From
Living Theology in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church In America
Volume 2, Number 2
Easter 1997
Spirituality
The Lutheran Third Order of
St. Francis
Michael
D.F. Sculley
When you see the words Lutheran Third Order of St.
Francis, it may conjure up many thoughts, feelings, and questions. An
astonished “what?” plus momentary confusion will probably be at the top of the
list. After all, Lutherans do not have religious orders, do they? But before I answer several of the questions
most frequently asked through the years since I became a member of the
Evangelical Society of the Cross Franciscan (the Lutheran Third Order of St.
Francis), I would like to explain who we are, what our spirituality is, what
our mission is within the Lutheran church, and the church at large, what unites
us to our Catholic and Episcopal counterparts, and what makes us unique as Lutheran religious.
The
Evangelical Society of the Cross Franciscan was founded in January of 1988 in Orlando, Florida by a small group
of people drawn to the spirituality and servanthood of St. Francis of Assisi.
This came about in part due to the ministry of the St. Francis house, operated
by Brother Jim, a Lutheran Franciscan Friar, and a member of the Evangelical
Brotherhood of the Cross Franciscan. Brother Jim’s ministry at the St. Francis house was providing lodging and other
care for homeless men. He got them medical help for a variety of problems that
ranged from alcoholism to crack cocaine use. The unique quality of this
ministry was that Brother Jim sought to make the men feel like a part of a
family. He taught them to budget and to account for their time productively.
When they were able to work he helped them get jobs. The men of this community
stayed as long as they needed to. The goal was to reintroduce them into society
as healthy contributing members. However, the men still had a family to which
they could come home if need be. They were invited on Sundays for dinner and
they had a place to stay, as family, for the holidays.
The small group drawn to Franciscan
spirituality were the volunteers that helped at the St. Francis house. They saw
a need for religious vocation as they drew closer in the ministry of the home as well as to each other. Brother
Jim prayed the Office of the Hours and invited all to join him in morning and
evening prayer. None were ever pressured to do so, however. Marianne, one of the volunteers, asked
Brother Jim about the possibility of starting a secular society that embraced
the Franciscan life, and how it would fit within the context of the Lutheran
confession, just as the Secular Franciscan Order fits within the Roman Catholic
Church or The Third Order Society of St. Francis fits within the Episcopal
Church. She wondered if it was
something that lay people could make happen among Lutherans.
These
questions were the soil in which the society began to take root. The small
group first formed a rule of life in
which the membership would have an identity and continuity. They based it on
the rule of life that St. Francis laid down for the early Third Order followers
that wanted to live in the same discipline as him, yet remain in secular life.
St. Francis wrote this rule between 1209 and 1210.
Next the
founders of the society shared this
vision with then-Bishop Lavern Franzen of the Florida-Bahamas Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.. This meeting was a blessing because he
not only received the idea well but gave his blessing to it even though the Evangelical Society of the Cross Franciscan
is not an officially recognized ministry of the Florida-Bahamas Synod or of the
ELCA.
As time went on the few members of the society began
to reach out in other areas of ministry. Some worked with the children of
financially challenged families, leading them in sidewalk Sunday school. One
man developed a prison ministry, and a couple others volunteered time in
nursing home ministries. As for Brother Jim, the homeless shelter grew and the
brotherhood that he was a part of added another home: the St. Damian house. The
Brotherhood grew by one new member as well, when Brother Frank took monastic
vows. This made a total of four brothers, only two of whom were in the Orlando
area.
Today in
the Lutheran Third Order there are four professed members, three in the novitiate
phase, and two who are ready to enter the postulancy. This complete process
takes a minimum of one and a half years, and some may request a longer
novitiate.
The formation period includes a six month
postulancy. During this period the postulant begins writing a personal rule of
life based on the rule around which the Third Order is constructed and
including convictions about God’s calling to a particular area of ministry. The
postulant will meet regularly with a spiritual director who will oversee the
formulation of the rule and guide the postulant in spiritual discipline.
After
the six months is up the postulant is received into the order as a novice. The
novitiate begins with a service of induction in which the postulant is asked
questions of intent, then commits her or his rule of life to the Lord by laying
it on the altar and promising to uphold it for a year. Hands are laid on the
head of the aspirant by the Provincial and a blessing is given. Finally the
Provincial and the Guardian of the order present the new novice with the habit
of the order and a black cincture (the color of the novitiate).
During
the novitiate year or years, depending on how long the novitiate will last, the
novice meets periodically with his or her spiritual director. The spiritual
director continues to work with the novice in the formation process and
observes how the novice is upholding her or his rule of life. The spiritual
director will point out areas that may need strengthening and modification and
will note these so that they may be addressed at the end of the year when the
rule will be revised and renewed.
The
third and last step the novice takes is to make vows in the Service of
Profession or Service of Investiture. The novice promises to God, the Order and
its leadership, and to the rule of life that is again placed on the altar.
Obedience is never blind though, and the novice is never asked to go against
conscience or conviction. The novice also takes a vow of poverty--not a
forswearing of all ownership of property or money, but a commitment to serve
others and not make material possessions paramount in life. These vows are
professed with life-long intent, but are renewed every year on or around the
feast day of St. Francis (October 4). The reason for the annual renewing of
vows is that those who belong to the Third Order are lay people living secular
lives and some are married or have jobs that may take them to new locations.
For these reasons it is important to review the rule of life annually to see if it is being lived out. Also, this is a time
to pray and discern what may be changing or has changed over the last year in
one’s life concerning the rule. In reviewing the rule of life annually you can
see the wonderful way that the Spirit of God
moves over your life throughout the years, bringing God’s will to
fruition.
The service of profession is tailored by the novice
around basic elements set forth by the order. The Lutheran Third Order service
of investiture is based, in part, on the Secular Franciscan Order (Catholic)
and Third Order Society of St. Francis (Episcopal) services of investiture. The
service generally will have the pastor of the church and others from the
religious community or other religious communities involved. The Provincial and
the Guardian of the order must be involved because they will address the novice
with the liturgy of investiture. After the novice has made profession of the vows, she or he is presented with the
Bible and charged to preach the Good News in word and in action. (The rule of
all the Franciscan Orders are based on
the Gospel; this was St. Francis’ intent.) The novice is given a copy of the
prayer book used by the order, as a sign of the prayerful care and support of
the community. Next the newly vested sister or brother receives the laying on
of hands and is charged with the Holy Spirit. The Provincial then grants the
same blessing that St. Francis gave to Brother Leo. The sister or brother is
given a white cincture and the pectoral cross of the Order. A hood may be added
to the habit but not the shoulder mantle, also called the cowl, because this is
a sign of Friars and Nuns who take the three evangelical counsels and live in
community. The newly invested tertiary may share a short homily afterwards, as
this is one of the charisms of the Franciscan identity, that is to minister the
living, healing words of the Lord in speech and in servanthood to all. The
liturgy of investiture may be followed by a Eucharistic liturgy with presidency by the pastor of the church.
This would then conclude the service of Profession .
A
growing number of people seem ready now to explore a life of secular religious
vocation. They are looking for a structure to support them while they serve
church and society while remaining in a secular vocation.
The
Evangelical Society of the Cross Franciscan serves the Lord in three specific
focal areas:
·
In prayer. We are called to prayerful
lives of openness to God and to others, with the Lord’s Supper being at the
heart of our prayer life.
·
In studying God’s Word; both to widen our understanding of the churches
mission, and our Franciscan vocation within it; and to study ways
that we may improve our world by being good stewards of it.
·
In work; through our daily lives to seek God’s will, at home or on the job
working for the good of others by reflecting Christ’s love and offering his
peace to them.
The question that has been asked of me most often
is, “In the church lay people can serve in any capacity except ordained
ministry, so why is there a need to belong to a religious order?” I reply that, while it isn’t necessary to
belong to a religious community in order to have effective ministry in the
church, religious communities offer discipline and support for their members.
Leaders of the Church have long recognized this need as is evidenced by the
presence of other religious communities
within the Lutheran confession. The two deaconess communities, the Gladwyn
Community and Lutheran Deaconess Association at Valparaiso University have
ministered effectively in the Lutheran church for many years.
Often,
people ask me, Another question asked
of me is, “This seems so Catholic. Do you
pray the Rosary, and pray to saints and to Mary?” The members of The
Evangelical Society of the Cross Franciscan, as well as The Evangelical
Brotherhood of the Cross, are Catholics of the Augsburg Confession. Our
identity is very Lutheran. The friars, when making solemn vows, vow to uphold the Augsburg Confession. The
Tertiaries promise to adhere to the Augsburg Confession and the teachings in
the Book of Concord. Further, we use
certain ‘Catholic’ prayer methods such as the Liturgy of the Hours, so that we
can be unified in prayer with other catholics throughout the world. We use the
rosary (I know, a few Lutherans just fainted) as a meditative tool, for
example, to focus on the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. Each decade of
the Franciscan rosary (The Franciscan rosary has seven decades, each decade has
one large bead and ten small beads.) can be used to focus on a petition of the
Lord’s Prayer. A Psalm that focuses on each of the petitions is recited at the
beginning of each decade, and is contemplated while the specific petition of
the Lord’s Prayer is recited throughout the decade.
Concerning
prayers to Mary and the saints, we focus on their lives as examples of
holiness. We try to learn from their lives and incorporate the same disciplines
that were prevalent in their lives into our own. Some brothers and sisters in
Protestant religious communities have an easier time asking Mary and the saints
to intercede on their behalf than others. But the focus of prayer and meditation should be one of bringing unity to the whole church and not
one that focuses on our differences.
We are
in transition in our Lutheran Franciscan society. The Provincial and the Friars
of the EBC/F have joined the Greek Orthodox monastic community. This doesn't
change the ministries that have been established but it means that our third
order needs a Provincial Overseer.
Bishop emeritus Lavern Franzen is still a strong support to us and
encourages us to continue. One of the
positive things that has happened is that new provinces have opened up within the order, with new areas of
ministry that can be tailored to the specific needs of those areas.
St.
Francis started out with only a vision and a burden that God gave to him. He
was to go out and serve the blessed poor and speak the Good News of the
reconciling love of Jesus Christ to a hurting and confused world. He started
his ministry with a prayer that the Lord would send him brothers. God did.
There were a dozen of them at the start and they were faithful to God’s promise
that the church must be rebuilt. They planted the seed and God gave the
increase.
We are
small group in the Lutheran confession. We may even seem rather odd. But we
have a vision: one of reconciliation for the whole church. We can only do what
we are called to do. God is faithful!
St. Francis said at the end of his life, “I have done what was mine to
do; may Christ teach you what you must do.” This is my prayer for all of God’s
people as well, in Jesus Name.
Bibliography
Habig,
Marion A. St. Francis of Assisi, Omnibus of Sources. Franciscan Press,
1991 .
This book
contains the writings of St. Francis, early biographies and commentaries. It is
one of the best universal sources and authorities on St. Francis. All in a
1,960 page volume.
Secular
Franciscan Companion. Franciscan Herald Press, 1987.
The
Companion is the meditation and prayer book that is used by many S.F.O.’s
(Secular Franciscan Order) in the Catholic Church. It is a good way to explore
how Franciscan spirituality is utilized in the lives of S.F.O’s.
Other Bibliographic
Resources
Dennis,
Maria; Nangle, Joseph O.F.M.; Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia; Taylor, Stuart. St.
Francis and the Foolishness of God.
Orbis Press, 1993.
This book
is written by Catholic and Protestant clergy and lay people who are involved with Franciscan spirituality.
Armstrong,
Regis J. St. Francis of Assisi: Writings for a Gospel Life. Crossroad
Press, 1994.
This book
gives a broad exposition to the man and his writings.
Chesterton,
G. K. St. Francis of Assisi. Doubleday, 1957, 1990 .
Polidoro,
Gianmaria. Francis of Assisi:Innovator for a New Society. Velar
Franciscan Missions, 1994.
This book
takes the reader through the region where St. Francis lived, by pictures of the
Assisi area today and by copies of some of the original paintings done of St.
Francis and his followers. Father Polidordo is considered by some to be the
worlds leading expert on St. Francis and on Franciscan spirituality. His text
brings the pictorial display to life.
Member, St. Michaels, La Grange Park