On Genuflecting

The ceremony of genuflecting at the altar is a particular ceremony that some people deride as “Too Catholic.”

Genuflecting is what is commonly called “taking a knee.” It is a kind of kneeling in which one drops to only one knee, probably in the interest of time to be able to get back up quickly - especially for pastors who become long in the tooth often at a rate exceeding that of the laity. When it comes to kneeling, sometimes the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. For many of us d'un certain âge, bowing from the waist down is a more practical way of carrying out this ceremony. But you young guys should be able to genuflect and rise again with no trouble, or else you need to hit the glucosamine and chondroiten, if not the gym.

When I was the campus pastor of a high school, one of my duties was to lead the football team in the Lord’s Prayer in the end zone, after the coach called out the rubric: “Take a knee, guys!”. Kneeling is a posture of prayer, of humility, and of worship of God. It is a ceremony that is appropriate at certain times in our liturgy.

According to our shared confession in the Book of Concord, the purpose of ceremonies is that people may be “taught what they need to know about Christ” (AC 24:3).

And if Roman Catholics and Anglicans genuflect before the altar, but Baptists, Methodists, the Reformed, and Non-Denominational Christians do not, what is the ceremony (or lack of ceremony) teaching?

Indeed, it would be incongruent for a Baptist minister to pronounce the Words of Institution and then genuflect after the words pertaining to each element. This is because Baptists believe that Christ is not present, that the elements are only symbolic.

Roman Catholics and (at least some) Anglicans believe that Jesus is miraculously and physically present in the Sacrament.

So which ceremony (genuflecting or not genuflecting) makes more sense for the Lutheran consecration? What does genuflecting during the consecration teach about Christ? Kneeling is an act of worship. Angels forbade kneeling before them because they are not worthy of worship (Rev 19:10, 22:8-9). We are to worship God alone (Matt 9:10). The wise men “fell down and worshipped” the baby Jesus (Matt 2:11) - with the word for worship (προσκυνὲω) being more than just an intellectual acknowledgement of his divinity. The word means to worship with the body, by kneeling or prostrating oneself, in the presence of God.

A Baptist minister who confesses that the elements are only symbolic would - in his own mind and confession - be guilty of idolatry were he to genuflect before that which is merely a creature and not the Creator.

Lutherans - along with Roman Catholics and (some) Anglicans (and the Orthodox Christians), confess the Real Presence, that Jesus is physically (not merely symbolically or spiritually) present. So our piety concerning the Lord’s Supper is traditionally quite different than that of a Baptist or Presbyterian or Non-Denominational pastor or layman. For instance, most Lutherans kneel to receive the Sacrament, and our church architecture typically encourages this by virtue of a communion rail with kneelers. Again, this would not make sense in a Baptist context. (I’m not picking on Baptists here, it’s just that they are the largest confession of Christians in our context in North America who confess the symbolic nature of their communion elements).

So, is it also incongruent for Lutherans to genuflect during the consecration?

Interestingly, during the Reformation, the Reformed accused the Lutherans of “bread worship” because of our confession of the Physical Presence. They considered such things as bowing or genuflecting during the consecration to be idolatry. Calvinistic rulers ordered the Lutherans to stop doing it. Obviously, we Lutherans disagree with them on this. And in fact, many editions of the Book of Concord include quotes from the early church fathers - largely to respond to the accusations of the Reformed - in a section called the Catalog of Testimonies. One such quote comes from St. Augustine, and it involves acts of worship toward Christ in the Sacrament:

Of the Words of the Lord, Discourse 58 (t. 10, p. 217): “If Christ is not God by nature, but a creature, He is neither to be worshiped nor adored as God. But to these things they will reply and say: Why, then, is it that you adore with His divinity His flesh, which you do not deny to be a creature, and are no less devoted to it than to Deity?”

The same, on Ps. 99:5 (t. 8, p. 1103): “‘Worship His footstool.’ His footstool is the earth, and Christ took upon Him earth of earth, because flesh is of earth; and He received flesh of the flesh of Mary. And because He walked here in this very flesh, he also gave this very flesh to be eaten by us for salvation. But no one eats that flesh unless He has first worshiped it. Therefore the way has been found how such footstool of the Lord may be worshiped, so that we not only do not sin by worshiping, but sin by not worshiping.”

The celebrant, deacon, and acolyte customarily have genuflected together in my parish’s celebration. I had a devout parishioner who moved away who would also genuflect in the pew. This is not just a ceremony that only the pastor may participate in.

We Lutherans also confess the freedom in the Gospel regarding ceremonies.

For example, it is customary to make the sign of the cross at certain points in our personal prayer life (as we are instructed in the Small Catechism), and in our liturgical worship. Again, this ceremony teaches us about Christ - it is a confession of His divinity as the Son in the confession of the Holy Trinity, and it links His crucifixion to Holy Baptism by means of the Trinitarian invocation. Tracing the large sign of the cross from our heads, hearts, and shoulders began as a confession against the Arians, who did not confess the Lord’s divinity. This way of making the sign of the cross was a modification of the earlier practice of crossing oneself on the forehead as a reminder of Holy Baptism.

But no member of the parish should pressure anyone to either make the sign of the cross or not. That is a matter of personal piety.

The pastor is also a member of the congregation with Christian freedom. He may choose to cross Himself at certain points in the service, or he may choose not to. No other member of the parish has the right to pressure, bully, or force him to do so, or to stop doing so, any more than anyone has the right to compel a layman to either do so or not.

Genuflecting is a similar act of personal piety (as are things like bowing for the Gloria Patri, nodding the head at the name of Jesus, or folding one’s hands to pray). So a parishioner has no more right to demand that a pastor cease to genuflect at the altar than he has to demand that the pastor cross himself at the beginning of the sermon.

Luther was actually appalled to learn that some parishioners did not genuflect in the pew during the chanting of the Nicene Creed (there is an ancient custom to genuflect at the words “and was made man”). He said:

And when the congregation came to the words, “from the Virgin Mary and was made man,” every one genuflected and removed his hat. It would still be proper and appropriate to kneel at the words “and was made man,” to sing them with long notes as formerly, to listen with happy hearts to the message the Divine Majesty abased Himself and became like us poor bags of worms, and to thank God for the ineffable mercy and compassion reflected in the incarnation of the Deity. But who can ever do justice to that theme?...The following tale is told about a course and brutal lout. While the words, “And was made man” were being sung in church, he remained standing, neither genuflecting nor removing his hat. He showed no reverence, but just stood there like a clod. All the others dropped to their knees when the Nicene Creed was prayed and chanted devoutly. Then the devil stepped up to him and hit him so hard it made his head spin. He cursed him gruesomely and said: “May hell consume you, you boorish ass! If God had become an angel like me and the congregation sang: ‘God was made an angel,’ I would bend not only my knees but my whole body to the ground! Yes, I would crawl ten ells down into the ground. And you vile human creature, you stand there like a stick or a stone. You hear that God did not become an angel but a man like you, and you just stand there like a stick of wood!” Whether this story is true or not, it is nevertheless in accordance with the faith (Rom. 12:6). With this illustrative story the holy fathers wished to admonish the youth to revere the indescribably great miracle of the incarnation; they wanted us to open our eyes wide and ponder these words as well.

~ Luther’s Works, Vol. 22, pp.102-103, 105-106

Everything that we do during worship is a ceremony - even refraining from certain ceremonies.

As the late Atheist philosopher Neal Peart put it in a lyrical poem entitled Free Will (some of our readers may even know this entire work from memory): “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” And before you tap out that hate-letter to Father Eckardt and contact my District President for a heresy trial, I’m not endorsing everything in the song. I’m only using it as an analogy that refraining from a given ceremony is also a ceremony. So we should be deliberate of what confession we are making by either partaking of a ceremonial act, or opting not to.

But again, we do so in the realm of Christian liberty. And yes, we should teach, while being mindful that conducting ceremonies - like genuflecting at the altar - is part of that pastoral pedagogy that we are called to do. We should humbly be willing to be taught - especially by the man who has been sent by the Holy Spirit to teach us. And teaching is done in the liturgy as well as in the classroom. What we do in the presence of the altar, font, and pulpit is a powerful confession and explication of what we say that we believe.

And if anyone believes genuflecting to be wrong, sinful, or incongruent with our confession, he should be prepared to quote the Bible and the Confessions to make a case for why our ceremonies should resemble those who confess the Real Absence in the Lord’s Supper, as well as for making a case that earlier centuries of Lutheran practice has also been wrong.