The grass is soft and unstirring, a soundless bed of sorrowful green. Etched on headstones in this old cemetery is “RIP,” an homage to the Latin phrase, “requiescat in pace.” In English, we use matching initials, chiseled in stone, to express the same sentiment: “rest in peace.” Words we write, speaking of the dead, each […]
John 8:31-36: Sweet is the Liberation Christ Gives
October 30, 2022 by
In fighting cadence, a magnificent military, an army, takes the field early on a summer day. The cavalry sat tall in their saddles, their regimental flags unfurling a rainbow of colors in the sky. Young men on foot stood prepared to advance. The officers’ swords, drawn and shining in the sun, lent an air of […]
Romans, Lesson 9: The Hope We Have in Christ
October 22, 2016 by
Paul showed the absurdity of turning what God originally did to bring someone into His Old Covenant into what people did for God. “If the adherents of the Law are to be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is nullified” (Romans 3:14). Someone is an heir because he inherits, not by what he does. […]
How We Got the New Testament
July 27, 2016 by
This is part two on the lesson in adult catechesis on how we got the Bible. Click here if you want to go to the Old-Testament Lesson. The Early Church We looked at how we got the Old Testament. The Church met in council to state which books were Scripture because three traditions had […]
Our Life with God, Lesson 6: Helping the Poor and Stewardship
May 7, 2016 by
We earlier looked at vocation—serving others in our everyday lives. For this to happen well, it requires managing what we have in a good way. Thus, a look into stewardship is proper. The Origins of Stewardship Genesis 1 tells us of God creating the world and everything in it. “The earth is the Lord’s, […]
Augsburg Confession, Articles 6-7
May 18, 2014 by
AC VI: New Obedience Our churches teach that this faith is bound to bring forth good fruits [Galatians 5:22-23] and that it should do good works commanded by God [Ephesians 2:10], because God so wills it. We should not, however, rely on those works to merit justification before God. For forgiveness of sins and justification […]
Augsburg Confession, Articles 4-5
May 3, 2014 by
Last week, we didn’t finish Article 4 as we discussed some related topics and chose to spend time on those. AC IV: Justification 1Our churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works. 2People are justified as a gift because of Christ, through faith, when they believe […]
Augsburg Confession, Articles 3-4
April 26, 2014 by
AC III: The Son of God 1Our churches teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God [John 1:14], assumed the human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary. 2And so He has two natures–divine and human–inseparably joined in the unity of one Person: one Christ, true God and true man, who […]
