Catechesis Notes for the Week— Children of God and the Hallowing of God’s Name—The Lord’s Prayer sets forth for us the holy life of faith in Christ. Our lives are sanctified by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. Prayer is the voice of faith that rests upon the promises of God’s Word. Like dear children, we call upon God for all our needs, rely upon His promises, and follow Jesus in the life of love we live for others. The Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer is a confession of our status as baptized children. God is our dear Father and we are His dear children. This gives us access to our Father in heaven and boldness to cry out to Him in every time of need through our Savior Jesus Christ. Through Jesus’ blood and merit we have access to God. The most important person in the plural pronoun, “Our Father” is Jesus Christ, our Savior. Our prayers are heard for Jesus’ sake and we live in the confidence that we are joint heirs with Christ of all the treasures of heaven. God’s name is kept holy by the faithful teaching of God’s Word and by lives that are lived according to God’s Word. This is what makes the Christian life holy. God’s Word is received, believed, and lived out in the lives of His children. So in the First Petition we pray that God’s Word would be faithfully taught, and that we would live our lives according to it. Observe the wonderful symmetry of the Lord’s Prayer. By God’s name—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—given us in baptism His name is hallowed and we begin to live as Jesus’ disciples.
Congregation at Prayer
Catechism: The Creed—Third Article
November 9, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)Catechesis Notes for Week—The Third Article of the Creed — How Do We Receive the Holy Spirit — When Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter evening, He said to them, “Peace to You! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you … Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20: 21-23, NKJV). These words teach us much about “how” we receive the Holy Spirit. We receive the Holy Spirit through our Savior’s Word of forgiveness. There is an inseparable linkage between our Savior’s words and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is “the Lord and giver of life.” He calls us to faith in Christ. He creates a new will in our hearts that desires to love God and serve the neighbor. He produces in us the good works of love that flow from faith. He brings forth in us the “fruit of the Spirit”— love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He brings to us everything that Jesus has done for us. By the Holy Spirit, Jesus Himself actually dwells in our hearts by faith. The Holy Spirit does all this by the Word of our Savior. Christians need to know where the Holy Spirit promises to be found: in the reception of the Word of Christ. Therefore, we seek the Spirit in the very promises of our Baptism, in the ongoing preaching of the Gospel, in faithful catechesis of the Word of Christ, in the life of repentance and faith that confesses sin and receives the absolution. Even the Lord’s Supper carries the promise of the Holy Spirit because Jesus’ word, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” is at the center of the Sacrament. When we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are praying for the Holy Spirit to come to us and work in us where He promises to be found: in Christ’s Word—in all the wonderful ways Jesus’ word of forgiveness comes to us.
Catechism: The Creed — Third Article
November 2, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| Catechesis Notes for Week—The Third Article of the Creed — “Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ or believe in him and take him as our Lord, unless these were first offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit. The work is finished and completed; Christ has acquired and won the treasure for us by his sufferings, death, and resurrection, etc. But if the work had remained hidden and no one knew of it, it would have been all in vain, all lost. In order that this treasure might not be buried but put to use and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit to offer and apply to us this treasure of salvation. Therefore to sanctify is nothing else than to bring us to the Lord Christ to receive this blessing, which we could not obtain by ourselves … Further we believe that in this Christian church we have the forgiveness of sins, which is granted through the holy sacraments and absolution as well as through all the comforting words of the entire Gospel. Toward forgiveness is directed everything that is to be preached concerning the sacraments and, in short, the entire Gospel and all the duties of Christianity. Forgiveness is needed constantly, for although God’s grace has been won by Christ, and holiness has been wrought by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word in the unity of the Christian church, yet because we are encumbered with our flesh we are never without sin.”— The Large Catechism, Third Article |
Catechism: The Creed—Second Article
October 26, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| Catechesis Notes for Week— The Second Article—God’s Unfathomable Goodness and Love— Reformation week celebrates the freedom of conscience that comes to us when our Lord justifies us, declaring us righteous for Jesus’ sake. Meditation upon the Second Article and the justification of the sinner before God by grace through faith is a fitting exercise for this week. On the Second Article, Luther writes, “When we had been created by God the Father and had received from Him all kinds of good, the devil came and led us into disobedience, sin, death, and all evil. So we fell under God’s wrath and displeasure and were doomed to eternal damnation, just as we had merited and deserved. There was no counsel, help, or comfort until this only and eternal Son of God—in His immeasurable goodness—had compassion upon our misery and wretchedness. He came from heaven to help us. So those tyrants and jailers are all expelled now. In their place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation. He has delivered us poor, lost people from hell’s jaws, has won us, has made us free, and has brought us again into the Father’s favor and grace. He has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection so that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.” (Large Catechism) |
Catechism: The Creed—Second Article
October 19, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| Catechesis Notes for Week— The Second Article of the Creed —Redemption is the theme of the Second Article. It is a word that indicates that we have been “purchased and won” by Christ from Satan who had been our lord and taskmaster. Satan held sinful man and each one of us in his clutches. His power over us was the Law through sin. Because of our sinful rebellion he was able to lay claim to us and hold us under the Law’s condemnation. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, the condemnation of hell, and the power of Satan, by becoming a curse for us under the Law and pouring out His life-blood into death for us. This is how He, as the Seed of the Woman, would “bruise” or “crush” the devil’s headship and authority over man, according to the first promise of the Gospel in Genesis 3:15. “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed [Satan] and her Seed; He [the woman’s Seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary] shall bruise your head [Satan’s power to condemn us] and you [Satan] shall bruise His heel. Christ was “bruised” upon the cross as He trampled Satan underfoot through His suffering and death. Now we have freedom from Satan’s tyranny through faith in Christ. This week’s Bible verse teaches us the wonderful doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God—the eternal Word of the Father. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Christ’s glory is beheld in His willingness to “tabernacle among us” in human flesh, just like ours, and to suffer on our behalf for our salvation. |
Catechism: The Creed—First Article
October 12, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| Catechesis Notes for Week—The First Article of the Creed — “All that I am and all that I have comes from God. Apart from Him I am and have nothing.” These assertions are central to the Christian teaching concerning God. They declare that we, and all of creation, are completely dependent upon Him. Even when we abuse the life and gifts that He has given, we do so by His power in us. This is what makes such evil all the more blasphemous! Martin Luther’s Creedal Hymn confesses both our dependence upon God and His love for us that motivates Him to create, provide, protect, and defend us. “We all believe in one true God, who created earth and heaven. The Father who to us in love has the right of children given. He in soul and body feeds us; All we need His hand provides us; Through all snares and perils leads us, Watching that no harm betide us. He cares for us by day and night; All things are governed by His might.” The Catechism helps us to understand that what He has made and given is ALWAYS good, even if our sinful human reason might not think so and might even rebel against such gifts. There is great freedom in the gift of faith that accepts the truths of the First Article. All Christians—the deaf, the blind, and the lame—still confess that God has made them, including their “eyes, ears, and all their members,” even if they don’t work the way they want them to work. God’s created gifts are given AS THEY ARE, that we might learn to trust in Him through these gifts, extolling Him alone as God and relying upon His grace in our weakness. |
Catechism: The Creed—First Article
October 5, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| The First Article of the Creed and the Historical Account of Creation in Genesis — The Bible verse for this week teaches us that all of creation came into existence by the Word of God and that apart from God’s Word nothing exists. The stories of the creation of the heavens and the earth move quickly to the creation of man as the crown of God’s creation and the object of God’s greatest affection and love. Though man squandered God’s free gifts in the creation, God did not abandon His affection and love for us. The story of man’s fall into sin is quickly followed by God’s first promise of salvation from the devil and the condemnation that this fall brought upon us. This promise is contained in God’s Word to the devil: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” The “Seed of the Woman” is the Virgin-born Son of God who crushed the devil’s claim upon man when His heel was bruised in His suffering and death upon the cross. This promise of salvation is also accompanied by God’s curse of the fall. The curse of the fall was necessary in order that sinful man might come to believe in his need for God. The curse of the fall gives the preaching of the Law its teeth. The Law preaches repentance—revealing the sin and rebellion from which we need God’s salvation—and the experience of the curse of the fall teaches us that the problem of sin is real and has separated us from God. It is in this context of the Law’s preaching and the experience of our fallen condition that the Gospel enters in to bring forgiveness and comfort, and to raise us up to the new life of faith. By faith in Christ and the promises of salvation through Him, we are enabled to bear up under the curse of the fall until we are delivered from all the suffering of our fallen condition on the last day in the resurrection of the dead. |
Catechism: Ten Commandments—Review and The Close of the Commandments
September 28, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| Catechesis Notes for the Week— Review of the Commandments and the Close of the Commandments — The first commandment is behind all the commandments, and all the commandments are interconnected in the demand to love God above all things. The threat of the Law to punish anyone who turns away from God is visited upon Jesus in His death upon the cross. He was punished for the sin of the fathers in fulfillment of the law. Therefore, there is grace and mercy for us sinners, because Jesus “loved and trusted in God and gladly did what God demanded.” He did this even to the point of suffering the punishment that we sinners deserved. Death and condemnation is the result of turning away from God, the source of all life. The tablets of the Law that were hurled at the Jews from Mount Sinai show how all our righteousness is crushed under the scrutiny of God’s commandments. This is necessary. If we do not feel the crushing blow of the Law, we cannot receive the righteousness of Christ. Christ bore the crushing blow of the Law’s condemnation in His death. He willingly took our place, like a scapegoat, and suffered all that we by our sins deserved. Why did He do this? His love and desire to save us and give us life is at the heart of all that He does for us, even when the Law is proclaimed that crushes our self-righteousness and pride. This week’s Bible verse teaches us that all the commandments are joined together so that it is impossible to break only one commandment and keep the rest. The “fear, love, and trust” demanded in the first commandment is the foundation for all the commandments. Salvation from sin is a free gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We receive this free gift by faith alone. Any attempts to attain righteousness by the Law are a denial of Christ’s sacrifice for us under the Law’s condemnation. |
Catechism: Ten Commandments — Ninth and Tenth Commandments
September 21, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)| Catechesis Notes for Week — The Ninth and Tenth Commandments—This week’s Bible Passage is the Lord’s call to: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” As we meditate upon the Ninth and Tenth Commandments this week, which forbid covetousness (the idolatrous desire of the heart), we are called to DESIRE and YEARN for Christ and His righteousness above all things. Jesus’ words are a call to faith in Him. It is as if He were saying, “I am your God and Savior! I have taken your sin and punishment upon Myself. I have died for you upon the cross. My blood cleanses you from all sin. I forgive you all your sin on account of My death for you. My righteousness covers you. I am the source of your life and salvation. If you have Me by faith, then you will have all things that you need because I have redeemed and saved you and I will never abandon you. All that you need I will surely give you.” “Therefore,” as Jesus’ words go on to say, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” The sin of covetousness arises out of the rebellious, unbelieving heart that does not believe that Jesus and His righteousness are sufficient to supply us with all that we need and that He, Himself, is the greatest joy and delight of our hearts. Therefore, covetousness is not merely the desiring of wrong things or good things that we shouldn’t have, but more importantly, it is the belief that Christ is not enough for us. This week’s Bible Stories highlight the themes of covetousness from the Ninth and Tenth Commandments. Covetousness is always selfish and mean-spirited. We see the devastating results of this idolatrous desire in Ahab who Covets Naboth’s Vineyard. The Fall of Man into Sin began with the covetous desire planted in our first parents by the Serpent who accused God of not loving us and of withholding good gifts from us. When Jesus calls us to confess Him and “Take Up Our Cross and Follow Him,” He is calling us to a life of repentance in which the covetous desires of the Old Adam are continually put to death through contrition, confession, and absolution, along with a life of prayer that clings to Christ and His grace for help. The Rich Young Ruler turns away from the only one who is really good, God’s only Son, in favor of clinging to the wealth and works of his own hands that can never really satisfy. The only thing any of us really lack is Christ and His righteousness, but the wonder of the Gospel is that the One whom we lack—the only Good One—actually gives Himself to us as a free gift of His grace that we might live in Him. |
Catechism: Ten Commandments — Seventh and Eighth Commandments
September 14, 2025
Download (Adobe PDF)Catechesis Notes for Week — The Seventh and Eighth Commandments—In the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal,” God wishes to protect His gift of property. Christians have a unique perspective on temporal goods. We are given our property that we might use it for the benefit of others. The Catechism declares that we are to help our neighbor “to improve and protect his possessions and income.” This is a concrete expression of love. In the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor,” God wishes to protect the gift of a good name and reputation. We are not only called to speak the truth in love to our neighbor and for our neighbor’s benefit, but we are also called to use our tongue to cover the sin and shame of others. We are called to “defend [our neighbor], speak well of him, and explain everything [about him] in the kindest way.” The Bible stories for the week highlight these two commandments. When Abram gave Lot the choice of the land, he demonstrated his faith in God’s promise to care for him according to the Gospel, and he lived in generous love toward his nephew Lot. When Zacchaeus was brought to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, the selfishness of his heart was transformed, and he restored all that he had stolen from others by repaying fourfold what he had taken. In the story of Zacchaeus, we see the power of the Gospel of God’s generous love in Christ transforming a sinner’s heart. When Jesus instructs us to “Bless those who curse us,” He is articulating how faith in His undeserved forgiveness and love manifests itself in the way we speak about and pray for others. Mercy and undeserved lovingkindness seasons our speech. Ultimately, the Law of Love is only fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus prays for His enemies who had hated Him and nailed Him to the cross. Since Jesus’ speech was so seasoned with the sweet Gospel of God’s undeserved lovingkindness, how much more should we put the best construction on our neighbor’s actions and speak well of those who have sinned against us. This week’s verse is a portion of Jesus’ catechesis on the Eighth Commandment in which He instructs us that our speech should be governed by the truth of God’s Word; anything other than this is of the devil: “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”