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et’s say, God forbid, that I’m in a train wreck. Afterward, two things become apparent: I need surgery to repair an injury, and I need counseling for the trauma.Who will I see more—my surgeon or my psychologist? It depends on a lot of factors, but I’m betting I’m going to see the psychologist a lot more. Is it because the mental trauma is worse than the physical? Maybe. But I’m thinking it’s going to be something else instead.
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Here it is: the difference is that the surgeon gets to use tools that are outside of me. He’s got scalpels and clamps and fiber-optic cameras. I’m not part of the cure; the cure is apart from me.Therefore, the surgery doesn’t depend much on me.The doc’s going to do his work, and I’m going to get the benefit. If someone else has the same injury, the surgeon can perform the same op with the same tools. Simple. Not easy, not shallow, but simple. The psychologist, on the other hand, has to deal with my mind, and my mind is inside of me. He’ll try one tactic for a few sessions, and if it doesn’t work, he’ll try another. Maybe a bunch more. He can’t take a brain-o-matic zapper off the table and cure me. This makes it a lot more complicated. Why? Because it’s all inside me, inside my head.The surgeon doesn’t need my help to help me.The psychologist needs to figure out the personal approach for me, and then he needs my cooperation to make me better. Here’s the point: Lutheran worship is like the surgery. It’s all about God’s Word and His Sacraments. Why? Because those are His instruments of grace— the tools He uses in order to save us. By these means of grace, Jesus is present with His people to forgive their sins—to save them.Those instruments are outside of us. Like the surgeon, it’s Jesus who does all the work.Think of a baby who’s baptized. What has he done to be saved? Nothing. Jesus does it all. That, by the way, is why the liturgy goes with Word and Sacrament worship. If you look at the Scripture we sing in the liturgy, you’ll find that those texts continuously declare that Jesus is present to forgive sins. If Word and Sacrament are the focus of worship, the liturgy makes sense. It’s simple. Definitely not shallow, but simple. Lutheran worship is Lutheran worship because of the Sacraments, those instruments of grace. It’s the pastor’s task to use those instruments to give the forgiveness of sins, and like the tools of surgery, the means of grace are the same for all because they’re outside of us. It’s simple, and so Lutheran worship is for everybody!
