MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 7 - Reflection

http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php

NOTES:
“indulgences" – substitution of one penance for another.
Luther's following so great, that movement poses threat to the very civil stability. (Luther declared an outlaw)

John Calvin - "the birth of the middle class"
(spying on friends and neighbors is just one means to preserve moral order)
"vocation in the world” you work out that vocation as you work out your salvation.

The Lutheran Church: Narrative of the Reformation
Europe was ready for something to happen. The printing press made the large impact on the emergence of the “literate” population. The number of people who could read however, were small. The books were expensive. People are however becoming educated and able to read for themselves. And individualism sort of emerges out of the birth of reading. The reading process was formerly, however, corporate.
Influence of the Pope diminishes, and thus the timing becomes ripe, for a revolution. Luther died 30 years after the posting of the 95 theses, was an Augustinian monk, was also a professor of scripture. Around 1518 “justification by grace” became sort of an epiphany which became the grid by which to evaluate every church practice in light of this.
“Priest of all believers” retrieval of some aspects of the early church, going against the sharp distinction between the clergy and the laity.

Worship in the Protestant Movement (pre-Lutheran church)
The church and state are one (at a local level, not at the “macro” level)
Church is about community (of saints) [who are we?] even though he’s talking about church meaning the universal church, for Luther, church is really this local “believers’” gathering: Practices of people in community.
Preaching of the Gospel; Eucharist; Baptism (reduction from 7 sacraments to about three) The Christendom is still there. Still a Trinitarian understanding, the Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us, gives us gifts for ministry…
One of the primary benefits or identity of the church is the “forgiveness of sins.” This IS the work of the church, and to mediate that. Even though salvation is by faith, he does not envision the individual doing it by his or her own apart from the church.
One of the big shifts in the worship service is to the WORD. It becomes more central, the focus of the church becomes more to the preaching of the gospel (purely, from scripture). Preaching is done in German, people actually understand this. Catechisms are re-written, hymns are written, the sermon becomes a significant part of liturgy. What Luther aims for is for the people receive faith through the preaching of the gospel.
He doesn’t get rid of the sacraments, the Eucharist is still a core part of the church service.
He doesn’t change the practice of the baptism too much, but what he did explain was that the baptism – dying with Christ and rising with him is the “rhythm of life” for the Christian. Specific baptismal practices not altered, infant baptism still prevalent- unless conversion from another religion. Eucharist, the practice was pretty much similar but the understanding was shed more light on. The previous Catholic understanding of “re-sacrificing Christ” was rejected; the Eucharist was seen as the bread and wine was both the themselves and Christ’s. [getting increasingly technical about it: transubstantiation consubstantiation debate]
Orthodox traditions retain the “mystery” aspect of this.

Community: still in Christendom, everybody is a part of the church. And so as far as the vital Christian community, one thing Luther advocated was the closing of the monasteries. “we should not have two levels of Christians, everybody should be doing it.” [attempt to fuse the clergy laity split] confessing and forgiveness (the authority of the latter conferred to each member of the body)

Goes against penance, devotions to saints, relics, wanted actually Christians to live a life in service to the world. Wanted the 10 commandments to be part of the markers of our presence in the world, not the vows and other such things.

Church/state still there, very much a partnership, strong. Rulers and bishops still very intertwined. Luther does not challenge that. When Mennonites and other Anabaptists wanted to start churches, these were strictly prohibited by Luther’s convictions.

Luther saw a reality in terms of mission (three spheres: family, church, government) each had its own set of laws. In the home the natural domestic laws; in the church, the divine law; in government its own set of temporal laws. Same thing that Augustine was doing. In the case of government, God was working thru the prince. And so, the church unless something radically horrible was going on, should obey the prince. Because God has placed that prince there. It is very much a partnership and those two spheres was what Augustine was talking about.

MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 6 - Reflection

http://wowzone.com/lorica.htm
The Irish had an ethos of study as worship: Saint Patrick is introduced as a case study, in the context of today's portion and in relation to the mission of Patrick as called by God. Patrick was captive as a slave, escaped, and then returned to Ireland- there is the marked absence of Roman influence in the early Irish Christian tradition: It was described as "earthy."

MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 5 - Reflection

http://www.antiochian.org/morning-prayers

"Growth has never happened thru paid people, it has always happened when a group of people are captivated by something larger"

MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 4 - Reflection

http://www.universalis.com/100/i-lauds.htm
an opening liturgical exercise for today's class:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02p584&continuous=1
information on the historical period, focusing on the pre-Constantine era:
By this time churches become more official, the Eucharist becomes the focal point of the sacrament, baptism is required a training period and authorized under the bishopric. Hierarchy is instituted and a distinction is made between the clergy and the laity. Tithing is not yet instituted but the wealthy are still exhorted to give to the poor. Episcopacy becomes increasingly analogous to the Old Testament priesthood. The culture of martyrs emerge on a heightened period of persecution (Perpetua). Prayers still oscillate between fixed and spontaneous, and the New Testament gospels make their way into print and circulation. Vestige still informal during the 200's but by 400's and 500's formal robes are worn by the clergy. The Christian calendar become established and women play a lesser role. What about mission?

MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 3 - Reflection

The early church features some overlap with its preceding form (during the time of Jesus' ministry). But the nature of the church is that of house-synagogues (from the Greek συνάγω), taking more structure; the baptism of the holy spirit is introduced in its liturgy and sacraments; the aspect of sharing and renunciation of personal property is a marked feature of its sense of community and service; apostles play a salient part in the mission and witness; and organization and leadership is represented by prominent men and women of the area with resources and funding, not to mention installation of episcopes or "overseers," that begins prior to the martyrdom of the apostles.

MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 2 - Reflection

During the time of Jesus, church was more of an organic, spontaneous gathering without a specific location for worship, of those who share Peter's confession; liturgy and sacrament featured table-fellowship and the living out of the will and love of the Father; community had a familial undertone which comprised a strict allegiance to the will of the Father, service was shaped with an ethic of humility, non-resistance and dignity that embodied the Kingdom of God; mission and witness was both sodalistic (72/2 sent out); as well as modalistic (gathering of people to hear and witness Jesus- not to mention the mission of Jesus portrayed with brutal clarity of the cross; organization and leadership was at this point still quite organic and not formulaic, paradigmatic in its initial stages with Jesus, as the authority in all the prescriptions for godly living.

MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 1 - Reflection

Unit 1: Jesus, the Kingdom, and the Church
So far, the central figure of Jesus as the one who proclaims the kingdom of God has been discussed at some length. The overall, albeit preliminary impression is that this presentation of Jesus is not without the product of "the historical quest." (presumably with the objective of extrapolating as much information as possible, on the nature of mission and role of the church in it) Some of the notable theologians mentioned: Miroslav Volf (a disciple of Jürgen Moltmann) for one, and Albert Schweitzer. Pentecostal movement also of particular interest, for they have a worldwide growth and stability. The "kingdom" was discussed at some length, as the heralded, central message of Jesus. The kingdom was discussed as not something that is in the far future but imminent. And the kingdom was discussed as not something that we decide as a set of agendas but a realm under that we willfully subordinate ourselves; it is the "in-breaking" of something of a future age, beginning its manifestation in the present.