Dr. Eric W. Gritsch

James E. Smith, Senior MDiv, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg 

In his Handbook for Christian Life in the 21^st Century, Eric W. Gritsch touches on the search for meaning in our self-help driven culture when he laments the state of catechesis.  He discusses three reasons for the need for a new catechesis.  In one, he discusses the ubiquitous word of the 21^st century: “spirituality.”

Much pedagogical non-sense, indeed esoteric doctrine, appear under the buzz-word “spirituality.”  Instead of describing Christian life guided by the Holy Spirit, it has become an intellectual curtain, as it were, hiding a theological illiteracy and a spiritual bankruptcy.  Struggling for institutional survival, denominational headquarters grind out exercises grounded in such a superficial spirituality and modeled after popular self-help guides promising a successful diet for mind and body.(1)

Simply put, this is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as understood by Martin Luther, or anyone else in the mainstream of Christian theological thought.  Despite this vague “spirituality’s” outsider status within traditional Christian thought, it is pervasive today.  One can see it clearly in the current success of the so-called “prosperity gospel,” which, in her recent Lutheran Forum article, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson identifies as “the single most widespread and popular of Christian heresies alive today.”(2)  She writes, “Your parishioners are watching its TV shows, listening to its radio programs, reading its books, and friends with its followers.”(3)  Through these books, TV shows, and radio programs, Christianity is reduced to one of many options for self-help for mind and body, and God becomes little more than medication for “we who are wearied by the changes and chances of life.”(4)  People turn to Christianity insofar as they believe it will make them successful and happy. 

            One can see the appeal.  After-all, the quotation above is from a traditional prayer in the order for compline.  Clearly, Christ has a word to say about our stressful lives, but for Luther, Gritsch, and the Christian tradition, it is not to aid people in their vain quests for success and self-help, thereby confirming an un-salvific ideology.  Rather, Gritsch has this to say:

Both reasons [for the increasing decay of the catechetical enterprise] are interrelated and also constitute the core of spiritual formation for everyday life: 1)An underestimation of evil, and 2)A lack of joy in everyday life.  For only when the deceiving forces of evil are faced with the power of faith in a never-ending future with God through Christ is it possible to experience genuine joy in everyday life.(5)

At its best, traditional Christianity is so much more honest and expansive than self-help spirituality.  Where 21^st century spirituality wants to talk about happiness and success, traditional Christianity offers the opportunity to talk about finding joy in the midst of evil and even suffering.  For the Christian, joy is not based on worldly success.  The traditional Christian, too, is capable of citing verses, such as “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice (Phi 4:4, NRS),” but does not omit the context.  And what was that?  St. Paul suffering—even in prison—for his efforts to spread the Gospel. 

            Where does that surprising joy come from?  For Luther, it is not from worldly self-help.  In his Small Catechism, he writes on the petition “But deliver us from evil”:

We ask in this prayer, as in a summary, that our Father in heaven may deliver us from all kinds of evil—affecting body or soul, property or reputation—and at last, when our final hour comes, may grant us a blessed end and take us by grace from this valley of tears to himself in heaven.(6)           

This petition is remarkable for our present purposes for a number of reasons.  First, Luther’s honest appraisal of evil would please Gritsch.  He addresses all manners of evil that may happen to a person, but instead of promulgating a self-help program, he turns to God.  In this “valley of tears,” we need more than self-help to become truly joyful.  We need a Savior.

            In his explanation of the second article of the Creed, Luther describes exactly what that Savior does. 

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father in eternity, and also a true human being, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.  He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned human being.  He has purchased and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.  He has done all this in order that I may belong to him, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in eternal righteousness, innocence, and blessedness….(7)

One can be joyful despite one’s stressful life as a lost and condemned human being because one can say, “He has redeemed, purchased, and freed me.”  Against all appearances, Jesus counted us worthy to choose the ultimate anti-self-help road to Jerusalem and the cross.  More than that, he has given us true purpose: belonging to him, living under him, and serving him.  For Luther and for Christians, in our stressful lives, we find our meaning in what Christ has made us and what he continues to make us.  To a world in search of self-help, we are blessed to be sent out to proclaim Christ’s help.   

James E. Smith, Senior MDiv, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg  wins
1st place Essay Contest at Lutherfest 2014 held at Zion Church of the City of Baltimore.

 2nd Place Winner:
Justin Tigrerman

 3rd Place Winner:
Brach Jennings