Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As a new Church Year approaches ( yes, Advent is just around the corner!), I wanted to begin a series of newsletters teaching about the Christian Church year, the liturgy, and the various ceremonies and rites of Christ’s Church. These rich treasures that have been handed down (tradition) to us through the ages connect us to the countless faithful who have gone before us and those who will follow. Indeed, each of these things are guided by St. Paul’s words to the Christians at Ephesus “One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all who is over all and through all and in all.” ( 4:5 6) But if we don’t understand what these things are or why we do them, it will be easy to throw these things away. Our liturgy, our calendar, our hymns, our vestments, our readings – all these things have purpose, THE purpose, of proclaiming the Gospel purely to people of all times and all places that they too may be saved.
When we join the body of Christ, we are brought into something that existed long before us and will exist long after us (or at least until our Lord returns, and even then…). Some people believe that the Church needs to bend itself to the culture in order to be more inviting and look more like the people with whom it is interacting. There is a limited truth to that. One of the earth shattering moves that Luther made was to translate the Bible into German and write hymns in German. When God speaks to His people, they should be able to understand what He says. At one time that was Hebrew. Jesus most likely spoke Aramaic and perhaps Greek and Latin. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit miraculously enabled the disciples to speak the Gospel in many different languages (gibberish was not one of them). Even the times at which the Church gathers together for worship vary from place to place. We don’t walk around in tunics and sandals (at least, not around these parts!). We sing hymns written centuries ago and hymns written by saints still living. There is rich beauty in the tapestry of the Church that we celebrate and embrace. We don’t do things in the Church just because they are old.
However, we also don’t throw them away simply because they are old. Nor do we do something just for the sake of new. It is a special arrogance that tosses out the wisdom and practice of millennia of the faithful because we think we are better or know better. The worship of our forefathers was a direct product of the faith that they confessed – the one faith that we confess with them. It wasn’t a haphazard conglomeration of people’s individual preferences. In fact, when we look at the Old Testament, we quickly see that God didn’t leave worship up to man. God was meticulous in giving the words, the worship, the temple, the incense (e.g. Lev. 10:1), the vestments, the dates of feasts and festivals, and who was allowed in the temple to do what.
Why did (does) God care so much about worship? Because salvation matters. Isn’t it just a matter of personal preference? No. Within the life of the church, people of all types of preferences and backgrounds are brought into unity. The Church is its own culture in but separate from the world. When man invents his own worship, without exception it places the emphasis on man -what man does and what man likes and what man wants God to be. Look at any religion except the true Christian religion and you will see how that is the case. But true Christian worship is not about what man does for God -that’s the Law and that’s what condemns us. True Christian worship is above all other things receiving in faith what God has done FOR YOU. True Christian worship is sinners standing before God to receive life and mercy from Him -that’s the Gospel. The earliest example of this truth is Cain and Abel. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews makes clear that the difference between their sacrifices wasn’t one of quality, but of faith. Cain trusted himself and his sacrifice. Abel trusted God and His Word.
So as we begin looking at these various elements of Christian life and worship, it’s important that we keep in mind the fundamental question -does this point me to Jesus for salvation or to man? Does this uphold God’s graciousness or my own self righteousness? Is this about what I do for God or what God does for me? In December, we’ll start by looking at the Church Year and how we as Christians mark time.
-Pastor Ulmer