2nd Sunday After Pentecost

I am a cradle Lutheran. As I’ve said before, there are Deiblers memorialized in the stained glass windows of the little country church where I grew up. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I was what you would call an “ardent” Lutheran. And so it was that when the time came in seminary for the course called “Lutheran Confessions”, I had a lot to learn. Growing up in Central Pennsylvania, the evidence of the third commandment was very plain. “Remember the sabbath, and keep it holy.” On Sundays, the only “store” that was open was the newsstand in downtown Sunbury, where we dutifully stopped every Sunday so that my dad could buy a copy of the New York Times.

The early Lutheran settlers in North America had a somewhat different understanding of the nature of the sabbath and often came into conflict with the historic American practice, so strongly influenced by the Puritans. The Puritans believed that the Sabbath commandment meant that there was zero work one day of the week, yes. But also, no amusements were permitted. The only thing allowed was religious observances of one kind or another. That’s what led to what were known as Sunday “blue laws” and to strong sanctions against any non-religious activity on Sunday. The Lutheran immigrants, on the other hand, had a very different view. For them, the purpose of the commandment was to instill in us the importance of worship, of hearing and learning God’s Word. Going to church was necessary, but the rest of the day you were free to do whatever you wanted, as long as it wasn’t immoral. So, they often went to plays or enjoyed supper with their family at a local beer garden on Sunday afternoon. And they were often criticized by the more strait-laced Americans.

But they were simply following Luther. Luther took gospel-centered view of the Sabbath. As an institution, he said in the Large Catechism, it simply doesn’t apply to Christians. It was intended for the Jews, as part of the Jewish law, and for Christians it has no more meaning than dietary regulations. What is important about the commandment, he said, is not the resting, but the sanctifying—the “making holy.” And the day is made holy if one uses it to hear and learn the Word of God. So Luther writes: “We are to fear and love God so that we do not neglect his Word and the preaching of it, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.” For Luther, the commandment is centered always on God’s Word.

So, what does that mean for us? For Luther, this commandment urges us to be absolutely faithful in our attendance at worship. As important as it is for us to be students of the Bible in our private lives, that is not primarily what this commandment is about. In the Catechism, Luther connects “God’s Word” with “preaching.”

For him, there is a very clear and specific grace that comes to us when we gather in the congregation and hear the Word, and receive the Sacrament, which is the visible Word.

There are lots of reasons for going to church. Some are personal. We may see it as a discipline that we impose upon ourselves, a structure that helps us make sense of the rest of our lives. Some are social. We have this opportunity to gather with friends who share common values and interests. But honestly, we could satisfy those needs in other ways. There is one need we can fully satisfy nowhere else: the need to be in communion with God, to hear his Word spoken directly to us, to let him touch us and be with us. This is where that happens. It’s only in worship that God gets that personal. God’s spoken word literally enters into our ears. God’s visible words literally pass between our lips as bread and wine or juice and become a part of who we are. That doesn’t mean that we can’t sense God in other places. God can and does show up everywhere in all circumstances. But the meaning of the commandment is that God directs us to this place, to this altar. It might not be the place of our choosing, but it is the place of God’s choosing. Here is where God meets us.

It’s not always a comfortable experience when God meets us. Graham Greene’s novel The Heart of the Matter is, like many of Greene’s books, laced with theological references and meaning. The main character, Henry Scobie, is a devout Roman Catholic, but in his personal life he’s involved in a web of deceit and sinfulness. Greene shows very powerfully what it means for Scobie to attend Mass. He does so reluctantly, because he knows how deeply sinful he is. But he finds that he must go to church, and hear God’s Word, even though it’s painful. Even though it confronts him with his own failures. Even though it makes him supremely uncomfortable. Still, his life depends on this meeting with God. He can’t neglect God’s Word, even though he desperately wants to do so.

It can be the same for us here. We might experience confrontation when that’s necessary, forgiveness when that’s appropriate, guidance when that’s what we we’re looking for. God speaks to us in this place. God touches us in this place. That’s what it means to keep this day, this Lord’s Day, holy: that on this day, we come into the presence of the Holy One.

Luther says a couple of other things that are very important. He tells us that we are to hear and learn God’s Word. In other words, there’s nothing magical about simply coming to church and sitting for an hour. Luther was reacting in part to what he saw as a terrible abuse in the medieval church. People talked about “hearing mass”. They believed if you just came and sat through it passively, you had fulfilled your duty. Luther couldn’t abide that. The commandment is violated, he says, not just by those who miss church because they are lying around in taverns dead drunk like swine, but also by those who “listen to God’s Word as they would to any other entertainment, who only from force of habit go to hear preaching and depart again with as little knowledge of the Word at the end of the year as at the beginning.” Does that cut a little close to the bone? I know it does for me. It’s so easy to sit passively in church and just let the liturgy, the lessons, the sermon roll right by, and then come to the altar for communion, paying no more attention than we might give when we’re hauling out the recycling. Some of this we can blame on our culture. We don’t learn how to pay attention any more. We play the radio or listen to a podcast as we do housework, catching a word or two here and there, but not really listening. In effect, our noisy society trains us not to listen, not to pay attention.

We’ve all had the experience of trying to talk to someone, to say something important, and realize that they’re simply not listening. What do you do? Parents find a way when it’s a child. You say the kid’s name: “Julia, I’m talking to you. Please listen.” You can ask for feedback: “Now, John, what time are we going to meet, and where?” In a certain sense we need to do to these same things to ourselves when we come to worship. We need to remind ourselves to listen, realizing that these words are addressed directly to us. We need to give church some thought during lunch. What was said today? What was it about? What did I hear, what did I learn? If you attend church with someone else, that’s a bit easier to do; but even if you are alone, you can spend some time reflecting. Always keep in mind that the purpose in attending church is not simply to hear God’s word. You’re here to learn God’s word.

Luther also throws in another important idea: We are to hear and learn God’s word gladly. Again, that’s a tough one for some of us. It’s tough for me. Attending church with me is not always easy, because I can be pretty critical about things. “I don’t like this person’s style of preaching.” “I couldn’t stand the music in that place.” And the only thing that attitude does is to guarantee that I will get nothing good out of church. I need to work on that.

It has to do with anticipation. Do you attend worship, expecting that you will be hearing from God, and therefore coming with excitement and enthusiasm? Or do you come with a kind of demand: Entertain me! Keep me awake! Make it happen for me! If our attitude is the latter, then we’re likely more often than not to be disappointed.

“I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Maybe you recognize that little bit of Psalm 122. It is a good phrase to keep foremost in our minds. It can help create a more positive attitude toward worship. It encourages us with the knowledge that God is present when we gather as God’s people. When we truly love God, then “we do not neglect his Word and the preaching of it, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.” May God bless the Word among us this Lord’s Day. Amen.