LATEST WRITINGS FROM PASTOR PHILIP HOPPE

Posted inTheology and Practice

Salvation to all the senses.

I believe that one thing the church of old understood better than the modern church was that the salvation of God should penetrate all the senses God gave to humanity.

They put it before people’s eyes to let sight feast on it.  They did it in paraments, vestments, and stained glass.  The people saw it in  icons (understood rightly), elaborate altars, and architecture.  They beheld the gospel in artwork in its many various forms and medians.

They put in in people’s ears to let hearing be enthralled.  The did it through reading and preaching.  They did in through chanting and speaking.  They did it through voice and through instrument.  They even did it by embracing the absence of sound.

They put it onto the skin so that  touch would not be left idle.  The did it by the laying on of hands in the giving of a blessing.  The did it by making the sign of the cross into the forehead and heart.  They did it by the exchange of a kiss and later a handshake of peace.  They did it by placing the host on the tongue or in the hand and placing the chalice onto the mouth.

They put it into the air so that smell would be stimulated.  They did it primarily through incense meant to represent the people offerings and prayers.  But they did it also through the scent of wine that hit the nose shortly before it does the tongue.  They did it through the scent of flowers as well.

And yes, their put it onto the tongue so that taste might be awakened.  The did it in unleavened bread that had character and in wine whose bitter or sweet flavor was obvious.

God did not give us all of these senses without purpose.  He intended them to be receptacles of his grace.  I fear in the modern church, we are not as intentional as we should about targeting the senses with salvation.  Thankfully, the liturgy that remains in many churches leads us in these ways. But we must be more intentional.  Especially in the typical Lutheran church, the sense of hearing is made so central that the other senses are typically only engaged by accident.

To be fair, there has been some revival of the use of all senses in the church in various corners.    But it is not enough that we would simply engage the senses, but that we would do so intentionally and with concern that what is being fed to the senses in truly the heart of our faith. After all, part of the reason that many of the practices of the church of old were left behind is because they too had become attached to things other than the heart of the gospel.  But let’s try to get back the baby that that went out with the bathwater.

One thought on “Salvation to all the senses.

  1. I agree that it would be wonderful to do all these things that wake up the senses but it will take a lot of educating so that people do not associate incense and other things with THE CATHOLIC church but with God’s word. How do we go about telling ppl about incense if people can’t even gasp tasting God more than once a month? How do we change the decades of thought of chanting and how do we get people to use their God given talents to tickle our ears? I wish many would learn about these things from their pastor before they judge and make a decision out of tradition and not truth.

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