The Greek word is “eusebeia”, translated as ‘piety”, “godliness”’ or “reverence”. It is a chosen Christian virtue prominent in the pastoral epistles of Paul where “knowledge of the truth about Christ leads to godliness” ( Titus 1:1). Paul suggests that active piety will result in “living peaceful and quiet lives” (1 Timothy 2:1-2); teaching piety to children begins in the home where we learn to care for one another (1 Timothy 5:4). Piety makes the list of virtues in the 2nd epistle of Peter: “make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7).
Jesus called piety “doing righteousness” and admonished us not to flaunt it in public in an exercise of spiritual boasting (Matthew 6:1-8). For Jesus, necessary pious acts included coming to the aid of the poor. Pious prayer also was to be carried out in private rather than for show out on the street corner. Thus piety is to be quietly and consistently exercised in both charity and intercession for the welfare of others, which means that Christian love requires us to consciously pay attention to needs all around us.
It is no secret that piety has suffered neglect and opposition in our secular society. Jesus’ admonition to practice a secret piety (“don’t announce it with trumpets”) came in an historical context of pharisaic piety that had turned shallow and self-serving, a piety that was manipulative and judgmental. And yet the Christian witness blossoms when “they” see how Christians love one another (1 John 4). This kind of Jesus-piety critiques a life dominated by conspicuous consumption and the fear which weaponizes itself to protect what one owns. Faith invites us to “walk a mile in Jesus’ sandals”, imitating him and looking at the world through his eyes, seeing what he sees. It propels us into “ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.” For this pious journey with Jesus we need the gift of “faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us…” Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) p. 153.*
Insightful hymn texts help us on this journey, perking our spiritual awareness and bolstering faith. I was fortunate to have Dr. Martin Franzmann as a professor when at Concordia Seminary in the early 1960s, studying the Gospel of Matthew. He was a “poet-theologian” who knew how to energize the dialogue of faith with active, powerful verbs. “Thy strong Word did cleave the darkness…bespeaks us righteous…breaketh forth in conqu’ring might…breathed thine own life-giving breath…Alleluias without end!” (LBW #233). Dr. Franzmann is credited with creating the texts of four hymns in the LBW (#233, #372, #396 and #442) plus the translation into English of two others (#140 and #528). His texts can serve as devotional studies in themselves, leading to an authentic piety of the quiet and engaging kind. Pray his scintillating version of the Lord’s Prayer: “O Thou, Who Hast of Thy Pure Grace” (tune: Vater Unser). It reawakens the familiar text with abiding freshness.
Another hymn text poet of note is Thomas Troeger. His New Hymns for the Lectionary (Oxford U Press, 1986) also utilizes strong, active verbs in 52 texts to convey the strength of faith. As an example, consider the hymn text based on Mark 1:21-28 (the evil spirit in the Capernaum synagogue):
“Silence! Frenzied, unclean spirit,” Cried God’s healing, Holy One.
“Cease your ranting! Flesh can’t bear it. Flee as night before the sun.”
At Christ’s voice the demon trembled, from its victim madly rushed,
While the crowd that was assembled stood in wonder, stunned and hushed.
Lord, the demons still are thriving in the grey cells of the mind.
Tyrant voices, shrill and driving, twisted thoughts that grip and bind.
Doubts that stir the heart to panic, Fears distorting reason’s sight,
Guilt that makes our loving frantic, dreams that cloud the soul with fright.
Silence, Lord, the unclean spirit in our mind and in our heart.
Speak your word that when we hear it, all our demons shall depart.
Clear our thought and calm our feeling, still the fractured, warring soul,
By the power of your healing make us faithful, true and whole.
This hymn text is socially relevant for us in the midst of our convoluted and bombastic political divisiveness, a fraught and troublesome time focused on a presidential election. We all are affected by the demons of division of a kind that resemble the confrontation Jesus faced at the beginning of his ministry. The “old saw” is that since politics and religion divide people from each other, in polite company we don’t discuss either one. Yet we pay attention and proclaim our faith, using words only when necessary.
Joel Nickel
October 22, 2020
*For those unfamiliar with the "Lutheran Book of Worship" (aka LBW) or as we may also know it "the green book," it was the last Lutheran hymnal published by the then four Lutheran bodies in North America in 1978, the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America merged to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1989. These "green books" were used at Peace until COVID restrictions necessitated them being removed from the pew racks.
Pastor Joe