Last week when Bishop Voigt from the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) visited the International Center last week, he saw the Witness, Mercy, Life Together banner in chapel and in the cafeteria during lunch. Over lunch, Bishop Voigt said to me, "I really like the Witness, Mercy, Life Together banner. It reminds me of a sculpture we have in Germany." He then went on to describe a hand that represented diakonia, martyria, leiturgia, and koinonia. It is pictured above. Bishop Voigt sent me the photograph today.
Leiturgia is the glue that binds the three fold emphasis together. In a sense, leiturgia is what flows out of witness (martyria), mercy (diakonia), and life together (koinonia). Leiturgia is the Lord at work through His church in the areas of witness, mercy, and life together. The three-fold emphasis is not really a new thing, but something the church has done ever since the Lord founded her; it simply describes what the church does.
The relationship is important, but I think you have it backwards. Martyria, diakonia, and koinonia flow out of leitourgia, as the Lord works first upon us, resulting in our witness, mercy, and communion. So also in the early church, charity flowed forth from the altar, the over-abundance of gifts being distributed.
ReplyDeleteGood message, but that statue is seriously creepy. I'll probably have nightmares now...
ReplyDeleteBethany Kilcrease