October Chimes
Dear siblings in Christ,
What do you remember from your confirmation classes? Maybe you still have parts of Luther’s Small Catechism memorized. Maybe you’ve forgotten the catechism but still remember the friendships you made. Maybe you didn’t grow up in a Lutheran church and don’t have any idea what I’m talking about!
Lutherans have often put a lot of emphasis on confirmation. It’s an important rite of passage for our young people as they’re growing and an important time of learning and faith formation. It’s good to treat confirmation as a big deal and to celebrate when our youth affirm their baptisms at the end of two years of classes. What a big accomplishment for them!
But sometimes, in our focus on rite, we don’t emphasize enough that faith formation is something on-going, it’s not something that you ever graduate from. And confirmation, which is focused particularly on Lutheran theology and teaching, shouldn’t be the last or only place to learn about these things.
It can be tough as adults, though, as sometimes we feel like “I should have learned this when I was younger,” or “everyone else understands this stuff except for me.” Believe me, both of those statements are absolutely untrue! But when we don’t share our questions or acknowledge the things we don’t know or don’t remember, it can feel like those are true statements.
We’re going to be spending the month of October doing a sermon series on Lutheranism 101. Our sermons will focus on some of the most important parts of Lutheran theology, sharing these big topics in an accessible way and connecting these thoughts from the 1500s to our life today.
I’m excited for this chance to dig deeper into this with all of you and hope that you’ll join us, whether in person or on our livestream. Here are the topics we’ll be discussing:
October 1: Justification by Faith
October 8: Law and Gospel
October 15: Vocation
October 22: Theology of the Cross
October 29: Sacraments and the Church
Blessings and peace to you all,
Pastor Laura