Contemporary Worship and the Gospel of Relationship

I recently had the opportunity to attend the LCMS Model Theological Conference on Worship. During the conference there were a schedule of worship services that were intended to be examples of different styles of worship; the first was entirely traditional, the second was traditional liturgy accompanied by a praise band, the others began to rearrange portions of the liturgy, substitute custom elements for those prescribed by the hymnal combined with a greater array of contemporary worship songs.

As I was observing the different worship options, one thing that was pointed out (ironically by one who practices contemporary worship) was that during the traditional worship service the pastor was impersonal. The man and his personality were divested from the service. And, sure enough, as the contemporary worship forms were in use the personality of the pastor was on greater display.

This alerted me to an interesting reality; in classical Christian worship (ie. “traditional worship”) the personality of the pastor is muted. The man is there, but the personality of the man is inconsequential and it is unnecessary. What is important is that the man is present mainly to be the one who points the worshipers to Jesus. Who he is, how funny or clever he is, is ultimately of no effect. The thing that makes the worship service work has nothing to do with the man. It does have every thing to do with the Word. The man speaks the words and promises of Jesus. The man holds out the forgiveness of sins given by Jesus. The man is merely a vessel, empty and worthless except for the words given him by the Gospel.

Contrast this to contemporary worship. There is of course a continuum in place here, there are extremes. Let's consider Lakewood Christian in Houston an extreme. The thing that makes that worship work is the personality of the pastor. Joel Osteen's personality is fully on display. He is clever. He is witty. He tells stories from his own life, about his relationship with his wife, his children, his parents. His jokes and his stories draw the people in so that they are included in his life. Thus the effectiveness of the worship is directly connected to his personal life. The personality of Joel is the key for making the whole experience work.

In former posts I have mentioned what has been termed a “gospel of relationship”. As I have defined this “gospel”, one thing it does is reduce the Christian life to a relationship. The gospel takes on less of the character of forgiveness and instead is defined according to relational categories. It is emotive (a feeling), it is subjective, it is personal to an extreme. Jesus is discussed as a friend or even a lover, God is a daddy, the Holy Spirit is sensory.

If the gospel is truly reducible to "having a relationship with Jesus", it is then only subjective and relational. Therefore the entire worship service must be structured around those things that are subjective and relational. Take, for example the music. The music style is akin to the genre of the rock ballad, a genre that communicates feelings and ideas of love to the listener. The lyrics of the songs fall in step so that they carry the freight of a love songs to Jesus. (I could swap out the name “Jesus” for the name of my wife in many of the songs and sing it to her without changing anything else). Often during times of prayer there is “mood music” softly playing in the background. Many of the sermon topics have to do with either your “relationship” to Jesus or you relationship to your spouse or to someone else (eg. “Making Your Marriage Work", "Christians and Sex", etc.).

Very often, the pastor and his personality is the lynch pin. If the pastor is clever, funny, if he knows how to work the crowd, then the service works. People are attracted, seekers come to check it out and then come back in the following weeks. It is not enough for the pastor to simply point the way to Jesus and His objective means of forgiveness, the pastor has to be a performer and an entertainer.

Perhaps this is why there is so often an awkwardness to Lutheran contemporary worship. The forms don't fit together. In Classical Lutheran worship the pastor is a vehicle. The personality of the pastor can get lost in the liturgy because Christians haven't come to see the pastor. They have come to see Jesus. Granted, Jesus is hidden. He hides himself in the Word. He hides himself in, with, and under the bread and the wine. He hides himself in the proclamation of the absolution. But that is where Jesus is. Evangelical worship denies that Jesus actually and physically arrives when Christians gather to worship, so there is the need to conjure him up. Ambiance created through the right music, the quick wit and appropriately timed jokes of a clever pastor provides just the right stuff to set the mood for the romance with Jesus to begin.

Baptism vs Pietistic Self Delusions

I recently learned of the infidelity of a former colleague. I am troubled by the news - both out of heartfelt love and concern for my friend, and also because of the dishonor done to Christ and His preaching office. The damage on both counts is great and I mourn the loss.

When we learn of such infidelity, there is always the temptation for judgment. We pretend that we know better. We tell ourselves we would never do that. We pretentiously select the character flaw that we assume contributed to their demise. This is naive and unrealistic. Sinners fall into sin because they are sinners. And we are all sinners. Any one of us could just as easily fall into the same sin at a given moment. After all, who among us has not felt in some moment of weakness the bitterness of life and its great pressures weighing heavily on us? Who among us might not have fallen at that moment had the opportunity presented itself? It is only the grace and mercy of God that preserves any one of us from duplicating these sins. Such occasion calls each of us to repent and beg the Lord for mercy.

While we are foolish to pretend to offer explanations, what is of concern is that there often seems to be an influence of pietism on such situations. Pietism has at its heart the notion that the individual is and can be better than they are. Pietism promotes a self-delusion of personal righteousness that one must hold on to at all costs. Because pietism is built on your moral improvement you have to hold out for your own goodness, you have to pretend on the surface that you are "pulling it off", that you are living the Christian life, that you are an example for everyone else to follow. As a result, pietism forces us to overlook the sin that lurks within.

Pretending we are righteous doesn't make the Old Adam go away. He's still there, still lurking in the shadows. Still waiting for his opportunity to get out and do exactly the sin he has been scheming. Pietism overlooks that Old Adam. It pretends he isn't' there, that he has gone, that we have wrestled him away. But then, when the moment of weakness arrives, the old man is provided with just the opportunity he needs to sneak out and surprise us with what we should have seen coming.

The only antidote against sin is the gospel. Confession and absolution. Daily drownings in the waters of baptism. Paul commands us to shine the light of God's Word into the deep, dark places of our hearts and walk as children of light (Ephesians 5). Covering up the sin in a pietistic self delusion won't due. Only turning the bright light of God's Word into our hearts can expose that sin so that we acknowledge it, confess it, and are absolved from it. The sinner does not have the strength to overcome his sin. The sinner needs Jesus!

The only confidence we can have is in the grace and mercy of Jesus. For all those who have fallen, there is the promise that He will not hold their sins against them. "Though their sins be as scarlet, yet they will be whiter than snow." For those of us who have been preserved from such a fall, the only confidence is Jesus - in turning our hearts in confession and repentance to Him and daily living in the forgiveness that He provides in His means of grace.

Lord Jesus, may the New Man of my baptism spring to life again today as I confess my sin to you. Amen.

The Love of Money

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:26

A few years ago, Americans were collectively outraged when the corporate fat cats of Enron made off with millions from a company they had run into the ground while their loyal and hardworking employees suffered the loss of pension and livelihood. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. The government's prosecution of these corporate scoundrels provided what we all knew that justice demands.

While we all could smell the rat in the Enron scandal, we tend to believe our own stew has a less pungent odor. We tell ourselves, “I haven't stolen anything.” “I haven't cheated anyone.” Perhaps not, but the greed that moves the executive to swindle and the thief to steal is the same greed that cools our hearts with a love of money and possessions. “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” writes the Apostle Paul.(1Timothy 6:10) He is proven right from the scandals made public in the news and in the scandals that live on privately in our own hearts.

Jesus had it right. “A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15) Of what then does life consist? What is it that gives life value? Again, Jesus has the answer. “Do not seek food, clothes, what you will eat or drink... Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

It is the Kingdom of God! A kingdom that does not decay, that won't grow old, that won't wear out, that won't need to be replenished or replaced. God's kingdom is eternal. God's kingdom will be going strong long after the polish has worn off the Rolls Royce and long after the Rolex has stopped counting time. God's kingdom is forever.

But what of that justice? If the Enron execs got what they deserved for their greed, what about us? What is the cost for our sins? Higher than we can pay. It's one thing to sin against your neighbor, it's quite another to sin against God. You can pay off your neighbor and make that right. But you can never pay off God.

So God paid for us what we could not pay. “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1Peter 1:18-19) God sent Jesus, his own son, to die in our place, to pay our debt for our guilt so that we could inherit the kingdom of God.

How's that for a return on an investment! We put in nothing but our sin. We receive in return the riches of heaven. It's hard to imagine. But that is God's gift to us.

Worth a Listen!

In a former post I referenced an excerpt from At Home in the House of Our Fathers by Matt Harrison. The essay referenced in now available in mp3 format, as well as several others from the book at the It is Time website. The referenced essay is available below. Click the link to hear the rest!

I was recently privileged to appear as a guest on the radio program Issues, Etc. The interview is in reference to the post below on the The ELCA's Statement on Homosexuality and the Gospel of Relationship. Feel free to listen.

The ELCA's Statement on Homosexuality and the Gospel of Relationship

It is with some humor that I recall the 1999 visit of Pope John Paul II to the city of St Louis. I was a student at Concordia Seminary at the time and recall the local news coverage of the event. Everything was related back to John Paul's visit. Every night the local news would air the “Papal Traffic Report”, the “Papal Weather Report”, and the “Papal Sports Report” (okay, not really, but you get the point). Everything was related to the Pope's visit, whether it related or not – to the point of being a bit ridiculous.

There is little to no difference between this and the overemphasis on relationships on the part of the ELCA. Meeting in convention during the month of August, the ELCA decided to position itself as a “relational church body”, a church body ultimately concerned with preserving a positive relationship among all groups and categories of people regardless of race, creed, color, lifestyle or orientation. Of course, we are referring to the official approval granted to same sex couples at the recent Church Wide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Let it be said, an emphasis on relationships is not, by itself, a bad thing. After all the Bible does have something to say about relationships. As human beings we exist in all kinds of relationships: husbands & wives, parents & children, masters & slaves, citizen & Caesar – the Word of God and Jesus himself has plenty to say about all these relationships. But when Scripture would deal with these relationships it always does so in the categories of our sin and God's grace, God's law that condemns our failures in these relationships and God's Gospel that forgives those failures, our repentance for our sin and God's unconditional response of forgiveness. (We also might add in our response of forgiveness to each other as we receive and enjoy God's forgiveness.) In this light, all relationships are governed through the theological lens of the Cross of Christ.

The ELCA would run it differently. Instead of applying Biblical categories of sin & grace, law & Gospel, repentance & forgiveness they employ categories of relationships that they have gleaned from social sciences. While paying lip service to Lutheran theology what they are most concerned to discuss are the relationship categories. Instead of letting Lutheran theology and Scripture speak for itself, it is all crammed back in to these categories.

Prominent in the discussion of Human Sexuality is a category that they call “trust”. Christians talk about trust all the time. We use the term to define our relationship to God. We “fear, love and trust in God above all things.” No problems there. But when “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” (the official social statement adopted by the assembly) discusses trust they have a different sort in mind. Theirs is a trust that has been ripped open, dumped out, and then stuffed full of a new meaning. To quote: “Trust, as used in this statement, is a fundamental characteristic of right relationship. God is unfailingly trustworthy to us and all of creation. Just as we learn by faith that a right relationship with God is a relationship of trust rather than rebellious self-assertion, a right relationship with the neighbor is one in which each seeks to be truly worthy of the other’s trust.”

Notice what happened. Instead of trust describing how we relate to God as people who are completely and totally dependent upon him for all our needs of body and soul, trust is simply a component of successful human relationship whereby we behave in a manor that does not violate the confidence of another. It's all about relationships.

The same can be said of sin. A faithful, biblical understanding of sin understands that what makes sin to be sin is that it is offensive to God. It is something God address with a particular command. Not so here. The definition of sin has shifted. Speaking in reference to the Sixth Commandment “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” would have us understand as sin those things that simply violate trust. Observe:

“Promiscuity and sexual activity without a spirit of mutuality and commitment are sinful because of their destructive consequences for individuals, relationships, and the community. (emphasis added) The Apostle Paul’s list of vices (e.g., fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry) warns believers of the dangers of gratifying “the desires of the flesh,” thereby turning away from belonging to Christ and God’s kingdom (Galatians 5:19–21). The breakdown of trust through the sexual adulteration of the bonds of the committed, intimate, and protected relationship of marriage wreaks havoc for the family and the community, as well as for the people involved.”

Faithfulness to the Word of God takes a back seat. What has suddenly become the most important thing is faithfulness to the new ethic of trust.

Trust continues to take center stage even when it directly intersects with discussions regarding the correct understanding of the Word of God. “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” is not so much concerned to take on those biblical passages that do deal directly with the issue of same sex relationships. The document acknowledges that there are different understandings of these all important Biblical texts. However, in the interest of the new ethic of trust we are instructed to set these differences aside and simply respect the bound consciences of those with whom we disagree all in the interest of “Christian Freedom”. All in the interest of trust.

One must wonder, if trust is the primary ethic running the ELCA, how long will it be before those who violate trust through a faithful proclamation of God's Word are suddenly the sinners?

This new ethic creates such grave danger for Christians and for non-Christians alike. Suddenly something that God has clearly identified as sin in his Word has been recategorized and redefined. Homosexuality is no longer sin. It is now simply just a relationship. There is no need for repentance. If there is no need for repentance there is no need for forgiveness. The effect of this move is catastrophic. Christians troubled by and struggling with the sin of homosexuality will stop struggling. They will give themselves over to this sin and they will give themselves over to God's judgment. Unbelievers hardened in their sin will be affirmed and will not be called to repentance.

God's judgment for the sin of homosexuality is important. Likewise God's judgment for every other sin. Why? The world is full of sinners. But the problem with most sinners is that they refuse to believe that they actually are sinners. Most sinners refuse to believe that they are actually bad enough to be condemned. (In that light, we would do well to remember Adam and Eve's sin that resulted in their expulsion from Eden – they ate a piece of fruit; not exactly an “FBI's top ten most wanted list” kind of offense!) We are all guilty. But we need to hear God's law and God's judgment so that we are moved to repentance and so that we are pointed to our dire need for Jesus.

We proclaim the Law, but not simply as an excuse for condemning others – far from it! We proclaim the law as a means for diagnosing sin. Once the sin is diagnosed the medicine of the Gospel is applied. Liberally and often. Homosexual (and heterosexual) sinners need to hear the life giving promise of salvation won for them by Jesus on the cross.

Insights from Our Fathers

A few years back when I was serving in a different district I became acquainted with a congregation that was looking to "revitalize" itself. The senior pastor had cooked up a scheme whereby he would generate new life in his own congregation (a congregation he felt needed to be “revitalized”) through a church planting program. The congregation's method was to plant a new congregation every few years with the intention that this planting process keep them infused with excitement.

I might ask, why is it that when we see the effects of sin drawing away the life of the congregation, our assumption is always that we are the ones who have the where-with-all to do anything about it? (I suppose we might also just as well ask why individual Christians feel the need to "do something" (i.e. go to a conference, recommit myself, etc.) when we personally feel the need to be revitalized?) The aforementioned example proposed an outreach/daughter-church-planting program to build up the congregation. There are plenty of other “revitalization” projects and processes that are currently en vogue in our own Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Most of them share the common theme of "structure and governance". Most of the time a key component in the changes involves bylaws.

Perhaps we should take a step backward as we are considering how to take the next step forward. History has wonderful lessons to teach if we are but willing to listen and learn.

There is a great piece written originally by Friedrich Pfotenhauer for a conference of visitation pastors back in 1936 that speaks to this “contemporary” issue appropriately and beautifully. It has been translated by Matt Harrision and appears in print in At Home in the House of My Fathers. A worthy read. Check it out and read it here.

Pfotenhauer offers to us today the following guidance:

"First, we must guard against trying to elevate this spiritual life with means that cannot accomplish what we seek. An attempt has been made to elevate spiritual life in the home congregation by rousing the Church to missions and directing her sight to the misery of the churchless and especially the poor non-Christians. To be sure, the work of mission is a glorious and invaluable thing. But to speak and act as though it were through participation in the work of mission that the Word of God must be made living and powerful is simply wrong. To forsake at home the confession of the external Word and the heavenly doctrine while rambling afar in the opinion that the Church must be saved and enlivened with mission is Schwarmgeisterei."

He goes on:

"Others would heal Joseph’s wounds with tighter church governance. They say, if our presidents, visitors, and commissions had more authority, if they could prescribe things to congregations and the congregations had to obey, then life would be brought to these dead bones. Without question, if such a yoke were laid upon the necks of the children, many external works would be produced. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be that difficult to get the money to begin flowing. But that would in no way elevate spiritual life. In fact, it would suffer a terrible retrogression. The Gospel tolerates no hierarchy."

Finally he concludes:

"If we desire to elevate spiritual life, then we must be completely confident in the way of salvation. God from eternity has established and laid down clearly and plainly in His Word this order of salvation. If we do not follow this, spiritual life will neither be begotten nor elevated. And since the way of salvation is so very foreign to human nature, unless we constantly take note of the Word, we will go astray in doctrine and practice.

"Spiritual life comes about, and will be maintained, through faith in Jesus Christ, through confidence in the declaration of justification, which God has created through the redemptive work of Christ and proclaimed in the Gospel. And this spiritual life is realized immediately through holiness and piety, and through living in the commandments of God."

There is much more to his address and it is entirely worthy of reading. The basic point it this: if you want to see revitalization both in the church and in yourself, cling to Christ... where He has promised to be... in His Holy Word! In His Sacraments! There you will find Christ. There you will find the Spirit of Christ. Let us not fall prey to these new measures that would wrestle faith away from Christ where He can be found in His Word. Let us not attach faith to what is its only alternative - our own "good" works!