Liturgy and Clergy

Lenten Vespers, Week Three

Hebrews 10

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Homily:

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here is the Church. / Here is the steeple.

Open the doors / And see all the people.

Everybody knows that one right? We all remember it from Sunday school—even those of us who never went to Sunday school.

For these Lenten vespers we have been discussing the Marks of the Church, the sure signs of Christ’s living presence amongst His people. Two weeks ago we covered the Holy Scriptures of the Bible; last week we preached on the Holy Sacraments of Baptism, Confession, and the Eucharist. Tonight we’re hitting the next two Marks of the Church: the liturgy and the clergy. For indeed, the Church is the people.

Liturgy literally means the work of the people. When we gather as a single body to worship our Lord made present in Word and in Sacrament, what do we do? We come together. We confess our sins and receive absolution. We sing psalms and hymns. We read together the Scriptures and listen to their meaning explained. After this we confess the faith of the Church, share the peace of the Lord, gather together our gifts, and receive the New Covenant through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ come down from Heaven. Then we are blessed, and sent out into the world to share the Good News that Christ is Risen, so that our joy may be complete.

This whole act of communal worship—in which we rise and fall, come forward and go back, proclaim and listen, sing out and fall silent—engages our entire body. Sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and the touch of peace passed between neighbors, all bear witness that Christ is here among us, living within us and we in Him. It is a ritual both ancient and ever new, one inherited from our Israelite forebears yet uniquely Christian. It represents a different kind of time. In this moment of worship, this moment of liturgy, the eternal breaks into the temporal.

When Jesus raises the bread that is His Body, the wine that is His Blood, and says, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He does not mean that we should tell over and again distant stories of what happened so very long ago. Rather, in doing this together, in returning to this Meal, we are transported to the one eternal Eucharist, the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb, at which are gathered all God’s children from every land and every age. There are not many Communions, many Lord’s Suppers, but only one, to which we all return. The liturgy, the work of the people, is to return again and again to the Christ who always meets us here.

And so you see that we are not mere spectators, come to watch a show. We are all of us priests of God, welcomed into the Holy of Holies, to stand in the very presence of the Most High and to sing with the mightiest of angels, “Holy, holy, holy!” And when we return from this Altar, from this Table, like lions breathing fire, we are then sent out, made alive with the Spirit and in the Body of Jesus Christ, to gather in others, to call the whole world to the feast, that our joy might be complete.

This is why we come on Sunday. Not simply because it’s the right thing to do. Not because we’ll be punished if we don’t. But because our Lord has come to greet us, to welcome us, to pour Himself out for us. And what fools we would be to keep ourselves away from the Wedding Feast that has no end.

That, brothers and sisters, is the work of the people. What then is the work of the clergy? We can see, I hope, that as all of us gathered are not spectators, so the clergy among us are not performers. Christ is both the host and guest of honor at this feast, whereas the clerics are merely His stewards. A proper presider at the liturgy should be as transparent and refreshing as a cool, clear glass of water. Since we as a people are, then, a priesthood of all believers, are pastors even necessary? Should we dispose of them in a fit of anticlericalism? Certainly not.

Jesus has called us all to varied vocations, to serve as His hands and feet and words in the world. And some have been called to ordination as bishops, priests, or deacons: to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament or to the Ministry of Word and Service. We are specially trained and prepared, yes, but more importantly, Christ has chosen the clergy as servants of His servants. He has appointed us to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments that bring new and eternal life to His people. And this is truly Jesus’ work and not our own. We call this being in persona Christi.

When you are baptized, it is not the priest baptizing you. What good would that do? Don’t you know that your priest is a sinner? No: when you are baptized, when your children are baptized, it is Christ Himself who drowns us to our sins and raises us up to life in Him. Christ baptizes you. When we confess our sins, it is not the pastor who forgives you. Who cares if he thinks your sins are forgiven? Who died and made him God? But when we confess our sins and hear the words of absolution, these words come from the mouth of Christ Himself. Jesus forgives us through sinful human beings. And because it is Jesus’ work, and not our own, we can trust it. We can believe it. We are forgiven.

And when the pastor tells you that bread is really flesh and wine is really blood, who could believe such a thing? Perhaps he’s been hitting the cups a bit himself. But when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we receive it not from the pastor’s hands but from the crucified hands of Jesus. Luther famously said that he would take the Eucharist from the hoof of Satan! Because the presider is just the vessel, just the means, through which Christ Himself pours out His life for you, personally. This is the Body of Christ given for you.

The liturgy of the people and the clergy who steward them are sure signs of Christ among us, and are infallible marks of the one true Church.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.