LIFE The Cute, the Cool, and the Catechized: Generational Segregation in the Church - p.4 Are Today’s Ears Hearing the Timeless Message?: Law and Gospel for Every Generation - p.6 Holding Dear Herman - p.8 Yours, Mine, or Ours: Teenagers’ Perceptions of Church Music - p.11 In the Field - p.14 WORLD of the For the July 2000. Volume Four, Number Three JULY 2000 3 F E A T U R E S 2 From the President 4 The Cute, the Cool, and the Catechized By Dr. Gene E. Veith, Professor of Humanities, Concordia University, Mequon, Wis. Even within regular-sized, one-worship-service congre- gations, there is generational segregation. Lutheran casualties of the worship wars might be surprised to hear that liturgical worship is now being hailed as the style of both the present and the future. 6 Are Today’s Ears Hearing the Timeless Message?: Law and Gospel for Every Generation By the Rev. Dr. Carl C. Fickenscher II, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. God’s message is for all times, for all people. The Church’s task is to proclaim that message to the world. Is the Word actually being received by all generations? 8 Holding Dear Herman By the Rev. D. Richard Stuckwisch, Jr., Pastor of Emmaus Lutheran Church, South Bend, Ind. This sermon was prepared for a funeral of an infant who passed away the night following his birth. 11 Yours, Mine or Ours: Teenagers’ Perceptions of Church Music By Dr. Barbara J. Resch, Coordinator of Music Education, Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne, and Director of Children’s Choir, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Ind. Planners of youth gatherings and youth services typically assume that teenagers will be most open to the hearing of God’s Word when it is carried by the styles of rock and popular music. There are several concerns with this approach to choosing music for worship, not the least of which is that it may be based upon a false assumption about teens’ relationship to the music they consider “theirs.” 14 In the Field By Pam Knepper Featuring the Rev. Martin Stahl, Regional Chaplain for Navy Region Southwest, San Diego, Calif. For theLIFE WORLDofthe PRESIDENT Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe PUBLISHER Rev. Scott Klemsz EDITOR Rev. John Pless ASSISTANT EDITOR Monica Robins ART DIRECTOR Steve Blakey For the Life of the World is published quarterly by Concordia Theological Seminary Press, 6600 North Clinton Street, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46825. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher of For the Life of the World. Copyright 1999. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at Fort Wayne, Indiana. To be added to our mailing list please call 219/452-2150 or e-mail Rev. Scott Klemsz at CTSNews. For the Life of the World is mailed to all pastors and congregations of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the United States and Canada and to anyone interested in the work of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. page 14 CONTENTS page 6 page 6 page 8 page 4page 11 Law& Gospel for 6 For the Life of the World What are your ears accostomed to hearing? As a test, try this: 1. Was Mantovani his first name or last name? 2. Is Paul dead? 3. How much did a fan pay for a piece of French toast partially eaten by a member of ‘N Sync? 4. Britney Spears: did she or didn’t she? Scoring: If you know enough to understand ONE or TWO of the above questions, you’re . . . PRETTY NORMAL. If you know enough to answer correctly THREE of the questions, you . . . PROB- ABLY HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN A MILLION FROM REGIS. If you know enough to care about all FOUR of the questions, you’re . . . UNUSUAL. Let’s face it. Few of us would be in the least interested in tuning in to all four of these artists—that’s right, they’re all musicians—and, if we did, we wouldn’t “get it.” Not all four, anyway. Fair enough. Nobody hurt. To each his own. There is, however, a message every- body is supposed to get, everybody needs to get. God’s message is for all times, for all people. The church’s task, of course, is to proclaim that message to the world. But if our pews and pulpits are a mix of the Mantovani generation, erstwhile Beatles fans, and youthful up-and- comings, is the Word actually being received by all? Are today’s ears hearing the timeless message? What Is the Timeless Message? If the idea that today’s ears are different is somewhat disquieting, there is certainly also a calming side to it. Past generations of preachers and hearers have dealt with this, too, and somehow, through it all, the Church has survived. We know why, of course. Conservative Christians, especial- ly confessional Lutherans, would all agree that God has delivered to us a timeless message. It’s not overly simplistic to say that if what’s preached is God’s message, it will be heard! Moreover, as we’ll see, God’s message does successfully reach all generations because it strikes one note that is familiar to every ear. Our greatest chal- lenge, then, is to be sure that we are indeed proclaiming God’s message. What is the timeless message? The Bible? Certainly. Christ Jesus?Absolutely. Salvation?Yes. But what is it that the Bible says? What about Jesus Christ? What is the message of salvation? Lutheran homiletician Herman Stuempfle writes that “whatever other elements are necessary in a Christian sermon, there is a certain theological structure which is indispensable.” This, he says, is “the classic Law/Gospel dis- tinction which has been a constant theme in Lutheran theological and homiletical thought since the Reformation.”1 God’s timeless message is Law and Gospel properly divided. C. F. W. Walther asserts, “Any passage of Scripture, yea, any historical fact recorded in Scripture, can be classified as belonging either to the Law or to the Gospel.”2 The message of the Bible, Christ, salvation is the Law and the Gospel. It is Holy Scripture itself that directs us to divide Law and Gospel. St. Paul (a different Paul; this is the one who did die and is now feasting at the heavenly banquet) stresses to Timothy, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a work- man that needeth not to be ashamed, right- ly dividing theWord of Truth” (II Timothy 2:15). Elsewhere he identifies the distinc- tion: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20). “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). ARE TODAY’S EARS HEARING THE TIMELESS MESSAG Every Generation By the Rev. Dr. Carl C. Fickenscher II 7JULY 2000 Luther elaborates, “We should under- stand ‘Law’ to mean nothing else than God’s word and command, in which He directs us what to do and what not to do, and demands from us our obedience or ‘work.’ . . . On the other hand, the Gospel or the faith is a doctrine or word of God that does not require our works. It does not command us to do anything. On the contrary, it bids us merely to accept the offered grace and forgiveness of sins and eternal life and let it be given to us.”3 In other words, the Law lays down what is demanded of man; the Gospel tells him that Christ has fulfilled those demands for him. The Law is everything in Scripture about which human beings are to be at work. The Gospel is always God graciously at work in Christ Jesus. Human beings are active agents only in the Law. God alone is active in the Gospel. Applying the Timeless Message Luther understood the Law as God’s means of preparing man for the message of salvation. This is the Law’s chief purpose. When man hears the demands of the Law, the Holy Spirit convicts him of his failures to obey. The intended result is to drive him to his knees in desperation. At that point, the Gospel may then ful- fill its chief purpose: To lift man up with the assurance of forgiveness in Christ. Luther again explains, “The other word of God is neither law nor commandment, and demands nothing of us. But when that has been done by the first word, namely, the Law, and has worked deep despair and wretchedness in our hearts, then God comes and offers us His blessed and life- giving word and promises; He pledges and obligates Himself to grant grace and help in order to deliver us from misery, not only to pardon all our sins, but even to blot them out, and in addition to create in us love and delight in keeping His Law. Behold, this divine promise of grace and forgiveness of sin is rightly called the Gospel.”4 Thus the Law makes man aware of his need for a Savior by showing him his sin, as in a mirror; the Gospel announces that he has that Savior in Christ Jesus. But Still “Timeless” Today? Law and Gospel properly divided is the message that everyone in every gener- ation needs to hear. “Distinguishing between the Law and the Gospel,” Luther reminds, “is the highest art in Christendom, one that every person who values the name Christian ought to recognize, know, and posses.”5 This truly is timeless, not only because God the giver is unchanging, but also because human ears do in at least one sense remain the same in every era. Once more Luther: “If human nature is not aided by God’s grace, it is impossible to keep the Law, for the reason that man since the fall of Adam in Paradise is depraved and full of sinful desires, so that he cannot from his heart’s desire find pleasure in the Law, which we all experience in ourselves. For no one lives who does not prefer that there were no law, and every- one feels and know in himself that it is difficult to lead a pious life and do good, and, on the other hand, that it is easy to lead a wicked life and do evil. But this difficulty or unwilling- ness to do the good is the reason we do not keep the Law of God. . . . Thus the Law of God convicts us, even by our own experience, that by nature we are evil, disobedient, lovers of sin, and hostile to God’s laws.”6 Everyone is sinful. Therefore, to every generation, the Law rings true. However a contemporary world may try to deny such unpleasantries, deep down inside every soul, the conscience must bow in agree- ment: “Yes, it’s true. I’ve sinned, and for my sin, I’m accountable to the Creator.” But once the conscience has been so pricked, the Gospel may also immediately become welcome. For every age, Christ is the answer to sin, and to that answer, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the terrified soul will cling. That, too, will never change “until,” the Formula of Concord says, “the flesh is put off entirely and man is completely renewed in the resurrection. There he will no longer require either the preaching of the law or its threats and pun- ishments, just as he will no longer require the Gospel.” Contemporary preacher will tinker with the packaging, and there is work to be done. Disciples of Britney Spears may hear differently than the Paul McCartney or Annunzio Mantovani fan. But it’s not the packaging that causes the Word to be heard. It’s the message itself, the timeless mes- sage of Law and Gospel properly divid- ed. When that is being proclaimed, the mes- sage will be heard by, (dare we say?) will be in sync with, each new generation. The Rev. Dr. Carl C. Fickenscher II is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. Notes: 1. Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. “Law and Gospel in Contemporary Lutheran Preaching, with Special Reference to Oswald C. J. Hoffmann and Edmund A. Steimle” (Th.D. diss., School of Theology at Claremont, 1971), 4-5. 2. C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans. W. H. T. Dau (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1986), 210. 3. Martin Luther, “The Distinction Between the Law and the Gospel: A Sermon,” trans. Willard L. Burce, Concordia Journal, 18 (April 1992), 156-57. 4. Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, ed. And trans. John Nicholas Lenker (Minneapolis: Lutherans in All Lands, 1905; reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1:99. 5. Luther, “The Distinction Between the Law and the Gospel,” 153. 6. Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, 1:96. “We should understand ‘Law’ to mean nothing else than God’s word and com- mand, in which He directs us what to do and what not to do, and demands from us our obedience or ‘work.’ . . . On the other hand, the Gospel or the faith is a doc-trine or word of God that does not require our works. It does not command us to do any- thing. On the contrary, it bids us merely to accept the offered grace and forgive- ness of sins and eternal life and let it be given to us.” E?: