Christian Spirituality and the Five Senses - Sight

Iconoclasm is alive and well today in the Church.

If that word is not familiar to you, the term "iconoclasm" simply means the rejection of visual images (paintings, icons, statues, etc.) that are intended to depict something that is sacred.  The last great ecumenical council of the Church prior to the schism between East and West (Second Council of Nicaea, 787 A.D.) declared that iconoclasm was contrary to the Gospel.

Historically, iconoclasm was usually based on a deliberate theological decision (usually based upon a misapplication of the commandment against the use of "graven images").  Theological iconoclasm is still around in some parts of Christianity.  I tend to think, though, that much of the iconoclasm of today is not based on theological reasons; instead, I suspect that allegedly practical reasons are the driving force behind much of modern iconoclasm.  Those practical reasons range from a belief that artwork costs too much money, to a desire to have a worship space look like something "modern and familiar" instead of "foreign and ancient".

Therefore, churches like this one are rarely being built these days:

Instead, more and more churches like this one are being built, particularly in America.

The former picture depicts the interior of Frauenkirche, the "Church of Our Lady", which is the Lutheran Cathedral in Dresden, Germany.  It was destroyed due to the Allied bombing campaign toward the end of World War II, but it was recently rebuilt, with glorious results.   The latter picture is a typical, modern, sterile worship space which looks more like the interior of an auditorium or shopping mall than a sacred space.

Not all churches, of course, can build something like the Frauenkirche. However, as this little home icon display shows, you can do a lot with a little, even in a small space. 

Regardless of whether modern iconoclasm is "theological iconoclasm" or "practical iconoclasm", it is harming the Church.  The use of our sense of sight to see the holy is an important part of our faith.  .

Why?  Just a few days ago (December 4th), the saint of the day was St. John of Damascus.  It was his theological writings that formed the basis of the decision made at the Second Council of Nicaea to reject iconoclasm.  He wrote:

"In former times, God, who is without form or body, could never be depicted.  But now, when God is seen in the flesh conversing with men, I make an image of the God whom I see, I do not worship matter:  I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take his abode in matter; who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation!.... Because of this, I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me."

(St. John of Damascus, "On the Holy Images", I, 16, translated by David Anderson, in St. John of Damascus on the Divine Images).     

Since this is the season of Advent, we use the word "Immanuel" a lot in Church these days.  "Immanuel" (also spelled "Emmanuel") simply means "God with us."  Because God is with us, why not use our gift of sight to view something that conveys that divinity to us?    

Christian Spirituality and the Five Senses - Taste

"Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).  Since it is Thanksgiving week, what sense could I talk about other than taste? Instead of talking about turkey and other foods associated with the American holiday, though, I'm going to primarily talk about the food associated with the real Thanksgiving - the Eucharist (which is the Greek word for "Thanksgiving"). 

If there is one thing that Lutherans are known for, it might be food.  The stereotype is that we all eat jello,  German Lutherans eat sauerkraut, Swedes eat meatballs, Danes eat  Æbleskiver, and Norwegians eat lutefisk.  If the stereotype is true, then I'm definitely glad to be Danish instead of Norwegian.

While those foods (except lutefisk) are good, it is somewhat sad that we are primarily known by those foods, and not the food which Christ gave to us - the Eucharist, which is the "true body and blood of Christ." (Martin Luther, Article VI of the Smalcald Articles).    

It was not supposed to be so. The Reformers adamantly stated: "At the outset, it is again necessary, by way of  preface, to point out that we do not abolish the Mass but religiously retain and defend it.  Among us the Mass is celebrated every Lord's day and on other festivals, when the sacrament is made available to those who wish to partake of it, after they have been examined and absolved.  We also keep traditional liturgical forms, such as the order of readings, prayers, vestments, and other similar things." (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV).

But, somewhere along the way, Lutherans forgot their heritage - the Eucharist was celebrated less and less frequently, and practices were adopted which compromised our belief that Christ is truly present in the Supper.  Some of that was due to necessity - the lack of ordained ministers to serve immigrant congregations on the American frontier prevented weekly communion, for example.  However, those special circumstances became the tradition, which has only recently been overcome through the recovery of weekly communion in many congregations (including, thankfully, the congregation where I now serve).      

As noted by Orthodox theologian, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, the gathering of Christians to eat the meal instituted by Christ at the Last Supper has been central to the life of the Church since apostolic times:   

"'When you assemble as a Church...' writes the apostle Paul to the Corinthians.  For him, as for all of early Christianity, these words refer not to a temple but to the nature and purpose of the gathering.  As it is well known, the very word 'church' - ἐκκλησία - means 'a gathering' or 'an assembly,' and to 'assemble as a church' meant, in the minds of the early Christians, to constitute a gathering whose purpose is to reveal, to realize, the Church.

The gathering is eucharistic - its end and fulfillment lies in its being the setting wherein the 'Lord's Supper' is accomplished, wherein the eucharistic 'breaking of the bread' takes place.  In the same epistle St. Paul reproaches the Corinthians for partaking of a meal other than the Lord's supper in their gathering, or assembling for a purpose other than the eucharistic breaking of bread.  Thus, from the very beginning we can see an obvious, undoubted triunity of the assembly, the eucharist and the Church, to which the whole early tradition of the Church, following St. Paul, unanimously testifies."

(From "The Eucharist" by Alexander Schmemann, p. 11).  Accordingly, the "just me and Jesus" kind of spirituality that has infiltrated modern Christianity violates the very heart of the faith that Christ gave to the apostles, which envisions a gathering in Jesus' name to break bread. 

As Pope Francis wrote this week in paragraph 47 of Evangelii Gaudium, "[t]he Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak." Luther wrote that in the physical act of eating and drinking according to Christ's command, "life and salvation are given to us in the sacrament." (Small Catechism).

A meal which is powerful medicine and nourishment? A meal which gives us life and salvation?  That is a Thanksgiving meal we can all celebrate.  

Christian Spirituality and the Five Senses - Touch

It is no secret that much of what passes for Christian spirituality these days has devolved into a "just me and Jesus" kind of spirituality.  Individual devotions and prayer are critical components to the practice of our faith, but when there is nothing more, much of the essence of Christian spirituality has been lost.

What is lost in "just me and Jesus" spirituality?  The use of our five senses.  An individualized faith engages in a limited use of just a few senses, such as the use of sight to read the Bible, or hearing to listen to sacred music.  However, the use of those two senses is limited in an individualized faith, and there is little or no experience of the holy through the other senses of touch, taste, or smell. Some people, due to physical or mental limitations, are unable to use one or more their senses, so God will come to them through the senses they can use.  However, for those of us who are able to use all five of our senses, we are depriving ourselves of the sacred gifts God has given to us if we limit our spiritual practices to the use of only one or two senses.

In this article, I'm going to explore how God comes to us through the sense of touch.

An episode from the Gospel of Mark powerfully demonstrates the importance of the sense of touch.  Jairus, the leader of a synagogue, approached Jesus and begged him to heal his daughter through the use of touch: "Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live."  (Mark 5:23).  While he was on his way to Jairus' daughter, a  hemorrhaging woman discretely approached Jesus, hoping to be healed by touching him without anyone noticing: "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well."  (Mark 5:28). Jesus sensed that someone had touched him, and instead of chastising her, he proclaimed: "Daughter, your faith has made you well."  (Mark 5:34).  He proceeded to go to the house where the body of Jairus' daughter was lying, and "[he] took her by the hand and said to her 'Talitha cum,' which means 'Little girl, get up.'" (Mark 5:41). And the girl arose.  Christ did not heal people through waving a magic wand or saying an incantation - he used the sense of touch.

(A visual depiction of Jesus healing the woman, found in the catacombs of Rome).

The healing power of touch was not just limited to Jesus, as this curious little passage in Acts reminds us: "God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them." (Acts 19:11-12). (As a side note, that handkerchief sounds a lot like what Catholics would call a second class relic - could this be another example of the Reformers throwing out the proverbial baby out with the bathwater?).

Perhaps the most important story in Scripture involving the sense of touch was immediately after the resurrection:   "(Jesus) said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’" (John 20:27-28). The importance of touch to the early Church was later confirmed in the opening words of 1 John:  "We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life" (1 John 1).

The continuing importance of the sense of touch to our lives together as a Christian community is reflected by the fact that many of our most important rites include the "laying on of hands" - baptism, affirmation of baptism (a/k/a confirmation), ordination, and healing (which also typically involves anointing with oil).  Even outside of the official rites of the Church, the sense of touch can be powerful - sometimes holding a patient's hand in a hospital room, or embracing someone who has experienced a loss, does much more to assist in the healing process than our attempt to console through words.


The sense of touch can even be important to our individual spiritual practices.  I wear a chotki (prayer rope) on my wrist, and have found it to be an aid to my personal prayer life. Sometimes, at an almost subconscious level, I find that my other hand has drifted to touching the knots on the rope, and I begin praying the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner").  That is probably just one example of the many ways that an increased use of the sense of touch can enhance personal spiritual disciplines.

In my next post in this series, I will explore a topic appropriate for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday - the importance of taste to Christian spirituality.