The Reformation was birthed by adults, but it is preserved by children. For centuries, pastors and parents have been preaching a holy heritage into the ears of the young, clearly confessing a salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Luther’s emphasis on heeding the call to love and patience is insistent in these sermons. It even impacts that essential distinction between the “musts” and the “free.” Luther can see that even in the things which are “musts” and are matters of necessity, such as believing in Christ, love nevertheless never uses force or undue constraint.
The Gospel reading for Invocavit is Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. While Luther never explicitly refers to the text, he warns his hearers of succumbing to the devil’s temptations when they neglect the Word of God.
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.