LCMS GETS EVEN WITH WELS ON PRAYER FELLOWSHIP

By: Rev. Jack Cascione
The Missouri Synod now shows how superior it is to the Wisconsin Synod by becoming the only known religious body in the world, and perhaps in all of history, that teaches prayer is not an act of worship.

In 1962, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) broke fellowship with the LCMS because WELS insists that prayer is a basis for church fellowship.  The LCMS response has always been that prayer is not a means of grace and therefore it is not a basis for fellowship.  Only the Creeds, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper are the basis for fellowship.

Now, in 2002, the LCMS has shifted its position on prayer, and insists that not only is prayer not a basis for fellowship, it is not an act of worship.

At this time, members in the LCMS only participate in worship when the clergy assure them that are indeed worshipping.

This writer contacted The Archdiocese of Detroit, under John Cardinal Maida, and asked if prayer for Catholics at any time and any place is an act of worship.  I was referred to their "Office of Christian Worship."  A staff theologian stated that there is no question that prayer is an act of worship for Catholics, including the Rosary.

For Catholics prayer is not the Mass, but it is an act of worship.

The Catholic Catechism, "The Teaching of Christ" (1976) quotes Vatican II on prayer and worship on page 389: "At the same time, let the faithful be instructed that our communion with those in heaven, provided that it is understood in the more adequate light of faith, in no way is weakened but rather on the contrary more thoroughly enriches, the supreme worship we give to God the Father, through Christ, in the Spirit (LG 51)."

"So to God we give absolute worship, and to Him we pray: 'Have mercy on us. (LG67)'"

The new "Catechism of the Catholic Church" lists the Magnificat as both prayer and worship in paragraphs 2097 and 2619.

In reference to the Benke Case, I was told that last year the Pope prayed with different "Faith Traditions," each in their own traditions, in Assisi, and it was joint worship.  The theologian to whom I was referred could not understand how prayer could not be an act of worship.

President Gerald Kieschnick of the LCMS has been declared immune from all charges of false doctrine by the Commission for Constitutional Matters (CCM).  Kieschnick is free to teach that prayer is not an act of worship in the LCMS.

President Benke claims that it is impossible for celebrities, public officials, and lay people to worship God in civic events when they pray in public.

So what was Benke doing when he bowed his head in Yankee Stadium and "spoke to God?"  He was expressing his opinion.

So what are Missouri Synod lay people doing when they pray?

Question 201 of the LCMS 1943 Catechism asks:

"What is prayer?"  Answer: "Prayer is an act of worship . . ."

The new LCMS Catechism published in 1991 no longer identifies prayer as an act of worship.  Question 194 in the new LCMS Catechism asks: "What is prayer?" Answer: "Prayer is speaking to God in words and thoughts."

Hence, LCMS pastors, Rabbis, and Imams can pray together at Valpo Chapel, and Atlantic District President Benke can pray with pagan clergy in Yankee Stadium and no one is worshipping God; at least not the members of the LCMS.

Yes, Missouri has finally set Wisconsin straight on prayer.  Members of the Wisconsin Synod are so ignorant they think they are worshipping God when they pray, but Missouri knows better.

"Jesus First" has publicly defended Benke's prayer as not being an act of worship.  "Jesus First" has also shown that it has abandoned the Christian faith by endorsing Dr. Waldo Werning's new definition of the Trinity in Werning's book "Health and Healing for the LCMS."

If they don't care about who God is, why should they care if prayer is an act of worship?

Missouri must also correct the Lutheran Confessions and Martin Luther who claim that prayer is an act of worship as follows:

"But the Scripture teaches not the invocation of saints, or to ask help of saints, since it sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Propitiation, High Priest, and Intercessor.  He is to be PRAYED to, and has promised that He will hear our PRAYER; and this WORSHIP He approves above all, to wit, that in all afflictions He be called upon, 1 John 2,1:  'If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, etc.'" (Augsburg Confession Article XXI.3 Concordia Triglotta page 57

"The First Commandment demands faith, that you believe that God is a Helper in due time, as Ps. 9:9 declares. The Second demands confession and prayer, that we call upon the name of God in danger and give thanks to God. The Third, that we teach the truth and defend and preserve sound doctrine. These are the true and only forms of worship of God, which God demands . . ." LW1:328-329

"Because no law had yet been given about worship in a certain place, they were free to sacrifice everywhere, just as we today are free to pray everywhere." LW2:192

". . . the real kernel of worship, which is to give thanks, pray, hope, and confess even under the cross and in disaster." LW6:237

Luther says: "In our days they [the papists] let obedience lie and lead us so deeply into works, that we have completely drifted from obedience, and we gape at works and despise our own mission and calling. Hence there is no doubt it is Satan's own doings that divine worship is confined only to churches, altars, masses, singing, reading, offerings and the like, as if all other works were vain or of no use whatever. How could Satan mislead us more completely from the right way than when he confines God's worship within such narrow limits, only to the church and whatever is done it?" In "Sermons of Martin Luther" [Lenker Edition], Vol. 1, page 245.

September 23, 2002