a chat with the pastor: The Big 500

“She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

--- Matthew 1:21

Just what is a Lutheran? What do we stand for, and what do we believe? If someone has ever asked you that question and you weren’t sure how to answer, you couldn’t do any better than hand them a copy of Luther’s Small Catechism. Here we Lutherans find the Owner’s Manual for a heart of faith.

In 1529, a day and age when Bibles were very expensive and few people could read them, much less afford one, Martin Luther produced his Small Catechism. It was originally printed on a single page and sold for pennies. By 1580, when the movement known as the Lutheran church gathered together the writings that defined them, they included the Small Catechism alongside The Augsburg Confession and other statements of faith in the Book of Concord. By then, the Small Catechism had circulated in many editions and was known as a Bible for the Laity.

Today, this little pamphlet still holds the essence of Christian teaching, revealing it in profound but simple words as we find nowhere else. By bringing together The Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, and explaining them in simple terms, Luther stripped away all the false doctrines and unnecessary complications that stood in the way of typical Christians grasping the plain Gospel message. In each section, Luther asks the most relevant question of all: “What does this mean?” And not what does it mean in some abstract sense, but what does it mean to me, here and now, what does it mean for my life? What does it mean that God is my Father and Jesus is my Savior? I’m no murderer, so what does ‘Thou shalt not kill’ have to do with me? What do we mean when we pray to God “hallowed be Thy name”? Luther gives clear answers for small children and great scholars alike.

As we get closer to 2017’s recognition of the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, we will be offering sermons, devotions and Bible studies that examine the legacy of Martin Luther and the Reformation - those events that formed the Lutheran faith as a distinct branch of the Christian family tree. When I asked the congregation how many knew the catechism or learned it growing up, only about half the people raised their hands. This convinced me that we need to take a close look at the Small Catechism this year, through sermons and studies and Lenten devotions. This is a pure treasure box we are opening, and I believe each of us will discover or rediscover its unadorned beauty.

Copies of the Catechism will be available at church, but you just might want to download your own Small Catechism app. You’ll find it at http://info.augsburgfortress.org/luthers-small-catechism-new-mobile-app . Take it with you wherever you go, and you can use it as a guide for devotions, memorization, or as a tool for witnessing.

That holiday is fast approaching which centers around the birth of a baby. “Unto you a child is born; unto you a Son is given,” to be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. We too ask the Small Catechism question: What does this mean? What does it mean that Jesus came to this world? Luther lays it out for us in his explanation to the second article of the Apostles’ Creed…

“At great cost He has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil – not with silver or gold, but with His holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. And this He has done that I may be His own, live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.”