Devotion and Worship
A Paper For
The 2019 Theological Symposium
of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO
Imagine a
Sunday morning at Your Lutheran Church in Hometown, America. You look around
the pews and you see friends, neighbors, and family members. There are folks in
their familiar places and they are ready for the service. But why have they
come?
Well, if the
congregation is reflective of American Christians who attend worship once or
twice a month, the Pew Research Center tells us that only 1% are there because
they feel a religious obligation to go. They are not being motivated by the
Third Commandment to attend worship. 2% are there because they are want to
please someone they love; the child who attends because mom wants her there, or
the husband who comes because it pleases his wife. Perhaps it is the sermon
that draws people to Your Lutheran Church! Pew says that a solid 4% of the
attendees come because they find the sermon valuable. What draws people to
attend worship? 61% of those surveyed stated that the reason they attend
worship is, “to become closer to God.”[1]
We have a
beautiful tradition of referring to the Sunday service as the Divine Service –
a wonderfully vague term that begs the question of who is serving whom in the
service. Is the Divine serving the people gathered, or are the people gathered
serving the Divine? The answer, of course is, “Both.” We rightly cherish our
understanding of worship as the time that God meets and serves His people with
grace and spiritual refreshment. We are equally right to rejoice that God calls
us to worship Him in faith, thanking, praising, serving, and obeying Him, as is
surely our duty – “This is most certainly true!”
The people
who come to church want to be closer to God, and God wants to be close to
people. Is that desire limited to Sunday morning? We know that God desires to
be near people, this is at the heart of the name, “Immanuel,” which means, “God
with us.” We see this desire in pillar of cloud and pillar of fire in Exodus,
in the tabernacle, and in the temple – all of which declared that God was with
His people. The ultimate example of God’s desire to be with His people is, of
course, the Incarnation when the Second Person of the Trinity took on flesh and
dwelt among us so that we could truly know God.[2]
Today we trust that God is present among us in the Word and the Sacraments, and
that His Holy Spirit even dwells within us.
God engages
His people in conversation, shapes the heart, and informs the mind through
public worship and the devotional practices that flow from the faith that is
formed by Word and Sacrament. As Christians hear God’s Word read, preached, and
explained, they also respond with prayers, hymns, and confessions. God reveals
and delivers forgiveness to His people, refreshes them in His grace, and
revives them with His Spirit. What is more, He does not limit access to His gifts
to times of meditation and prayer, or to a single day of the week, but He has
sanctified all days for worship and spiritual growth.[3]
God has given His people the Holy
Scriptures, encourages them to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and
invites them to pray without ceasing. (Col. 3:16, 1Thes. 5:17) In a literate
society such as the United States, Christians have many opportunities to
devotionally join in conversation and community with God. Each day is an
opportunity for God’s people to be formed and their minds, attitudes, and
lifestyles renewed in the mind of Christ, displaying their connection to His
kingdom through personal devotional practices.
In the past Christians have separated
themselves from society, gone into the desert, sheltered themselves in
monasteries, and employed a variety of strategies in order to attend to a
deeper experience of worship and the presence of God in His Word. Many of the
strategies Christians of the past employed are not viable options for most
Christians today, nor would it necessarily desirable for Christians to engage
in them. We need people to serve in their vocations and to be faithful
Christians in their work, employing their gifts to God’s glory. That being said,
the practice of the Benedictine orders of connecting private devotional
meditation and prayer with corporate worship provides a potential model which
might be useful. Sister Joan Chittister writes: “To a world dry to the core
with secularism, the Rule of Benedict brings the rhythm and ointment of prayer.
Prayer in the monastic tradition is always psalm centered – always the cry of
the universal human soul down one age and up the other. It is also always in
tune with the turning of the liturgical year and the tender, haunting, mystical
chants of a praying church everywhere.”[4]
Such a habit of individual meditation and prayer connected to corporate worship
could be adapted for a modern context within orthodox Lutheran piety.
The devotional life and writings of
Martin Luther provide us with an example of individual meditation and prayer
connected to a commitment to corporate worship. At some point Peter Beskendorf,
Luther’s barber,[5] must
have asked him about his devotional life, prompting Luther to write him a
letter known today as, A Simple Way to
Pray. The model he described is very similar to the Benedictine habit of
praying the psalms and public worship. He says, “…I take my little psalter,
hurry to my room, or if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where the
congregation is assembled …,” and used them to stimulate his personal prayers.[6] The
text of the letter makes very clear that his meditation was on more than just
the Psalms, however. His description of meditating on the Commandments, the
Lord’s Prayer, and the Creed, provide a model for the modern Christian to
engage God’s Word and to be led into prayer.
Today we find that many members of a
congregation spend one hour – perhaps two if they attend Bible study – at
church on Sunday, one day a week.[7] The
rest of their lives are spent in the world. This is a necessity of life; one
cannot spend all of his or her time in church, nor would it necessarily be
salutary for them to do so. The vast majority of people’s time is spent in
their day-to-day business, and the trials, struggles, distractions, and
preoccupations of life which often follow them into their time of worship. This
is a challenge for the modern Christian as many of them report a desire to grow
spiritually, yet much of their focus and time is demanded by other pressures.[8]
Worship is clearly an important
source for spiritual growth, for Christians to partake in. It is there that God
meets His gathered people in the Word and Sacraments to give them forgiveness
of sins and to sustain their faith. There are, however, other tools that could
be used to extend the benefits of the Divine Service into the weekday lives of
members that a congregation could take advantage of to aid and guide their
members to receive God’s sustenance, mercy, guidance, and peace.
Over the years people have sought
ways to enhance their worship experiences through reading God’s Word,
meditation, prayer and other devotional practices of the church. Many of these
habits, like fasting, solitude, or simplicity, are perceived as belonging to a
time past and monasticism, and when they are practiced it is mostly by
individuals at times and in ways of their own choosing rather than as an
intentional part of the communal life of a congregation. Fortunately, the
habits of Scripture reading, meditation (time spent thinking about God’s Word),
and prayer are not uncommon, and about half of the church attenders surveyed by
the U.S. Congregational Life Survey stated that they participate in these
activities daily.[9]
These habits, however, are often self-driven, leaving the practitioner alone
and somewhat disconnected from their brothers and sisters in Christ as they
practice their daily devotional habits.[10]
Perhaps, though, there are ways that a congregation could reclaim some of those
spiritual disciplines as practices that are not merely for individuals. Perhaps
there are ways to approach devotional practices that might connect the
participants to the fellowship of the congregation and extend or deepen the
experience of corporate worship.
Such practices would be founded on
the belief that God continues to speak to His people through His Word, and that
He desires to be in conversation with His people in the midst of their personal
devotional practices; such as reading His Word, singing psalms and hymns,
praying and more. This is also true of public worship. The gathering of the
people of God in the Divine Service is an essential part of how God calls,
gathers, enlightens, and preserves a Christian’s life of faith, and He hears
their corporate prayers. Tying those individual devotional practices to the
experience of the Divine Service can deepen the experience of worship and help
people grasp the message of the Word of God in the pericopes and liturgy.
This devotional habit also mimics a
biblical model in which the meditation of the individual connects that
individual to the congregation and unites the individual with the congregation
in the Word of God. In other words, as an individual meditates on God’s Word,
that is; he or she enters into a “passive or at least receptive frame of mind,
in which [he or she] concentrates physically and mentally on something, so that
it in turn affects him [or her] subjectively in some way,” the Word of God
works in the individual’s life and connects him or her with the larger body of
Christ.[11]
Psalm 1 displays
this as it speaks of the blessed man who meditates on the Torah of God.[12]
He is separated from the wicked, sinners, and scoffers, but he finds his place
in the congregation of the righteous. Psalm 119 also meditates on the blessed
individual. It has particular significance for a study on meditation because of
the way that it displays the practice of meditating upon God’s Word and how
doing so has many fruitful dynamics. The Psalmist’s meditation on the Word affects
his life, and impacts his relationship with a community he identifies as
blessed. Psalm 119, however, goes further than Psalm 1 as its author expands
and expounds upon the theme of walking in Torah
and meditating upon it. In the Aleph
section, in v. 1-3, the psalmist identifies not just an individual who is
blessed, but a community of people who are connected by Torah, and who, by walking in Torah,
are blessed. Through the rest of the psalm (168 verses) he hardly refers to the
community of the righteous, but establishes in the first 8 verses that this
community exists in relationship to God’s Word, and expresses his desire to be
part of it. The rest of the psalm is as if the psalmist is making the case that
he is part of that blessed group as he describes his personal interaction with
God’s Word.
St. Paul does something similar in
Colossians as he details the story of salvation, reminds them of their
connection to Jesus, and urges them to consider themselves within the context
Christ’s kingdom. They are to let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly.
Together they are united in Christ and His Word, so then they teach and
admonish one another individually to consider the impact of their salvation. In
a way the letter is a call to meditate on one’s relationship with God in
Christ, and then, through Christ, one’s relationship to the Church.
The
Scriptures regularly display God in communication – speaking with His people
and calling them to listen. A liturgical verse in Evening Prayer expresses
God’s longing to communicate with his people “In many and various ways, God
spoke to his people of old by the prophets, but now in these last days He has
spoken to us by His Son,” as it paraphrases Hebrews 1:1-2.[13]
There is a confession in this verse that God speaks. He communicates. He
desires to be known.[14]
John 1 also displays God’s
communication with His people as essential to their relationship with one
another (that is, God relating to people and people relating to God) by
identifying the Second Person of the Trinity as, “the Word” (John 1:1). This
Word is God (v. 1), is eternal (v. 2), created all things (v. 3), reveals God
to spiritually darkened creatures (v. 4-5; 9-11, 18), gives new life (v. 4,
12-13), and delivers God’s grace to those who would believe in Him (v.14,
16-17). How did Jesus go about His work? His ministry, while punctuated by
miracles, was a ministry of preaching. John emphasizes throughout his Gospel
that Jesus’ ministry was focused on delivering God’s Word, and that it is the
Word that reveals God to people that they might believe and be saved,[15]
indeed, this is also John’s purpose in writing his account of the Gospel.[16] All
of this is to say that God is present, known, and experienced in His Word –
Incarnate, and preached and written.
The theology of the Church points
believers to the Word in public worship and in private devotion. There is
recognition of the corporate and individual aspects of the Christian life. This
is because God the Holy Spirit deals with us as individuals and also draws us
into the community of faith.
As confessed
in the Book of Concord, the Holy Spirit creates the faith that receives the
Word. The Small Catechism states, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or
strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit
has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept
me in the true faith.”[17] It
is He who brings the work of Christ into the life of believers. Stated
differently, salvation and regeneration come through God’s Word, and it is the
Holy Spirit who delivers these benefits to people, creating the faith which
receives God’s salvation, and regenerating the life of the believer. The
Formula of Concord says,
For the law indeed says that it is
God’s will and command that we walk in new life. However, it does not give the
power and ability to begin or to carry out this command. Instead, the Holy
Spirit, who is given and received not through the law but through the
proclamation of the gospel (Gal. 3[:2, 14]), renews the heart. Thereafter, the
Holy Spirit uses the law to instruct the reborn and to show and demonstrated to
them in the Ten Commandments what is the “acceptable will of God” (Rom. 12[:2])
and in which good works, “which God prepared beforehand,” they are “supposed to
walk” (Eph. 2[:10]).[18]
One cannot properly believe or understand the Scriptures or
live according to them apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.[19]
Luther states, “[N]either could we know anything of Christ, had it not been
revealed by the Holy Spirit.”[20]
As God’s people interact with His Word,
the Spirit “…is present and bestows ever new and greater light and devotion, so
that it tastes better and better and is digested, as Christ also promises in
Matthew 18[:20], ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among
them.’”[21] The
Spirit is present when one meditates on the Word, and He enlightens the
Christian[22],
grows his or her devotion, and makes these practices more and more pleasant.[23]
Across history there are many
Christians, from the early days of the church down through today, who have
written about devotional living. Origen wrote On Prayer in which he speaks of prayer which is empowered by the
Holy Spirit and takes place regularly, three times a day.[24]
Augustine wrote, “Long time have I burned to meditate in Thy law, and in it to
confess to Thee my knowledge and ignorance….”[25]
The Rule of St. Benedict, describes how Benedict desired life to be lived in
the monastery and seems to take for granted that those who live there will
meditate.[26] St.
Ignatius of Loyola even designed a series of spiritual exercises which included
meditation.[27] In
modern times Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “There are three things for which the
Christian needs a regular time alone during the day: meditation on the Scripture, prayer,
and intercession.”[28] And
when Richard Foster published Celebration of Discipline the first two
disciplines he examined were meditation and prayer.[29]
St. Benedict’s influence on the habit
of meditation in connection to community cannot be overstated. “Diverse
expressions of Benedictine life and spirit have emerged across our globe since
the sixth-century founding of western cenobitic monasticism by St. Benedict
(480-540 A.D.).”[30] His
Rule deeply influenced – and still
influences[31] – Christian monasticism and spirituality.[32]
While the Rule dealt with very
practical issues like bedding, job assignments, and food, it also described the
spiritual life of a monk. “The core of the monastic life as Benedict conceived
it was prayer. Periods were assigned each day for private prayer, but most of
the devotions took place in the chapel.”[33]
Theirs was a life of devotion that touched on both personal meditation and
corporate worship rooted in the Scriptures; particularly the Psalms which were
recited in their entirety weekly.[34]
John Kleinig offers a helpful
Lutheran view point on this topic when he points out that, “… the focus of
meditation is on the external word, it basically involves spiritual
extroversion rather than spiritual introversion. It is indeed a matter of the
heart, but not only the heart. The way to the heart is from the outside through
the ears. In meditation we hear inwardly what is spoken to us outwardly.”[35]
The attitude of one’s heart might be fixed upon God, but one cannot find God or
receive His Word simply with the right attitude. The Word comes to the hearer
from outside to do its work on the inside.
Private devotion and corporate
worship belong together and enhance each other. Bonhoeffer’s Life Together could be described as a
treatise on how these two streams work together in the life of the Christian
and the congregation. On this topic E. Glenn Hinson wrote, “Public worship and
private devotion are integrally interrelated. Public worship depends for its
vitality on private prayer, Bible reading, and other acts of devotion.
Conversely, private devotion depends for its direction and nurture on public
worship. Neither can do without the other.”[36]
He identifies prayer and Bible study, in which he includes memorization and
meditation, as particularly beneficial to the Christian’s experience of public
worship.[37] Gregory
Polan also notes that, “taking time to reflect on the Scripture passages
assigned for the Sunday celebration can greatly enhance one’s participation.”[38]
There is yet another important aspect
of public worship’s impact on private devotion. It is this: that the public
prayers are particularly helpful to teach people how to pray through modeling.[39]
Prayer may be as simple as talking to God, but, along with other aspects of the
faith, it is also something in which one grows and matures.[40]
Bonhoeffer wrote, “The child learns to speak because the parent speaks to him.
The child learns the language of the parent. So we learn to speak to God
because God has spoken to us and speaks to us. In the language of the Father in
heaven God’s children learn to speak with him. Repeating God’s own words after
him, we begin to pray to God.”[41] As
the congregation gathers, the Lord speaks through the Word, read, woven into
the liturgy, and sung in the hymns, and guides the Christian in his or her
response. The Commission On Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) of the LCMS
commented on this very idea in a recent report:
Little children cannot mature if they
speak only about their own concerns. Interactions with adults gradually stretch
and expand their hearts and minds. The same is true for the children of God. …
We grow and mature as we begin to think and pray about God’s purposes and not
only our own. For this reason, throughout the history of God’s people believers
have not only prayed in their own words, but also in the words of others. The
have prayed in the words of the Psalms and canticles of Scripture and the hymns
of other composers. They have prayed in the words of written prayers from
service books and other resources. They have prayed with pastors who speak in
and for an assembly of believers, even when the only word the assembly speaks
is “Amen.” Such praying is every bit as important as the personal prayers we
speak privately to God, for in this way our hearts are opened to the whole of
God’s people and their needs and to the concerns that God Himself places into
our prayers.[42]
The private prayers of the individual draw from and are
formed by the prayers that take place in the corporate worship service. Not
only that, but their themes are expanded beyond the mundane needs of the
individual, or even the urgent needs of his or her loved ones, and begin to
include God’s priorities, His Will, and His mission because they are reflected
in the congregational prayers, even if the individual’s response is only,
“Lord, have mercy,” or, “Amen.”
As reciprocity between public worship
and private devotion has been observed, one can also perceive the way private
prayer and meditation prepares believers for public worship, particularly by
preparing the heart. This is an aspect of the relationship between private
devotion and public worship that deserves deeper appreciation. “Prayer,” writes
Hinson, “is the most obvious aid to worship. Not however, prayer as a
perfunctory rite performed as a matter of duty and habit, but prayer as
communion, communication, or conversation between ourselves as personal beings
and God as the ultimate personal reality in the universe.”[43]
And he continues, “Persons who pray like this bring with them a sense of presence,
not just their own presence but God’s presence. They can, as it were,
‘“electrify” a congregation with their presence….”[44]
He goes on to write about Bible study, which, to him, includes meditation.[45]
“From the time of Hippolytus on, Christians have recognized that the limited
number of hours spent in public worship does not allow sufficient time for the
word of God to shape and mold our lives.”[46]
The prayers of times apart from the congregation and the time spent reading
God’s Word and meditating upon it impact how one prays and hears God’s Word
when the assembly gathers.
Public worship also provides
important protection against private devotion degenerating into self-centered
religion.[47]
This is a sentiment echoed by Angela Ashwin who writes, “Liturgy has a built-in
corrective to the tendency to privatize spirituality.”[48]
One can hardly focus only on oneself when guided by the liturgy to hear the
concerns of others and the petitions which seek God’s will for His Kingdom.
This concern for privatization is also addressed by the CTCR: “[I]f all we
think and pray about is personal and individualistic – ‘what occurs to me and
what I desire’ – our prayers are impoverished. … [Jesus] leads us away from
empty selfishness in our prayers.” This is part of the danger of
individualistic devotional materials that are often used by Christians today.
This is also why devotions rooted in the liturgical life of the church can
serve not only as a corrective, but also as a connecting point to the
congregation to remind the individual that he or she is part of it.
John Kleinig offers insight on this
topic. In his book Grace Upon Grace
and his course Christian Spirituality[49] he
expounds upon the idea of receptive
spirituality, which is very important to a distinctly Lutheran devotional
life. While embracing ancient forms of devotional habit, he also remains firmly
committed to Luther’s teaching that a theologian is formed by prayer,
meditation on God’s word, and struggle / temptation. In other words, the
devotional life is more focused on what God does in a person’s life than
whatever benefit the person might perceive in his or her life. Kleinig writes,
The point of meditation for Luther
is, quite simply, to let the Holy Spirit preach the Word of God inwardly to the
conscience of the believer. Now this preaching goes far beyond the intellectual
exercise of working out the meaning and application of a portion of Scripture.
It is the activity of the Holy Spirit who affects the person physically,
mentally, and emotionally through the Word.[50]
His point is that every aspect of anything perceived as an
individual’s spirituality is a gift from God. This is very much in line with
Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation and
his description of the human state in the Bondage
of the Will. Indeed, Kleinig’s receptive spirituality is reflective of a
comment found on a slip of paper in Luther’s pocket after he died, “We are
beggars, this is true.”[51]
Unfortunately,
some people do not experience corporate worship as “a place of spiritual growth
or community.”[52]
Some seek to preference the individual devotion over corporate worship and
others corporate worship over individual devotion instead of recognizing both
as important in the Christian life. Angela Ashwin writes, “…I frequently meet
people, especially in parishes, for whom personal prayer and church worship
flow into each other as naturally as breathing. Yet the separation exists for
many others, with the result that opportunities for growth are lost, since, I
believe, personal spirituality and corporate worship need and nourish each
other.”[53]
This is where David Schmitt’s observations on devotional life are so helpful. Schmitt
states, “God, through his Word, forms and sustains lives of devotion in
communities of faith. At different times and in different ways, God’s people
are devoted to different teachings of the faith. Through these varied and
vibrant lives of devotion, God’s people manifest the living body of Christ
bearing fruit for others in that time and place. By this gracious work of the
Spirit, congregations are inviting communities, where lives of devotion serve
as thresholds of faith.”[54] The
devotional habits which are advocated here are not the only form of devotions,
and when the disconnects exist that Ashwin describes above it is important to
the individual and to the church to recognize them, honor their particular form
of devotion, or help that individual discover God’s gracious guidance to the
peculiar interests and gifts He has given them. As such the worshipping
community can also be the place where other forms of devotion also flourish.
Kent Burreson
offers another helpful idea related to public worship and private devotion. He
writes, “Christian worship practices the faith in cultural forms that are more
than just a style. Here the church is culturally at home: washing, eating,
drinking, reconciling, praying, praising, singing, thanking, celebrating,
loving and serving – disciples living and desiring the reign of the Lord.”[55]
This form of devotion attempts to parallel that idea that we live in the
culture of the church even when we are active in the realm of personal
devotion. It advocates a cultural form – meditation using Luther’s Fourfold
Garland of Prayer – in which the Christian can be at home: meditating,
learning, thanking, confessing, and praying in a manner that complements his or
her experience when the body of Christ gathers together.
In attempting to find such a cultural
form to guide a life of devotion within a congregation like our Lutheran
churches, it makes sense to turn to Martin Luther, as our heritage is rooted in
his teaching. Luther praised the reading and recitation of Scripture. One
example of this is when he stated that it would be better if twice a day people
(specifically pastors) would, “read a page or two from the catechism, the
Prayer Book, the New Testament, or some other passage from the Bible, and would
pray the Lord’s Prayer for themselves and their parishioners.”[56]
Luther recommended habits of daily
Scripture readings and prayer to those outside of the clergy, perhaps most
famously to Peter Beskendorf, his friend and barber in A Simple Way to Pray. As Luther describes his manner of prayer, it
becomes apparent that he is not only talking about how one speaks to God. He
first recommends a time of reading God’s Word. As one observes his pattern it
begins with listening to God in His Word, and then responding to Him. This is
beautifully displayed in how Luther teaches Master Peter to pray the Lord’s
Prayer, which is itself both God’s Word, delivered from Jesus’ lips to His
disciples, and our prayer. He encourages that one would pray the Lord’s Prayer
in its entirety, and then, “repeat one part or as many as you wish,” expanding
upon each part.[57]
It is not until Luther describes
praying through the Ten Commandments that he describes his methodology of
expanding upon God’s message as he responds in prayer. He writes, “I divide
each commandment into four parts, thereby fashioning a garland of four strands.
That is, I think of each commandment as, first, instruction, which is really
what it is intended to be, and consider what the Lord God demands of me so
earnestly. Second, I turn it into a thanksgiving; third, a confession; and
fourth, a prayer.”[58]
That this prayer is a response to God’s communication through His Word is
clear, however, in comments such as, “[I]f in the midst of such thoughts the
Holy Spirit begins to preach in your heart with rich, enlightening thoughts,
honor him by letting go of this written scheme; be still and listen to him who
can do better than you can.”[59] The
activity is not simply that the one praying speaks to God, but that he or she
hears God, and the Holy Spirit works in that moment, interacting with the
individual to teach and guide the believer in prayer as a holy conversation.
Luther never imagined this practice
replacing the corporate gathering of believers for worship. One of the places
he tells Master Peter that he seeks God’s Word to warm his heart to prayer is,
“to the church where a congregation is assembled.”[60]
For him the matter of corporate worship is covered under the Third Commandment
and that days of rest were provided to allow people, “to attend worship
services, that is, so that they may assemble to hear and discuss God’s Word and
then to offer praise, song, and prayer to God.”[61]
This was the given. Individual devotion was engaged in addition to the Sunday
service.
This is further highlighted by a
comment in A Simple Way to Pray, when
Luther writes, “It may well be that you may have some tasks which are as good
or better than prayer, especially in an emergency. There is a saying ascribed
to St. Jerome that everything a believer does is prayer, and a proverb, ‘He who
works faithfully prays twice.’”[62] To
have a day when one did not read Scripture and pray was no sin. To despise Scripture
and prayer is.[63] The
goal is not to impose a rigid form for devotion upon the congregants. This is
not legalism. However, in pursuing devotion to God’s Word, prayer, and worship,
this form may introduce them to a devotional habit that is grace-filled and
focused on God’s Word, which connects them to one another and reinforces their
experience of the Divine Service.
From very early and forward into
history, God’s people have gathered corporately for worship and also engaged
His Word privately. Both of these forms of piety are important in the Christian
life, but are too often treated as separate issues. It would seem to be
beneficial that both corporate worship and private devotion can be addressed
more holistically in the life of the believer so that they can be engaged to
support his or her whole life.
In 2015 I
conducted a study at my congregation, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Hudson, OH.
(We’re located between Cleveland and Akron.) For six months I provided
devotional material for ten participants. I taught them how to pray following
Luther’s Fourfold Garland of Prayer, as it is described in A Simple Way to Pray, and I modeled that style of prayer for them.
I used the pericopes for the upcoming Sunday as the texts for the daily
meditations and followed Luther’s themes from A Simple Way to Pray to guide the prayers of the participants. This
devotional practice highlights God’s Word in the instruction section, where He
speaks to the Christian and the Christian listens, it then guides the
participant into a time to speak to God in return through praying about what
was learned, giving thanks, confessing sin, and offering petitions related to
the instruction of God’s Word. This is particularly helpful as God’s Word is
the heart of all devotional practices, including devotion to public worship,
private devotion, and prayer.
What
happened? Did the participants benefit from the time in the Word to prepare
them for corporate worship? Yes. They reported deeper understanding of the
worship services, saw greater connections between the pericopes, the sermon,
and the liturgy. They felt more engaged in the service.
Did they,
however, feel more connected to the congregation? Not overly. If anything, and
this is not insignificant, some reported a greater desire to come to worship,
to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, and a feeling of greater integration of
their faith in their lives. It may be that we didn’t ask the right questions to
find feelings of connection to the congregation. It may be that the study wasn’t
long enough. I suspect, however, that more interpersonal interaction is
necessary to engender a greater sense of connection, and that the exercise was
too individual focused to engender a sense of community.
Other
benefits were clearly manifested, however.
One person was
profoundly impacted by the time of devotion and worship. One of the
participants was deeply invested in meditation upon the Cosmic Christ and
heavily influence by Fr. Richard Rohr. In her final interview I did not even
get to begin asking questions before she started delving into what she wanted
to say, telling me about how she never regarded herself as a sinner, and how
she had shunned the crucified Christ, preferring to see Jesus as the Risen and
Cosmic Christ. Her faith was transformed. Indeed, she felt that she had finally
actually come to faith through the time in personal devotion and corporate
worship meditating on God’s Word and speaking to Him in prayer.
People are
influenced by all kinds of ideas in this world. One of the great values of orthodox
worship and good devotional habits is that they can serve as a form of
catechesis; teaching truth, exposing error, and strengthening faith. The study
did not intend to find devotions and worship as a catechetical corrective, but
the experience of the participant above reminds all people that God’s Word goes
out and does not return empty. It accomplishes what God intends, and not
necessarily what we plan.[64]
It has been said that, “Liturgy has a
built-in corrective to the tendency to privatize spirituality.”[65]
Much of the spirituality expressed in America is highly individualistic. The
Pew Forum survey cited earlier exemplifies this as most of the reasons given
for attending worship focus on what the participant gets out of the Sunday
experience. Biblical spirituality is both corporate and individual. It is seen
in personal devotion that is engaged in
because it is motivated by “the deep reverence of an individual for a
particular article of the Christian faith, often expressed in a variety of
contemplative and active practices that manifest the working of the Spirit in
that time and place.”[66] And it is seen in the community of the Church
as it gathers as the Body of Christ refusing to “despise preaching and [God’s]
Word,” but instead holding it sacred and gladly hearing and learning it –
together. Christians are exhorted to gather in worship, to receive God’s gifts
through the Word and Sacraments, and we are encouraged to meditate on the Word
and to pray.
While many Christians may desire to
feel nearer to God, the busy-ness and pressures of life often get in the way.
Corporate worship in the Divine Service can be a time of respite, refreshment,
and reconnection with God and the body of Christ. A daily devotional habit that
draws people into the pericopes can enhance that experience.
Bibliography
Ashwin,
Angela. 2001. "Spirituality and Corporate Worhsip - Separate Worlds or
Vitally Connected?" Worship 106-129.
Augustine. 2012. Confessions. 1st . Electronic Book. Translated
by J.G.P. San Francisco, CA: Fig, September.
Barna. 2015. "New Research on the State of Discipleship." Barna.
December 1. Accessed January 4, 2016.
https://www.barna.com/research/new-research-on-the-state-of-discipleship/.
Benedict. 1949. The Rule of St. Benedicts. Translated by Boniface
Verheyen. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 2005. Life Together / Prayerbook of the Bible.
Edited by Geffrey Kelly. Translated by Bloesch & Burtness. Vol. Vol. 5 of
Bonhoeffer's Works. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Burreson, Kent J. 2013. "Beyond Style: The Worhsip of Christ's Body
Within Cultural Diversity." Cross Accent 8-17.
Burreson, Kent J. 2013. "Hospitable Hosts: Forming an Inviting
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& Hopkins, 87-106. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Seminary Press.
Chittister, Joan. 2010. The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the
21st Century. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company.
CTCR. 2011. Theology and Practice of Prayer: A Lutheran View. St.
Louis: CTCR of the LCMS.
Foster, Richard. 1998. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to
Spiritual Growth. Third. New York: Harper Collins.
Gonzalez, Justo L. 1984. The Story of Christianity. Vol. 1. 2 vols.
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Hinson, E. Glenn. 1983. "Private Springs of Public Worhsip." Review
& Expositor, Winter: 109-117.
Hummel, Horace D. 1979. The Word Becoming Flesh. St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House.
n.d. John W. Kleinig Resources. Accessed September 8, 2015.
www.johnkleinig.com/index.php/full-course/christian-spirituality/.
Kleinig, John. 2002. "Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio: What Makes A
Theologian?" Concordia Theological Quarterly 255-267.
Kleinig, John. 1992. "The Attentive Heart: Meditation in the Old
Testament." The Reformed Theological Review 51 (2): 50-63.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5ad839ee-704c-4c1e-8cbe-1a59d310c933%40sessionmgr4001&vid=4&hid=4113.
Kleinig, John W. 1986. "The Kindled Heart: Luther on
Meditation." Lutheran Theological Journal 142-154.
Kolb, Robert and Hopkins, Theodore J., ed. 2013. Inviting Community.
St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press.
Kolb-Wengert, ed. 2000. The Book of Concord. Minneapolis:
Augsburg Fortress.
Luther, Martin. 1968. "A Simple Way to Pray, 1535." In Luther's
Works: Devotional Writings II, edited by Gustav. K. Wiencke, translated
by Carl J. Schindler, 187-212. Philadelphia: Fortress Press .
—. 1991. Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis:
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McKenzie, Jennifer. 2004. "Benedictine Spirituality and
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Reed, Luther D. 1947. The Lutheran Liturgy. Philadelphia:
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[1]
Pew Research Center, “Why Americans Go (and Don’t Go) to Religious Services,” https://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/01/why-americans-go-to-religious-services/
(accessed September 11, 2019).
[2]
See John 1.
[3]
Large Catechism, The Ten Commandments, 89.
[4]Chittister, Joan. The Rule of Benedict: A
Spirituality for the 21st Century. (New York: The Crossroad Publishing
Company, 2010), p. xiii
[5]It
is important to remember that in the past a barber did much more than cutting
hair. They also looked after the health of their clientele which could foster a
very intimate relationship.
[6]Luther, Martin. "A Simple Way to
Pray, 1535." In Luther's Works: Devotional Writings II, edited by
Gustav. K. Wiencke, translated by Carl J. Schindler, 187-212. (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press , 1968), p. 193
[7]The
U.S. Congregational Life Survey reports that while 76% of church goers attend
services regularly, but less than half of that group is involved outside of the
worship services. That includes attending Sunday school, Bible study, or other
opportunities to spend time in God’s Word. http://www.uscongregations.org/blog/2014/02/17/what-are-the-major-challenges-that-u-s-congregations-face/.
Accessed January 5, 2016
[8]In
a recent Barna study 77% of active Christians reported that they desired to
grow spiritually. Interestingly, a little over a third of non-practicing
Christians expressed a similar desire for growth. See New Research On the State of Discipleship at https://www.barna.org/research/leaders-pastors/research-release/new-research-state-of-descipleship#.VosFgvkrLIV.
Accessed January 4, 2016
[9]http://www.uscongregations.org/blog/2014/02/17/what-are-the-major-strengths-of-congregations/
Accessed January 4, 2016
[10]In
the Barna report New Research on the
State of Discipleship cited above they report that among those to whom
spiritual growth is important 37% prefer to pursue spiritual growth activities
on their own. https://www.barna.org/research/leaders-pastors/research-release/new-research-state-of-descipleship#.Vowo6vkrLIU.
Accessed January 5, 2016
[11]
Kleinig, “The Attentive Heart,” 50.
[12]
Torah “relates both the impossible demand of God upon fallen man as well as the
good news of God’s own meeting of His demand in the covenant – and in the
promises attached to it.” Hummel, The
Word Becoming Flesh, 62-63
[13]
Lutheran Service Book, 247
[14] Jer.
31:34
[15]
See John 3:34, 5:46-47, 6:63, 8:47, 12:47, 14:10, 14:24, 15:7, and 17:8
[16]
John 20:30-31
[17]
Small Catechism, Apostles’ Creed, Third Article
[18]
Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VI, 11-12
[19] 1
Cor. 2:11-16
[20]
Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, Large Catechism, II, 65
[21]
Book of Concord, Large Catechism, Introduction, 9
[22]
John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 2:13-14
[23]
Psalm 119 is an excellent example of this.
[24]
Origen, On Prayer, p. 40
[25]
Augustine, Confessions, p. 617 - iBook
[26]
St. Benedict, The Rule of Benedict, p. 115 – “But afterward let him live in the
apartment of novices, and there let him meditate, eat, and sleep.”
[27]
Maas & O’Donnell – p. 175
[28]
Life Together p. 86
[29]
Celebration of Discipline. P.15 & 33
[30] Schmitt,
Miriam. "Benedictine Spirituality." Liturgical Ministry, Fall
2001: 198-200, 198
[31] A
good example of this can be found in McKenzie, Jennifer. "Benedictine
Spirituality and Congregational Life: Living Out St. Benedicts's Rule in the
Parish." Congregations, Winter 2004: 31-33. This article advocates
adapting the Rule of St. Benedict for parish life.
[32]
Gonzalez, 239
[33]
Gonzalez, 241
[34]
Gonzalez, 241
[35]
Kleinig, p 261
[36] Hinson,
E. Glenn. "Private Springs of Public Worship." Review &
Expositor, Winter 1983: 109-117, 109
[37]
Hinson, p. 113
[38] Polan,
Gregory J. "Lectio divina: reading and praying the Word of God." Liturgical
Ministry, 2003: 198-206
[39]
Hinson, p. 116
[40] CTCR.
Theology and Practice of Prayer: A Lutheran View. CTCR, St. Louis: The
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, 2011, 7
[41]
Bonhoeffer, Psalms, 156
[42]
CTCR, 43
[43]
Hinson, 112
[44]
Hinson, 112
[45]
Hinson refers to meditation as Bible study later in the document.
[46]
Hinson, 113
[47]
Hinson, 116
[48] Ashwin,
Angela. "Spirituality and Corporate Worship - Separate Worlds or Vitally
Connected?" Worship, March 2, 2001: 106-129, 109
[49]
Available at http://www.johnkleinig.com/index.php/full-course/christian-spirituality/.
The website states that the book Grace Upon
Grace grew out of Kleinig’s experience, “teaching this course over many
years.”
[50] Kleinig,
John W. "The Kindled Heart: Luther on Meditation." Lutheran
Theological Journal, 1986: 142-154
[51] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2013/10/we-are-beggars-this-is-true/
Accessed January 7, 2016
[52]
Ashwin, 107
[53]
Ashwin, 108
[54]
Kolb, 121
[55]
Burreson, p. 16
[56]
The Book of Concord, The Large Catechism, Preface, 3
[57] A
Simple Way to Pray, p. 195
[58]
Simple Way, 200
[59]
Simple Way, 202
[60]
Simple Way, 193
[61]
The Book of Concord, The Large Catechism, Third Commandment, 84
[62]
Simple Way, 193
[63]
Small Catechism, Third Commandment, Explanation
[64]
Isaiah 55:11
[65]
Ashwin, Angela, “Spirituality and Corporate Worship – Separate Worlds or
Vitally Connected?” Worship 75 no. 2
(March 2, 2001): 109
[66]Schmitt,
David R., “Devotion and Community:
Thresholds of Faith,” in Inviting Community. Eds. Robert Kolb and
Theodore J. Hopkins. (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2013), 113
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