DE TRINITATE
Headlines:
From the Senior
Forty Years and Counting
2009 General Retreat at Mundelein
Chapter News
From the Vicar
Masthead
From the Senior
FORTY YEARS AND COUNTING
On June 29, 2009 (the Day of Saints Peter and Paul), I will celebrate the fortieth anniversary of my ordination to the Holy Ministry of the Word and the Sacraments. (Actually we will observe it on June 28.) Such an anniversary puts me in a reflective mood. So please pardon me if I use this column as an opportunity to reflect in a personal way on forty years of ministry in the Lutheran church. Hopefully something edifying will come out of it.
It's remarkable to think about which issues have come and gone over forty years and which issues that emerged in the late 1960s have remained intractable (mostly those of gender and sex). The big issue at my first church council meeting in July 1969 was what we would do if, as threatened, a representative of the Black Panthers showed up at our Sunday service and took over the service to read the "Black Manifesto," which was an indictment of white society and white churches in particular. We decided we would simply suspend the service, allow any members to leave who so desired, and then resume worship as well as we could when the Panther left. We were never invaded. Our typical Lutheran church was two blocks off the main street in South Bend, Indiana, and probably too ethnic to bother with. (In fact, the Swedes who founded Gloria Dei all emigrated after the American Civil War.)
The decade of the 1970s was remarkable for the liturgical experimentation that was going on in the Lutheran churches. The congregation of Gloria Dei, South Bend, was the object of more liturgical experimentation than any one congregation should have to endure. The senior pastor, Mark Engdahl, and I made quite a team. I was working on my Ph.D. degree in liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame at the time. We had folk masses and Latin masses (Luther's), special saints' days, and all-night Saturday vigils (attended mostly by Gloria Dei youth and Notre Dame undergraduates). We experimented with the form of Evening Prayer that eventually made it into the Lutheran Book of Worship, both on the Notre Dame campus and at Gloria Dei. We even brought the whole congregation on campus once during the summer session to demonstrate a classical Lutheran liturgy using the Service Book and Hymnal.
I was personally involved during the 1970s on sub-committees of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship and as a member of the Consulting Committee on Worship of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). I was in the enviable situation of both drafting liturgical material and reviewing it for our church body! At the same I was on the Joint ALC-LCA Committee to Study Communion Practices and the USA Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue that proposed interim eucharistic hospitality. In the middle of the decade I was an LCA guest instructor at Christ Seminary-Seminex, living with the St. Louis Jesuits and courting my wife-to-be. I ended the decade as a professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. There was great liturgical and ecumenical ferment during this time—a very promising time for evangelical catholic Lutheranism—and I was in the middle of it! There's also no doubt that this was the cause of my downfall at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, as was noted at the time in the Lutheran Forum Letter by Richard John Neuhaus.
I can testify, on the basis of my subsequent career, that there is life after teaching in a seminary. I returned to parish ministry in 1981, serving three congregations in the Chicago area (nineteen years so far at Immanuel, Evanston—nearly half of my years in the ministry). I wrote articles and books and received invitations to speak all over the world and to teach courses at universities and seminaries (none of them ELCA [Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]). My extra-parochial activities tended to be outside of the denominational structures. I served as president (twice) of The Liturgical Conference and as president of the North American Academy of Liturgy. I was a founding member of the Society of the Holy Trinity and have served the Society six years as vicar and almost six years now as senior. It has been enough to keep me busy; never, I hope, at the expense of parochial pastoral responsibility.
The parish is a good place to do theology. Most of the fathers of the ancient church did their theology in the local church in which they served as bishops or presbyters, not in the academy. Their theology was doxological because whatever they said about worship, doctrine, or the moral life was rooted in the liturgical celebrations of actual worshiping assemblies. That is, whatever they had to say about the Sacraments, or Christology, or human relationships was said in the presence of God. The people to whom they spoke were not academic colleagues but ordinary Christians living out their eschatological callings in this age (the saeculum).
Ministry in the liturgical assembly is a cultivation of orthodoxy, which is "right praise" (orthodoxia) rather than "right teaching" (orthodokea). When praying, teaching, or counseling in the presence of God, one cannot use orthodoxy as a club to beat into submission those who don't measure up. Indeed, offering the right praise of God in a world that has little sense for worship and little time for devotion requires some rubrical flexibility. The pastor wants to draw people into the praise of God, not alienate them from it. On the other hand, I have found that if one wants the praise (doxa) to be correct (orthos), one had better know the rubrics, the rules, the laws. It is a matter of good Lutheran theology that the promised gift is received from doing what is commanded. It's as simple as that, and just as strenuously resisted by rebellious human nature.
My whole life and ministry has been a pursuit of orthodoxy. But, like G. K. Chesterton, I have found this pursuit to be a "thrilling romance" rather than a dutiful drill. I have discovered orthodoxy in such things as the baptism of a baby of Mexican migrant workers (using a Latin formula because I don't speak Spanish), or a wedding that took place in the corner laundromat between a poor young couple pretty much on the margins of society and radically unchurched, or the funeral of a young gay man from the parish who died of AIDS, while a blood drive was going on in the parish hall, and we shared the common cup of salvation at the altar. I'm sure you have your stories to remember and tell also. The Holy Ministry of the Word and the Sacraments has been one great adventure and I cannot think of what else I might have done with my life. Embedded in this personal agnosticism is vocation—a calling. And since we are under call, it is really not our ministry that ministers are performing, it is Christ's. No wonder it is a whirling adventure.
2009 GENERAL RETREAT AT MUNDELEIN
The Society of the Holy Trinity will meet in general retreat September 29 to October 1, 2009, at St. Mary of the Lake University Conference Center in Mundelein, Ill. The retreat will begin this year with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the Day of St. Michael and All Angels, September 29. The daily offices will be prayed and there will be opportunity for individual confession. This year general chapter business will include the election of a senior by ecclesiastical ballot and election of a bursar by majority vote.
Peter Jacobson, STS, of the Sangre de Cristo Chapter and pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kans., will serve as chaplain. Annette Lindal, organist and music director of Gloria Dei, will serve as cantor. The senior will be inviting members of the Society to preach at some of the prayer offices.
The teaching theologians for this retreat will be Dr. Kent Burreson, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Acting Dean of the Chapel at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., and Rodney Eberhardt, STS, dean of the Metropolitan New York Chapter and pastor of St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Farmingdale, N.Y. Concluding our exploration of Martin Luther's seven marks of the Church, Pr. Eberhardt will give a presentation on the Holy Ministry and Professor Burreson will give a presentation on public prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. Each will focus on a particular aspect of these large topics. Because time will be needed for several ecclesiastical ballots, there will be only two presentations this year.
There will be opportunities to subscribe to the Rule of the Society during the opening service and after Matins on the last day. Deans who have been elected since the last general retreat will be installed during the opening service.
Frank C. Senn, STS, Senior
2009 General Retreat Date: Tuesday, September 29, 1:00 p.m. (lunch), to Thursday, October 1, 1:00 p.m. (lunch)
Arrival: Evening of the 28th (by arrangement with St. Mary by September 15) or morning of
the 29th
Departure: After lunch on the 1st
Place: The Conference Center of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary,
1000 East Maple Avenue, Mundelein, Illinois 60060. Phone (847) 566-8290.Members of the Society in chapters register through deans. Members at large and non-members register through the Secretary of the Society, Pr. John E. Priest, 607-746-2098, secretary@societyholytrinity.org by September 15.
Chapter News
CHESAPEAKE-POTOMAC CHAPTER
Dean, Wollom A. Jensen, chesapeake-potomac@societyholytrinity.org
The next Chesapeake-Potomac Chapter retreat is June 1-2 at the Trinitarian Retreat Center in Towson, Md. The 24-hour retreat will begin and end at noon on the respective days. Pr. Andy Jagow, Alexandria, Va., will be chaplain, Barry Laird, STS, will be confessor, and Clinton Kersey, STS, and Wally Jensen, chapter dean, will be teaching theologians. Contact the dean if you are interested in attending.
DELAWARE RIVER CHAPTER
Dean, Ronald C. Yergey, delawareriver@societyholytrinity.org
The Delaware River Chapter of the Society met in retreat on February 16-17 at the St. Francis Retreat House in Easton, Pa. There were seven members in attendance who enjoyed a most refreshing, informative, and prayerful retreat. Gathered around the daily prayer of the Church, we took time to study four heresies that have faced the Church through the ages, along with their continuing presence and influence—Gnosticism, Arianism, Pelegianism, and Donatism. We were received at the retreat house as most welcome guests and fed by their chef as honored diners. It was indeed a fine retreat and we were able to set our schedule through 2010.The next scheduled retreat is June 8-9 at St. Francis Retreat House, Easton.
FLORIDA CHAPTER
Dean, Lawrence Recla, florida@societyholytrinity.org
We will welcome the Rev. Dr. Eric W. Gritsch as the presentor at our June 15-16 retreat. Dr. Grisch will be speaking of his latest book Toxic Spirituality: Four Enduring Temptations of Christian Faith, which is due to be available in July. For this retreat we will be returning to the San Pedro Center, which is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando Retreat Center. We anticipate about 25 in attendance, including up to five synodical deacons. We hope to have three to five clergy subscribe to the Rule at the general retreat in September.Our fall retreat, November 16-17, will be a Liturgical Practicum led by members of our chapter.
GREAT RIVERS CHAPTER
Dean, Timothy D. Hubert, greatrivers@societyholytrinity.org
The Great Rivers Chapter met at the Toddhall Retreat Center, Columbia, Ill., May 4-5 for a 24-hour retreat. Tim Hubert, dean, presented "The Trouble with Grace: The Council of Orange, 529." Jeff Cottingham, STS, was chaplain. We gathered for prayer, fellowship, the reading of the Rule, and quiet. Thirteen were in attendance, including three visitors.
GUADALUPE RIVER-TEXAS CHAPTER-IN-FORMATION
Contact, Ralph W. Reitmeyer, RWReit@aol.com
The Guadalupe River-Texas Chapter-in-Formation met in retreat May 4-5 at the Cedarbrake Retreat Center near Belton, Tex., with ten pastors and two laity in attendance. Loyd Ginn, STS, served as our teaching theologian and spoke on matters related to the proposed social statement on human sexuality and recommendations that will come before the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August. Ralph W. Reitmeyer, dean, served as chaplain for this retreat.We will meet again for a pre-Advent retreat at Cedarbrake on November 17-18.
IOWA CHAPTER
Dean, David A. Aanonson, pastor@ctklutheranic.org
The Iowa/Nebraska Chapter, STS, met in retreat May 4-5 at American Martyrs Retreat House in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Jason Cooper, STS, served as the chaplain for the retreat. Twelve members and one visitor were in attendance. The chapter welcomed James Harbaugh, STS, who recently moved from the Northern Illinois Synod, ELCA, to the Northeastern Iowa Synod, ELCA. Theological discussion was a group effort on "Reservation of the Host" based on the presentation by the Rev. Dr. Philip H. Pfatteicher at the last general retreat, "Confession and Communion in the Visitation of the Sick." Confessions were heard by Dennis Meyer, STS, and fellowship refreshments were provided by Ken Kimball, STS.The next chapter meeting is November 16-17 at American Martyrs Retreat House, Cedar Falls.
METRO NEW YORK CHAPTER
Dean, Rodney L. Eberhardt, srpastorstlukes@verizon.net
The Metro New York Chapter met in retreat May 18-19 at St. Ignatius Retreat House, Manhasset, N.Y. Frank Senn, STS Senior, was the visitor and teaching theologian. He addressed the cultural relevance of evangelical catholic liturgy in light of church growth entertainment evangelism alternatives. The chapter has had several visitors.
MINNESOTA CHAPTER
Dean, Luther M. Mathsen, flpastor@cannon.net
The Minnesota Chapter met in its annual contemplative retreat, March 2-3, at Christ the King Retreat House in Buffalo, Minn. Plans for our July 20-21 summer retreat include a presentation on the Sacraments by the Rev. Thomas Greene, New York, N.Y. Erma Wolf, STS, will be our chaplain.
NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER
Dean, Robert P. McGurn, minnesota@societyholytrinity.org
Two retreats have been held by the New England Chapter since our last report in De Trinitate. In December 2008 our presenter was the Rev. Philip Secker, Director of the Arthur Carl Piepkorn Center for Evangelical Catholicity, presenting on Piepkorn's theology, with an emphasis on his understanding of the ministry. In March our topic was baptism as a mark of the Church, presented by Ronald Bagnall, STS. These retreats were marked by the worship of the hours and wonderfully supportive conversation. We were pleased that our last retreat had the largest attendance ever, and invitations to attend and consider membership in the Society continue to be extended.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS CHAPTER
Dean, Keith L. Forni, northernillinois@societyholytrinity.org
The Northern Illinois Chapter held a day retreat May 14 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, South Bend, Ind. Dr. Mary Frandsen, Assoc. Prof. of Music at the University of Notre Dame and a member of Gloria Dei offered a lecture and conversation on "The Music Anthologies of Ambrosius Profe and Lutheran Spirituality."
SANGRE DE CRISTO CHAPTER
Dean, David M. Wendel, pr-wendel@saintlukes-cs.org
The Sangre de Cristo Chapter had its spring retreat May 18-19 at the Franciscan Retreat Center, Colorado Springs, Colo. Teaching theologian was Dr. Carl Braaten, who offered two presentations on the topic: "The Challenge of Being Lutheran Today: Evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox." The retreat was in conjunction with an event co-sponsored with Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, on Sunday, May 17, titled, "Sex, Love, Marriage, and Family: Swimming Against the Stream in Mainline Protestantism."
SUSQUEHANNA CHAPTER
Dean, Patrick Rooney, pastorrooney@christlutheranyork.com
The Susquehanna Chapter met for a one-day retreat at St. Paul, Millersburg, Pa., on March 17. Over 30 members and guests were in attendance. Presentations on the spiritual discipline of fasting were given by Paul Gausmann, STS, and Paula Murray, STS. Given his name, the dean preached on Saint Patrick. The day ended with a one-hour praying of the Stations of the Cross.A 24-hour retreat was held May 18-19 at Precious Blood Spiritual Center in Columbia, Pa. The chapter has met at this center since its founding more than 10 years ago but this was our last time there since this center is closing in October. Amy Schifrin, STS, our teaching theologian, presented a paper on "Pastoral Formation in the Lutheran Tradition."
Our final chapter retreat of the year will be held in Danville, Pa., November 30 to December 1, 2009. Details will be provided shortly.
UPSTATE NEW YORK CHAPTER
Dean, Troy A. Mulvaine, upstate.newyork@societyholytrinity.org
The Upstate New York Chapter held its Easter retreat at Stella Maris Retreat House in Skaneateles, N.Y., April 23-24. Dr. Gary Harion, professor at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., gave an excellent presentation on Islam, contrasting the first thirty years of Christianity with the first thirty years of Islam. Senior Frank Senn was our Society visitor.The chapter's next retreat will be August 27-28, also at Stella Maris, which has become the chapter's primary retreat center and is a lovely location at the northern tip of Skaneatles Lake, not far from Syracuse, N.Y.
Reported by John E. Priest, STS, Upstate N.Y. Chapter
WISCONSIN CHAPTER
Dean, Mark W. Knappe, pastor@fallsgloriadei.com
The Wisconsin Chapter gathered in retreat on May 11-12. Wolf D. Knappe, STS, preached at the Eucharist with Mark W. Knappe, dean, presiding. During our time of common study we discussed an article by Peter Leithart that appeared in First Things, "Keep the Fast, Keep the Feast." We are looking forward to gathering for our second annual "convivium" at the Knappe house on June 26.
From the Vicar
Thinking over the brightness of the Society's life and work, one is inclined to attribute it to the commitments and the gifts of its members and friends. Pressing that further, however, reveals that the brightness exists because of a deepening awareness of the Lord's Word. In our retreat gatherings (both in the chapters as well as the general retreat), we have been consistently exposed to the dynamics of that Word.
This Word streams out from the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, boring in on the world's people from eternity and to eternity. It is identified with the Son, Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Scriptures. It is most visibly seen in the Son's Cross. Its activity breaks people away from the world's life and it immerses those rescued people in the Holy Trinity's Life.
This activity is saving and rescuing because the world's life—brimming with a destructive attractiveness—is dominated by the unholy trio of sin, Satan, and death. The unholy trio does all it can to prevent the world's people from being exposed to the Holy Trinity and—if the exposure occurs so that a person is freed from them—the unholy trio relentlessly attempts to separate that person from the Holy Trinity.
The Lord's Word, rushing out of the Scriptures and Sacraments, flows through the other marks of the Church—Prayer (this includes the Sunday Eucharist along with Morning and Evening Prayer), Ministry, and the Son's Cross. This understanding is highly distinctive (though not exclusive) to the Lutheran tradition. This understanding also suggests that the marks are authentic parameters for the preaching, serving, and teaching of the Lord's Life that occurs in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
It is the Word that stirs and sustains the weekly celebrations of the Lord's Supper as well as the daily exercises of Morning and Evening Prayer. The unholy trio seeks to disrupt or block that activity by getting us to concentrate on our selves. This then creates liturgies that strip out what has been passed on to us. Or it convinces us to lead them in a mechanical and thoughtless routine. This concentration on self has us at the center of all prayers and convinces us we can manipulate the Lord's actions to our benefit. Thankfully and mercifully, the Word crashes through such thinking and doing, snapping us back to its working in the Lord's Supper along with Morning and Evening Prayer.
Again, it is the Word that calls, teaches, and ordains pastors for the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Relentlessly, the unholy trio seeks to skew or distort that reality by turning us back on our selves. This creates pastors who are more obedient to themselves than to the Holy Trinity. Or it drives them to bulk up their personalities and their programs. This concentration on self has us viewing a parish community as a franchise and leaves us functioning as an ordained member of a sect. Thankfully and mercifully, the Word crashes through such thinking and doing, snapping us back to the holy reality of rescued pastors who preach the gospel and administer the Sacraments.
Such crashing of the Word is a distinctive characteristic of Lutheran teaching and practice. Such crashing is what creates and maintains the brightness of the Society's life and work. Such crashing enables us to preach, serve, and teach the Son's dying and rising to those who have ignored the Lord's Life or who have drifted from it.
Carl A. Voges, STS, Vicar
DE TRINITATE
News and reflection from the Society of the Holy Trinity
Volume 12, Number 2, Pentecost 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
(847) 864-4464 / senior@societyholytrinity.org
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 -- 24 June 2009
Updated -- 6 September 2009