Lutheran Essentials meets in the undercroft of the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. 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. You can also join us remotely via our livestream. Our current study is on “Ceremony and Celebration” by Paul H. D. Lang. We are handing out copies of the book for free as well as copies of the Book of Concord and the Lutheran Service Book.
We will open class with Psalm 122 and our catechism lesson will be on the First Commandment. We will then read Chapter III: The Lutheran Position on Ceremonial (pg. 15-23). We will look at several references in the Book of Concord that relate to ceremonial, illustrating that the Lutheran Reformation was a conservative one. We will then talk about adiaphora and how it relates to ceremonies and practices in the Church. We will discuss how uniformity in practice is valuable for the sake of confession and catechesis. After discussing these things we talk about how are to take a Gospel centered attitude with respect to rites and ceremonies. We will close with the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” (LSB 644).
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.
