From the Pastor: One Thing Needful

I am writing this in my furious effort to get everything done before Lois and I leave for our trip to Europe. I’ve made lists till the cows come home, but it seems like every day I think of something else that needs to be done or arranged, or something else we need to remember to bring.

When I’m preparing for a trip, I always think of Jesus’ phrase “one thing needful.” I remind myself that there is really only “one thing needful” (or maybe two or three) for the trip—passport, air ticket, credit card, whatever. Anything else I may have forgotten can be easily solved. It does relieve some anxiety!

Of course Jesus’ words were not spoken in quite that context! They were about Mary, of Mary and Martha fame. The story is found at the end of Luke 10. Mary chose the “one thing needful” by sitting at the feet of Jesus, even while Martha was in her frenzy of activity.

That’s an even more important lesson to learn! Over the last few years, I’ve tried to be more disciplined in my praying. I’ve committed myself to spending at least three periods of time a day in prayer—morning, nightfall, and bedtime. When things become busy (like this week!), it’s so easy to let that slide. After all, there are things I must get done; I can’t afford to set aside twenty minutes to pray this morning.

But I have to fight that temptation, because I know that if I give in to it, tomorrow will be equally busy and I’ll have an equally good excuse to neglect my time with the Lord. So I really strive to consider the “one thing needful.” Sometimes it means cutting the time a little short. Of course then I remember John Wesley, who customarily got up at 4 a.m. to pray for three hours. But when he was very busy, he got up earlier so he could pray for four hours! Well, I’m not there yet, but it’s a powerful reminder of the “one thing needful”!

How do you find time for the “one thing needful”? One way should be regular worship—even in the summer, even when you’re on the go, even when you’ve got a lot to do. Hearing God’s word, receiving Christ’s body and blood, singing thanks and praise—that’s part of the “one thing needful” for us.

Another way should be personal time spent in praying and reading the Scripture. How are you doing with that? It’s not an easy discipline to cultivate, but it’s the “one thing needful.” How could your church help you learn to do it?

For most of us, summer is a time when things are at least a little calmer in our lives—fewer commitments, longer days. How about making it a time when you consider what you are doing to care for your relationship with Christ? That is the “one thing needful,” after all. If you remember to spend time with Christ, everything else really can be easily solved.

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

Classic prayers

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we pray, that we might be grounded and settled in your truth by the coming of your Holy Spirit into our hearts.

What we do not know, reveal to us;

what is lacking within us, make complete;

that which we do know, confirm in us;

and keep us blameless in your service, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

--Clement of Rome (d. 96 A.D.)

Liturgy Notes: The Peace of Christ

One brief moment in the liturgy of Holy Communion often passes without much thought, but it is one of the most ancient and most powerful symbols in Christian worship.  It is “the Pax,” or the Peace of Christ.  “The peace of the Lord be with you always,” says the pastor, and the people respond, “And also with you.”

We do not know everything about how the Peace came to be part of our liturgy, but we do know that it is very ancient.  Writing in the second century, Justin Martyr described it as coming between the prayers of the church and the offertory: 

“We salute one another with a kiss, when we have concluded the prayers.” Two centuries later, St. Augustine described it in a slightly different location:  “After the Lord’s Prayer is said, Peace be with you, and Christians kiss one another in a holy kiss which is the sign

of peace.”

The “holy kiss” was current in the New Testament church, for St. Paul refers to it several times.  Undoubtedly it was taken over from Judaism, where a ceremonial kiss was often practiced as a sign of greeting or brotherhood. Some scholars believe that the “holy kiss” was used as a kind of benediction before those who were not yet baptized were dismissed

from the service (they were not permitted to remain during the Eucharist itself).  Others argue that the kiss was exchanged after the unbaptized “catechumens” had departed, as a sign of the unity of those who were already baptized into Christ.

Whatever the purpose in the early church, during the medieval period the peace lost much of its impact.  It came, as in Augustine¹s time, after the Lord¹s Prayer, and was one of the private prayers of the priest.  Luther, in the words of Dr. Reed, “lifted it out of relative obscurity and gave it something more than its original dignity and significance as a blessing of the people, and indeed, a form of absolution.”  Luther himself wrote that

the Peace “is the voice of the gospel announcing the forgiveness of sins, the only and most worthy preparation for the Lord’s Table.”

In modern liturgical reforms, the Peace has usually been placed back in its most ancient position, as a transition between the prayers concluding the liturgy of the Word, and the offertory which begins the liturgy of the Eucharist.  It has also become common for the verbal exchange to be united again with some gesture of peace and reconciliation--a handshake, a hug, a kiss.  But it is important to keep in mind the meaning of this moment of the liturgy.  It is not a time for conviviality or general friendliness.  Rather it is a moment when we greet one another in the awareness that our unity is in Jesus Christ.  The Manual on the Liturgy for the Lutheran Book of Worship puts it this way:

The peace which enables people to live in unity and in the spirit of mutual forgiveness comes only from Christ whose word has been proclaimed.  Without the intention to live in such unity, participation in the sacrament celebration is a mockery... The peace is a sign that those who participate in it open themselves to the healing and reconciling power of God¹s love and offer themselves to be agents of that love in the world.

Thus the Peace is a significant moment in the liturgy!  It is our time of acknowledging that we come before God, not as isolated individuals, but as a family... that we recognize that in Christ, we are brothers and sisters... that we earnestly and sincerely desire to grow in unity with Christ and with one another.  As you prepare to come to the Lord¹s Table on Sunday, let the meaning of that simple greeting fill your heart, as you offer Christ¹s peace

and receive it as well from your neighbor.  And the peace of the Lord be with you!