On Invocavit Sunday (the First Sunday in Lent), 1522, Martin Luther began a series of eight short sermons in which he taught the people of Wittenberg how the reformation of the Church should be carried out.
To consider Christ’s glorious Transfiguration on its own is eye-opening; to hear how Luther describes this glory as yours nearly bursts the eyes from their sockets, bringing hope to the Christian heart.
The manual offers a step-by-step approach from forming a core group to becoming a fully established congregation in the LCMS.
Based on Psalm 45, the hymn quickly became extremely popular in Germany and was used for a variety of occasions. The tune is believed to be a reconstruction of “Jauchzet dem Herren, alle lande,” Psalm 100, included in Wolff Köphel’s Psalter (1538).
“Glory to God in the Highest” is the first Christmas carol. It was sung by the angels to the shepherds on the night when Jesus was born (Luke 2:14). But Christmas is not the only time that we sing “Glory to God in the Highest.”
Those who have read Luther’s public writings might have a certain perception of what they would expect his other works to look like. However, Luther was also a very prolific writer of private letters.
The uplifting expression of faith and joy at Christ’s second coming in “The Bridegroom Soon Will Call Us” (LSB 514) by Johann Walter and Michael Praetorius reminds us that there is meaningful history in so many of our great Lutheran hymns.
Simply put, the kingdom of the right is the Church, both in earth and heaven. In Luther’s On Temporal Authority, the reformer refers to this as “the kingdom of God.”
Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state.
Luther’s Reformation hymn, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” (LSB 655) is one of his best known compositions. When it was published in 1542, it appeared with the subtitle, “A Children’s Hymn, to be Sung Against the Two Archenemies of Christ and His Holy Church, the Pope and Turk.”[1]
Books are like buildings. Think of them as constructed with words and thoughts rather than with bricks and mortar.
Luther said, “The cross alone is our theology.” Another way to say this is Solus Christus, or “Christ alone” saves us.
In 1523 Martin Luther wrote his first hymn for congregational use, “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” (LSB 556). It appears as the first hymn in the first published collection of Lutheran hymns, Etlich Cristlich lider of 1523/24.
Our hymnal is a treasury of devotions. Although we mainly think of hymns in the context of corporate worship, they are also perfectly suited for devotional use in the home.
As the basis for “We All Believe in One True God,” Martin Luther used the first two lines of a single-stanza German medieval hymn first found with Latin and German words in 1417 and expanded it to three stanzas—individually paraphrasing each of the three articles of the creed.