Lutheran Essentials meets in the undercroft of the church on Wednesday evenings after the midweek Lenten service. You can reach the undercroft by going around to the back parking lot of the church and descending the staircase to the kitchen. Knock on the door if it is closed and some one will let you in. We are starting a new study this week is on The Smalcald Articles in the Book of Concord. If you do not have a copy of the Book of Concord we are providing them for free.
There is no psalm this week as we have a preceding midweek service. The Small Catechism lesson is the Third Part on Holy Baptism.
We will start off our study of the Smalcald Articles by reading the Editor’s Introduction to them in the Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord. This will cover the historical setting of what happened after the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, and the run up to the writing of the Smalcald Articles by Martin Luther. We will then start reading the articles with the Preface of Dr. Martin Luther. In the Preface Luther discusses his reason for writing these articles, the fact that he thinks he will die soon and so he wanted to have an accurate synopsis of his teachings, and his lack of faith that any council will be held to discuss the articles that he has written. We will close out this section by singing “Lord Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” (LSB 655)
As always new people are always welcome to this study at any point during the class. Please talk to the Pastor, Elders or Paul Edmon if you have any questions.
