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.
Don’t be afraid to read the Bible. God has set forth His Law and His Gospel in the plainest terms.
Faith is only as good as its object. This is the danger of misunderstanding Sola Fide.
The heart of the Lutheran Church’s beliefs is the doctrine of justification, the teaching of how we are declared righteous in God’s sight.
I thank you, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You.
A composer can never escape his own style, and this is true even of amateur composers such as Martin Luther. Embracing the musical arts in both his schooling and his cloistered life, Luther became a proficient instrumentalist on the lute and the transverse flute.
One of Luther’s earliest compositions was “From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee,” a paraphrase of Psalm 130 (Aus tiefer Not schrei’ ich zu dir, LSB 607). He wrote this hymn in 1523, around the time that he was revising the Latin Mass.
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod recommends using these Bible Stewardship Principles in guiding education and appeal efforts in Synod congregations, entities, agencies and auxiliaries.
While it may be difficult to finalize and stop selecting hymns for your season, perhaps a place to start is with Martin Luther’s Christmas gem, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” (LSB 358).
Authors Cheryl Swope and Rachel Whiting address home education in the context of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
Through Nagel, his students learned of Christ and the innumerable gifts He gives. This book of scholarly essays allows others to learn from the professor as well.
In “My Night of Living Homeless,” the Rev. Steve Schave, the LCMS director of Urban & Inner-City Mission, narrates his firsthand experience of living among a group of inner-city homeless people in Cincinnati.
Otto C. Hintze Jr.’s stunning personal account of the Holy Spirit at work among Papua New Guinea’s Enga people paints a vivid picture of the challenges Lutheran missionary families faced/