Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Psalm 71:6 says, “Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.” On May 24 Kathryn and I had a beautiful baby girl who we named Tillie Ruth Irwin-Pernini. And as the Psalmist said in Psalm 71, it is by the grace of God that we have had another child! Thanks be to God!
Few can argue that babies and milk do not go hand in hand. For babies, milk is the only thing that they need to survive. And, for most of the babies of the world who live without “Formula,” mother’s milk is a breastfed baby’s sole source of nutrition and sustenance. The relationship of the baby to the mother in this schema is one of complete dependence. There is a beauty and simplicity in this relationship; the baby needs what the mother has to offer. At face value, a baby’s needs are relatively sparse compared to the needs of an adult; the baby needs to eat, sleep, be bathed and cuddled, and it needs diaper changes. As we grow older our needs become superficially more complex but in truth remain essentially the same. Don’t we need all the things that a baby needs? The biggest change between adults and babies seems to be that of dependence. Babies are completely dependent on others, and adults attempt to be dependent on themselves.
We call dependence on ourselves “independence.” And, if you are from the United States, or at least have lived here for awhile, independence is one of the values which we Americans hold above all others. But I have to ask, are we truly independent, so much so that we are even independent from God? Put another way, if we are completely independent and self-reliant, what do we need God for? Given that 80% of Americans claim to be Christians yet only 20% attend a church service regularly (2 to 3 times per month), it appears that Americans have at least become independent from the “institutional church.” A lack of church attendance has given rise to the “spiritual but not religious” impulses of large swathes of Americans as well as the misconception that you can be a Christian apart from a community whose specific purpose is to regularly worship God. While this notion of individuality and independence is prevalent today, it bears no resemblance to traditional Christianity as it has been practiced for the past two-thousand years to say nothing of community based Judaism to which Christians are heirs.
When we rely solely on ourselves for fulfillment, joy, ideas, direction, or even nutrition, the possibility of encountering God becomes relatively small and ideological. If we are independent of a church we are more likely to worship a “God” that bears more of a resemblance to ourselves than to the God found in scripture. Martin Luther described “self-reliance,” or better put, “sin,” as being curved or turned in on ourselves (incurvatus in se in Latin). The truth of the matter is that God calls us adults “children of God.” We are as yet in our old and mature age children. And with God’s proclamation of our perpetual infancy comes the revelation that we are dependent, even in adulthood. In fact, the church throughout the ages has described the Church as “our Mother.” The relationship of God to God’s children is described by the prophet Isaiah as being that of a mother caring for her nursing child who never forgets about her children (Isaiah 49:15).
It is in the church where we find God’s means of Grace revealed as Word (the Bible) and Sacraments (Baptism and Communion). The “means of Grace” are portrayed as “mother’s milk” throughout the great history of the church because a child’s reliance on “mother’s milk” for survival closely resembles humanity’s dependance on God as a means of survival and more specifically abundant life. 1 Peter 2:2 says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that The Lord is good.” Not inconsequentially, we often quote 1 Peter 2:2, “Taste and see that The Lord is good” immediately before we receive Communion which directly compares Communion to “mother’s milk.” Communion is the nourishment that God’s children require in order to flourish. It is important to note that Communion has and will likely continue to be practiced inside the church. Communion, whose institution comes from Jesus’ command, iterates the promise that Christ died “for you for the forgiveness of sin.” If Communion, being mother’s milk, is found only in the church, and we, children of God, need these words to thrive, how can God’s children survive without their mother’s milk?
The comparison of a mother feeding her child is found in the patristic period (100-451AD) of the early church where Iraneus of Lyon (2nd century) said, “Therefore to us, as babes, the perfect Bread of the Father communicates Himself as milk… in order that we, nourished by his Flesh as by the breast… might be able to retain in ourselves the Bread of Immortality.” Cyprian of Carthage (3rd century) said, “you were reared with the Word as milk” to his congregants. Martin Chemnitz (16th century), a signer and contributor to the Formula of Concord which is one of the confessional documents to which the ELCA subscribes, says, “Feed on the milk of the Word.” Martin Luther (16th century) himself implored, “Confide your doubts to the Church like a child who entrusts himself to his mother’s breast.”
Found in all of these “motherly” images is the theme of the disciple’s dependence on God. You and I are dependent on God and it is through the church that God has chosen to reveal Himself (Briefly stated: Jesus called disciples as part of his inner circle in order that they may teach others about Christ. While God’s Word of Grace is for all, God has always worked through individuals specifically called to address communities of faith [today, they are called pastors]. The disciples were the beginning of the church which has always met in public or private as a community to worship God by hearing God’s Word and receiving God’s Sacraments). Finally, to quote Luther again, “There is no other way to enter Life unless this mother (the church) conceives us in her womb, gives us birth (Baptism), nourishes us at her breast (Communion) and lastly, she keeps us under her care and guidance until we part of mortal flesh (death and resurrection).” The relationship between the disciple and God is mediated through God’s Word and Sacraments which are found in the church. We are all God’s children who depend on nutrition given by God to us through our mother, the church.
Today, it is a unique occurrence in Christian history that people believe that they can be Christian without being part of a church. It is particularly unique to the American context where a premium is placed on independence. What the Bible, the early church, and the 16th century reformers tried to say when they compared the church to a mother and the Word and Sacraments to mother’s milk is that it is impossible for a baby to survive without its mother or her milk, therefore it is just as unlikely that a person can be a Christian without the church. In closing, the purpose of these thoughts is to highlight not that there is no salvation outside of God’s church; this may or may not be true for all I know and in the end that is up to God. The purpose of highlighting the ancient image of the church being our mother and the Word and Sacraments being mother’s milk is to show that we, even in old age, are God’s children who are dependent on a God who promises life and salvation inside the church. What happens outside the church is almost beyond comment because God’s revelation to us, the Bible, almost exclusively speaks of those who are part of the community of faith (i.e., the church). So in this season of independence and Independence Day, as Christians we celebrate our mutual dependence on God who is the source of all knowledge, joy, and ultimately true freedom which comes through recognizing all of humanity’s mutual dependence on God.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Carmine Pernini
