Dear Friends in Christ,
The word “Protestant” was first used to describe Lutherans (after the Diet of Speyer, 1526), but Lutherans have always been uncomfortable with the term. It is technically correct, since the Reformation was indeed a vigorous protest against church corruption, a corruption so pervasive that the Gospel itself was seen to be at stake The downside, however, of the term is that it lumps together very disparate theological positions in an unhelpful way, but also that it has come to mean, in the popular imagination, “not Catholic.” Lutherans, though, understand Luther’s reformation to be an attempt to restore catholicity in doctrine and practice to a Church that had lost it. I am among those many Lutherans who see themselves as Roman Catholics in exile. This is why Lutherans have been so ecumenical since WWII. We have become, truly, the bridge church.
Nowhere is this more evident then in the Lutheran emphasis on the importance of the sacraments, and especially, of the doctrine of the Real Presence in Holy Communion. In Luther’s day, our church objected to the doctrine of Transubstantiation as an attempt to define the ineffable and we also objected to the superstitious and idolatrous practices that had been allowed, even promoted, among simple Christian folk. But Lutherans also decisively refused reductionistic explanations of the Eucharistic Presence offered by various “Protestant” theologians, either Zwingli’s memorial presence or Calvin’s spiritual presence. We wanted a real presence.
Here is how a 20th century Lutheran bishop (Gustav Anlen, bishop of Lund, Sweden) put our view:
When the living Lord meets his own in Holy Communion, he actualizes the sacrifice anew in the gifts of bread and wine. As the Lord on the last evening included and incorporated his disciples in his sacrifice oflove about to be perfected in death, so now he includes his disciples everywhere and in all times in the eternally valid sacrifice in the new covenant established in his death. This participation involves dying to the old age and walking in the newness of life. In this sense it involves “dying with Christ” and “living in the power of His resurrection” (Phil.3:10). The sacrifice of Christ is victory. The Lord who is present in the Lord’s Supper and there deals with his church is the heavenly Victor.
For us, the issue at stake here is the incarnation itself. To isolate the incarnation into the historical presence of Jesus would be to locate the incarnation as strictly an event of the past, no longer operative today. But we believe that the gracious presence of God epiphanied by Jesus’ historical person is still very present indeed in the world today. This is the whole point of Church. So Lutherans don’t see Church as mere institution or organization—we see Church as Body of Christ. Our Catholic identity means that we are not an ideology, a denomination (only), but Presence, Gospel, hope, ongoing love of God given to humanity.
Pope Benedict XVI has said that only Romans are Catholics. Lutherans beg to differ. When we gather around Christ’s table and he comes to us, he makes us Catholic. His Presence continues to exceed our rules and definitions. He overflows graciously into all the world. He overflowed the banks of Jewish orthodoxy to include gentiles and unclean Jews; so today, he overflows our strictures and barriers as well. He enters bread and wine, he enters water and oil, he enters our finite bodies. He fills all creation with his unconditional, unstoppable love We will protest whenever Christ is constrained, but we will protest in order to be Catholic.
Yours in Christ,
–Pastor Bastien
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