Category: Catechesis

Rev. Eric Brown

When I was a young fellow, in high school and college, the president of the LCMS was Dr. Barry, and he had a little catch phrase that was fantastic. “Get in the Word, Missouri!” That was his admonition to us: Be in the Word of God, study the Word of God, be shaped by the Word of God. It was advice that helped me navigate all the strange days of my youth, and it guides me still. So, I would pass on to you that same advice: Get in the Word, HT reader!

But practically speaking, what does this mean? This isn’t just a finger wagging “read your Bible more” sort of thing. Rather this: Remember that the world is going to throw all sorts of assertions and ideas at you. You will get told by friends, by teachers, by media, by everything all sorts of “truth.” In response, as you evaluate all of these ideas, your thought should be, “What does God’s Word say?” And then we should pay attention to what the Word of God says.

And note, this is what the Word actually says—not what we think it should say and not what we assume it says. Get in the Word. What does God actually proclaim in His Word? In fact, this is how you ought to evaluate and judge those who claim to be speaking for God (that includes me, dear reader and how you should evaluate me and what I am writing here). Does it agree, does it confess (that is to con-fess, to with-speak) what the Scriptures teach?

Consider what folks in the world say to you. Do they say that there is no right and no wrong, or do they say that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God? Do they tell you to do what your heart tells you, or do they note that it is out from out the heart that all sort of sinful desires come? Do they treat good and evil as just “social constructs” that don’t really exist, or is sin and temptation something that lies crouching at your door? Be in the Word, so that you know what God says is right, rather than doing what you think is right in your own eyes.

Likewise, as you end up leaving home, go out into the greater world and have to find a place to hear the Word preached, what do they preach to you? Is the point to help you realize your best life now, or do they tell you that you will have hardship but take heart, for Christ has overcome the world for you? Do they use the Word of God as a club to beat you down, or do they teach that these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you have life in His name? Do they tell you that you have to jump through hoops to make God love you, or do they say that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us? Be in the Word, so that you know whether or not the pastor is selling filth of his own devising, or implanting the Word which is able to save your soul.

It’s a big, wide world out there, full of lots of ugliness and lies and falsehoods, even from folks claiming to speak for God. Be in the Word, because it’s not by your own reason or strength that you’ll get by. Rather, the Holy Spirit will call you by the Gospel, enlighten you with His gifts, sanctify and keep you in the truth faith. And the Spirit does this by taking that Word and using it in His Church to daily and richly forgive all your sins. If that’s not what you’re getting, then it’s not for you. You, be in the Word. That’s where God keeps you safe.

Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois.

Kathy Strauch

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

The book of Acts begins with these words from Luke, “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach…” Jesus’ earthly ministry was only the beginning of His work. As we can see in throughout Acts, it is Jesus who is building His church. Jesus is always in His church, with His church, and works through His church. And He continues to be with, lead, and sanctify His church today.

Church is the place where you belong, but not because of the music, activities, or programs that may be offered. You belong in the church because you are a sinner. You belong in the church and have been placed into the church because you are a redeemed and baptized child of God. You belong in the church because God has graciously placed you into His Body through the work of His Son. The church is made up entirely of broken, sinful people who are loved and redeemed by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It is the place where peace and forgiveness can be found because the church is where Christ is present through Word and Sacrament.

The prayer of the father in Mark 9, “I believe, help my unbelief” is a prayer I often find myself praying. It’s honest. It’s a cry to our Heavenly Father asking for the faith that is His alone to give. It’s also a prayer that Jesus loves to answer, and the means by which He often answers this prayer is through the church. It was through the church, through water and the Word, that God baptized you and the Holy Spirit created faith in you. Jesus answers that prayer and fills our unbelieving hearts with faith. Whenever we remember our baptism, whenever the pastor declares the absolution of our sins, whenever we take the Lord’s Body and Blood, God is working in, and softening our hearts of unbelief. It is through the church that Jesus does this. It is through the church that Jesus sustains and feeds our faith through His Word of Absolution and through the Lord’s Supper.

Gene Edward Veith states, “[God] employs certain means by which He converts the lost and sustains His people…God’s grace, the message of His love and forgiveness through Christ, come to people too, through the Sacraments, which are tangible manifestations of the Gospel.” God loves and cares for us and our souls using the church as the means by which He baptizes, communes, and feeds His own. He washes us and places us into a body of believers in order to strengthen and sustain the faith He has created in us. After all, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Kathy Strauch is a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Troy, Michigan and is a graphic designer.

Grace German

Church seems rather ancient. There are a lot of traditions and words in other languages. I can’t even pronounce half of the words I heard in the Old Testament reading, and there seems to be fewer people in church every Sunday.

Plus, didn’t I heard this all last week? The words certainly haven’t changed. We’re still using same book. We’re still sitting in the same pew. For some weird reason there’s an unspoken seating arrangement. I think every church has one, you know—the one that nobody talks about, but it’s always observed. You know everyone’s watching and waiting for someone who dares to switch spots.

There are the same people in church. The “ten minutes early is right on time” front row people, and the new family (whom I’ve never actually met) who comes in during the opening hymn and sits in the back row.

It gets kind of old, doesn’t it? It’s always the same. So, what’s the point of going to church every Sunday? That would be true if church were simply a social club.

I watch the news, and the world scares me. Terrorism, diseases, and natural disasters seem to happen every day. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a worrier. I know that I could wake up tomorrow and everyone I love could be gone. Everything I have could be taken away from me. That’s not just a little different. That’s a lot different. And then I think, “I could use a little of the same old thing…some stability.”

Jesus and His church is more than a source of stability. He’s the only constant in our changing world. He’s unwavering. He doesn’t falter under Supreme Court decisions or the cries of a mob. He “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

And where is Jesus? He’s where He said He would be: Wherever two or more are gathered in His name. He’s in the sacraments: Baptism and The Lord’s Supper. And where are the Sacraments? They’re in that ancient, unchanging place of stability—His church. Every Sunday.

It’s Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper.
It’s your Baptism and the assurance of salvation.
It’s still Jesus…for you.
And that will never change.

Grace German, a 17-year-old Lutheran farm girl who loves music, baking, and chai tea, is a member at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ida Grove, Iowa.

Jessica Jenson

What should young people know about the church? While the question is a broad one I hope that readers of any age can see these common themes: In church, we experience God physically on earth where He has promised to be. We gather as His redeemed and beloved people to hear with our own ears His Word in Scripture—the two-edged sword that brings us to humility and repentance with the Law and lifts us up again to new life, cleansed and comforted by the Gospel. We hear our sins delivered up and forgiven in Confession and Absolution. We touch, taste, and see the very Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed freely for us to feed our starving souls and give us life. We see precious children of all ages enter God’s Kingdom in the waters of Holy Baptism.

The church is not a building. It is not a social club made up for perfect people to display their talents or obedience once weekly. It is not the sum of a congregation’s music, a pastor’s talents, squabbling members, altar cloths, small group studies, mission opportunities, or size. The church is Heaven on earth—where the eternal God comes down to meet us in Word and Sacrament.

The church is a family, comprised of all those adopted by God and made His heirs through Christ’s sacrifice. Its members reflect the light of God like mirrors in the darkness. It is a community—a house of living stones. Within it, we, as imperfect living stones, can support and uplift each other only because we rest on Christ, the perfect cornerstone. Whether you find yourself far from your home congregation, in a small town, or in a big city, the church remains constant. You can find the church by these marks: the Word spoken and taught in its truth and purity and the Holy Sacraments of Communion and Baptism. You can find true comfort in this reality about the church, no matter what your age.

Jessica Jenson is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Marcus, Iowa and is a graduate of Concordia University Chicago’s deaconess program.

Rev. Christopher Raffa

High school and college is an awkward time, even as it is joyously blissful. Largely, you live life in the moment, trying to put the past behind you and wonder about what the future holds. With the advent of social media, you are instantly intertwined with a host of relationships, yet you can often feel quite small and alone. There is so much to see and experience and so little time to ponder and digest it all.

The church often takes a backseat to your fast-paced life. Often what you want are soundbites, text messages that condense difficult and tough subjects into a small number of characters and expressive emojis. Conditioned by your culture you want to be entertained not taught, inspired not instructed, driven by the inward heart rather than the external Word of God. And you are sure of one thing: The church isn’t perfect and she is full of a bunch of hypocrites. And you know what? Your right.

One of the most important things you need to know is that the church, the bride of Christ, is a sinner. She is not without immorality and error. She is not without hate and hardness of heart. She is not without deception and death. She appears before your eyes and the world as forsaken, small, afflicted with all sorts of divisions. In the words of Martin Luther, “there is no sinner as great as the Christian church.” She is broken. And she doesn’t hide this. She herself confesses her sinfulness before her bridegroom as she earnestly prays for the forgiveness of all her sins.

At the same time, you need to know that the bride of Christ in all her sins, warts and warfare, is forgiven in the Bridegroom’s blood. In His Word, in His speaking to her, she is beautiful. She is holy when she abides in His Word. She is beautiful in Christ—not beautiful in the self-wrought works of her hands. Her holiness and beauty is a gift, wedded to her slain yet risen Bridegroom.

Sin doesn’t define her in the same way as holiness defines her. For while sin wracks her, what truly defines her is not her own word, but the Word of her beloved Bridegroom. The world wants you to believe that the church’s reality and life are defined by her works and deeds. But her reality and life are defined by the works and deeds of her Christ.

To believe this, you must accept that she is sinful yet holy is the struggle of faith, and that although there is a tension between what your eyes see and what your lips confess, holiness shall prevail for she is precisely beautiful in the Word of her bridegroom. Her holiness and beauty does not rest in herself or in her members, but solely in the holiness and righteousness of Christ. As Luther declared in his Galatians commentary, “If I look at my own person or at that of my neighbor, the church will never be holy. But if I look at Christ, who is the Propitiator and Cleanser of the church, then it is completely holy; for he bore the sins of the entire world.”

Broken yet beautiful, that is the church. The beauty of the church rests in its willingness to confess its brokenness—to embrace sinners and to serve them with its blessings and gifts. The church, you should know, is at its best when it lives among sinners, for Christ only dwells in sinners. The church, you should know, is not a place of spiritual perfection but is an infirmary for the sinner who desires the forgiveness of sins.

The beauty of the bride of Christ must always be understood as a gift given to her and a promise spoken to her. It’s never a matter of her doing, but always a matter of her receiving the gifts of her Bridegroom in penitential humility. You must also know that this beauty of the bride of Christ is always hidden in the world. It lies beneath and in the cross. You won’t see it but you will confess it. “I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”

Growing up is awkward, difficult and hard. And here is something you should never forget: The broken yet beautiful bride always beckons you to bring your habitat as young people to the table of Holy Scripture, to her Bridegroom’s external Word of God. She wants you to bring your nerdy and explicit playlists of music, your sappy novels that induce all sorts of daydreaming, your fantasies of your future life and your regrets of your past life. She wants you to bring your flesh in all its quirkiness and shatteredness, and sit under the Word of her Bridegroom as you wrestle with questions of truth and faith, love and loss, identity and death, the world you live in and the eternal world that is yours by the gift of baptism and of holy supper.

As you grow up in this crazy and constantly moving world, you should know her doors are always open to you, and when you walk through them you will always find rest and peace for your body and soul. No matter how boring you think this churchly world is here, no matter how uncool or out of touch, it stands open with an ocean of forgiveness grace and mercy. Her hold on you as sons and daughters is not so much a matter of the Law as it is the gentle hand of the Gospel.

There is nothing more beautiful to the Bridegroom when His sons and daughters come broken, so that He can declare them as beautiful. The testament of Bridegroom’s hold on you is that He has baptized you to be a beautiful bride, fed and nourished unto death and into the eternal light of His heavenly country. This what you should know, that the bride of Christ, stands here broken—holding the doors open to broken ones, only to be declared beautiful in the pew and at the altar rail.

Rev. Christopher Raffa is Associate Pastor of Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Bend, Wisconsin. You can email him at revcraffa@att.net.

Dr. Jack Kilcrease

When talking with various Christians about how they define the church, one is often surprised by the wide variety of answers. For example, Roman Catholics believe that the church is primarily an institution headed by the Pope. As an institution, is has a vast set of rules and regulations compiled in a book called the Code of Canon Law. Similarly, Reformed and Baptist Christians often speak of the church as a community of people who have agreed to join themselves together in order to hold one another accountable to the law of God.

On the surface these answers may seem very different. Nevertheless, what these views of the church all have in common is that they understand it to be a community held together by certain regulations. By contrast, when Luther and subsequent Lutheran Christians talk about the church, they primarily speak of the church as the holy people of God who have faith in Christ. The holiness which the church possesses is not based on human works, but on the holiness that Christ shares with the church through Word and Sacrament.

Because the holiness of the Church is not its own but comes from Christ through faith, the church is primarily invisible. To be clear, the church is not invisible sense that we cannot see the people of God. Rather, the church is hidden in the sense that we cannot directly observe its holiness. Since the holiness the church possesses is received by faith and not by works, it cannot be seen. We cannot look into each other’s hearts and minds and see our faith. If the church’s holiness were based on its works of holiness, then it would be visible, since one can see works. This is why the alternative views of the church referred to earlier see church as at least partially visible as an institution or a community of accountability.

Although the holiness of believers is invisible because it is received by faith, Lutheran Christians still believe that there is a way to discover where the church is. In one of Luther’s later writings, “On the Councils and the Church” (1539), the Reformer claimed that there were essentially seven marks by which one could discern the church. The first four marks of the church (the Word of God, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Office of the Keys) are all instruments through which Christ gives His holiness to the church. Luther shows that God is faithful to His Word, and if He has promised to give people His holiness through these means, the presence of the Word and the sacraments are an absolutely clear sign that Christian people are gathered together as the church.

The last three marks of the church are the effects of the presence of Christ’s holiness in the church. The fifth mark of the church is the ordination of ministers. Ministers are necessary in order preach the Word and administer the sacraments. Through the first four marks of the Church, God works on the hearts and minds of His people so that they empowered to call true ministers of the Word. In the same ways, the last two marks of the Church are the fruits of becoming a holy person by faith. People who have faith call upon God in prayer and praise because of the gratitude they feel at having received holiness (sixth mark). People who have faith suffer rejection from the world, and therefore, like Jesus, bear the cross (seventh mark).

From this description of the church and its marks, it should be clear that the church is very different from any other human community. All other communities are based on rules that people agree to obey and which are enforced. This is the glue that holds the community together. The church is not like this though. Although Christians seek to be obedient to God and His law, their obedience is not the glue that holds the church together. Rather, the church is held together by the presence of the risen Jesus, who, through Word and Sacrament, binds the people of God into a fellowship of holiness and grace.

Dr. Jack Kilcrease is Adjunct Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Institute of Lutheran Theology, Fellow at Wittenberg Institute, and Adjunct Philosophy Professor at Aquinas College.

Rev. Michael Diener

I have a cross that was given to me on my ordination day. The cross was a gift from my father. It is something that I greatly treasure. One of the reasons I treasure it so much is that it was first a gift given to my father by my grandfather on his ordination day. Maybe one day I’ll have the honor of giving it to my son. What makes that cross valuable to me is not because of the gold it’s made of or its intricacies—it’s that it is something that has been passed down from generation to generation.

A far greater treasure has been passed down over the ages. It is the church. I want young people and future generations to know and value this precious gift. It is the gift of the church that equips us to face the daily assaults of the devil and our sinful nature.

What gives the church a value that exceeds the most precious of treasures? In one word, the answer is Christ! The church is a haven for sinners where Christ bestows His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Through the church, sinners are baptized into Christ and covered with the robe of His righteousness. Through the church, the very Body and Blood are given so that the people of God can taste and see the forgiveness won for them by Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice. The church is where the forgiveness of sins is freely proclaimed to the repentant.

Martin Luther wrote, “If you knew how many fiery darts the devil was shooting at you, you’d run to the Sacrament of the Altar every chance you got!” It is my prayer that the generations to come would know and cling to the treasure that is the Church—in other words, to Christ—and that by doing so they would rejoice in the priceless gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation!

Rev. Michael Diener serves as pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Holts Summit, Missouri.

Rev. Harrison Goodman

The goal of the church is not to see how many people we can write into hell.

The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. If the Lord has no pleasure in someone going to hell, His church doesn’t either. To those of you inside our walls, breathe. Relax. The gate is narrow enough already. It doesn’t need to be slimmed down by you making lists of people who make you uncomfortable by sinning too much.

The Lord wants the wicked to turn from their ways and live. It’s called repentance, but repentance is not about what you’re turning away from. Repentance is about what you’re turning toward. The Lord calls us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Christians are those gathered around Jesus, who saves us sinners by His death upon a cross, paying the price in blood for each and every sin of each and every person.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Your salvation isn’t founded on your behavior. It’s founded on Jesus who died on the cross. Jesus got you here, so you have nothing to brag about. The grace that saved you is the free gift given to all the world. Whatever we would boast in is also given to those we would look down our noses at, cast aside, and condemn. Jesus founded His church to deliver His mercy to the world, not to condemn it. The church is for sinners.

To those of you outside of the church, please know that the goal of Christianity isn’t to find reasons we’re better than you. The goal of the church is to grant pardon for guilt and peace for shame. Christianity is Jesus. He gathers sinners and forgives them. A church full of sinners is messy and it’s hypocritical. We all fall short of the glory of God. We’re all just here for mercy. The church hands out mercy, which is why the church doesn’t change—it doesn’t need to. Jesus still saves. He gives real gifts here. Forgiveness. Peace. Baptism. Salvation. Hope. Love. The church is measured in the forgiveness given to sinners over and over again. I promise there’s room for you.

Rev. Harrison Goodman serves as pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Carroll, Nebraska.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard

I only remember one sermon from my youth. Not that my pastors were bad preachers—they were pretty good, actually—but there’s only one I really remember. It was based on Psalm 25:7. “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!” Remember not the sins of my youth.

It’s something you can say at any phase of life. When you’re a teenager you can look back at all the dumb stuff you did as a kid. As a young adult you can look back at your teenage years and be ashamed of the things you were capable of. When you start progressing through middle age you see a whole pile of increasingly sophisticated sins building up. Remember not the sins of my youth! Then you get to the point when the end of your life is closer than its beginning. You look back over the incredibly foolish things you did in your 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s. Remember not the sins of my youth.

Many things change as you get older. One thing that doesn’t change is your capacity for sin—sin in ways you’d never expect yourself to be capable of. Chances are good that your worst sin may still lie ahead of you. But the prayer of Psalm 25 remains constant. Remember not the sins of my youth!

If there’s one thing you should know about the church it’s that in every phase of your life you will fail—sometimes miserably. But in every phase of life, the church is your place where those sins and failures a remembered no longer. The church is the destination for sinners. There is where you will find the steadfast love of the Lord that remembers only the obedience of Jesus. There God’s goodness is freely distributed, regardless of age. And when it comes to your worst sin and your biggest failure, they will soon become sins of your youth. Remember not the sins of my youth!

Pastor Jacob Ehrhard serves as pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, New Haven, MO.

Bethany Woelmer

Okay, let’s be real here. We’ve heard it all before: “Follow your heart.” It’s the typical cliché kind of answer that gives us a spark of hope that only lasts for a little while until reality hits us hard again. Life changes like the wind blowing in many directions. We call ourselves “hopeless wanderers” because of the ever-searching quest for meaning and truth within the barren wasteland in which we live. This world is a mess, and we live in the thick of brokenness within families and friendships, lies and deceptions, fear and anger, murder, abuse, death, arrogance…the list goes on and on. Our hearts ask, “Where can we find a sense of belonging, a place of true happiness, a place of life and contentment?”

Being a part of the church is more than just merely finding a sense of belonging—it’s finding the right place in which we belong, that is, beneath the Cross, receiving Christ’s blessings of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Being a part of the church is more than just feeling happy—it’s finding that happiness in Christ, where our true joy is found in the resurrection. Being a part of the church is more than just feeling alive and content—it is the very life itself in Christ as it finds contentment and peace within a world of suffering. Because of Christ we need not follow our own hearts. He gave us Himself, so that we can live according to His promises and receive those constant gifts of grace that flow from the cross to us.

Having been a Christian my entire life, I find I am still learning about being in the church every single day because of the forgiveness of sins. That is never cliché nor will it ever be, because the heart that I follow by faith is the heart that has been beating since eternity. It is real. This heart—this Gospel runs through the veins of the church, the Body of Christ, whose members live within God’s grace and according to their vocations. It is the heart of salvation from which our good works flow and from which we find meaning in our lives here on earth and one day in eternity.

How does this apply to the church now? The church is as it always has been. Yes, the world changes. Yes, our sinful hearts continue to drive us in certain directions. Yes, we still suffer. Yet within the church we live and breathe the people by which God uses to give us His grace. Within the church His means of grace—in simple forms of water, bread, and wine—actually give life. Within the Church flows forgiveness of sins from the words of the people around us as we spread God’s love to one another, supporting each other in the one true faith as our shared confession. The world says, “Follow your heart,” but the church says, “Our hearts are already secure in Christ. He is the life-source from which our faith flows and clings to. We need not worry, for we have everything in Christ and a joy that surpasses all human understanding and desires this world could ever hope for or imagine.” This is church, living and breathing Jesus Himself—better than any other person, place, or thing in this world to which our hearts might be drawn.

Bethany Woelmer is a member of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kansas, and a graduate student at the University of Kansas in the Master’s of Church Music program.