As the Liturgy goes, so goes the Faith

This is the 18th in a series on why some LCMS pastors have converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.

So far, I have highlighted the public testimonies of:

1. Thomas L. Palke
2. Ezekiel
3. Benjamin Harju

This is the last in a series of posts looking at the public testimony of Fr. John Fenton, another pastor in the LCMS who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.

Fr. Fenton states that he did not become Orthodox because of the problems in the LCMS. He shares:

"Please know, however, that the troubles in the LCMS are not the reason for my resignation. If I was leaving because the Missouri Synod is in trouble, I would be leaving for all the wrong reasons; I would be running when I should be protecting you; and I would be showing you great disrespect.

I tender my resignation because, over time, I have come to see and believe that the faith believed, taught, confessed and lived in the Orthodox Church is the faith of the apostles. Therefore, I sincerely believe that the Orthodox Church is the true visible Church of Christ on earth. For this reason, my family and I will seek to be received into communion in the Orthodox Church."

What was the "core issue" that caused Fr. Fenton to become Orthodox? He states:

"Your new bishop recently asked me what core issue motivated me to embrace the Orthodox Faith. It is this: The Liturgy never changes.

I don’t mean that chants or prayers or feasts are not added or subtracted gradually over time. What I mean is that no priest or bishop or congregation can decide to cut the Eucharistic Prayer or go with a new style of worship or change things to suit his convictions or the times. Why? Because the liturgy is not something smart men have created and so can modify. The liturgy is from the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Scriptures are from the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, the Holy Spirit rightly instructs us in Holy Scripture and His presence transforms us and the gifts set forth in the Holy Eucharist. So the liturgy is the way the Faith is given, confessed, prayed and proclaimed.

As the liturgy goes, so goes the Faith together with your certainty and surety.Bad bishops and aberrant priests have and will always surface in the true Church. From time to time, they introduce novel and heretical teachings. But if the liturgy doesn’t change, then their faith-destroying words will not take hold and will eventually fade away. The bottom line, then, is that the unchanging liturgy keeps us on the straight and narrow. It keeps us both on the way to the Kingdom, and in the Way which is Our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Kingdom of heaven is the goal, and the Lord Jesus is our Life."

The LCMS is not the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”

This is the tenth post in a series looking at the reasons why some Lutheran pastors left the LCMS for Eastern Orthodoxy. The first seven posts focused on an article written by the Reverend Thomas L. Palke in 1999 entitled “MY JOURNEY TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH ESTABLISHED BY JESUS CHRIST: A Son of the Reformation Enters the “Mighty Fortress” of the Orthodox Church.”

This is the last of three posts examining the article "My Journey Home" by a former LCMS pastor named Ezekiel who converted to Orthodoxy a few years ago.

I remember the day when my pastor shared that the LMCS is not the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” and is simply a “voluntary assembly of congregations”. He then argued why our local church was a part of the invisible “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”. The argument was basically that since we preach the Gospel and correctly administer the Sacraments, we are the Church.

I was then instructed that there is no need for Bishops because the Priest (pastor) is the same thing as a Bishop. When asked why we did not have any Deacons, he stated that the congregation has looked into that and we may get one someday.

I knew from my reading of history and the early church fathers that from a very early time there were Bishops, Priests and Deacons. My pastor shared that this is just one way to organize a church government, but there are other ways.

The question for me is did Jesus and the Apostles institute a specific form of church government or is my pastor correct? This will be the focus of future posts.

Ezekiel shares some of my same concerns and states:

"Lutherans are run by a congregational polity. This is to say that a local congregation has autonomy and can do pretty much as it pleases. Indeed, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod is a “voluntary assembly of congregations,” NOT the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. And as such a body, it really has no bishops. It even uses language that says that every pastor (priest) is a bishop – directly contradicting the teaching of the Fathers and the Church through the ages."

From reading "My Journey Home", here is a summary of Ezekiel's reasons for leaving the LCMS and converting to Eastern Orthodoxy:

1. Confessions given lip service
2. Confession and Absolution are not required
3. Abandonment of the historic Liturgy
4. Lack of focus on the visible Church
5. There should not be a Lutheran Church
6. Abandonment of the historic Office of the Holy Ministry
7. Pastors simply hired and fired by a ruling congregation
8. Lack of honor given to the Theotokos
9. No Bishops
10. The LCMS is not the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church
    

The Priesthood and the Theotokos

This is the ninth post in a series looking at the reasons why some Lutheran pastors left the LCMS for Eastern Orthodoxy. The first seven posts focused on an article written by the Reverend Thomas L. Palke in 1999 entitled “MY JOURNEY TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH ESTABLISHED BY JESUS CHRIST: A Son of the Reformation Enters the “Mighty Fortress” of the Orthodox Church.”

This is the second of three posts examining the article "My Journey Home" by a former LCMS pastor named Ezekiel who converted to Orthodoxy a few years ago.

In reading the early church fathers and church history, I find a different view of the Priesthood and of Mary than what one finds in the LCMS today.

Many LCMS churches view the pastor as simply a man they hired. The voter's are "in charge" of the congregation and can remove a pastor whenever they see fit. Adding to this problem are the LCMS pastors who have stopped dressing like Priests and now wear jeans, shorts or Hawaiian shirts during "service".

In regards to Mary, I read a different view of her in the Lutheran Confessions and the ancient church. The Theotokos simply does not have a place of honor in the majority of LCMS congregations.

Ezekiel comments:

“Our prayers and study continued, amidst the crumbling Lutherans. All of us were very much concerned that the Office of the Holy Ministry (the Priesthood) was more often than not not seen as ordained by Christ and given to His Church. Pastors were defined as those selected to carry out things given to every Christian to do. They were literally hired and fired. All of us were very much in the minority in our church body regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. Most treated her ever virginity as a “pious opinion, ‘ in spite of the fact that the Church East and West confessed and taught this from the apostolic times.”

Confessional Lip Service

This is the eighth post in a series looking at the reasons why some Lutheran pastors left the LCMS for Eastern Orthodoxy. The first seven posts focused on an article written by the Reverend Thomas L. Palke in 1999 entitled “MY JOURNEY TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH ESTABLISHED BY JESUS CHRIST: A Son of the Reformation Enters the “Mighty Fortress” of the Orthodox Church.”

The next three posts will examine the article "My Journey Home" by a former LCMS pastor named Ezekiel who converted to Orthodoxy a few years ago.

Every week on the Steadfast Lutheran website there are articles about the serious problems in the LCMS. Many are putting their hope in Rev. Harrison and praying that he becomes the next President of the Synod. However, I don’t know if a new president can fix the problems in the LCMS.

The problems in the Synod are theological. One problem is the often massive gap between the Lutheran Confessions and actual practice in the local LCMS congregations.

Ezekiel states:

“However, within Lutheranism, particularly the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, the Confessions of the Church were given lip service, while practically speaking they were abandoned. Although Confession and Absolution were part of what Lutherans confess, the official church body didn’t require the practice. Increasing, any semblance of the historic western liturgy gave way to “pick and choose” when it came to worship. Rather than seeing improvement in these things, or any sort of repentance, things were glossed over. A number of my colleagues and I became very much concerned that Lutheranism, in particular the Missouri Synod, was akin to the Titanic. Everyone was always waiting for the next convention or the next administration to “fix” things, but it didn’t get better.

It couldn’t get better because when one asks wrong questions, one gets wrong answers. And where truth is obscured or made relative, there can be no freedom, but only a constant movement here and there. Prayers and Liturgy are replaced by high sounding doctrinal discussions which leave the people behind and which are aimed only at scoring points. And this is not what the Nicene Creed means when it says “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” That phrase of the creed has always been very important to me, and to a number of my colleagues. We believed that this Church was visible (not invisible, some idealistic hoped for reunion), alive, well – and as our Lord Christ says: the gates of hell did not prevail against it.”

The “Lutheran Church” is the consequence of a failed attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church. Luther did not set out to start a new church. Lutheranism is more of an “idea” than a “Church”.

Ezekiel states:

“We wrestled with the fact that seriously reading the Confessions of the Lutheran church indicated that there really shouldn’t be a “Lutheran” church at all: for the Reformers were demonstrating that they were actually one with the ancient church. Indeed, it is clear that they would hold to the ancient fathers, to that which the Church had handed down. Their claim was that Rome had ceased doing that – thus a call for Reform!”

The Rule of Prayer is the Rule of Faith

This is the second post in a series looking at the reasons why some Lutheran pastors left the LCMS for Eastern Orthodoxy. The focus is an article written by the Reverend Thomas L. Palke in 1999 entitled “MY JOURNEY TO THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH ESTABLISHED BY JESUS CHRIST: A Son of the Reformation Enters the “Mighty Fortress” of the Orthodox Church.”

Many LCMS Lutherans claim that we just need to agree on the main articles of faith. Some say that the belief in justification by faith alone is sufficient for unity. How we worship (i.e. liturgy or contemporary praise) does not matter.

However, as many have pointed out, Baptists worship like Baptists because of their theology. What happens when Lutherans begin to worship like Baptists? My observation is that Lutherans start thinking and acting like Baptists. It is then just a matter of time before Baptist books and education materials are introduced into the congregation.

As Dr. Jaraslov Pelikan, a former Lutheran and one of the world’s leading church historians, stated:

"When the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod became Baptist, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America became Methodist, I became Orthodox."

Rev. Palke makes similar comments about the Rule of Prayer and the Rule of Faith.

"There are a small number of faithful, confessional pastors who believe in the principle lex orandi lex credendi (the rule of prayer is the rule of faith) and lead their congregations in a substantive ministry of Word and Sacrament. However, since Lutheranism regards liturgy as an adiaphoron, something neither commanded nor forbidden by God, many regard this as a license to do what is expedient and has mass-marketing appeal. Others castrate the liturgy under the pretext that the liturgy is a hindrance to first-time visitors in church and to evangelism in general.

The confessional writings of Lutheranism generally grant freedom to churches in matters liturgical, so long as they agree in all the articles of faith (Formula of Concord, Article X). And herein lies the problem: worship appears to be disconnected from the faith. Instead of seeing worship as the faith of the church in action, Lutherans, like most Western Christians, tend to reduce the faith to mere intellectual assent. Instead of seeing music,liturgy, and art as bearers of the faith, Lutherans tend to view these things as aesthetic embellishments that establish the proper atmosphere for hearing the sermon, which itself is usually filled with many comedic and illustrative embellishments that are intended to enhance the Gospel!"