7 November 2005

Richard Jensen, a preacher, finds that the doctrine of "theosis" (the indwelling of Christ) may have an impact on how we view our preaching - from "Currents in Theology and Mission."

How shall we preach? There are some things I think I know and some things that still dance on the edge of my imagination as regards theotic preaching. It seems clear to me, for example, that preaching theosis requires a sacramental view of preaching. Preaching as a sacrament is not new to Lutheran understanding. The finite in preaching is the instrument of the infinite in the lives of those who hear. The Holy Spirit works with finite words to bring infinite reality to life within us. (Vol.31,6 p.436)

It is easy for us to talk about the "real presence" of the Christ in the Lord's Supper. That has been what we have been taught for years...or at least some people may know that there is an historic battle of interpretation over just what that means. But now we begin with an understanding of Christ no merely really present at the Meal. Now we look around the community that is gathered for the Meal and to hear the Word and here, in each of us is the indwelling - God so present that each of our lives are shaped and moved by a Lord so close to us that the presence is our touch, our sight, our hearing, our taste. When I first read Jensen's take on what he calls "theotic" preaching, I thought it was a bit much - almost too much...too much weight...to much expectation. Then again, I realized how ordinary it really can be. As ordinary, as I think Jenson will say, as story telling. Words, common words, that are able to feed us like the Eucharist. Words, common words, that are able to set hearts on fire, like Jesus teaching on the Mount or on the Plain. There, bubbling up within the preaching is the Christ whose indwelling brings life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Connection: If we wanted to take Jensen a bit farther in his notion on preaching, imagine what even happens to our everyday conversation as we bring with us the Christ whose indwelling begins to shape us more and more.

As you enter our lives and bring forth your Reign within these days, O God, we expect to be surprised. In your coming, Lord, lift us up to catch a glimpse of your promises unfolding within the ordinary of this day. Amen.

4 November 2005

We will end the week with a longer piece by Jenson in "Currents in Theology and Mission." Jenson notes that the Finnish scholars draw on what Luther call the "happy exchange" to describe what we have been looking at as theosis. He quotes Simo Puera as he describes the divine indwelling in of Christ in the believer.

"When Christ gives himself to us, he indwells us and becomes one with us. Thus, redemption is something that happens not only on the cross but also in all believers whom Christ indwells through faith."Then Jenson notes.
According to Luther all this is effected by the Holy Spirit through baptism, and the necessary precondition for baptism is preaching of God's Word. In baptism God joins Godself with the sinner and becomes one with him or her. And preaching is the precondition. To which Jenson then comments about preaching.
Theosis means that preaching: ...effects the "happy exchange."...brings Christ as grace/favor and gift. ...mediates God's indwelling in the believer. ...is an instrument for divinization of the believer. ...transforms human agency. ...gives birth to new hearts within us. ...mediates union with God/Christ. ...donates Christ to us. ...is the "real presence" of Christ "for us." ...fills us with God. ...creates our participation in God. (p.434-435)

It sounds like too grand of a task for any preacher...it is! That is why we always call on the Holy Spirit to speak for us. That means that the congregation must speak up when this fullness of God is not being preached. We cannot be silent about the task of preaching...and it is a community task as much as it is the task of the preacher. And yet, know this. The one who indwells will be the one who brings this Word of God even when we fail and fall short.

Connection: Listen and listen again and begin to speak up with the Word that brings life where there is no life.

Lord, by your Word, transform us and lead us within your promised land this day. Amen

3 November 2005

Here is how Richard Jenson looks at how we will deal with divine and human agency in preaching if we seriously consider the indwelling of Christ among us.

In such preaching divine agency (that one is justified) doesn't need much emphasis. That's taken for granted. That's objective. That is finished by Christ. That is outside of me. The preacher can take care of justification (or whatever metaphor for the divine deed of God in Jesus Christ we might summon) with just a few sentences.
Theologically what is happening here is that the Christ who is for us is separated from the Christ who is in us. Christ is outside. We are inside. We are the human agents. That's where the problem lies... Preaching shaped by this theological conviction seeks to convince congregants that they must act in response to divine agency. They must summon the faith to believe... They must repent and put their lives right... (Currents, p.433-434)

Where we find ourselves in this scenario is stuck in a rut. What is it that we must do...how can we become better...will we ever be good enough...faithful enough??? It is my hope that what the doctrine of theosis (indwelling of God) brings to preaching and to our hearts that long for new life are not the same games of "getting it right" in order to be the followers of Jesus. Rather it is a sense of peace that prayerfully pulls us into a new life because the Christ in us and abiding with us is actively, like the breath of the Spirit, transforming our lives. In this sense, being a human agent is not something done merely from our own powers and abilities. It is, from the Christ who is in us. Therefore, the power for new life has no ending point or place of completion. We are always coming into a fresh being for our whole being is in Christ.

Connection: Maybe the question for day will not be "What would Jesus do?" as though we are asking a question about another time and place. But now we can ask it as though there is a sense of liveliness to the question. What is Jesus about to do with us and among us? For now, we are drawn - pulled - held - within a new reality that is fresh for our living.

Come, Lord, Jesus, be our guest and let this life that is ours be blessed by your ever-present Spirit of new life. Amen.

2 November 2005

From Richard Jenson in "Currents in Theology and Mission"

Yesterday I quoted Jenson about a problem in preaching that could be created from a division between divine agency and human agency that could lead to false preaching. Today let me step back and look at those two terms within the the Finnish Interpretation of Luther. Jenson writes:
Simo Puera (writes) "According to the Formula of Concord the doctrine of justification includes only God's favor, that is imputed righteousness...This means that God is not really present in a Christian when declaring him or her righteous through faith for Christ's sake." This forensic (legal) understanding of justification gives justification a thoroughly objective ground. The problem that Puera sees, however is that justification become something external to the Christian. Divine agency is separated from human agency. The divine agent has asserted that one is justified. The human agent is then called upon for a response. This is quite different from a view of theosis wherein the divine agent divinizes, transforms, the human agent!

I find that as we see ourselves as steward of the Reign of God we do indeed need to act by the power of the gift that is given to us. We have been and will always be justified by God's grace through faith. Done deal! At this point it is so easy to jump into the boat that says, "So now what are you going to do to show that you are justified!?!" Do we pull up our boat strings and get to work? Do we begin to keep score to see how well we are doing? In this new way of looking at Luther's writings, there is more than what do we do as humans. It is what do we do as humans in whom God dwells and brings about transformation. The tough word for many folks might be the last line in the quote above: "the divine agent divinizes...the human agent." And yet, if we are willing to call ourselves the saints of God is it so difficult to also say that our God who is our hope will be the source of our new life, our purity, our Christ-like work in the world?

Connection: Knowing you are "saved by grace through faith" now what. Knowing that this action is also an indwelling of God with us always, what might that mean for how the day falls in place for you? What's the difference!?!

When you come to make us your beloved community, O Lord of Life, you do not leave us. Your breath become our breath and the hope that shapes all things becomes our hope. We give you thanks for making us a home within your gracious Reign and bidding us to walk within your gift of new life. Amen.

1 November 2005

In the past month I focused on material by Tuomo Mannerma and his use of the doctrine of theosis or the "indwelling" of Christ in the community and one another. Today, Richard Jensen brings this discussion into the arena of preaching.

First, he draws out this quote from Mannerma:
(Luther) claims that if the person of Christ and that of the believer are separated from each other in the locus of justification, salvation is still within the framework of the order of the law... When it comes to justification, therefore, if you divide Christ's person from your own, you are in the Law; you remain in it and live in yourself, which means that you are dead in the sight of God and damned by the law.
Jenson then comments:
I am particularly struck by Luther's words "if you divide Christ's person from your own, you are in the Law!" Marking a division between divine agency and human agency leads to a false preaching of the Law. (Theosis & Preaching in Currents, vol. 31.6, p.433)

If we would follow this doctrine of theosis (the indwelling of Christ) there is not merely something done to us in the name of Christ. Rather, the Christ of God is a part of us - an indwelling that not only justifies but brings about the life of the Christ among us. In the discipline of preaching, this would demand that we would speak as though the life that we enter as followers of Jesus would be a life that is a part of Christ being with us. There is no outside action on our behalf and then we are left to go on from there an be a follower of Jesus. I understand it to mean that as I preach, I am to speak of the Christ whose faith becomes my faith and whose life become my life and the life of the congregation because of the power for life that is present as Christ comes among us. Personally, it adds a new dimension to the response in the Eucharistic liturgy, Amen. Come! Lord Jesus! The coming is one that is the life of us. That puts the idea of real presence in the meal in a very new and powerful way.

Connection: When we live within this day as though our Lord is present not merely by what has been done for us for all time but also in the sense of an indwelling for life how is our day shaped?

Your coming among us, O God, is rich with grace and love. Make that richness be a part of what we carry with us as we then move among our neighbors. Mold us by your grace into the presence of your beloved, Jesus, even as we walk through this day. Amen.

31 October 2005

On the eve of All Saints the month of October will come to an end with a word on community by Paul Althaus in "The Theology of Martin Luther."

Community rests upon the fact that Christ's sacrifice of love makes the believers one body or "one loaf" with Christ and therefore also with each other. Existence for one's self ceases; it is replaced, however, not by mystical absorption into each other but rather by full sharing of life through love.
No individual has strength or weakness, righteousness or sin, peace or trouble, without all being involved. (p.304-305)

If we are going to talk about begin stewards in the Reign of God, we must talk about community. We do no live outside of that context. There is no way to call myself a steward within God's Reign without brining in my participation in a common body of saints. It is there that my gift can be used and enhanced. It is there that I am able to receive from you the benefits of the community. I find that this view of the community of love is nothing more than the promise of our God for the people of God. When we take part in the Lord's Supper, the simple movement of the people each coming forward from their places in the sanctuary and taking part in one meal without distinction begins our journey of promise that will become real among us. In no way am I an island that is simply fed to go on my way. The whole action of the community coming to the meal (or the meal bring brought to me as a part of the community) creates a pattern for faithful participation in the communion of saints. Maybe it is good that we end a month of looking at how we are stewards of God's Reign on the eve of All Saints. Through water, the meal, the Word, and the command to love, we make for more than a social group. We come alive as the body of Christ.

Connection: It would do us well to expand our notion of who we are. That may mean we look beyond ourselves and out into the cadre of saints who gather with us as we remember together the stories of God's faithfulness. In that remembering, there is no isolation and there is always the opportunity to call out to another saint when we need the gifts of others to see us through the day.

Come, O God of Many Gifts, and continue -by the power of your Holy Spirit- to remind us of the many ways you bring us together to embody your loving presence among us and to make each of your saints rich within your fellowship of love. Amen.

Friday, 28 October 2005

As we draw to the end of a month focusing on our calling to be stewards of our baptismal promise, the community of saints, the Word of God, and a loving community here is an interesting piece from Luther on "Trade."

(Speaking of merchants)...they have a common rule which is their chief maxim and the basis of all their sharp practice, where they say: "I may sell my goods as dear as I can." They think this is their right. Thus occasion is given for avarice and every window and door to hell is opened. What else does it mean but this: I care nothing about my neighbor; so long as I have my profit and satisfy my greed, of what concern is it to me if it injures my neighbor in ten ways at once." (LW 45, p.247)

Love of neighbor is not merely something that we "try to do in the context of the church building" only. It is our life. As followers of Jesus, this love is to shape all that we do. Yes, we all want to make some profit and be able to care for our families and...have some sense of security for those of our household. And yet, this love of Christ that is our love cannot be isolated or restricted. No matter what vocation we enter, there is always a place within that context for this love that brings with it healing and an inspired concern for the welfare of others...the strangers and all who we serve through our vocations. The love of Christ that spills over into lives and then into the lives of those around us is a power for transformation. When we talk about Christ abiding with us, it is here as we go through the routines of our day...it is here as we put our skills and abilities and trades to work for others. Luther writes: "The rule ought to be, not, "I may sell my wares as dear as I can or will." but, "I may sell my wares as dear as I ought, or as is right and fair." Imagine what this change in a sentence would mean if it was a change that also took place in our hearts and our actions.

Connection: Go ahead and imagine...and then...see what it would be to have this sacred imagination lead the way.

By your love, O Lord, the day changes even as we walk through all that we will face within this one day. Remind us that you love and the power of your love rests with us to shape our every move. Amen.