Society of Saint Polycarp: What Would Jesus Do? Seriously.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

What Would Jesus Do? Seriously.

The out-of-fashion (thank God!) question arising from the gray matter of gimmick-driven protestants does not pertain to daily life, so much. It appears that the Lord Jesus would pay His taxes; but whether He would cheer for the Tigers over the Royals is not so evident. He might lend support to St. Louis over Milwaukee in matters of Confessional interpretation, but ... sticking to baseball, for the moment ... this presumption is complicated by His predilections for the productions of brewers over those of cardinals.   He was perceived as an imbiber, and was more into towel-wrapped servanthood than displays of pomp, although even on earth He accepted prostrations and genuflection without protest. Riding a colt, the foal of an ass, was more His thing than a chariot or a Lear jet. I can easily picture Him taking the subway in NYC, rather than a bullet-proof stretch limo, if God's time had not been destined to be fulfilled when Caesar Augustus was boss of a Sea and parts North.   But His ways are not our ways, which would certainly have made for a jaw-dropper or two, had our own age been chosen to first host the Incarnation event.

The question above is, however, applicable to the current worship wars of the Lutherans, because here we have a definitive answer from Scripture.

What Jesus did, in engaging the groundlings made of ground, was to heartily insist that "The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the Gospel (Mk 1:15; AV)."

What should Lutheran worship resound with? With this: The time is fulfilled.  Lord Jesus has risen and has ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, which is not a limited locale, for He fills heaven and earth and indeed, holds the cosmos together. He is no longer in a state of humiliation.   But He has also promised to be with us, verily present where "two or three are gathered in [His] Name (i.e., the Invocation is more than a cheery greeting from the minister of the day!) . He has promised to be with us in His flesh and blood, for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord is the Kingdom of God.   He is truly and miraculously at hand.   He dwells inside us, in an astoundingly intimate communion, by and the through the means of the blessed Eucharist. Our eyes are opened to this in an Emmaus way, in the "breaking of the bread," which is first-century doctor-speak for the Holy Supper.   And like our brethren of the early Church, we should "break the bread" at least weekly.

Because true Lutherans believe and confess that God is our graceful King (we belong to a Kingdom, right?) and is indeed present, the Lutherans give God the due respect, awe and glory which comes with His being a King.  The form of Gottesdienst adoration and thanks is to be done "acceptably" (Heb 12:28; AV), which God tells us is a worship performed "with reverence and godly fear." Why? Because "our God is a consuming fire" i.e., a God of decency and of order, and not a god of the Dionysiac belly, from whence comes those unruly and naughty emotions (as Dr. Beaumont showed, years ago ... using that unfortunate Michilimackinac fur-trapper and stomach-holed Alexis St. Martin, as human guinea pig).

So save those unrestrained loin-cloth dances for outside the house of God, as St. David had the heart to do.

But in His holy Presence, inside His house (all of it, now, an unshaded Holy of Holies), it is far more natural, seemly and confessional to bend the knee towards what St. Paul describes as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) ... of the fullness of God found crucified, in the flesh; of the fullness of God found in a manger, in the flesh; and the fullness of God, found in the Holy Supper, in the flesh. Yes, we should worship differently from the protestants, because we confess and believe differently. The Lutherans indeed have a different Spirit ... as blessed Dr. Luther stubbornly insisted upon, and which Karlstadt dismissed.

Finally,  a confessing Lutheran worship should resound mightily. Not with a projection screen and praise-band trappings hiding the Altar, as I witnessed in Bloomington MN some years ago. But rather, with a hearty "Repent ye" ... which call drove the Church to come to its senses and to reform itself, in 1517 ... and a hearty "believe the Gospel," which comes to us both in the preaching and hearing of God's Word (which IS Christ), and the Sacrament (which IS His flesh and blood).

No need for speculation or for question marks! It's obvious. True Lutherans do, what Jesus did.  They do, what the Word Himself preached and endorsed through example, to be precise.

Many "Lutherans" have of course decided "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?"   And so, beset with fears and concerns about the numbers in the pews, they depart from Wisdom and go their own way (cf. Jn 6:60,66) to be "spoiled" by the glitzy "rudiments of the world ... not in accordance with Christ" (Col 2:8; AV).

Lord Jesus, convert and restrain these poor souls.   But do come quickly again, Lord, to rescue us; even as You do with every Gottesdienst.

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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).