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 the Smalcald Articles. We are providing hard copies of the Book of Concord for free, as well as copies of the Lutheran Service Book.
We will open class with Psalm 116 and our catechism lesson will be on the Second Part on Holy Baptism. We will then read Part III Article XIII: How One Is Justified Before God and Does Good Works. We will touch on Justification again and discuss where Good Works truly come from. We will close this section by singing the hymn “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” (LSB 556).
We will go on and read Part III Article XIV: Monastic Vows. We will discuss the futility and evil of monastic vows. We will also discuss how these vows merit nothing before God and are purely a blasphemous human notion. We will then sing the hymn “I Bind Unto Myself Today” (LSB 604).
We will close our study on the Smalcald Articles by reading Part III Article XV: Human Traditions. We will discuss the proper role of tradition and how tradition cannot save us. Only Christ can save. We will also take a look at the subscriptions to the Smalcald Articles. We will close with the hymn “One Thing’s Needful” (LSB 536).
Next week we will start a brief two week study on the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. 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.
