|
Prayer Is No Longer An
Act of Worship In the LCMS
By: Rev. Jack Cascione |
|
|
|
|
|
The notoriety given to the prayer offered by LCMS Atlantic
District President, David Benke, at Yankee Stadium has led LCMS officials
to admit that the LCMS no longer regards prayer as an act of worship.
Benke was suspended from the LCMS by acting LCMS President Wallace Schulz
for praying with pagan clergy in a "prayer service" at Yankee
Stadium called "A Prayer for America."
Also, those who participated in "A Community Gathering of
Remembrance, Repentance, and Renewal" at Valpo Chapel, on Sept. 11,
2002 with vested Lutheran, Jewish, and Moslem clergy, claim they did not
worship, even though they prayed.
Those defending Benke, including LCMS President Kieschnick, argue that it
was not a worship service because praying prayers with Jewish, Moslem,
Sikh, Buddhist, and Hindu clergy is not worship.
Question 201 of the LCMS 1943 Catechism asks:
"What is prayer? Prayer is an act of worship . . ."
The new LCMS Catechism published in 1991 no longer identifies prayer as
worship. Question 194, in the new LCMS Catechism asks: "What is
prayer? Prayer is speaking to God in words and thoughts."
The LCMS may be the only church body in the world (Lutheran or
non-Lutheran) that claims that prayer is not an act of worship.
Since the beginning of the LCMS, members have been taught that prayers by
children before bed, at meals, in private, as well as in public, no matter
where the prayer was offered, civic or church events, were acts of
worship.
If prayer is not always an act of worship in the LCMS, lay people in the
LCMS may be advised to find a church body that doesn't deny its members
participation in the priesthood of all believers. They can't be
certain their prayers were worship unless a pastor is present.
Defenders of Benke, such as Don Matzat and the Atlantic District Office,
argue that Oprah, the Mayor of New York, celebrities, and people in civic
events are not worshipping when they pray. The reason is that the
LCMS no longer believes that prayer is an act of worship.
The LCMS has always taught that prayer is not a means of grace and,
therefore, remains in the category of sanctification, not justification.
But now, prayer in the LCMS is no longer considered an act of worship
unless it takes place in a church related event led by ordained clergy.
In Valpo Chapel, Imam Akram Kholoki prayed:
"Allah is great, I bear witness that there is no god apart from Allah
I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's messenger Come to prayer-Come to
Salvation Allah is great. There is no god apart from Allah."
The President of Valparaiso claims the vested LCMS pastors did not worship
with the Moslem and Jewish clergy because prayer is not an act of worship
(unless, of course, the pastor says it is worship).
Luther writes about prayer as follows:
"The First Commandment demands faith, that you believe that God is a
Helper in due time, as Ps. 9:9 declares. The Second demands confession and
prayer, that we call upon the name of God in danger and give thanks to
God. The Third, that we teach the truth and defend and preserve sound
doctrine. These are the true and only forms of worship of God, which
God demands . . ." LW1:328-329
"Because no law had yet been given about worship in a certain place,
they were free to sacrifice everywhere, just as we today are free to pray
everywhere." LW2:192
". . . the real kernel of worship, which is to give thanks, pray,
hope, and confess even under the cross and in disaster." LW6:237
Luther teaches that all Christians worship when they pray and prayer is an
act of worship. This means that Benke participated in joint worship.
|
|
September 19, 2002 |