the seventh sunday of easter …

the smallCatechism, preface
Church rises and falls with gospel proclaimed!

It’s summer, 1528. It’s been a little over ten years since the reformation began. The early conflicts, over and done. The Ninety-five. The Diet at Worms. The Wartburg. By now, change has become a routine. And for the moment, the church – the new church, the reformed church, the evangelical church – has a chance to look around. To evaluate how the gospel is taking root. So, a visitation of the congregations in the electorate was in order. And it didn’t go well. Some preachers were doctrinally sound. They understood the gospel. Taught it. Preached it. And the people benefitted. But others? Well, not so much.

In response, Luther preaches a series of sermons that, eventually, evolves into the smallCatechism. And for somewhere around a decade now, on fifth Sundays of the month, we’ve focused our attention on a bit, a piece, of that booklet. It’s been one of the ways we, too, have gotten back to the basics. TenCommandments. Creed. Lord’sPrayer. Sacraments – holyBaptism, holyCommunion, confessionForgiveness. But this morning, rather than diving into nuts and bolts, I want us to look, again, at the preface, the preamble, that Luther writes, just after that Visitation …

Martin Luther, to all faithful and godly pastors and preachers:
Grace, mercy, and peace be yours in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So far, so good! But that’s about to change …

The deplorable, miserable conditions which I recently observed when visiting the parishes have constrained and pressed me to put this catechism of Christian doctrine into this brief, plain, and simple form. How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw: the common man, especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine, and many of the pastors are almost entirely incompetent and unable to teach.

There’s more – a lot more – but you get the point. Luther was never one to mince words. Never pulled punches. And he was not a happy camper.

Truth is, the results of that Visitation sound a lot like the poll of American Lutherans underwritten by lutheranBrotherhood, back in the mid-90s. You might remember. I’ve mentioned it, a time or two before. It’s the one that showed the overwhelming majority of Lutherans in the U.S. and Canada – although active and involved – disagree with or don’t understand the most basic teaching of the church. Let me repeat that. The overwhelming majority – four-out-of-every-five – of Lutherans here in the U.S. and Canada – although active and involved – disagree with or don’t understand the most basic teaching of the church. The overwhelming majority. “The common man,” Luther writes in the preface, “especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine.” And we wonder where our children went. Why they went They and our grandchildren, our great grandchildren. “How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw,” Luther writes. “Dear God, what misery I beheld!”

But it’s interesting. In these and in the fifteen-hundred-or-so words that follow, Luther doesn’t blame the people in the pews! He doesn’t hold them accountable! He never says, “It’s your fault!” He never accuses them of being uncommitted, lazy. Lukewarm. Halfhearted. He doesn’t tell them – tell you – to prayer more or sing more or read the bible. Instead, he turns and he faces people like me. The pastors. The preachers. And he says, “This is on you!” He walks to the pulpit says, “The buck stops here!”

You see, the thing I overlooked – actually, the thing I misunderstood, all these years – is that the smallCatechism wasn’t written for parents. And it wasn’t written for ‘tweens. It was written for pastors! For pastors and preachers! In fact, that’s the complete title! The Small Catechism for Ordinary Pastor and Preachers! The problem in the church – as the good doctor sees it – isn’t that god’s people got it wrong. It’s that the pastors and preachers weren’t getting it right! Or at least, right enough! They weren’t doing – weren’t able to do – what they were called, ordained, to do. And that is proclaim the gospel! Proclaim goodNews! Teach it! Preach it!

In the mercy of almighty God,
Jesus Christ was given to die for us and for his sake god forgives us all …

By charity! For Christ’s sake! Through faith! That’s the only reason the church has pastors! That’s the only reason they preach! To announce … to declare … to proclaim … goodNews! THAT goodNews! Over and over! Again and again! Week after week after week! And that goodNews – that gospel – does the rest! Creating and recreating! Shaping and reshaping! Forming and reforming! Calling! Gathering! Enlightening! Making holy! And in the reformers eyes, if there’s a problem … if things aren’t working out the way they should … the way we think they should … well, maybe it’s not you! Maybe it’s me! Us!

The mouth-house! That’s what Luther called the church! This is where people are called to speak! And this is where people are called to listen! Article VII of the Augsburg Confession describes church as “the assembly of all believers among whom the gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are administered accordingly!” Church is “the assembly of all believers among whom the gospel is purely preached and the holySacraments are administered according to the gospel!” But if the gospel is preached impurely … If the gospel is proclaimed imperfectly … If the gospel is proclaimed incompletely … maybe it’s not you! What’s proclaimed – rightly or wrongly – we become! What we hear makes us who, makes us what, we are! “Dear God! Dear God, what misery I beheld!”

It’s the words, that matter! What we speak! What we hear! We are an evangelical church. A church anchored, rooted, in the gospel, in the goodNews! And that gospel, that goodNews, must be preached! Proclaimed! Loudly! Clearly! And as “purely” as possible! And when it is, where it is, things happen! Things like faith! And hope! And love! Especially love!

Sermons don’t have to move mountains. They don’t have to draw multitudes. All they have to do is preach the Word of god … “In the mercy – in the grace – of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die! For us! For all!” And that message … that message, my friends … does the rest!


Midland Lutheran Church
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