I have completed my first week working through Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions. As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a very helpful reading guide in the front of the book that takes you on a 52 week reading schedule. I am using that along with my personal reading/devotional schedule so I can read through the Lutheran Confessions this year. One suggestion I have for the folks at CPH is that they would have a .pdf of this reading schedule available for those who have these materials, but not in their new edition of the Lutheran Confessions.

Quick side note – the quality of this book is amazing! Beautiful binding, Luther’s seal in embossed relief on the cover and crisp, easy to read pages. I can’t believe this book is less than $30! It has the presentation, binding and quality of a book closer to $75-$100. I’m not certain if they have a leather edition – as I plan on exercising this book daily, leather would be nice, as it would hold up to daily use/abuse much better. That said, I am very pleased with the excellence exercised in the production and publication of this book.

Here is a breakdown of my reading, after the cut:

• Monday – I loved Monday! I read through the three primary ecumenical creeds. The Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian. One question that I as I was reading was naming… What they had labeled in the book as the Nicene creed is actually the Constantinopolitan creed. The primary difference is that the council of Nicea ended the creed with, “and [we believe] in the Holy Spirit.” The Constantinopolitan creed corrects this brief treatment of the third person of the Trinity by expanding on what we believe about the Spirit.  It is always so refreshing to return to these creeds – I have found that one of the most difficult things to create is an adequate distillate of theology. These creeds are beautiful. They capture the truth of Scripture in a memorable and clear way. Are they inspired by God? No. But the men who created these creeds did so in the light of the Holy Scriptures, and the controversies of their time. They are comforting, instructional and give glory to God. Have you read a creed today?
• Tuesday – On Tuesday I read the preface to Luther’s Small Catechism. This was a fun read, and what he wrote to the pastors, bishops and elders of his day has the same power of application in our day. An excerpt: “Yet everyone says that they are Christians, have been baptized, and receive the holy Sacraments, even though they cannot even recite the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed or the Ten Commandments. They live like dumb brutes and irrational hogs. Now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all freedom like experts.” It is true, there is nothing new under the sun. Preach it, Martin!
• Wednesday – Here I had the opportunity to go through the first three parts of the Small Catechism. The Ten Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed and The Lord’s Prayer. Luther breaks them all into parts, and then gives a brief explanation of meaning. Simplistic, convicting and true. An excellent exercise. Lisa and I have recently decided to use a catechismal method of training our daughters about the fundamentals of faith. Luther’s work in his catechism is beautiful. As he stated in his introduction (see Tuesday), this will help them to have these truths imprinted in memory so that they will be able to use them in training and evangelizing others later in life. As I read through this, I can still recite the questions and answers in my mind before I read it on the page. It is effective!
• Thursday – Here is where things become more challenging for me. On Thursday, I read parts IV through VI on the Small Catechism. They are Baptism, Confession, and the Eucharist, respectively. I will create a separate blog entry for this topic, as I would like to give it a more complete treatment, and allow some of my Lutheran friends to challenge me, as my views are very different than what Martin Luther outlines in the catechism. To summarize here, I believe that all three of these things are extremely important in the life of the Christian. However, I take issue with the idea that baptism “works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this”, as Luther states. More on this later this week!
• Friday – Back to a peaceful, noncontroversial day of reading. On Friday I read instructions on how the head of the family should lead his family in prayer, as well as a table of duties taken directly from Scripture. The table of duties has sections of scripture for bishops, pastors and preachers, as well as scriptures for what the hearers owe to their pastors. Scripture for government, and their subjects. Scripture for husband and wives. Luther exhorts all of us to examine our lives and our duties through the lens of scripture. I walked away from that day of reading convicted that I far too often live my day through the lens of Sten, rather than the lens of God’s inspired revelation of His word.

So far, I am thoroughly enjoying my reading through the Lutheran Confessions. I pray that I would persevere, continue to challenge what I am reading as I allow it to challenge me while embracing the attitude of the Bereans – testing it all against the standard of Scripture.

Today was my first official day of class. It was interesting attending when I have yet to pay tuition or buy my textbooks, but I am confident God will provide in His time! As I have often said, God’s timing is perfect, but seldom convenient.

My first class this evening was Pastoral Ministries 103 (Preaching) with Dr. Kuruvilla. As can be expected, the first class was largely spent reviewing the syllabus for the weeks yet to come.That said, the class was still encouraging as we learned about some of Dr.Kuruvilla’s passions and what was ahead. I anticipate that this class will be a great time of discovering how God has gifted us as well as learning more about each other. The class size is intentionally kept small (12 students), so there is a great opportunity here to wrestle together through issues as a class, as well as learn from each other as we start to hone our preaching skills.

My second class was one I should have taken last year, but waited until this year so I would have the opportunity to sit under Dr. Hannah. The class is Church History – The Early Church to the Modern Era. That is a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time!

This class also began as a syllabus review, but as the class is nearly three hours long (!) we were able to dig into some of the meat tonight. Dr. Hannah approaches the subject of church history with the heart of a pastor. I was very encouraged tonight as he spoke. In particular, he spoke about how people often graduate from DTS feeling like an educated individual that is ignorant where it matters. He reminded us that our job is not to know the “How” or the “Why” questions. Those are questions that we will assuredly take with us to the grave. Our job is to know the answer to the “Who”question.

Comfort is not found in knowing all of the answers – comfort is found in the relationship we can have with the One who has all the answers…Comfort in life is not a “Why” question. It is a “Who” question.

There is such truth in that comment. When Lisa and I have been completely wiped out by our circumstances, absolutely despondent, we didn’t find any comfort with “why” or “how”. It is only through looking to Christ that we can possibly have any peace. He is our rock, no matter how violent the storm may be.

I can’t answer definitively the great theological questions, and I know that I never will – many minds far greater than mine have tried over the centuries.  But one thing I can do – and I pray I do boldly – is to point people to Christ. It is only through Him that we can find any answer that has any merit in this life, or the next!

I have no idea what God has planned for us when our time here at DTS is done. I have no idea how God is going to provide for us even in this next week. But I do have peace. It makes no sense, by my human reason…but I have no doubt that God is going to provide for us in a way that will make it clear to everyone that it was His doing. All glory belongs to Him, and none to me! I pray that I will live my life in such a way that I never steal His glory.

Tomorrow, the classes continue!