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 115 and our catechism lesson will be on the First Part on Holy Baptism. We will then read Part III Article IX: Excommunication. We will discuss the necessity of Excommunication as the strictest preaching of the Law. We will also talk about the greater and lesser bans of excommunication. We will close this section by singing the hymn “‘As Surely as I Live,’ God Said” (LSB 614).
We will then read Part III Article X: Ordination and the Call. We will talk about how bishops and apostolic succession are not necessary for Ordination but rather that Ordination and Call belong to the Church. We will also discuss how the LCMS trains, calls, and ordains our pastors. We will sing the hymn “Send, O Lord, Your Holy Spirit” (LSB 681).
We will move on to read Part III Article XI: The Marriage of Priests. We will discuss the horrific abuse of enforced celibacy and all the evils it produces. We will then discuss why priests should be allowed to marry. We will then sing the hymn “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying” (LSB 516).
If we have time we will read Part III Article XII: The Church. We will discussion what the True Church is. We will also talk about the difference between the visible and invisible church. We will close with the hymn “Built on the Rock” (LSB 645).
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.
