothe us, keep us safe from harm every minute of the day. We were completely dependent.

Then, as we grow into adults, we treasure our burgeoning independence. We can dress ourselves, bathe ourselves, feed ourselves. The more independent we get, we can cook for ourselves or even grow and gather our own food. We can transport ourselves wherever we need to go. A significant part of the American Dream is independence. So, naturally, growing older and more dependent upon others is looked on with shame by the world.

But not the church.

In fact, that God brings us down from our illusions of independence to reveal how truly dependent on others we are is a healthy lesson in humility. To learn to be dependent it to learn to be a Christian. When people were bringing infants to Jesus—yes, infants, the helpless, completely dependent, constantly-needing-to-be-fed-and-changed kind of people—He extolled them as model Christians: “To such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Luke 18:15-17)

So whether at the beginning of your life, at the end, or numerous times in the middle, God is teaching you through dependence on others to be a Christian, a child of God, to inherit the kingdom of God. You did not make yourself a Christian; God made you one. You did not produce faith; God gave it to you. You do nothing to earn God’s favor; He gives it to you completely as gift. You are completely dependent on Him for every spiritual need.

So as your faculties decrease, as your strength wanes, as your ability to contribute to your congregation diminishes, rejoice. God is teaching you away from independence to complete dependence on Him.

When speaking of God, the old adage is false: it is not better to give than to receive. Faith receives what God gives. It is always better to be receiving from God than to be giving to Him. That’s what happens in the Divine Service: God comes to lavish His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation on us. We respond, giving Him our thanks and praise, of course. But the most important thing is that we receive what God gives.

In this season where giving is so highly exalted, don’t neglect the most important things: to be receiving from God. It’s a season chocked full of services, times when God and His Church interrupt your regular routine to bless you with more of His gifts. Don’t get so caught up in all the giving that you neglect the receiving.

Skipping Church and Cheating on your Spouse

It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I think Christians should be in church not just every Sunday but every time the opportunity is available. The only good excuse for missing a Divine Service is that you are physically incapable of getting there—if you are sick or homebound (in which case, I will bring the Divine Service to you).

That’s not just what I think. It’s what God thinks, too. The Third Commandment calls you not to despise preaching and God’s Word but to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. But that’s not the only commandment that tells you to receive the gifts God offers in the Divine Service as often as you can. There’s the First Commandment, too. You shall have no other gods. We should fear, love, and trust in God alone.

Whatever could keep you from church is a false god. Work and the desire for money, recreation, vacationing, camping, resting, sleeping in, time with family or friends, laziness, anger at the pastor or other parishioners, selfishness, shopping, and more are all false gods when they keep you from being in God’s house—where He comes to deliver His gifts—during any Divine Service.

“How often must I be in church?” is the wrong question. It’s akin to asking how often you must have dinner with your family or make love to your wife. Every time the opportunity is there is the answer. Faith never says “no” to God’s gifts.

Skipping church is like having an affair. It’s never permissible. Ask your wife if it’s ok if you spend an occasional night in someone else’s bed. Ask your husband if you can be a good wife by making sure that at least 51% of your sex is with him. Being in church “most of the time” is the same. That’s not my crass illustration. It’s God’s. Want to know what he thinks of breaking the First Commandment? Grab a Bible and read Ezekiel 16, preferably in a translation like the ESV or the KJV to get a good sense of the verb in Hebrew God chose to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness in chasing after false gods. God calls pursuing false gods whoring.

The truth is our sinful selves know no other way than to wander from God, to commit spiritual adultery against Him with false gods. If it were up to us to quit “playing the whore,” we would be hopeless. But it’s not up to us.

Every day you wake up, be thankful you’re not the prophet Hosea. God called many of the prophets to prophesy both in words and in actions, and Hosea was called to be a living example of God’s mercy. The Lord called Hosea to take a wife who would be unfaithful: “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom”(Hosea 1:2). So he did. And then God called Hosea to restore his adulterous wife to himself, to forgive her: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods” (3:1). God redeems His bride, buys her back from her sins, restores her to Himself, forgives her and makes her pure.

Though God through the prophet Jeremiah at the beginning of the book of Jeremiah called Israel a whore, by chapter 31, a chapter of pure Gospel, God calls Israel “virgin Israel.” You don’t need a sex-ed class to know that once virginity is lost, it can’t be regained. And a prostitute is the polar opposite of a virgin. And yet, all things, even the salvation of sinners, are possible with God. His forgiveness makes our adulterous hearts virgin and sin-free again.

Christ presents His Bride to Himself pure, spotless, dressed in white (Ephesians 5, Revelation 19). She wears His righteousness. She is pure and holy as her Groom is pure and holy. He takes her sin away.

The solution to chasing after false gods is to be found again by Jesus. The gifts He gives in the Divine Service are still here for you. They make you spotless and pure, virgin and sin-free, part of the holy Bride of Christ. Don’t ask how often you must receive them; ask how often you may.

Next Adult Bible Class

Beginning the Sunday after Easter, the Sunday morning Bible class will take a look at Lutheran worship, exploring the whys, whats, and hows of the Divine Service. Come check it out Sunday mornings at 8:30. A few of us gather for Matins beforehand (8:00), followed by time for fellowship (and sometimes coffee and sweets) before Bible class and Sunday school begin.

There are lots of resources that you might check out to prepare you for the class, ranging from the simple to the academic. Here are a couple I'd recommend.

CPH has a book by Pr. Scot Kinnaman, Worshiping with Angels and Archangels: An Introduction to the Divine Service. The book is aimed at all ages but would be particularly useful for children and those new to the Lutheran way of worship in order to help them understand the Divine Service. Pr. Kinnaman's blog has two tremandous resources, as well: a primer on Lutheran Worship and a glossary of ecclesiastical terms. Check these out.

Another book from CPH that would make a great companion volume to Bible class is Pr. Timothy Maschke's Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church.

Other volumes you will find helpful include some of those that should be on the bookshelf of every Lutheran family: a hymnal, The Lutheran Study Bible, the Treasury of Daily Prayer, and the Book of Concord.

For a more academic look at the Divine Service these resources may prove helpful:

Luther's Works, volume 53

The Conduct of the Service

Ceremony and Celebration

Lutheran Worship: History and Practice

Worship, Gottesdienst, Cultus Dei

The journal Gottesdienst as well as Gottesdienst Online, the accompanying blog, are also great resources for learners of the Lutheran Divine Service.

So, there you have it. Come and learn!

Skipping the Divine Service

I am convinced there's only one good reason to miss any Divine Service: you're sick (or otherwise unable to get to church). Travelling is not a good reason, since there's nearly always a church within some driving distance. Working is not a good reason, either, as man does not live by bread alone, and so many parishes offer midweek Divine Services.

So, every other reason a person might give for missing the Divine Service really exposes an underlying problem. If you willingly miss the Divine Service, it is either because you misunderstand the power of your sinful flesh (not to mention the devil and the world) and deny your need for forgiveness or because you do not believe that God delivers forgiveness in the service.

That's the point. God delivers forgiveness in particular means: the water of Holy Baptism, the word of the Gospel, the word of Holy Absolution, the bread and wine of Holy Communion. He does not deliver forgiveness apart from these means. That means, while sleeping in on a Sunday morning you may still feel forgiven, God has not promised to deliver forgiveness to you there. While getting some work done around the house on a Sunday morning, you may pray, God has not offered any of the means of His forgiveness there.

You don't go to church to pray to God, to praise Him, or to thank Him. You can do those things anywhere and anytime. You come to church to hear the proclamation of the Gospel and to eat the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus. Those things happen nowhere else.

Passiontide Ceremonies

Where did the Gloria Patri go? Why did the processional crucifix and the altar wall cross get veiled in cloth? Petersen explains.

These ceremonies teach what no modern day chancel drama could (and I say that as one who's written and performed a chancel drama in a chancel...yes, yes, revoco!). Things that have been fairly consistent for a year suddenly disappear. And it's all come upon us suddenly. First we gave up singing "Alleluia" until we sing it either eternally at the Lamb's Wedding Banquet or at the Easter feast. Then we stopped singing the Gloria in Excelsis, the song of the Angels. Then gave up having full bellies. Now we've plunged even deeper into this penitential season.

And we're not done yet. On Maundy Thursday, the altar will be stripped bare (as if to mock us after having been draped again in joyous white paraments!). Good Friday will revel in black and darkness. And Holy Saturday will end with the transition from mourning into joy--from Lent into Easter--as the sun sets and we rejoice in the risen Son.

Drawing People In?

Here's a thought-provoking article from the Internet Monk. And here are Lutheran reactions to that article at Paul McCain's blog. But the idea of Evangelicals looking for churches that feel like churches got me thinking.

If George Barna released a study that concluded that including the Lord’s Supper in a worship service was guaranteed to drive people away from the church, what would you do? If Thom Rainer studied 1,000 unchurched people and found that every single one of them was driven away from a church because the church advocated infant baptism, how would that affect the location of your baptismal font? If you had scientific proof that preaching Christ crucified would keep people from coming back to your church (or never coming in the first place), would you change the content of your sermons?

While the article is encouraging, I think it misses the point. We don’t embrace the liturgy of the church because it draws people in any more than we use Sacraments as ways to draw people in the door. The Sacraments are there because the Lord has given them to us. If they bring people in the door, great. If they drive people away, screaming in terror, vowing never to set foot in our churches ever again, we still must receive them.

If people want to return to churches where the history of the church is not denigrated, where the rhythm of the church year is repeated annually, where the liturgy is the same week after week, where sermons are preached in pulpits, where pastors dress like pastors and not baristas, great. God’s Word and Sacraments will be here for them. But if another study 10 years from now reveals a trend back toward pop-evangelicalism, God’s Word and Sacraments, wrapped in the holy liturgy, will still be here, doing what they always do: delivering forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Keeping Christ in Christmas?

That's just about the most arrogant thing you can presume to do: keep Christ anywhere. Christ will be in Christmas or absent from it no matter how hard you try to you keep Him there. Christ doesn't bend to your will. He is where He has promised to be, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to change that. So where is Christ? In the Mass, in the Divine Service, in the Lord's Supper.

Thanks to Mark for this article: http://atheism.about.com/od/christmasholidayseason/p/SecularChristma.htm

To de-secularize the season of Christmas, the writer proposes these actions:

· Put the Mass back in Christmas
· Restore Michaelmas
· Restore Candlemas
· Restore Childermas
· Restore the Feast of the Epiphany
· Restore the Advent season
· Restore gift-giving to the real Christmas season, which occurs after Christmas day
· Don't put up a Christmas tree until Christmas Eve — if at all
· Use Christmas as a day of contemplating Christ, not for engaging in commerce

Mass in Christmas? Check. Hope will have 3 distinct Divine Services celebrating the Nativity of Our Lord.
Michaelmas? Check. We celebrated it this year, albeit transferred to the Sunday before.
Candlemas? Check. It's coming: Feb 2. Join us for the Feast of the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord.
Childermas? Check. The Feast of the Holy Innocents will be celebrated Dec 28.
Epiphany? Check. Jan 6, every year.
Advent? Check.

Keeping Christ in Christmas is silly at best, sinful at worst. Instead, keep yourself in Christ. Receive His Body and Blood as often as He gives you the opportunity.

A Roman Catholic Walks into a Lutheran Parish

Here's the punchline:
http://pawlakimprov.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_pawlakimprov_archive.html#114533144772489981

Faith says “Yes”

Faith is the “amen,” the “yes,” to God’s gifts. Like an open hand, Faith receives what the Lord wants to give.

And God delights to give. The good work He began in each Christian at the day of his baptism, the Lord is continuing until the day of the return of Jesus (Phil. 1:6). God delivered the gifts of faith and forgiveness of sins in Holy Baptism, but He doesn’t quit once faith has been delivered. No, He is always working through the proclamation of His word to sustain faith. He is always working through the mouth of the minister to absolve sins. He is always working through His Holy Supper to forgive sins, to nourish faith, and to enable the faithful to love each other.

Faith says “yes”; it never says “no.” Unbelief says “no” to God’s gifts. Unbelief closes the open, receiving hand of faith. Unbelief tells God that, while His gifts may be good, they’re just not needed right now.

While unbelief and faith can coexist, as they did for the father of the demon-possessed boy (Mark 9:24), unbelief wars against faith. How long can a person refuse God’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation before he has completely destroyed God’s gift of faith? Who knows? Better not to find out.

If you know someone who, by continuing to refuse the gifts God offers in the Divine Service, is acting out of unbelief, warn him. Call him to repent and to receive the Lord’s good gifts that He offers freely and continually.

Monday, Monday

The joys of being a pastor are innumerable. The heartbreaks, too, it seems. It's always heartbreaking to get from my secretary the list of people who have missed 3 or more consecutive Divine Services. It's heartbreaking to read the names of people the Lord has entrusted to my care who are rejecting the Lord's gifts that He offers in the Divine Service.

We don't go to church to tell God how wonderful He is. "The worship and service of the Gospel is to receive gifts from God" (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, V, 189). God doesn't gather us together because He's so narcissistic that He needs to hear our praise so He won't be depressed the other 6 days of the week. No, He gathers His people because He loves to lavish His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation on them.

Consider a husband who, night after night, chooses to go out to the bar with his buddies rather than home to the meal he knows his wife has prepared for him. Imagine her heartbreak. Consider a grown child who lives in sickness and poverty because he continually refuses the gifts of assistance his parents offer. Imagine their heartbreak. Consider the person who disdains the gifts offered by his Lord in the Divine Service week after week or who only goes to church when there's nothing else that commands his Sunday-morning attention. Imagine the heartbreak of the Lord who delights to give gifts.

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live." (Isaiah 55:1-3)