Society of Saint Polycarp: Prophet, Priest and ... Pitcher?

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Prophet, Priest and ... Pitcher?

It's autumn, 2013 A+D at Boston's storied Fenway Park. The Red Sox and the visiting Tigers are battling in the second game of the AL Championship series. Jeff Seidel, sportswriter  for the Detroit Free Press, rapturously sets the table for us:

"It wasn't just that Scherzer was striking out the Red Sox.

It was how he was doing it.

He struck out Will Middlebrooks with a slider that left the third baseman all twisted around, like he had been screwed into the ground.

Scherzer struck out Dustin Pedroia and Pedroia had such a funky swing he dropped to his knee. As if kneeling before Scherzer.

Which seemed fitting and appropriate.

Scherzer was the king of the night, standing on his throne."

I have no firm idea as to where Mr. Seidel's salvific confidence lies, for his eternal bliss ... but he certainly possesses the meet, right and salutary idea as to the appropriate treatment of a king.

If Lutherans truly believed that the ascended Lord Jesus Christ 1.) is exceedingly gracious, and 2.) does not abandon His gathered sheep, as the "... there I WILL BE" promise of presence declares ... there would be far more dropping to the knee (i.e., genuflecting and the like) before the King of the ages, in the Divine Service of all Lutheran congregations.

Even the scribblers chained to the baseball-beat seem to intuitively grasp this wisdom.

And it's not a matter of "High Church" ritualism, per se -- rather, it's a matter of simple etiquette, and a directed fear and love, towards God who is on the mound ... there on the consecrated Altar if you will ... and is really and truly present within the Lutheran midst. A Lutheran tongue can honestly confess and joyously proclaim, together with old Simeon, that Lutheran eyes have seen his salvation.

So maybe the rest of the Lutheran flesh, should act like it.

On the other hand, if in the depths of his or her heart (or the brain's motor cortex), the "Lutheran" is convinced that because of a divinely-uncommunicated humanity, the great King 1.) is confined to a celestial box (like some sort of incompetent heavenly Houdini of Calvinist design); or 2.) is taking a royal nap, or a much-needed distant vacation like the Canaanite Ba'al, so that we have to scream ever louder in order to rouse Him (in the course of artfully cutting our throats with a northern chain-saw, say; or maybe not); or  3.) is best approached by a Wesleyan "spiritual ascent," through means of  vigorously thrusting our gravity-defying fists into the air ... a feat giving evidence to others and self, that our devotional fervency matches that of the squealing, center-staged Fenders of the rockers; or maybe by the swirlingly diaphonous liturgical belly-dances inside God's house, so as to better capture the attention of the snoring and grounded men-folk, if not that of His own distanced awareness ... well then, we are a people to be most pitied. As a confessing entity, through such tolerated actions, we are sending a message that we're all twisted around, like as if we've been screwed into the ground.

And as Max Scherzer "preached" in Boston, it's all because of those sneaky sliders. Or the purpose-driven screwballs. In print, at least, Mr. Seidel appears to heartily agree.

The game is nearing its end, things are reaching a climax, and the King of all deserves better, lots better from His fearing, loving, and loyal subjects.   Note the Present tense.

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About our Society

The Society of St. Polycarp is made up of Lutheran clergymen and laity committed to the confessional, liturgical, sacramental, and spiritual renewal of the Church of the Augsburg Confession. Since our Church's problems are not political, but rather spiritual, we pray God to grant us repentance, and seek no political aim. Members of the Society commit themselves to the following Rule.

The Rule
1. Members of the Society confess Holy Scripture to be "the pure, clear fountain of Israel" and also "the one true guiding principle," i.e., the sole norm or "judge, rule, and guiding principle" of the same (FC Ep. Comprehensive Summary, 7; FC SD Comprehensive Summary, 3). We rejoice in the tradition of the Holy Doctors and Fathers of the Church, in whom Christ kept His promise that "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against (My Church)" (Mt 16:18), so that the Lutheran confessors could say that "the churches among us do not dissent from the catholic church in any article of faith" (AC Preface to XXII, 1, Latin). We reject all methods of interpretation that seek to understand the meaning of Scripture apart from the guidance of the Church, through which God gave us the Scriptures.

2. Members of the Society will promote the importance of daily prayer and meditation on Holy Scripture. Members will commit themselves to praying at least one of the daily offices, keeping fellow members as well as the Church Catholic herself in their prayers. The ideal use of the offices is in the corporate setting; however, the praying of the offices in private is to be carried out if there is no alternative.

3. Valuing Holy Absolution as "a voice from heaven" (Ap. XII, 40), members of the Society will avail themselves of the benefit of this sacrament, as well as promoting its use. Members will seek out father confessors of their own for regular and frequent private Confession and Absolution.

4. Members of the Society will promote the Sacrament of the Altar as the chief parochial service in the Church of the Augsburg Confession (AC XXIV, 34). Members will receive the Sacrament of the Altar often, as well as encourage others to receive it frequently, thereby restoring the traditional Lutheran understanding of the central place of the Sacrament in Lutheran worship. As the Lutheran Symbols assume the weekly celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar (AC XXIV, 34-38; Ap. XXIV, 1), members of the Society will promote this evangelical and catholic practice in their own parishes and in the work of the Society.

5. As the Sacrament of the Altar is the true Body and Blood of Our Lord that is truly present, distributed, and received (AC X, German), members of the Society are committed to the evangelical and catholic doctrine of closed communion, i.e., not admitting to the altar to receive the Holy Communion those who have not previously been examined and absolved (AC XXV, 1-2), let alone those of a confession of the Faith contrary to that of the Church of the Augsburg Confession.

6. Members of the Society will promote the historic liturgies of the Church Catholic, since such liturgies shape pastoral practice and teaching that is consistent with the evangelical and catholic Faith as it has been handed down in Holy Scripture, the Ecumenical Creeds, and the Symbolical Books of the Church of the Augsburg Confession.

7. As the Lutheran Symbols confess the Blessed Virgin Mary to be "the pure, holy, and ever-virgin Mother of God" (Theotokos, Gottes Mutter), as well as "that the blessed Mary prays for the Church" (Ap. XXI, 27; SA I, IV, Latin; FC SD VIII, 24), it is altogether fitting, proper, and consistent with the Faith of the Church Catholic to honor the Blessed Virgin in liturgical celebration. Members of the Society will seek to restore the traditional Marian feasts of the Church of the Augsburg Confession (i.e., the Feasts of the Purification, Annunciation, and Visitation) as a testimony of the grace of God through her, that we might imitate the Blessed Virgin in word and example, and in thanksgiving for the Incarnation of the Son of God through her humble submission to the will of God. Members of the Society will also promote the observance and celebration of saints' days and commemorations. This is wholly in keeping with the evangelical and catholic tradition of the Church of the Augsburg Confession, whose Symbolical Books acknowledge the saints as fitting exemplars of the catholic Faith worthy of imitation, as well as our heavenly intercessors (AC XXI, 1; Ap. XXI, 4-9).

8. As the Church of the Augsburg Confession understands herself as a part of the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, particularly as she exists in the West, members of the Society will take seriously the commitment to the proper ecumenicity this demands. Members will pursue dialogue with:
• Fellow Lutheran Christians to foster and promote Lutheran unity.
• Our separated brethren in the Roman Church, with which the Lutherans at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 clearly sought reconciliation.
• The Eastern Orthodox Church, following the example of the exchange between the Lutheran theologians of the University of Tübingen and Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople (1573-1581).
This reflects not simply the Lutheran commitment to the unity of all Christians, but ultimately the will of Our Lord Himself (Jn 17).

9. Members of the Society will make every effort to make a retreat once a year for the purpose of disciplined prayer and study, silence and reflection, as well as the celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar.

Conclusion
Following the example of our patron, members of the Society ultimately strive to be faithful to Our Lord, recalling His words to St. John the Theologian: "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev 2:10). Members also pray God's grace that we may be able to hand over to our posterity the tradition we have received as Lutheran Christians, and that we may be able to confess with our forebears at Augsburg that "nothing has been accepted among us, in teaching and ceremonies, that is contrary to Scripture or the catholic church. For it is manifest that we have most diligently been on guard so that no new or ungodly doctrines creep into our churches" (AC Conclusion, 5, Latin).