Ceremonies and rites are often handed down from generation to generation, forming traditions. Yet they require the continual work of pastoral discernment so the Spirit can erupt in every context, in every heart, leading to faith and fear and finally to prayer. There is a deep con- textual awareness.
SHUTTERSTOCK
turned in on itself—and, unfortu- nately, this understanding of devo- tion has been a significant part of “exported” Christianity. The church’s mission to the world is rooted in the biblical witness that grounds the creedal and confessional witness. Both the Nicene and the Apostles’ creeds declare the unity of the church as a mark of the church. While the Apostles’ Creed speaks of “the holy catholic church” (the defi- nite article making clear that there is only one church), the Nicene Creed unambiguously declares that Chris- tians “believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church.”
If a particular church behaves as an exclusive community, not open to the other (or only allowing the other to participate as a second-class member), the very gospel of Jesus Christ—in which we all stand on common ground with open hands before the crucified and risen one— is violated. Race, ethnicity, culture, language, physical geography, etc., are not constitutive of the church. It was the assumption that any particular ethnic form of worship is applicable in all situations and contexts that incurred the critique of the Reformers.
According to the Augsburg Con- fession (1530): “It is also taught that at all times there must be and remain one, holy, Christian church. It is the assembly of all believers among whom the gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are admin- istered according to the Gospel.” That is all that is necessary. “It is not necessary for the true unity of the Christian church that uniform cere- monies, instituted by human beings, be observed everywhere” (Article VII, The Book of Concord, page 42). That is, cultural patterns in wor- ship, liturgy, prayer, life together, etc. must be and, indeed, are to be expected to be diverse. The gospel is infinitely translatable, and no cul- ture, language, race, ethnic group, nation is a stranger to God. The Augsburg Confession pushes worshipers away from a modern- ist, totalizing understanding of the adjective “authentic.” In the Augs- burg Confession, authentic worship is not defined as faithfulness to a model, to a particular ethnic embodi- ment of worship, as if there were an ideal form of (Lutheran) worship. The Spirit does not discriminate against cultures in their provision of forms to bear the gospel.
Every culture is then challenged to translate that which is untranslat- able. Every culture, every ethnic- ity is challenged to remember and repeat that which defies repeti- tion—the Christ event. The mark of authenticity is not found in any one particular representation but in that continual disruption of all our forms, all our styles, all our tradi- tions by the Spirit.
This does not imply an elimina- tion of forms or ceremonies and rites. By no means. We can now understand “form” or “pattern” as practice that continually critiques itself and continually directs us to another and an other, the neighbor. The very Spirit who called the church into being and daily sustains and nourishes it through the gospel, continues urgently to call the church to ponder the following: With whom would we rather worship? To whom are we neighbors? Who is knocking at our door? How will this change the way we worship? What is the future of the church in terms of its outreach? What will we say? These questions press upon us the more personal question: with whom would we be most comfort- able visiting and inviting to join our congregation?
The church is called to be a wit- ness, demonstrating that, on account of the gospel, its peculiar identity— its palpable multiculturality—is grounded in the one God, who calls all to life, forgiveness and whole- ness in Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.
June 2012 19
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