Feeli
Higher Than Feelings—nothing is given higher
honor in our day than feelings. They’ve been a major player in all ages, but our post-modern culture has enshrined feelings with nearly divine authority. Feelings—these days, they determine truth. What is true for me is what feels right for me. What is true for you is what feels right for you. If feelings change, then truth must have changed as well. Right? Hardly. Dr. Martin Luther commented on feelings, both positively and negatively. The Reformer was no stoic. While some saw an emotionless life as a virtue, Luther called it an artificial virtue. He said that God does not want us to be blocks and stones without feeling. Yet Luther acknowledged that it was natural for our feelings to be on the wrong track unless the Holy Spirit changes our hearts. Therefore, he taught that we were not to judge by feeling but by the Word of God, following it through life and death.* In this regard, Dr. Luther expressed a truly remarkable combination of thoughts regarding our feelings and the reception of the Lord’s Supper. Concerning our feelings about worthiness to commune Luther wrote:
H I G H E R
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Those who feel their weakness, who are anxious to be rid of it and desire help, should regard and use the sacrament as a precious antidote against the poison in their systems. If you are burdened and feel your weakness, go joyfully to the sacrament and let yourself be refreshed, comforted, and strengthened. For if you wait until you are rid of your burden in order to come to the sacrament purely and worthily, you will have to stay away from it forever . . . Therefore the only ones who are unworthy are those who do not feel their burdens nor admit to being sinners. (LC V, 70, 72–74 Kolb/Wengert, 474).
In other words, if you feel that you are unworthy, you’re right! You feel correctly. Go joyfully to the Sacrament, and let yourself be helped. Luther also discussed the case of those who cannot feel this need and do not hunger and thirst for the sacrament. He directed them to see if they are still made of flesh and blood and to review what the Epistle to the Galatians says about the fruits of our sinful flesh. He continued:
