DE TRINITATE
Headlines:
From the Senior
Leadership Council Retreat
Congratulations to Larry Vogel
Pope Benedict XVI on "St. Paul and Justification"
Florida Chapter Organized
Chapter News
From the Vicar
Masthead
From the Senior
LEADERSHIP COUNCIL RETREAT
The annual Leadership Council retreat was held at Seabrook Island, S.C., January 27–29, 2009. About 20 chapter deans and officers gathered at Camp St. Christopher, along with 10 spouses. This 48-hour retreat is like any other STS retreat with the full round of daily prayer offices, study, quiet time, and opportunity for individual confession and Holy Communion, as well as conducting the business of the Society. An important aspect of the retreat is reporting by the deans on how things are going with their chapters and bringing to the Council any concerns or suggestions from their chapters. According to the by-laws of the Society, the Council reviews the previous general retreat and advises the Senior on the next one. The Council also discusses the finances of the Society and makes recommendations concerning dues and travel equalization. There are no increases of either for 2009. Dues of $250.00 are payable by Trinity Sunday.
A major portion of the Council's time this year was devoted to discussing the "charism" of the Society as a way of discerning whether the Society has changed over the course of its 12-year existence. Paddy Rooney, STS, prepared and circulated ahead of the meeting a paper on "Charism: Gift and Service," with particular attention to charisms in religious orders. Pr. Rooney noted that every religious community, order, or society is known for a particular gift, which is usually the Spirit-given charism of the founder passed on to the members through such means as a rule and formation. In the case of the Society of the Holy Trinity, there was a group of founders. Can a particular charism be identified with our founding group (those who drafted The Rule by consensus and subscribed to it), and is that charism still evident in the Society today? Remarkably, the Council (comprising a spectrum of experience in the Society ranging from founders to recent subscribers) came to a consensus that the charism passed on by the founders to the members is faithfulness, expressed in obedience. Specifically, the Society's purpose is to support members in obedience to their ordination vows. The form that the Society takes is a ministerium.
I was charged by the deans to draft a statement on the Charism of the Society of the Holy Trinity, reflecting the discussions at the Leadership Council retreat. These sentences "From the Senior" are not that statement. I expect to draw on the work already done by Pr. Rooney to write such a statement, and it will be circulated to the deans and other officers. But here I share my own recollections of the founding of the Society.
In the wake of a refusal to engage in a discussion of the issues raised in the 9.5 Theses on the part of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) leadership, the pastors meeting in Morristown, N.J., in 1996 decided that we couldn't "take back the church." Instead, we had to renew the Holy Ministry and let a renewed ministry of the Word and the Sacraments under the guidance of the Holy Spirit be the agency of church renewal. If what the churches faced was a crisis of faith, renewed faith was needed. "To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments" (AC 5). The Church is gathered and renewed by the Holy Spirit working through the means of grace; otherwise it is only relying on its own works. The Founding Statement of the Society called for "an ordered society of pastors," even "a pastoral and priestly society, a living oratorium, for the renewal of the office to which we have been called . . ."
The "gang of six"—Pastors Ronald Bagnall, Phillip Max Johnson, Michael McDaniel, Frank Senn, Louis Smith, and J. Larry Yoder—who met in Bishop Michael McDaniel's office at Lenoir Rhyne College in the summer of 1997 to draft a rule consciously recalled the model of the ministerium organized by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg in 1748, even giving to the leader of the Society Muhlenberg's title of "Senior of the Ministerium." That gathering in Philadelphia in 1748 was not a synod; lay leaders of congregations could attend and speak but were without vote. The ministerium was an order of pastors who undertook a collective responsibility for all the scattered congregations in British North America. They were inter-Lutheran in that the pastors in attendance had been ordained in different Landeskirchen in Germany and by the Church of Sweden. They examined and ordained a candidate for the Holy Ministry and adopted a common liturgy, which they agreed to use without deviation, only allowing for local circumstances.
These are some of the theological and historical elements that lie behind The Rule of the Society of the Holy Trinity. Some of the aspects of that 1748 ministerium meeting in Philadelphia have also come into the Society. We are an inter-Lutheran society because pastors rostered in three Lutheran church bodies subscribed to The Rule. I can't stress enough, it seems (from listening to conversations), that the Society is NOT an ELCA organization just because ELCA members are in the majority, and the Society does not seek official recognition from any church body. Chapters should not be considered co-territorial with ELCA (or ELCiC) synods. As far as I can tell, since we don't keep records of who is rostered in what church body, pastors in seven different Lutheran church bodies are members or fellow travelers of the STS. We are also interested in seminarian formation and have made it possible for seminarians to attend STS retreats at Society expense. We have striven for common liturgical practices in our retreats and in our parishes. I have also been able to recommend names to parish call committees (or, in one case, to a synod bishop's office) when asked. We are doing what a ministerium does.
The Marks of the Church to be studied at the 2009 general retreat are public prayer and worship and the Holy Ministry. The Leadership Council thought that study of these marks should lead to further study in 2010 and beyond on what it means to be obedient to one's ordination vows and to plumb the depths of the Society's charism of faithfulness in ministry.
One final thing: the deans agreed that there should be an oral reading of a portion of The Rule at every meeting of the Society. St. Paul said, with regard to the proclamation of the gospel, "Faith comes from what is heard." It's a good principal in general; hearing words makes a greater impression on our consciousness than reading them.
CONGRATULATIONS
Larry M. Vogel, STS, is moving to St. Louis, Mo., to become Associate Executive Director of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. He will be installed during the April 23–25 CTCR meeting. We extend our congratulations to Pr. Vogel.
Frank C. Senn, STS, Senior
Pope Benedict XVI on "St. Paul and Justification"
Pope Benedict XVI has declared the year between June 29, 2008, and June 29, 2009, the "Year of St. Paul" to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the apostle's birth. He has been joined in this observance of by His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Our friend Prof. Karl Donfried laments that the Lutheran world has not joined in this ecumenical observance, especially as we lead up to the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation on October 31, 2009.
The pope has given a series of lessons on St. Paul throughout the year. He dedicated his general audience, held in St. Peter's Square on November 19, 2008, to the "question of justification. How do human beings make themselves just in the eyes of God?" This question occupies a central place in the apostle's letters.
When Paul met the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, said the pope, "he was a successful man: blameless as to righteousness under the Law." Yet "the conversion of Damascus radically changed his life, and he began to consider all the gains of his irreprehensible religious career as 'rubbish' in the face of the sublimity of his knowledge of Jesus Christ."
"The Letter to the Philippians," the pope added, "provides moving testimony of Paul's shift from a justice founded on the Law and achieved by observing certain prescribed actions, to a justice based upon faith in Jesus Christ. . . . It is because of this personal experience of the relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul focuses his Gospel on a steadfast contrast between two alternative paths to justice: one based on the works of the Law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ."
Thus St. Paul "reaffirms to the Christians of Rome that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,' and the Apostle adds that 'we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the Law.'"
"Luther," said the pope, "translated this as 'justified by faith alone,' . . . yet before returning to this point it is necessary to clarify which is the 'Law' from which we have been freed and what are the works that do not justify us. In the community of Corinth there already existed an opinion, that crops up again throughout history, to the effect that it is the moral law, and that hence Christian freedom means freedom from ethics. . . . Obviously this is an incorrect interpretation. Christian freedom is not debauchery, . . . it is not freedom from doing good."
"For St. Paul, as for his contemporaries, the word Law meant the Torah in its entirety, . . . which imposed . . . a series of actions ranging from an ethical core to ritual observances . . . and substantially defined the identity of the just man, . . . such as circumcision, dietary laws, etc. . . . All these precepts—expressive of a social, cultural, and religious identity—were very important" in the Hellenistic age when polytheism was rife and Israel felt threatened in its identity and feared "the loss of faith in the One God and in His promises."
For this reason it was necessary to counteract Greek pressure with "a wall that protected the precious heritage of the faith. This wall was represented by the Jewish precepts." Yet Paul, after his encounter with Christ, understood that "the God of Israel, the only true God, has become the God of all peoples, and the wall . . . between Israel and the pagans is no longer necessary. Christ protects us from polytheism and its deviations. Christ guarantees our identity within the diversity of cultures, . . . it is He Who makes us just."
"Being just simply means being with Christ, being in Christ, that is all. The other precepts are no longer necessary. For this reason Luther's 'sola fide' is true if it is not placed in opposition to charity, to love [emphasis added]. Faith is to look at Christ, to entrust oneself to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be conformed to Christ . . . and to enter into his love. That is why, in the Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul develops above all his doctrine on justification; he speaks of faith that operates through charity (Galatians 5:14)."
"Paul knows that in the double love of God and neighbor the whole law is fulfilled. Thus the whole law is observed in communion with Christ, in faith that creates charity. We are just when we enter into communion with Christ, who is love. We will see the same in next Sunday's Gospel for the solemnity of Christ the King. It is the Gospel of the judge whose sole criterion is love. What he asks is only this: Did you visit me when I was sick? When I was in prison? Did you feed me when I was hungry, clothe me when I was naked? So justice is decided in charity. Thus, at the end of this Gospel, we can say: love alone, charity alone. However, there is no contradiction between this Gospel and St. Paul. It is the same vision, the one according to which communion with Christ, faith in Christ, creates charity. And charity is the realization of communion with Christ. Thus, being united to him we are just, and in no other way."
"At the end, we can only pray to the Lord so that he will help us to believe. To really believe; belief thus becomes life, unity with Christ, the transformation of our life. And thus, transformed by his love, by love of God and neighbor, we can really be just in the eyes of God."
In view our ecumenical commitments in Chapter VIII of The Rule, chapters might want to download the entirety of the pope's address and study it during this "Year of St. Paul."
Florida Chapter Organized
A retreat at the San Pedro Center, Winter Park, Fla., brought together 17 persons, including seven STS members. Senior Frank Senn attended to give presentations on "The Cultural Relevance of the Church's Liturgical Forms." Five of the STS members agreed to form a Florida Chapter and Larry Recla, STS, was elected dean by ecclesiastical ballot. The first members of this new chapter include Lynn Ash, STS, Kenneth C. Blyth, STS, Joseph L. Combs, STS, James R. Corgee, STS, and Lawrence R. Recla, STS. Carl Roemer, STS, was also in attendance but plans to remain a member of the New England Chapter since he will be spending more time up north. Several of those attending the retreat indicated their intention to attend the general retreat and subscribe to The Rule.
Future retreats of the Florida Chapter will be held June 15–16, 2009, November 16–17, 2009, and March 15–16, 2010. Thanks to Larry Recla for organizing this successful first STS retreat in Florida. Best wishes to Pr. Robert G. Schaffer, who attended the retreat and is relocating to Chicago, Ill., to become ELCA Executive for Worship.
Chapter News
CALIFORNIA CHAPTER
Dean, Richard O. Johnson, california@societyholytrinity.org
The California Chapter's Advent retreat focused on Advent hymns. We looked at their background, sang them, and then discussed their texts in the context of the themes of the season.The Lent retreat March 2–3 will be led by Brad Everett, STS, dean of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, who will lead us in a study of acedia or sloth, one of the "seven deadly sins." Allen Schoonover, STS, will serve as chaplain. Pr. Everett will conduct an election for dean. The retreat will be at Christ the King, a Passionist retreat center in Citrus Heights, Calif.
GREAT RIVERS CHAPTER
Dean, Timothy D. Hubert, greatrivers@societyholytrinity.org
The Great Rivers Chapter met in a 40-hour retreat, February 1–3, at the Toddhall Conference and Retreat Center, Columbia, Ill. Jeff Cottingham, STS, was our presenter on "Luther, Theologian of the Cross." Jim Lehmann, STS, was our chaplain. Thirteen were in attendance, including four visitors.
GUADALUPE RIVER-TEXAS CHAPTER-IN-FORMATION
Contact, Ralph W. Reitmeyer, RWReit@aol.com
The Guadalupe River-Texas Chapter-in-Formation met on retreat on February 9–10 at Cedarbreak Retreat Center near Belton, Tex. In our time for study we gathered to review the pericopies for the upcoming Lenten season. Our chaplain for this retreat was the Rev. Evan McClanahan. The Rev. David Klak was our preacher at the Eucharist.Our chapter will meet again at Cedarbreak on May 4–5.
MINNESOTA CHAPTER
Dean, Luther M. Mathsen, minnesota@societyholytrinity.org
The Minnesota Chapter met for an Advent retreat December 1–2 at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minn. Eight retreatants were present, with two more attending only for the day. Dr. Charles Chalberg, Professor of History at Normandale College, Inver Grove Heights, Minn. gave a riveting presentation on G. K. Chesterton, portraying Chesterton in period clothing, manner, and speech. His focus was on Chesterton's writing, "On the Man Called Christ," from his book The Everlasting Man. Dean Luther Mathsen, STS, and Pari Bailey, STS, served as co-chaplains for the retreat. The Minnesota Chapter tradition of an Advent Hymn Sing was observed, as well as a festive repast of seasonal goodies. It was announced that Erma Wolf, STS, will serve as 2009 chaplain for the chapter.We will next meet on March 2–3 for the annual contemplative retreat.
— Reported by Pari Bailey, STS, Minnesota Chapter
NORTHERN ILLINOIS CHAPTER
Dean, Keith L. Forni, northernillinois@societyholytrinity.org
The annual Presentation of Our Lord retreat of the Northern Illinois Chapter was held at First and Santa Cruz Lutheran Churches in Joliet, Ill. Nine colleagues (including two from the Indiana Chapter-in-Formation) gathered for a refreshing day of prayer offices, Holy Communion, discussion, lunch, planning, and conviviality.Plans for 2009 include a day retreat on March 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at First Lutheran Church, 45 E. 150th Street, Harvey, Ill. The host will be Tom Knutson, STS.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHAPTER
Dean, Bradley Everett, rockymountain@societyholytrinity.org
The members of the Rocky Mountain Chapter gathered November 23–25 for their Christ the King retreat at Providence Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. For our study time we did a brief quiz on the Lutheran Confessions (to determine our quiatitude), and a thought-provoking discussion over our answers ensued. Bp. Ron Mayan, of the Synod of Alberta and the Territories, was present for Tuesday morning and presided at our closing Eucharist. At that time he was presented with a set of For All the Saints by the chapter.Our next retreat is February 22–24, unfortunately too late for a report in this issue of De Trinitate.
SANGRE DE CRISTO CHAPTER
Dean, David M. Wendel, pr-wendel@saintlukes-cs.org
The Sangre de Cristo Chapter will meet for its next retreat March 5–6 at the Franciscan Retreat Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The meeting was changed from the originally announced dates in February. Peter Jacobson, STS, will make a presentation titled, "A Pilgrimage to Jerusalem During Our Lenten Pilgrimage." Those interested should contact the dean at the e-mail address above or at 719-650-8171.
SUSQUEHANNA CHAPTER
Dean, Patrick Rooney, pastorrooney@christlutheranyork.com
The Susquehanna Chapter will meet for a one-day retreat on March 17 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Millersburg, Pa. Our study that day will center on the Spiritual Discipline of Fasting, and members of the chapter will serve as teaching theologians. The retreat will run from 9:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. All are welcome to join us. Please contact the dean at the e-mail address above.Our next 24-hour retreat will be held May 18–19 at Precious Blood Spiritual Center in Columbia, Pa.
WISCONSIN CHAPTER
Dean, Mark W. Knappe, pastor@fallsgloriadei.com
The Wisconsin Chapter retreat of February 6–7 was hosted by Joel Schmaltz, STS, at Zion Lutheran in Waussau, Wis. Along with praying the offices, we celebrated the Presentation of Our Lord at the Holy Eucharist; Kenneth Lahners, STS, served as the preacher. Wolf Knappe, STS, led us in discussion of The Three Books of the Church, by J. K. Wilhelm Loehe. We hope to read the book later in the year, when it will be back in print.
From the Vicar
The longer a pastor is involved with the Society's life, the more one understands how dominant the Church's ministry is in the Society's work. Biblically, this ministry runs out from Jesus' commissioning of the apostles, through the Church's centuries, and continues today. Confessionally, this ministry is spelled out in the fifth section of the Augsburg Confession, but it also streams from other documents in the Book of Concord.
The longer a pastor exercises that ministry in the world through the Church, the more one recognizes what a tremendous gift the ministry is from the Lord God. The over-riding and under-girding task of a called and ordained pastor in the Lutheran church is to proclaim, serve, and teach the Lord's Word, THE reality stirring and sustaining such work.
Looking in the North American culture, such an understanding and recognition of the ministry can be startling. The exercise of the Church's ministry often resembles a journey through a wilderness. From the Scriptures and the Confessions we know that the Lord provides oases for his traveling people, but there are times (often lengthy ones) when we wonder where those oases are.
In different Lutheran church structures there have been leaders who publicly stated they are looking for pastors who are "entrepreneurs"! Such looking has produced its results—pastors who put themselves at the center of a parish's ministry (self-centering is such an attraction), pastors who understand themselves to be local managers of a national franchise (it is relatively easy to apply learned hooks and techniques), pastors who drift from the proclaiming, serving, and teaching of the Lord's Word (the "spins" of which we are capable always find good listeners).
In addition, there are the various contexts in which this ministry is carried out. There is the secular-politically correct one where the Lord's Life is rejected and, in its place, are attempts to absorb the rejection. There is the sectarian-legalistic one where the Lord's Life is not rejected, but it is worked over so much by one's self that it is barely seen. There is the non-denominational one where the Lord's Life is not rejected, but it is reshaped so much to accommodate potential adherents that it, too, is barely seen.
Thankfully, these realities do not have the last word in the carrying out of the Church's ministry. Brushing up against and studying the Marks of the Church over the past two years has reminded us that both the content and the context of the Church's ministry is imbedded in the seven marks spelled out by Martin Luther.
Every year during the Lenten season, the Lord leads us through those wilderness journeys. He reminds us of the forty years that the Hebrews spent there. He reminds us of Jesus' flight to Egypt and his Baptism at the Jordan. He reminds us of the temptations thrown in front of Jesus after forty days. But he also reminds us of the oases that exist in his Baptism and Scriptures, his Supper and Forgiveness. These oases brim with the Church's prayer and worship, its ministry and the Son's Cross. They remind us that we are not alone in these wilderness journeys, that the Lord is always piercing them with the Son's crucified and resurrected Life.
During these weeks we pray for the Lord God to increase our faithfulness and obedience to him. This strengthens the exercise of the Church's ministry as the Lord's Word is proclaimed, served, and taught to an absorbed, indifferent, and lost world.
Carl A. Voges, STS, Vicar
DE TRINITATE
News and reflection from the Society of the Holy Trinity
Volume 12, Number 1, Lent 2009
Editor: Constance R. Seddon
Editorial office:
6239 Rosebury Ave., 1E, St. Louis, MO 63105
(314) 721-8262 / editor@societyholytrinity.org
To be placed on the De Trinitate mailing list or to report a change of address,
please contact the Secretary, below.
Senior: Pr. Frank C. Senn
Immanuel Lutheran Church, 616 Lake Street, Evanston, IL 60201
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Vicar: Pr. Carl A. Voges
129 Pond Ridge Road, Columbia, SC 29223
(803) 788-6656 or (803) 269-6656 / vicar@societyholytrinity.org
Secretary: Pr. John E. Priest
Immanuel Lutheran Church, 17 High Street, Delhi, NY 13753
(607) 746-2098 / secretary@societyholytrinity.org
Bursar: Pr. Mark A. Hoffman
St. Paul Lutheran Church, 324 North Street, Millersburg, PA 17061
(717) 692-2141 / bursar@societyholytrinity.org
Copyright © 2009 Society of the Holy Trinity. All rights reserved.
Posted -- 28 February 2009