Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I pray you are finding ways to refresh and renew yourselves for ministry in God's world this summer. I enjoyed a week of classes for pastors at Pacific Lutheran University June 16th through 19th. One of our instructors was Dr. Gordon Lathrop, who teaches at the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia and helped shaped the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship book. He shared this great illustration and I pass it on to you.
A big bell hung in the bell tower at West Denmark Lutheran Church in Luck, Wisconsin. In bold letters around the rim, the bell said, "To the bath and the table, to the prayers and the Word I call every seeking soul." Of course the inscription was in Danish, but that's the English translation. The bell emphasizes the main things in our worship life as Lutheran Christians: baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer and the Word of God. "To the bath and the table, to the prayers and the Word I call every seeking soul." Dr. Lathrop was lamenting to his friend that the inscription said nothing about music. His friend said, "Gordon, it's a BELL." The bell rings out the music calling every seeking soul to worship God.
Dr. Lathrop emphasized talking about worship in very human terms that people can easily understand. Everyone bathes. Every culture gathers around the table to share food. Everyone prays at some time in their life. Everyone has words, true or untrue, which they place great importance upon. In Jesus Christ all these things become new and take on greater meaning. But Jesus used very ordinary human things and very human language to convey the saving love of God.
That's a good reminder to us in the Pacific Northwest: the most unchurched area of our country. It's a good reminder to me as a pastor. You may have read the recent article about me in the Daily Record. The newspaper did a pretty good job I think, but there was one misquote which was my own fault. I said that the church is wherever people gather around the Word and the sacraments. "Sacraments" is too churchy a word for the general public and the paper said, "Wherever people gather around the word and the Bible." I should at least have said, "The church is wherever people gather around God's Word in the Bible and Baptism and the Supper of our Lord Jesus." That might have made it clearer.
"To the bath and the table, to the prayers and the Word I call every seeking soul." Let me share a few more of Dr. Lathrop's thoughts on baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer and the written and spoken Word of God.
Bath. Many people wash daily and in many cultures a person is bathed to mark a new chapter in life. Christian baptism is not done alone. The sponsors, pastor and community are present with the baptized person. We also don't wash ourselves. We are washed by another and especially we are washed by God. Baptism is washing, but it is also the bath which makes you dirtier. Baptism identifies you with the bloody, dirty, cross of Jesus. We are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism leads us out the door to identify with all the so-called "dirty" people with which Jesus fellowshipped.
Table. We often call it the altar and that's fine. But the Lord's Supper is a meal which people eat around a table with Jesus and with each other. Jesus ate many meals with all kinds of people. He was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners. The table is opened up by Jesus to all. Jesus says, "This is my body FOR YOU." We know that very early Lord's Suppers were full, potluck meals which included bread and wine. After a while Christians purposely ate only part of the potluck, the bread and the wine, so they had plenty of food to give to the hungry and homebound. They still brought the meat and potatoes, (I don't know if they had red jello), but they gave that away so as to help bear witness to God in the world through the sharing of food.
Prayer. All human beings instinctively know to pray for "me and mine" in difficult times, even if they don't believe in God. But Jesus comes and turns that into prayer for other people, for the needs of the neighbor and for the coming kingdom of God. Prayer is rejoicing in what is good and beautiful and thanking God for that. Prayer is also telling the truth: lamenting that which is not good and beautiful and genuinely praying for all creation.
Word. We live in an age glutted with words, many of which are just not true. When Jesus Christ comes to our own life stories, then we can be done with lies and our "dead ends" are where Jesus brings resurrection. We are brought to truth and life through the communal reading, preaching and teaching of God's Word, which is the Bible and is the crucified and risen Jesus.
Music. ("Gordon, it's a BELL.") We need to reclaim singing together. We live in a culture of watching other people sing and perform, but there is very little singing together. Worship is one of the few places where we sing together about what God is doing in the world.
As the church bell says, "To the bath and the table, to the prayers and the Word, I call every seeking soul." Stronger bath, stronger table, stronger prayers, stronger Word, stronger music: these help renew our worship in our saving God and send us out the door to share the love and good news of Jesus with our world.
Serving Jesus together with you,
Pastor Dennis