Lutheranism For the Post-Evangelical

Chaplain Mike at Internet Monk has two posts giving strong points of the Lutheran tradition which fill a void that his former Evangelical associations simply could not or did not address.  In the first, he identifies "three main areas of disillusionment with the culture of American evangelicalism: (1) Worship, (2) Pastoral Ministry, (3) Missional living" and notes the following as Lutheran strengths:

The Word and Table liturgy of the Lutheran church, rooted in the historic tradition of the church rather than the revivalist movement, restores the priority of worship in the local congregation.

Pastors are not CEO’s or program directors in the Lutheran church as they have become in much of evangelicalism.  Rather, they represent Christ in distributing the means of grace through Word and Sacrament.  Preaching is embedded in the liturgy so that worship does not revolve around the charisma of the preacher, but the Word Himself who meets us in the gathering of his people.  Pastoral care and catechizing the congregation are essential components of his or her work.

The doctrine of vocation is one of the gifts the Lutheran tradition has given to the larger Church.  Luther, himself a monk, came to appreciate the priesthood of all believers and the integrity of every calling, "sacred" or "secular," as a means of showing Christ’s love to the world.

In the second post, he addresses two other theological distinctives.  First is the centrality of Christ, especially as regards three areas:

First of all, Lutherans observe the Christian Year, which is as Jesus-shaped and salutary a practice for getting to know Christ and learning to live in his story as any I know.

Second, throughout the year this involves preaching from the lectionary, which shows week in and week out how the Bible relentlessly points to Christ and God’s kingdom.  As I’ve attended the Lutheran church, I have heard sermons from the Gospel reading almost every Sunday, which means it is Jesus’ story and Jesus’ voice that is constantly highlighted.

Third, traditional liturgical worship itself is by nature Christocentric, as Robert Webber has explained so well in his writings on worship.  The liturgy is designed to reenact the drama of the Gospel, with Christ at the center through proclamation of the Gospel and invitation to the Lord’s Table.

Then there is distinguishing of Law and Gospel.  The Law "comes to us in imperatives: “Thou shalt…” and “Thou shalt not…”

It draws the line and therefore defines crossing the line as “transgression.”  It paints a picture of perfect health and defines the corruption of our nature as “iniquity.”  It issues commandments, requirements, laws, exhortations, and instructions, and defines disregard of those standards as “lawlessness.”  As a revelation of God’s character, it declares that our lack of conformity to him is “ungodliness.”  It sets forth a clear path, a “straight way” on which humans should walk, and then points out that we have “gone astray” and become “lost.”

While the Gospel "is the announcement of God’s grace in Christ for a rebel creation."

God’s grace also renews us and God’s grace leads us.  Through grace we delight in God’s will.  Through grace we are strengthened to walk in his ways.  The formation of virtue in our lives does not come through simply hearing God’s commands and “following the instructions.”  It comes instead as we focus on Christ and feed on Christ, digesting his grace toward us.  We learn with amazement that we are accepted by him solely because of his “one-way love” and not because we are in any way attractive or deserving.  Our relationship with God has been initiated and is sustained wholly from outside ourselves.

With the amount of Lutheran theology read in the past five years, I can add my affirmation to the general points though disagreeing with some of the specifics.  These are definitely areas where American evangelicalism has largely fallen flat. We can learn a thing or two from our Lutheran brethren to get away from what Evangelicalism has become and be an assembly of God's people.