The Lutheran Zephyr

Variable (or Vagarious?) Liturgical Texts

P   Most merciful God,
C   we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

- from the Brief Order of Confession and Forgiveness, in Lutheran Book of Worship

I said these words nearly every Sunday during my childhood.  For years I confessed that I am in bondage to sin, and cannot free myself.  These words, repeated weekly in community and by hundreds of thousands of Christians across the whole church, formed me in a way that no Sunday School lesson, no retreat, no single worship experience could.  That's the power of liturgy - repeated, patterned, intentional words spoken and sung, to give birth to faith and shape to the Christian life.

Since my early twenties I have been part of congregations that use variable worship texts, usually from Sundays and Seasons (and the wonderful website, www.sundaysandseasons.com).  Though I haven't carefully studied its methodology or nuances, Sundays and Seasons seems to offer texts for seven liturgical elements: Confession of Sins, Greeting, Offering Prayer, Invitation to the Table, Prayer after Communtion, Blessing, and Dismissal.  These texts seem to be designated seasonally, and written carefully to reflect the season.  For example, the Advent texts reflect the season's waiting and hopeful sentiments; the Lenten season's texts embrace a more penitential tone.  As someone who loves the cycle of the church year I find these texts to be very helpful in articulating the meaning of the church seasons and drawing out the faith experience of those seasons.

BUT . . . (there's always a but)

But what we gain in highlighting the seasons with variable texts we lose in the weekly repetition of carefully crafted texts.  One of the strengths of the liturgy is its consistency, and when we frequently change the liturgy we risk weakening the liturgy's power to speak to our souls.  The texts of the old Lutheran Book of Worship liturgies - and their deeper meanings - were drilled into my bone marrow after many years of worshiping and praying with them.  These liturgies formed me - at first subconsciously, of course - and to this day are the framework on which my understanding of faith and church are formed.  If these texts change several times per year, do we receive the same benefit?

As a hospital chaplain I noted two types of patients who drew considerable strength and comfort from their faith - Roman Catholics, and Evangelicals.  The Roman Catholic patients would spend time reciting prayers from Mass, saying the rosary, and welcoming the priest into their room to share sacraments.  These are people whose faith was formed by liturgy, and who in times of need drew strength from the liturgical prayers and practices that had been part of their life for many years.  The Evangelical patients were not reciting liturgical prayers, but repeating memorized Scripture and singing beloved hymns that had been part of their faith practice for many years.  For both the Catholic and the Evangelical, long-practiced disciplines of faith (disciplines often poo-pooed by those who would seek to be "contemporary," "relevant," or "contextual") came to be sources of comfort in times of distress.

Whatever disciplines we practice or liturgical texts we use, may we use them in a way that fosters faith formation and helps our churches fulfill their mission to be the Body of Christ proclaiming the Gospel and sharing the sacraments faithfully and graciously.

I Cried Like A Baby

Today I was Approved for Ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Upon hearing those words, I cried tears of joy and relief and thanksgiving.

More thoughts and reflections later.  After a nice dinner with my dad and step-mother, and a stop at FedEx-Kinkos to download the Diane Rehm Show on my iPod, it's time to make the 3-hour drive home.

I'm going to be a pastor in Christ's church.  I still can't quite believe it.

Lord, have mercy upon me.
Christ, have mercy upon me.
Lord, have mercy upon me.

"No We Can't" - A Pentecost Sermon

I've posted my sermon for the Festival of Pentecost, entitled No We Can't.  It's linked, along with all my extant sermons, at my sermons page.

I also finally got around to posting my Palm/Passion Sunday sermon, entitled In Between.

A blessed week to you all!

Sermon: Lord, if you had been here . . .

My sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent - Lord, if you had been here . . . - is now posted over at my sermons page.

Sunday Sermon: Knowing - and not knowing - God

My sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent, Knowing - and not knowing - God, has been listed over at my sermons page.  In it I wrestled with John 3:8, "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes."  With John 3:16 and the whole Nicodemus story, and with the wonderful Romans and Genesis texts, there were so many possibilities for preaching.

Peace to you!

Go Vote in the Chesapeake Primary

Do your civic duty.  Get out and vote.

Tuesday is the Primary Election in Maryland, DC and Virginia.  It is the "Potomac Primary" if you listen to WAMU or read the Washington Post, and the "Chesapeake Primary" if you listen to WTOP.  (I find "Chesapeake Primary" to be more descriptive - the Chesapeake Bay has a greater reach and impact on residents of Maryland, DC and Virginia than does the Potomac River - even if "Chesapeake Primary" lacks the alliteration that broadcasters love.)

I'll be working a Fairfax County polling station as an Assistant Chief Election Officer - I was promoted to Assistant Chief after serving one election as an Election Officer!  I find it an incredibly meaningful way to support our democratic process and serve God and neighbor in a truly Two Kingdoms kind of way.

And so a prayer for election day (from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, a prayer for Responsible Citizenship):

Lord God, you call your people to honor those in authority. Help us elect trustworthy leaders, participate in wise decisions for our common life, and serve our neighbors in local communities. Bless the leaders of our land, that we may be at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Vote in the right place!  Find your polling location:
Virginia
Maryland
District of Columbia

Keeping Busy

Lent is beginning with a bang:

• Wednesday: Preach Ash Wednesday (done!)
• Thursday: Internship Cluster Meeting and my wife's Thursday night class (she returns home at 11pm)
• Friday: lead the first of our weekly Way of the Cross lenten devotions
• Saturday: offer workshop on Faith in Daily Life for spirituality conference at my congregation
• Sunday: lead adult education hour on prayer, and lead evening small group also on prayer
• Tuesday: serve approx. 18 hours as Assistant Chief of Elections (more about this later, I hope) at a polling station for the Fairfax County Board of Elections
• Wednesday: continue my Real Faith in a Virtual Reality project with a gaming event at church

To make life somewhat easier, there may be significant overlap between my Saturday workshop and Sunday morning Adult Education hour, and also between Friday's Way of the Cross and the Sunday evening small group on prayer.  Still, there's lot to do.

Sermon prep: A Face-to-Face God

On the front page of Saturday's Washington Post is a nice piece about a local Boy Scout troop that recently had eleven of its members earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Such a feat is unprecedented, scouting leaders say.  I know from my experience in working with youth that Eagle Scouts are few and far between.  One reason is that achieving the rank of Eagle Scout requires a ton of work.  And another reason is that, well, scouting really does not have a strong appeal to today's teens.  From the article:

Scouting has rarely been cool. But in a world of iPods, traveling soccer clubs, 24-hour cable television and Wii, Boy Scout oaths and three-finger salutes seem more than a little dated.

I love the contrast between the "cool" of contemporary culture and the "not-so-cool" of scouting - it is the kind of contrast that we in the church face as well.  In my experience the church too often complains about its declining cultural stature while responding in two counterproductive ways:

• becoming inflexibly entrenched in "traditions" that are nothing more than cultural legacies from the 1950's, or
• poorly appropriating the coolness of culture - marketing glitz and multimedia - in hopeless attempts to appeal to a new generation. 

Neither strategy will get us anywhere.  But perhaps we can learn from this troop of Boy Scouts.  Why did these eleven teens choose to make time for anachronistic scouting oaths and three-finger salutes at the expense of Wii and soccer clubs? 

As you read the article you sense that these eleven boys - whose misbehavior and tantrums when they first entered Boy Scouts gave leaders little hope that they'd achieve anything - formed a shared identity and built a bond that kept them together and helped them achieve what would have seemed impossible a few years ago.  This group stuck together not because of the appeal and entertainment value of video games, iPods, or any other wizbang technology gadget.  No.  It was much more simple than that.  They had scouting, and they had each other.

The meat of any group endeavor - be it religious, civic, or of a hobby interest - is in the face-to-face sharing and meaning making that happens when people come together around a common interest. What makes a scrapbooking event memorable and meaningful is not necessarily the completion of a project, but the sharing and interaction that took place during the evening.  The baseball games that I love to attend are much more meaningful and memorable if I go with someone, someone with whom I can share in the ups and downs of a dramatic game.  Experienced alone the game is just not the same.

So too with faith.  Faith is best shared and experienced in the simple face-to-face encounter with others and with God.  The glitz of websites and videos, or the intentional shape of curricular and devotional materials can be helpful tools, but they are no substitute for the personal encounter with God and each other (see my recent post My First Nooma Video).  Perhaps we need to focus less on the tools and the techniques of our ministries, and more on the meat itself - the face-to-face encounter we share when we gather as the Body of Christ, and the Face of God that is revealed to us in those encounters.

In this Sunday's Psalm (Psalm 27:1, 4-9) we read:

"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, do I seek.

In the Gospel text for Sunday (Matthew 4:12-23) Jesus comes face-to-face with Peter, Andrew, James, and John, calling them to be disciples.

In the Epistle (1 Corinthians 1:10-18), Paul contrasts the eloquent wisdom of the world with the foolishness of the cross.  We are not in the business of worldly eloquence, he says, but in a calling of Christian foolishness.

Face-to-face, personal, authentic encounters with God and with each other might run counter to the wisdom of technology and multimedia marketing tools.  But it was to a simple invitation, offered face-to-face, that Peter, Andrew, James and John responded.  And it is with just a morsel of bread and a splash of wine that we encounter God, face-to-face, at the Table. 

The simple stuff of a face-to-face God.

Why Aren't I in Peru?

I had a wonderful conversation today with a friend from church.  He's a fascinating faith-filled person who thinks about and intentionally practices his faith, always seeking to live more faithfully.  Talking with him is a real blessing.

We got to talking about discipleship, living into our vocations, and using our gifts for the good of the world and Christ's church.  And I asked him, "Why aren't I in Peru?"  I then explained to him that I once thought I would serve as a missionary in Latin America, teaching, preaching, and doing ministry side-by-side with the poor and oppressed.  I majored in Latin American Studies, spent time in Chile, Ecuador, Cuba and elsewhere, and received a Latino Ministry Concentration with my Master of Divinity.  I was primed for Spanish-speaking ministry, either here or abroad.

My plans for entering Latino ministry were thwarted when I dropped out of seminary back in 1999.  Dropping out of seminary was one of the dumber decisions I ever made, a prelude to a few years of deep personal introspection (ie, therapy) in which I ripped opened some serious emotional baggage.  I would eventually repack that baggage in a more orderly fashion, and I got my life back in gear within a few years.

During those years my focus was on getting myself to a better emotional state, and pastoral ministry was temporarily out of the question.  I worked in public education and later two non-ordained positions in church institutions.  As life progressed I necessarily concerned myself with things such as paychecks, where I might live, and how I could convince this girl named Jessicah to marry me.  I dabbled in MBA and M.Ed programs.  I got married.  Had children.  Three of them.  And moved three times from PA to NJ, back to PA, and then to VA.  I returned to the Candidacy process.  Worked as a hospital chaplain for 9 months.  And now I'm an intern in a congregation, looking forward to an approval decision in May.

I never made a conscious decision to drop the Latino ministry dream.  It just kind of fell to the background, as other life factors took center stage.  And since those days another vision for my ministry has emerged - a more conventional ministry, to be sure - yet I can't get the call to Latino ministry out of my head.

And so the faithfulness conversation I had this morning . . . sometimes I wonder why is it that I'm in Fairfax, VA, rather than Cuzco, Peru.  What does it mean for me to be faithful to my calling, to use my gifts in ways that God would have me us them, to serve others while also providing for my growing family?

I love what I'm currently doing and the church I'm currently serving.  I can see myself in this kind of setting for the long term.  We have a more-than-adequate townhouse, my wife is thrilled about her new job as a professor of Christian Education and Formation, and our whole life situation - from church to neighborhood to schools - is extremely kid friendly.  Life is good, and we have many reasons to give thanks to God.

But there's a lingering question . . . and I don't know if it is a literal or rhetorical question . . . but the question is . . . Why aren't I in Peru?

Layperson Preside at Holy Communion?

Eric, who blogs over at The Heart of a Pastor, has a thought-provoking post exploring the issue of lay presidency at Holy Communion.  I've added my two cents with a comment, too.  Check out his post.  And if you haven't yet added him to your blogroll or feedreader, please do.  His is an excellent blog, truly showing the heart of a pastor.