And I quote: “We on our part confess that there is much that is Christian and good under the papacy; indeed everything that is Christian and good is to be found there and has come to us from this source. For instance we confess that in the papal church there are the true holy Scriptures, true baptism, the true sacrament of the altar, the true keys to the forgiveness of sins, the true office of the ministry, the true catechism in the form of the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the articles of the creed… I contend that in the papacy there is true Christianity, even the right kind of Christianity and many great and devoted saints.” End quote (LW 40:231-232).
Martin Luther wrote these words in 1528, over a decade after his controversies with the church hierarchy had broken out. To Luther, even the serious conflicts of the Reformation could not undo the common life that binds Christ’s church.
This kind of unity is not just a nice bit of ecclesiastical romance. In John 17, Jesus prayed for unity among his disciples. We can trust that if Jesus prayed for unity, then it is true, even if we can’t always see it. It reminds us that when we say “I believe… in the holy catholic church” we are confessing an article of faith, something hoped for but not always visible; something that can be as hard to believe as other things like the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting. But that is the church Christ invites us to trust him about. He is trustworthy.
Given what we know about Jesus, this hidden unity should not be surprising. We live not only with a theology of the cross but an ecclesiology of the cross, where the life of Christ is found where we least expect it to appear. Christ’s body is broken. It knows the emptiness of the tomb, of sorrow & tears, of betrayal and loss. And Christ’s body is risen and alive, and this life is a work of God alone. We have our life in it.
For this reason, the language of mystery often serves the church better than theological definitions. As the reformer Philip Melanchthon wrote in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, “the church is not only an association of external ties and rites like other civic organizations, but it is principally an association of faith and the Holy Spirit in the hearts of persons” (BC 174). To say it in good ecumenical Latin: ecclesia est principaliter societas fidei et spiritus sancti in cordibus, a society of faith and the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The church is mystic sweet communion, a connection with God and each other rooted in the very being of the Lord of life.
Such is our life together in Christ as his body the church.
The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Amen
Martin Lohrmann
Address given during worship at Loehe Chapel
Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque
October 31, 2017
Martin Luther wrote these words in 1528, over a decade after his controversies with the church hierarchy had broken out. To Luther, even the serious conflicts of the Reformation could not undo the common life that binds Christ’s church.
This kind of unity is not just a nice bit of ecclesiastical romance. In John 17, Jesus prayed for unity among his disciples. We can trust that if Jesus prayed for unity, then it is true, even if we can’t always see it. It reminds us that when we say “I believe… in the holy catholic church” we are confessing an article of faith, something hoped for but not always visible; something that can be as hard to believe as other things like the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting. But that is the church Christ invites us to trust him about. He is trustworthy.
Given what we know about Jesus, this hidden unity should not be surprising. We live not only with a theology of the cross but an ecclesiology of the cross, where the life of Christ is found where we least expect it to appear. Christ’s body is broken. It knows the emptiness of the tomb, of sorrow & tears, of betrayal and loss. And Christ’s body is risen and alive, and this life is a work of God alone. We have our life in it.
For this reason, the language of mystery often serves the church better than theological definitions. As the reformer Philip Melanchthon wrote in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, “the church is not only an association of external ties and rites like other civic organizations, but it is principally an association of faith and the Holy Spirit in the hearts of persons” (BC 174). To say it in good ecumenical Latin: ecclesia est principaliter societas fidei et spiritus sancti in cordibus, a society of faith and the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The church is mystic sweet communion, a connection with God and each other rooted in the very being of the Lord of life.
Such is our life together in Christ as his body the church.
The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Amen
Martin Lohrmann
Address given during worship at Loehe Chapel
Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque
October 31, 2017