'The Small Catechism' Tagged Posts

'The Small Catechism' Tagged Posts

PLEASANT PLACES

You may recall that at the end of The Small Catechism, Martin Luther tacked on what he called “The Table of Duties.”    For husbands and wives, parents and children, pastors and parishioners, labor and management he set down the Bible passages that apply to each, concluding:    “Let each his lesson learn with care and all the household well shall fare.” Escaping from a church that exalted holy orders and man-made works, Luther emphasized the sacredness of each Christian’s…

READY OR NOT?

There are two kinds of people in this world – those who are ready, and those who are not.   For some folks, being ready is an obsession.  Some have their Christmas shopping done in July, their Christmas cookies in the freezer by Thanksgiving, their supper menu planned out two weeks in advance.  On the other end of the scale are those who do their Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, pick up some cookies from the bakery on the way…

“TAUGHT BY GOD”

In a world that had largely lost the Bible, the goal of Luther and others was that all of God’s people might be Theodidacti – “Taught by God.” To that end, Luther wrote The Small Catechism as a short summary of the very basics that every Christian ought to know about God – His law in the Commandments, His gospel in the three articles of the Creed, how to pray with the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, how to apply…

“IT IS THE LORD CHRIST YOU ARE SERVING!”

Suppose Jesus asked you to sweep a floor.  Would you do it?  What kind of job would you do on that floor?  A sloppy job?  A really good job?  Why?  Suppose Jesus asked you to take out the garbage.  Would you do it?  Would you be grumpy or happy when you did it? Either way, why? You may recall that at the end of The Small Catechism, Martin Luther tacked on what he called “The Table of Duties.”  For husbands…

WHAT IS A “CONFESSIONAL” LUTHERAN?

The Gospels record how Peter boldly confessed His faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God.   The word for “confess” in the language of the Bible literally means “to say the same thing.” When we “confess” our sins, we are “saying the same thing” God says about us.   We are agreeing with what God tells us about ourselves.  We are admitting that we are sinners in need of Christ’s forgiveness. When we…

PRAYER & FASTING

The Pharisees ask Jesus about “fasting” in part of today’s text.  To “fast” in the strict sense of the word is to abstain from all food and to drink only water for a specified period of time, whether short or long. People sometimes fast to signify sorrow, while confessing their sins, in times of trouble, to concentrate on some spiritual issue, or for physical discipline. A lot of famous people were in the habit of fasting:  the philosophers Socrates &…

“TAUGHT BY GOD”

In a world that had largely lost the Bible, the goal of Luther and others was that all of God’s people might be Theodidacti – “Taught by God.” To that end, Luther wrote The Small Catechism as a short summary of the very basics that every Christian ought to know about God – His law in the Commandments, His gospel in the three articles of the Creed, how to pray with the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, how to apply…