Protestant faith! Protestant churches

Transcription

1 Protestant faith! Foredrag pa Tro og Lvs sin Generalforsamling i Libanon 9. juli 2013 Thank you for the challenge of saying something about the Protestant faith. I was raised in a Lutheran church. The Lutheran church is one of several Protestant churches. I love my church. There I was baptized and in this church I came to believe in Jesus Christ. Thank you also for letting me be a part of this good ecumenical community. It is exciting that we can look forward to five such morning collections with presentations from the Catholic church, the Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion and from the Protestant Churches. My experience, after many meetings with people from all these traditions, is that we have so much to learn from each other. We get richer when we get together. In the Gospel of John chapter 17, Jesus is praying for his disciples before going up to Jerusalem to suffer and die. In this prayer, there is a theme. Four times, Jesus repeats these words: "I pray that all of you may be one." Today, Jesus'prayer becomes a reality and during this week we will experience the unique community we have in Jesus Christ. We come from different countries and different churches, with our diversity. Faith and Light is a unique community for which we thank God. Protestant churches I have been challenged to say something about Protestant faith. The Protestant church consists of several churches: the oldest are the Lutheran and the refomed churches. Common to them is that they are the direct result of the Reformation. Gradually, many more Protestant churches have come. Baptists, Methodists, Quaker, Pentecostals and so on. Another word commonly used about Protestant churches is evangelical ehurches.there are many common similarities of these churches. Since I belong to the Lutheran church, it is natural for me to give a perspective mostly from the Lutheran faith. Of course, much of what I m going to say is common to all the protestant churches. But there are also some obvious differences. It will probably be "too much information" if l'm going to say something about every protestant church.

2 Different - but most similar. Before I start saying something about the Protestant faith, it is important to remind us of the following truths : 1. Mostly in terms of faith and dogma, all the churches are common: The church has existed for around 2000 years and has been spread throughout the world. What is remarkable is not the things which separate us, but that we believe so much the same regardless of which churches we come from and where in the world we come from. The famous English Christian author CS.Lewis, who among other things wrote the books about Narina, writes in the book "Mere Christianity" that the deep chisma is not between the churches - despite our disagreements-, it is between those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and those who do not believe in Him. There is much more that unites us than separates us. A simple explanation for this is: We read the same Bible. We use the same Creed. Together we confess : Apostles Creed : I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. I believe in the Holy Spirit. In latin : CREDO in Deum Pattern omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et tertae. Et in Jesum Christum, Filium eius unieum We confess the Nicene Creed ; We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. We believe in Jesus We believe in the Holy Spirit We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church We have all been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Through the baptism, we have become united in Christ. The Holy Spirit binds us together in the faith of the Trinity God. We, who are gathered here at Faith and Light International General Assembly are not cousins but brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

3 2. The characteristics of the Protestant faith is found in all Churches. Secondly, what I'm going to point out as the characteristics for the Protestant faith, probably many of you will respond and say "Oh, that s exactly as in my Church." Protestant churches do not have monopoly on what's characterizes it, although these characteristics I m going to mention are essential in the Protestant tradition. I have experienced this many times: What we believe is only our own and central to our faith, our sisters and brothers in other churches share with us. When I've been together with Christians from other churches, I experienced the deep community, either it is together with: - Catholics in the Boose community of Assissi or St. Egidio community in Rome or my good friend Bishop Bernt Eidsvig who is head of the Catholic Church in Norway. - Being at the annual conference for the Metodist Church - Anglicans at the Alpha conference in Royal Albert Hall in London - Orthodox coptes in Egypt with bishop Thomas - Pentecostal meetings around in my diocese I could have mentioned much more. 3. Protestant churches are different from place to place Thirdly, Protestant churches are like other churches from other denominations. The most central dogma in the Protestant faith is similar in the protestant churches, independent of where you are, but the spirituality and expressions of our faith, the music, the architecture, decoration etc. are different from place to place. A Lutheran church in Norway and a Lutheran church in Tanzania have different music and expressions. In some places, the worship service lasts for 4-5 hours, while in others it is less than one hour. Some are charismatic. Some are high church. Others are more lowchurch. Others have a different expression. Some largely consisting of old people, while others are dominated by young families. Some are small, while others are quite large. There is a big variety.

4 4. What is faith? How do we describe faith? Faith has two sides. One is what we believe. It is about the very substance of our faith, the doctrines. What do we teach? That Jesus is God and our Savior. That He lives today etc. The other side is how we express our faith in daily life. To believe is to know Jesus Christ. It is living in a relationship with the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Faith is therefore not just theory, it's a daily life together with the living God. Both sides: What we believe in and how we express our life with God are forming our faith. In order to describe the Protestant faith, we must know a little about its history. Because history makes us the ones we are. This is very briefly the history of Protestant church. The History: The Protestant churches originated early in the 16th century as a result of the Reformation. The Lutheran church has a quite special name, unlike other churches such as the Orthodox church which means the teaching, the Catholic church from Latin Catholic means For All, Pentecostal from Pentecost, Holy Spirit. The name Lutheran comes from a man named Martin Luther. He was born in Germany in the town of Eisleben in In 1505, at 21 years old, he became a monk in the Augustine monastery in Erfurt and two years later priest at the same monastery. In 1511 he moved to the Augustine Abbey in Wittenberg, where he became a professor in theology. Through his Bible studies, he began to question some of the teachings of the church, more correctly what he called the abuse in the church. 0n 31 October 1517 he nailed His Ninety-Five Theses to the church door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. That is the beginning of what we call the Reformation. Luther wanted a theological debate. But after many meetings, discussions and conferences, the result was a divided Church. Luther is being excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Now the world-wide church

5 was not only the Catholic and Orthodox Church but also the Protestant and some other Churches. World has changed We thank God for the fact that so much has happened since the early days of the Reformation. In connection with the fact that last year there were 500 years since the start of the Reformation, there was a large common memorial between the Catholic Church and Lutheran Church The pope and the Lutheran leaders came together in Lund in Sweden. There has also been signed a report, given a wonderful title: "From conflict to communion". In August last year all the Lutheran bishops in Norway went for a retreat in Assisi in Italy. We were gathered in Boose, a Catholic monastery. The leader of the retreat was Peter Halldorf, who is a Pentecostal from Sweden. God has been happening in recent decades regarding the relationship between the churches. How big is the Lutheran church and where does it exist: Let me give you a small picture of the Lutheran church so you can get a small image of how big it is and where we find it : - About 74 million members member churches in 98 countries The largest Lutheran churches in millions: - Germany: Ethiopia: Tanzania: Sweden: Indonesia: Denmark: Finland: Norway USA 3.? - India Madagascar 3.0

6 The Lutheran Church as you see is a small church compared to the Catholic Church, the Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist Church and Pentecostals, and many more. What characterize the Protestant churches? Let me remind you once more: What characterizes Protestant churches is also present in other churches. A. The content of the teaching: four alone words In the Lutheran tradition there are especially four words that describes the Protestant faith. All these four words are set together with the word alone, in Latin "sola". 1.The Bible alone What does the Bible say?" was one of Luther's big questions. He built his entire theology on what he read in the Bible, or not read. The Bible is the very source of our faith. The whole teaching and practice of the Church must be justified in Scripture. Let us go to the Bible," was his mantra. Because of the great resistance he met from some church leaders, Luther had to disappear. For three months he hid himself at the fortress in Wattburg, disguised and nicknamed Junker Jorg. He spent the time well. In this room he translated the new testament into an understandable German language for ordinary people. The point is that the Bible is so important that everyone must read it. In Luther's time there were actually very few who had their own Bible. There were even professors in theology in Wittenberg who did not have their own Bible. The Bible was central to Luther. It belongs to all. And it must be in a language that everyone can understand. The Bible alone is" characteristic is a hallmark of Protestant faith. If I'm going to be a bit critical of today's Lutherans and Protestants would not it be that we have forgotten how important the Bible is to us also today? I find that many Christians from other churches use the Bible even more than any Protestants do. For example, I am thinking of Mamma Maggie, Mama Maggie is often referred to as the Mother Teresa of Cairo. She is a Coptic Christian lady whose aim is to improve the lives of the children of Christians and of families living in Cairo's slum quarters.

7 The last time I met her in Norway, she told me. "Can you tell everybody in the congregation that they must read the Bible every day?" It is not the reading of the Bible that makes us Christians but what we live by those words. The Bible alone. 2.The second «alone word n «Faith alone. The second alone-word" is "Faith alone." Luther also had another a big question: "How can I find a gracious God? How can l make sure that I m saved and everything is alright with me? Have I done enough? Is God statisfied with me or does He expect more from me? "The problem for Luther was that he never felt quite sure because it's always possible to do a little more and do things a little bit better. He was looking for something he desperately need: a place where he could rest. A gracious God. In particular, his study of the Roman letter made him feel comforted and rested in the doctrine of justification. In the Protestant faith and tradition the doctrine of justification is important. Man become righteous to God, by faith alone." Romans 1.14 and 5.1 are bibleverses which have played, and still play an important role in Lutheran spirituality: For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as written, "The righteous will live by faith." ' Faith is not my profit, it is a gift from God. The relationship with God is something I can rest in only because of Jesus, his death and resurrection for our sake. At the same time, God sends us to the service of our neighbours. We can not love God without loving our neighbours. In Lutheran context, these words of St. Paul s letter to the Ephesians become an important part of the protestant faith: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so no one can boast. For we are God s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2.8-l0

8 In 1996 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was signed by the Lutheran and Catholic Church and some other churches. That ended centuries of disagreement and conflict over crucial subject of justification, the original point of disagreement between Catholicism and Lutheranisrn. After that time, many other churches have joined this declaration for instant The Methodist Church. 3. The third alone-word: «Christ alone» The third only word in the Lutheran tradition is the word "Christ alone." It is Christ alone who can save us. He gives us the real picture of God. It is Jesus who calls us to be his disciples. The saints and martyrs usually have a less central place in the Protestant churches, compared to many other churches. Earlier, many Protestants thought that there was almost a contradiction between the saints and Jesus, but it is about to change. The stories of saints and martyrs are now read with great interest by many Protestants. But the saints still have a slightly different meaning for the protestant faith than for Christians from the other churches such as the Catholic and Orthodox. Not all of the protestant church-buildings have decor, paintings or other kind of art. But most of the Lutheran churches, at least in the western countries, have some or even a lot of art. If you take a look at the altarpiece in a Lutheran church, "Jesus alone" comes forth clearly. The altarpiece shows very often Jesus alone, or Jesus in the center and around him or in the background the disciples or other men and women Jesus met during His time on earth. As a result of the emphasizing of the doctrine of justification, Jesus is very often depicted while hanging on the cross. The Lutheran church has been called for a good-friday church. It explains something about the Protestant faith, but the resurrection is of course an absolute necessity to us. If Jesus is not alive today, we have no Christian church. In the Joint Declaration of Justice of Justification, these three single words bind in this way: Our common way of listening to the word of God in Scripture has led to such new insights. Together we hear the gospel that "God so

9 loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). 4. «The grace alone» The fourth alone word is "The grace alone." When we say something about the Protestant faith, we have to say something about God s grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and priest, executed by Nazis during World War II because of his struggle against Nazism. Bonhoeffer talks of grace as the greatest treasure of the church, and of the cheap and precious grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance and because it has been paid, everything can be expected for nothing. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Lutheran faith on the tip, it is all about grace. The last words of Martin Luther were: "We are all beggars." As we were singing together with the blind beggar, Bartimeus, "Kyrie, eleison me." Lord have mercy on me. More than four "alonerwords" In addition to these four alone-words, there is much more to say. Because it would be too narrow if we only let these four words describe God and the life together with Him. We must not close our eyes on the riches of Protestant faith. Our faith covers the whole creation. It is important when we are now in the process of destroying it. The Holy Spirit, we can not cope

10 without it. Without it, there is no faith and no life. We are talking about discipleship and how to build the church and our mission to the world. B. The Protestant spirituality Let me say a few words about how a Protestant often practices his or her faith. Faith must be lived in a relationship between me and God. Many Protestants are used to a daily time to read in the Bible, to pray and to meditate. But things can indicate that there are fewer who do it now than before. A Lutheran worship service is not very different from a Catholic worship service. It largely follows the same liturgy as the Catholic. The Lutheran liturgy is based on the Catholic, with the different parts of the mess: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Benedictus and The Blessing. It consists of three readings from the Bible and we pray together. We put the two sacraments high : baptism and communion. The vast majority of Protestant churches baptize children and we celebrate communion regularly, some places every Sunday. What has been a characteristic feature of Lutheran worship since the Reformation is two things. Firstly the hynm song, we sing a lot and we sing all sorts of hymns. Luther used the popular music to get the gospel spread. He regarded the music very highly and wrote a lot hymns which is still in use. We sing bible hymns but also other kinds of songs written by different poets. The organ is often the main instrument. But other instruments are been more and more used together with or instead the organ. The second characteristic is the speech. Therefore in protestant churches the pulpit has a central place. Protestant churches provide a lot of space for the preaching of the word of God. As St Paulus says: «Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ». Rom 10,17 The criticism of Protestantism has rightly been our tendency to preach more to the intellect - to the brain- than to the whole body with all our senses. Here, Faith and Light have come along with impulses from elsewhere to make our worship services much richer. By using more of the senses to

11 experience the mystery of the faith and the ministry of Church, we have become richer than we were before. The Protestant churches are still a "church of the word" but not as much as we used to be. Some words about the Church in Norway's relationship with people with disabilities! We try to work along two different lines that are not in contradiction and sometimes go together. Inclusion in the local church The first line is inclusion in the local church. Some years ago a new policy was adopted for the rights of people with disabilities. All institutions for people with disabilities were closed down. The goal was to integrate people with intellectual disabilities in the local community. They will go to regular kindergarten and in regular school classes. When they have grown up, they will live in their own homes often organized as their own apartments in a community where they are given the necessary supervision. They also have a custom job to go to. The consequence of this policy is that it has become more important to help the churches to include people with disabilities in the church life. It is especially relevant for the educationprogram for the children, preparation for confirmation, youth work, the worship services, and all the activities for adults. Therefore in each diocese there is a separate secretary who only works with the local congregation to inspire them and help them include the people with disability in the church. Own plans are also drawn up to see how this work. Many deacons and lay people do a very good job for this work to succeed. But there are also some churches that are not concerned about this and therefore still have a long way to go. Own groups The second line is starting and running a work that is mainly adapted to people with disability. Here there are several different types of work in Norway and Faith and Light is one of these.

12 If we want to understand the Norwegian church (and all the Nordic churches), it is important to be aware of the history of the largest churches in the Nordic region. For many hundreds of years the Lutheran Church in practice was the only church and nearly all the inhabitants belonged to this church. In recent years this has changed a little, from having over 90% of the population to now about 70% as members, not least because of labor immigration and refugees and non-believers. The number of members is 3.7 million, while in all the other Christian churches there are about 300,000 in Norway. In other words, about 92% of those who are Christians are members of the Norwegian Church. The Catholic Church has about 150,000 members, where most of them do not have Norwegian ethnic background. Therefore, much of the work proceeds from the Lutheran Church, such as Faith and Light. We are very grateful for this cooperation. Faith and Light in Norway Let me share the thoughts of today s excellent leader of Faith and Light in Norway, Birgitt Aarrestad, about the work and how it is to guide this : «The Catholic Aslaug Espe was asked by Jean Vanier to start Faith and Light in Norway. She brought with her a married couple and Gro Elisabeth who is adopted and intellectually disabled. The local parish priest was also involved in the work. The church council was not so interested in this project and Faith and Light could only be there if no other thing were to be arranged there. Since Aslaug was Catholic it was also a problem for them. The leaders in Faith and Light did not have their own key to the church. When the priest asked the church council about what they did for the people with disability in the congregation, they had no answer. Over time, conditions became better. Now, this group meets regularly in a church belonging to the Norvegian Church. The founder Aslaug was interviewed in the national Christian newspaper about Faith and Light. A diacon somewhere else in Norway read the interview and wanted to start a Faith and Light community where she worked. It was the start of the second community. Since then several communities were formed and to day there are 12 approved communities in Norway and we expect more.

13 All groups are organized by the Norvegian Church. In some communities there are Catholics, there are also Pentecostals and Methodists both as leaders and members. This works perfectly without problems. In 2010, Faith and Light received the Bridge Building Price. It is a prize awarded to a person or an organization or an institution «which has in particular built bridges of insight and understanding- and stimulated to develop contact and dialogue between different groups in society». Another important part of the work of Faith and Light in Norway is the Summer Camps: these collections have been important to include and create new communities. Many have gained sight of the value of this community. Faith and Light creates good friendship and opens up to see the value of all people. In such a community everyone is seen and allowed to join and this does something on us as human beeings. We can be something for one another and it opens up for many secrets. We feel blessed in a way. As a leader I felt completely worn out several times before a meeting but by the end of the meeting I was richly blessed and full of thanks. By the first time I was going to lead a meeting I expressed that it was difficult to take over Aslaug because she was clever and she had designated me as a leader. Sitting in the ring one of the boys said to me «you must not give up». These words have become important for me in many situations. He, with a body that does not always listen, bully victim, who has been banned, could give me this good advice. This has become important and fundamental in many contexts to me since. Words of Wisdom for a good friend who cares for me. Faith and Light are important to all of us. We need each other, small or large. We are part of an international movement that involves praying for each other and helping each other when needed. It s so easy to say in our small group and make sure everything goes well there. We need help for lifting our eyes and helping each other to look beyound our limits. Faith and Light is unique. There are many people with disabilities who have a very difficult situation. We can do something for others and not just live in our own little world. Faith and Light is different from other similar communities. The ecumenical community is also enriching us.» These are the words of our good leader Birgitt.

14 I have the pleasure and honor of being the Faith and Light Bishop in Norway, I am very grateful for that. The work with people with disabilities in Norway is sometimes called «whole-work», whole in the meaning of complete. The church is not a whole until everyone finds their place. A church where the people with disabilities are not visible and part of the church s normal life is a poorer church. During a visit in my diocese, I visited a workplace that had both ablebodied and people with disabilities. «What experiences do you live having person with disabilities at this work place?» I asked. The leader answered with a smile around her mouth: «They are the glue in the company». The glue is what keeps, binds things together. We thank God for the good glue». Amen.