A Lamentation For Our Church Universal

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day that our Lord had his final Passover meal and instituted the rite of the Eucarist, or Holy Communion.  Christians will celebrate the arrest, trial, Crucifixion, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  We Christians worship the Crucified Christ, and this is how we do it, by taking the Body and Blood of our Lord.*  This is what the Mass (in Catholic services) or the Divine Service in Lutheran services is all about.  There really is no substitute for this.  You must be Baptized with water symbolically washing your sins away, and practice this Divine rite.

We Christians are indeed suffering.  Man does not live by bread alone, as Jesus said.  We need spiritual bread as well.  When we pray the Lord's Prayer, one of the things we ask for is that God will grant us our daily bread.  That means that God ensures both our physical needs and our spiritual needs.

At The Federalist yesterday, Joy Pullman had a piece mourning the fact that a number of church buildings have been closed entitled They Can Keep Christians From Holy Week Services, But Nothing Can Stop Easter. Noting that Lutherans do not fast or make other particular sacrifices for Lent, my Pastor siad that Christ is with us always. The annual Easter celebration is not because Jesus is being Crucified all over again, but to remind us of why we believe. We celebrate it because it humbles us to remember that we did not do anything to deserve to be saved, and indeed, we can not. God, because of His great Love and Grace had to do everything that was done to save us all. Joy Pullman speaks eloquently about the suffering she feels in the current time:

Our church and orders of service are precious to me, and our congregation. The things our pastors say, do, and wear are have been cultivated over centuries. We worship this way on purpose. Everything has a meaning, and has been carefully selected, debated among clergy and lay people, and thoughtfully placed.

Unlike the kinds of evangelical churches I grew up in, nothing in our services are random, or the production of one person, one church, one pastor, or locality. It is comprehensive, ordered, painstakingly thought through, the production of the whole church over centuries. It’s not just this way for some general service; this theological craftsmanship envelops the entire church year. Every Sunday and season has its place in an orchestrated tapestry. These centuries of labored love culminate in our highest holy days, this week.

Like Christians have for hundreds, thousands of years, our congregation is used to gathering and carrying out special, very specific, highly meaningful, and carefully ordered scripture readings, prayers, hymns, and services. They are rituals created by centuries of tradition, and thus exceedingly rich.

I just went on the website for my own congregation and saw that unfortunately, on site services are cancelled. I feel all of Pullman's lamentations for our Church Universal. Please read Joy Pullman's article, and if you are the praying sort, pray for us all. Many do not realize that much of what is best today in America and the world was brought about because of the activities of people, whose lives were changed by Christ.

*  Note, Christian theology states we believe that our God expresses himself to man in three ways, as the Creator of everything that is, and that is not, as the Son, the Christ, who walked the earth in historical time just as we all do, and as the Holy Spirit who continues to inspire us to be better people.  Thus, we are not worshiping a man, but the One True God.

For those who wonder how God could be both here on earth and in Heaven at the same time, all I would say is that you are thinking of God as being too small.  For the Creator of the Universe, everything is possible, without Him, nothing is.