October 23, 2023

In the Lutheran church, this upcoming Sunday is noted as Reformation Sunday, which marks the time in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. 

Martin Luther has become an important figure in the church and world history. He and several other reformers brought about questions and concerns about how the people were not being taught about the basic aspects of the Christian faith that were important.

To help teach the faith to the people, Luther created and developed the Small Catechism in ways that were easy to learn and understand for them. Luther did not want complicated language and discussion around the foundations of faith and learning them. 

This year in our Bible studies, we have been going through the By Heart book that goes through and explains the history and different sections of Luther’s Small Catechism. 

The last few weeks, we have been working through the Ten Commandments, what each one meant for Luther, and how they can apply for us today. In the future, we will be going through not only the Apostle’s Creed and Lord’s Prayer but also Baptism and Holy Communion and what they mean for us. 

I have loved hearing the perspectives and discussions within the groups about what they have thought about the catechism as well as how their understandings have changed about the catechism or about their faiths in general. There has not been a shortage of questions and ideas of how we can continue to think about and bring our faiths into our daily lives together. 

For Luther, faith did not stop at church but meant to be in their daily lives, so that they could know and understand God and God’s grace in life. He created resources and tools to help the people then, and now, what the fundamentals of faith were, so they could live into them daily. 

We get to learn and explore that in our studies and then into our lives. 

This upcoming week, we will be looking at the 6th and 7th commandments, and there is still time to come and join in on the reading and discussion, on Tuesday night on Zoom, on Wednesday evening, and Thursday morning. We hope to see you!

Vicar Jennie