Freedom, the Liturgy and the Communication of Grace
Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross
“If you think you are strong, you should be careful not to fall. The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.
So, my dear friends, run away from the worship of idols. I am speaking to you as to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say. We give thanks for the cup of blessing, which is a sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ. Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, because we all share that one loaf.” (1 Corinthians 10:12–17, NCV)
31 6. In line with the above, churches will not condemn each other because of a difference in ceremonies, when in Christian liberty one uses fewer or more of them, as long as they are otherwise agreed in doctrine and in all its articles and are also agreed concerning the right use of the holy sacraments, according to the well-known axiom, “Disagreement in fasting should not destroy agreement in faith.”
The questions or criteria for translation may be the following: Do these practices proclaim the gospel, the paschal mystery? Does this liturgical pattern and its practice immerse people into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Luther insists throughout the German Mass that the order of liturgy forms a community through the proclamation of the word. And “word” is here understood to be not only the word preached but also the word distributed, the visible (tangible) word. At the center of worship is word and sacrament.
In his effort to bring back word and sacrament in their evangelical character, Luther does not eliminate ritual, but reforms it. He takes the old, in this case the Mass, and makes it speak the gospel for the present moment
It is God’s will that we, too, should learn to accustom ourselves to these things through temptation and affliction, though these be hard to bear and the heart is prone to become agitated and utter its cry of woe. We can quiet our disturbed hearts, saying: I know what is God’s thought, his counsel and will in Christ, which he will not alter: he has promised me through his Son, and confirmed it through my baptism, that he who hears and sees the Son shall be delivered from sin and death, and live eternally. The heart possessing such knowledge is kindled by the Holy Spirit and armed against the flesh, the world and the devil.
I never put together, though I should have, the context of God providing a way out of temptation and the Lord’s Supper and our communion with the Body and Blood of Jesus. What a comfort it is to the broken, this sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus! What an incredible cleansing happens, as our sin is nailed ot the cross! Temptation, even at its worse cannot trump the power of Christ’s forgiving us, as He cleanses us with His own blood.
This is why it is essential to realize that the liturgy is more than cloned words, recited in rote. It is why there the Lutheran confessions talk about it in view of what is adiaphora, that which is neither commanded or prohibited, the areas of freedom. THat is not to say all the Service of Word and Sacrament is able to be changed, but neither is it all locked in, without room for ensuring it does hat it is supposed to be doing.
That is why Sander summarizes Luther’s thoughts by asking whether the liturgical pattern and practice immerses people in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That is where the comfort, the cleansing, the transformation comes into play, in that intimate relationship which shares in the death and resurrection, that accepts the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Restoring the evangelical nature, the presentation of the gospel through sharing in God’s revelation of our relationship with Him and the celebration of it is what makes the Liturgy,
Which is why it is effective as a tool to deal with sin and temptation.
This is the comfort of the Liturgy of the Sacrament, this is how it ministers to those who participate in it, this is why translating it, and making sure it communicates to those participating in it, is so essential. To lose that comfort because of the the pattern or the practice of it is not focused on communicating. It is not just about what the priest/pastor says, it is making sure people hear and understand that. This si why the assurance that there is adiaphora, why there is some freedom – to ensure communication of grace.
“The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, X The Ecclesiastical RItes called Adiaphora… ‘” Tappert, T. G., ed. (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 616). Mühlenberg Press.
Luther, M., & Sander, J. (1915). Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year (pp. 368–369). Augustana Book Concern.
Lange, D. G. (1526). The German Mass and Order of the Liturgy. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, p. 133). Fortress Press.
Posted on October 19, 2024, in Book of Concord, Devotions, Theology in Practice. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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