From Survival to Vocation: The Radical and Relevant Call of the Gospel in Times of Chaos and Peril

By Wayne L. Menking and Kristin Johnston Largen

The powers of death are closer than we thought. Their perils appear in the forms of increased gun violence, racism, economic disparity, and global warming, to name but a few. Faced with these threats, Christians in this self-absorbed culture tend to use their faith as a kind of palliative comfort that protects them from the truths of what these powers are doing to us as a human community, and the sufferings they are inflicting on others, particularly the poor and the disenfranchised. Moreover, it is used to shield them from responding to the gospel's call to leave survival for vocation. Using Luther's theology of the cross and the instruction he imparts in his Large Catechism, this book asserts that in the face of the sufferings in which we are situated, the gospel news of Jesus's resurrection is a call to stand in its hope and power to resist these devastations and the dehumanization, exploitation, and domination they inflict. The hope of God's life-giving creativity in the face of the powers of death is given witness when Christians leave survival modes of existence to be in their baptismal vocation of loving neighbors as themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666794830

Wayne L. Menking

Wayne Menking is a retired pastor of the ELCA and an ACPE Emeritus Certified Educator. He received his BA degree from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, his MDiv degree from Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his STD degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, CA. He received his clinical pastoral education at Hennepin County Medical Center, Lutheran Deaconess Hospital, and Metropolitan Medical Center in Minneapolis. He then received his Clinical Educator training at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He has served congregations in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Fort Worth, Texas. As an ACPE Certified Educator he has held positions at Children's Medical Center in Dallas and Texas Health Resources in Fort Worth. He has served on the extension faculty of Wartburg Theological Seminary as the director of the Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest (now Centro Teologico Luterano Multicultural), and presently serves on Wartburg's adjunct faculty as a clinical pastoral education instructor. His doctoral dissertation advisor was Dr. James Nestingen, and his dissertation's title was "Luther's Small Catechism as a Resource for Spiritual formation in a Culture of Affluence." He has a life long interest in the application of Luther's theology of the cross and catechetical teachings for discovering Christian vocation in our culture's affluent and self absorbed life styles. Wayne lives in Fort Worth with his spouse, Nancy. His retirement hobbies include photography, bread baking, cooking, gardening with Nancy, and writing.

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From Survival to Vocation

The Radical and Relevant Call of the Gospel in Times of Chaos and Peril

Wayne L. Menking

Foreword by Kristin Johnston Largen

From Survival to Vocation

The Radical and Relevant Call of the Gospel in Times of Chaos and Peril

Copyright © 2023 Wayne L. Menking. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-3648-9

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-9482-3

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-9483-0

12/19/22

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Part I: The World We Live In

Chapter 1: The Power of Death Is Closer Than We Thought

Chapter 2: Life in Survival Mode

Chapter 3: The Empowering but Unsettling Hope of the Gospel

Part II: Becoming What We Are Yet to Be

Chapter 4: What God, Lord, or Power Defines Your World?

Chapter 5: Living into Vocation

Chapter 6: Led into Liminality with Only Hope and Prayer—The Security of a Beggar

Chapter 7: Nourished into New Imagination

Bibliography

Dedicated to the people of Mora and San Miguel Counties in New Mexico, the victims of the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fires in the spring and summer of 2023, and the many individuals and organizations who are giving of themselves to help rebuild lives, livelihoods, homes, and communities after the fire’s decimating devastations.

Foreword

No one needs to be told that this is somewhat of a liminal time for the church; some might say this is a liminal time for the whole of the United States as well. Coming out of the pandemic (and into a COVID-endemic period of uncertain duration) and all of the disruptions and eruptions that occurred during these past two years, many are looking forward into an uncertain future with no small amount of trepidation.

It is not clear what shape the church is going to take in the next ten, twenty, thirty years. Many congregations are shrinking; all congregations are changing. How should we respond? How are we to feel? How are we to continue the walk of faithful discipleship to Jesus Christ?

In this paralyzing climate of anxiety and fear, Wayne Menking has written a book that seeks to offer a path forward characterized by trust in God, confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit, and reliance on core Lutheran theological doctrines that continue to offer practical insights for Christian life in the world today. Menking challenges the reader to move out of survival mode, a mode characterized by a desperate need to control, a fight-or-flight mentality, and the tendency to dehumanize those with whom we disagree, those who feel threatening to us. He describes this mode as idolatrous, as it turns us inward, away from God and the neighbor, and keeps the focus on ourselves and our own desires and beliefs. This is, in Menking’s words, narcissistic self-absorption, and it is never life-giving, it is only death-dealing.

Instead, then, Menking invites the reader to lean confidently into the future: the book is forward-thinking and forward-looking; it extends an invitation to view the future with hope and the confident expectation that comes from a sure faith in the God who is continually doing a new thing.

Menking uses the work of Jürgen Moltmann, particularly Moltmann’s description of the contrast between a religion of death and a culture of life. This quote is characteristic of the argument Menking constructs: What is needed . . . is a culture of life that is stronger than the terror of death, a love for life that overcomes the destructive forces in our world today, a confidence in the future that overcomes doubt and fatalism. (Chapter 1) This is Christian hope grounded in the reality of God’s transformative mercy and grace; it is clear-eyed, neither denying nor downplaying current challenges, but also insistent that God is at work bringing good out of evil, leading us along a way where life and life abundant await—not just for me, but for us all, together.

Menking uses basic Lutheran insights, including a theology of the cross and Luther’s explications in the Large Catechism, as a way to both explicate and inspire a faith that is courageous, bold, and outward-facing. In particular, he describes an expanded view of salvation that is not privatized but includes the other, such that we see and embrace Christ’s saving love of the neighbor and the stranger as a part of our own salvation story. This understanding of salvation highlights the contrast between a life of discipleship to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a life enslaved to the narcissistic suspicion and contempt that characterizes so much in contemporary culture.

The book concludes with a description of the sacraments as sustaining nourishment that propel us into God’s future and new creation. (Chapter 7) In this liminal moment, Christians are fed and nourished by Jesus Christ’s own body and blood, strengthened for service through the power of the Holy Spirit, and called to step boldly into a future characterized by God’s creativity and new life. This call is not without risk and challenge, but in the shadow of God’s wings and inspired by the Spirit, we walk with confidence, trusting in the One who goes before us to prepare the way. This is the way of Christian hope; this is the way of life.

Kristin Johnston Largen

President, Wartburg Theological Seminary

Preface

We live in very troubled, chaotic, and perilous times, where life as we have known it is threatened on different fronts. Devastating fires along with intensifying destructive weather patterns confront us with the realities of global warming and environmental devastations. Increased political divisions along with conspiracy theories and insurrections confront us with the extent to which the stability of our trusted forms of governance are vulnerable to authoritarianism and anarchy. Gun violence has taken away our innocent trust of being able to walk safely in our neighborhoods or go about our business. Racism and white supremacy have reared their heads with intensity, if in fact, they ever went away. And if all of that isn’t enough, the pandemic and its indiscriminate attack on global health, global economies, and life itself have brought us face to face with the truth of just how fragile life is, and how near death really is. In the face of these daunting threats the spoken and unspoken anxiety is how do we survive and return to the normal life in which we have had security and well-being. This anxiety is true for individuals and institutions, including local congregations and the church.

For many in these unsettling times, the gospel is a message of palliative comfort. The word from many pulpits is that regardless of what may surround us, be assured that you are loved and held by God. While there is an undeniable truth to this assertion, it is also an assurance that wittingly or unwittingly supports the palliative belief that God will eventually return things to normal; all we have to do is wait patiently (and passively). What is missing is the gospel’s central message, Behold I make all things new! In fact, the entire biblical story, from the Exodus to the gospel narrative of Jesus’ death and resurrection is that God is always leading people from what is old into what is new! The title of this book is intended to convey that message! The circumstances in which we presently find ourselves are not the occasion for asking how to survive or how we return to the safety and security of what is settled and old; rather it is a time to awaken ourselves to the fact that we are in a moment where what has been safe, secure, familiar, and known is giving way to something that is new, even if we do not yet know what that new looks like. Moreover, what is old and giving way to what is new is doing so in ways that are disruptive, unnerving, and even painful. The importance and necessity of survival in these difficult times is neither denied or discounted in this discussion. Survival is critical and necessary, especially for those living at the margins of life. The notion of survival in this book will be a specific reference to the physical, emotional, and spiritual energy that is invested in preserving and holding on to what is familiar, comfortable, safe, what we have known and are familiar with from the past, and our efforts to return life to normal and the status quo. This specific form of survival energy is not life giving, but rather keeps us out of our vocation to care for neighbor. For persons who lay claim to a faith and trust in the gospel of Jesus the Christ, this is not a time to be asking How we are to survive so that we can have life as it has been? Rather it is a time to be asking the more life giving question, What is our vocation and what does it mean to live into God’s new creation and future in these perilous times?

I approach this discussion and write out of my Lutheran theological tradition, a tradition grounded in Luther’s distinction between a theology of the cross and a theology of glory and for which the priority of vocation over survival (as we are describing it) is of utmost importance. It will reference Luther throughout the discussion, especially his instruction in the Large Catechism. Please be assured that in no way is this intended to turn readers into Lutherans or to make a defense for Lutheran theology. It is intended, though, to offer persons who are grappling with the relevance of their Christian faith in these difficult times an honest and candid assessment of the travails and perils that are threatening us, and at the same time the honest and candid perspective that the Christian faith has always been a message of hope situated in a context of peril—a hope that always leads to vocation, not survival! Paradoxically, this faith has always held to the deep belief that Jesus’ brutal death and life giving resurrection is the very Word that brings forth life in the midst of death. It is this conviction that defined and led early Christians and followers of Jesus, empowering them to follow the way of the cross into their vocational calling of proclaiming and living God’s Kingdom of justice and mercy in the face of the threats and perils they faced. With this in mind, the intent of this book is to help the reader see that the Christian faith is still about following the way of the cross into vocation, especially in difficult and trying times. It is a vocation that is always expressed in the simple yet complex and often misunderstood words of Jesus, You shall love your neighbor as yourself! This is not charitable volunteerism. It is a vocation that calls us to stand in solidarity with our neighbors in the face of suffering and death.

So why approach this discussion through the lens of Luther’s Large Catechism? A fair question. For starters, I’m a Lutheran and have been all my life. I grew up in a Lutheran pastor’s family, was baptized and confirmed a Lutheran. Confirmation was an important milestone in my early adolescent years. I went to a Lutheran college and a Lutheran seminary. While these early years are foundational for me, my own faith has grown and matured in the ongoing discovery of what I perceive to be the meaning of the biblical narrative’s central message, Behold I make all things new. It is the message of the prophets as they warned Judah and Israel of their impending punishment. It is the core message of the gospel, powerfully spoken in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and declared again by Paul, If anyone is in Christ, a new creation! From my perspective, this is the gospel’s most powerful message. In spite of ourselves and what we are doing to each other and the earth, we along with all of creation are daily being made new, even as we encounter suffering and death. It is also my perspective that Luther’s chief aim in writing the Large Catechism was to articulate and communicate this core message, particularly in light of his observation of how extensively the faith was being abusively lived and practiced when he made parish visitations in the fall of 1528. So make no mistake; he did not write this instruction as a new or romanticized way to improve or enhance one’s personal or privatized faith. Nor did he write it to offer a new way of becoming better moral or religious human beings. He wrote it to instruct baptized believers about what it means to live and practice the life of faith as beings and participants in the kingdom of God and the new creation in the here and now and in the face of the enormous powers of evil and death! In this discussion, it is what we will refer to as the life and practice of being a culture of life in the face of the demonic and evil powers that threaten us.

For Luther this new creation—this culture of life—is both now and not yet. It is God’s future that has been inaugurated in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It is a future that is here and now, incomplete though it may be; it is a future that is coming towards us, yet one that compels us to believe it in such a way that we practice living and being in it now, especially with the powers of death being as fierce as they seem to be.

To better understand the importance and relevance the instruction of Luther’s Large Catechism offers our particular context, it is helpful to understand the immediate context and circumstances to which he was writing. Not long after the church in Saxony had been freed from Rome’s oppressive rule and its reform and oversight had been given to the Elector, John of Saxony, parish visitations were conducted by Luther and some of his colleagues between October 1528 and January of 1529. The purpose of these visits was to evaluate the state of the church, or perhaps more accurately stated, to evaluate the state of faith and how it was being practiced and lived. What Luther encountered was dismal. Hear words from his Preface to the Small Catechism.

The deplorable conditions which I recently encountered when I was a visitor constrained me to prepare this brief and simple catechism or statement on Christian teaching. Good God, what wretchedness I beheld! The common people, especially those who live in the country have no knowledge of Christian teaching, and unfortunately many pastors are quite incompetent and unfitted for teaching. Although the people are supposed to be Christian, are baptized, and receive the holy sacrament, they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments, they live as if they were pigs and irrational beasts, and now that the gospel has been restored they have mastered the fine art of abusing liberty.¹

On the surface, Luther’s words may well sound judgmental and condemning. Yet, I suggest they are profoundly pastoral. Pastoral because they also reveal the deep grief and concern he felt over the poverty and ignorance of the faith and its practice in the lives of persons who laid claim to being baptized Christians. He realized that they had no clue to what that identity meant for the ordinary affairs of their life and their relationships with each other. I further suggest that it is precisely this core pastoral heart and concern that compels us to return to his instruction so as to hear its wisdom—not as a set of rules, dos, and don’ts, but more as a handbook or manual that will assist us to live out our faith in the midst of the perils and threats confronting us. To be sure, Luther’s instruction in his Large Catechism will often sound like a religious set of dos and don’ts. At times, the hierarchical, socio-culture norms of his time will sound offensive and abrasive to our ears. As you the reader will see throughout this discussion, the importance of Luther’s instruction may not be what first appears on the surface; it will be in both the prophetic and pastoral concerns that lie below the surface. It is my hope that this discussion brings those concerns to the fore.

Yes, there is an implication that I am making, and I make it without apology. In our self- absorbed narcissistic culture, we are not that far removed from what Luther experienced in his parish visitations. Many in our culture lay claim to being baptized Christians and proudly bear its banner, yet have no clue whatsoever to what that identity means for their life and their relationships with their neighbor and the world, no clue to what the gospel is actually calling us to be and become. My profound hope is that this discussion will help open the eyes, hears, and hearts of all of us so as to see and understand through the eyes of Luther’s instruction, the gospel’s radical and relevant call on our lives, especially in these difficult times.

For many, using a catechism or catechetical instruction as a resource for helping us navigate the practice of our faith in perilous times will sound strange. And why not? After all, regardless of one’s tradition or denomination, catechisms are usually viewed as teachings relegated to the instruction of children and young adults on the rudiments of the faith and to their preparation for the rite of confirmation. Once confirmed, it’s as though the instruction is one-and-done. As adults we don’t pay much attention, if any at all, to catechisms. Or as Luther suggested, its as if we think we have outgrown them.² Hear his words about disregarding and ignoring the need for daily study, meditation, and reflection on this rudimentary instruction.

Besides, a shameful and insidious plague of security and boredom has overtaken us. Many regard the Catechism as a simple, silly teaching which they can absorb and master in one reading. After reading it once they toss the book into a corner as if they are ashamed to read it again.³

But then he cuts to the chase to reveal the real reason daily study, meditation, and reflection are so vital for the life of faith. Referring to those who think they have the catechism mastered, or for those who think they have no further need of the Catechism’s wisdom once it has been read, he says:

I implore them not to imagine that they have learned these parts of the Catechism perfectly, or at least sufficiently, even though they think they know them ever so well. Even if their knowledge of the Catechism were perfect (though that is impossible in life), yet it is highly profitable and fruitful daily to read it and make it the subject of meditation and conversation. In such conversation, reading, and meditation the Holy Spirit is present and bestows ever new and greater light and fervor, so that day by day we relish and appreciate the Catechism more greatly . . . Nothing is so effectual against the devil, the world, the flesh,