{"id":34610,"date":"2016-11-03T10:37:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=34610"},"modified":"2016-11-03T10:37:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:37:16","slug":"the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy"},"content":{"rendered":"

As chairman of the ecumenical commission of our diocese of Innsbruck, Austria, I am regularly involved in the preparation of the main ecumenical service in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. As always, I had a first look at the Order of Service as it was sent out to the entire world from a group of the World Council of Churches. Exactly 500 years after the beginning of the Lutheran reformation it was no surprise that a German group would do that work for 2017.<\/p>\n

The material is published on the WCC’s website (PDF).<\/a><\/p>\n

My reaction? Frustrated. Almost every year a highly motivated group from somewhere in the world uses their chance to put as much content as possible into that service. Which means: Way too much. Here in Innsbruck, we always take the Scripture readings, try to find a good preacher (preferably someone who has experience in a field mentioned in the service or in the country that prepared it), then we have a look at all the other parts of the service and select one or two of them. And of course the opening, blessing, Creed, Intercessory Prayer and Lord\u2019s Prayer.<\/p>\n

One thing in the 2017 service bothers me the most, and I think this has much to do with how I understand the role of creation and matter in liturgy. Have a look at pp. 9\u201310 and 12\u201314 in the file: During the service a wall is supposed to be built up and then \u2013 later in the service \u2013 teared town. This is meant to represent the Berlin Wall which is meant to represent separation among people or churches. Furthermore, the wall is meant to represent confession of sins within and between the separated churches. This symbolic and ambiguous wall is made of 12 symbolic stones. But instead of real stones we shall use “shoe boxes” or “transport boxes”, “covered in packing paper”. Each of these boxes has a “key term” written on its front side, such as “lack of love”, “false accusation”, “intolerance”, and so on. During the confession rite each “stone” is verbally explained (“one stone in our wall is ‘lack of love'”) and then built up.<\/p>\n

Later in the service, the wall is dismantled and rearranged in the form of a cross.<\/p>\n

Sins symbolized by stones symbolized by boxes explained by written words explained by spoken words.<\/p>\n

This is exactly what liturgy is not. If a symbol needs explanation, the symbol itself is unnecessary. Liturgy is not a lecture explaining anything. Liturgy is experience. If you want to make an experience with stones, don\u2019t use boxes wrapped in paper. Use stones. Stoney matter bears a meaning in itself, such as bread, water, an immersion, a hug, or a kiss does. If you want the congregation to make the experience of tearing down a wall, do not rearrange shoe boxes step by step. Tear down a wall. And if you really want to do that in our baroque cathedral, you need very good artists and performers. I don\u2019t say it is impossible, but it needs highly professional artistic skills.<\/p>\n

Well, we had an inspiring discussion about the service, but eventually I managed to convince my Lutheran, Old Catholic, Serbian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox and Roman Catholic colleagues to focus our ecumenical service on the readings from the Scripture, a good homily, and prayer for unity. No shoe boxes. No packing paper. No explanations. No Berlin Wall in Austria. No symbols for symbols for symbols.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to handle symbols in liturgy, how not to handle symbols in liturgy, and what this has to do with the 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,17,91],"tags":[3007,191,1054],"class_list":["post-34610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecumenism","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-liturgical-year","tag-ecumenism","tag-symbols","tag-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to handle symbols in liturgy, how not to handle symbols in liturgy, and what this has to do with the 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-03T15:37:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liborius Lumma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liborius Lumma\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liborius Lumma\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/056ff45a7a243849e2626c7bd910d876\"},\"headline\":\"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-03T15:37:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":587,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Ecumenism\",\"Symbols\",\"Week of Prayer for Christian Unity\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ecumenism\",\"Liturgical Spirituality\",\"Liturgical year\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-03T15:37:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/03\\\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit & Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/056ff45a7a243849e2626c7bd910d876\",\"name\":\"Liborius Lumma\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/lumma-96x96.jpg?crop=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/lumma-96x96.jpg?crop=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/lumma-96x96.jpg?crop=1\",\"caption\":\"Liborius Lumma\"},\"description\":\"Liborius Olaf Lumma studied theology and philosophy in Munster (Germany), Munich (Germany), and Innsbruck (Austria). He was assistant professor in Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at Innsbruck University from 2006 to 2024, in 2024 he became full professor. His major research fields are Gregorian Chant, Liturgy of the Hours, and Ecumenical Theology. He is a member of the Ecumenical Commission of the Austrian Bishops\u2019 conference and board member of the German section of the International Association for Studies of Gregorian Chant (AISCGre).\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bibhist.uibk.ac.at\\\/lumma\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/llumma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy - Home","og_description":"How to handle symbols in liturgy, how not to handle symbols in liturgy, and what this has to do with the 2017 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2016-11-03T15:37:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":411,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liborius Lumma","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liborius Lumma","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/"},"author":{"name":"Liborius Lumma","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/056ff45a7a243849e2626c7bd910d876"},"headline":"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy","datePublished":"2016-11-03T15:37:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/"},"wordCount":587,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Ecumenism","Symbols","Week of Prayer for Christian Unity"],"articleSection":["Ecumenism","Liturgical Spirituality","Liturgical year"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/","name":"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-11-03T15:37:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/03\/the-berlin-wall-shoe-boxes-and-other-symbols-in-ecumenical-liturgy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Berlin Wall, Shoe Boxes, and Other Symbols in Ecumenical Liturgy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit & Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/056ff45a7a243849e2626c7bd910d876","name":"Liborius Lumma","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lumma-96x96.jpg?crop=1","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lumma-96x96.jpg?crop=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/lumma-96x96.jpg?crop=1","caption":"Liborius Lumma"},"description":"Liborius Olaf Lumma studied theology and philosophy in Munster (Germany), Munich (Germany), and Innsbruck (Austria). He was assistant professor in Liturgical Studies and Sacramental Theology at Innsbruck University from 2006 to 2024, in 2024 he became full professor. His major research fields are Gregorian Chant, Liturgy of the Hours, and Ecumenical Theology. He is a member of the Ecumenical Commission of the Austrian Bishops\u2019 conference and board member of the German section of the International Association for Studies of Gregorian Chant (AISCGre).","sameAs":["http:\/\/bibhist.uibk.ac.at\/lumma"],"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/llumma\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34610"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34627,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34610\/revisions\/34627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}