October 2017 Newsletter Message

Toward the end of this month, Lutherans and many other Protestant Christians will join in remembering the 500th Anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses on October 31, 2017. In many of my recent articles, I’ve been sharing some unique pieces of our Lutheran heritage, and today is another in that series.

Since this month will be one so steeped in remembrance of Luther’s storied actions of that day in 1517, I have decided to focus this month’s article on the wonderful Lutheran theological tradition. Theology is an important word in the study of religion, and it’s a word that comes from two ancient Greek words: theos (God) and logos (word or message). Thus, whenever we talk about theology, we are referring to words or messages about God.

Theology is an inexhaustible field of study, as it is impossible to know absolutely everything about God, who is limitless and boundless. While no one can understand God completely, though, God does give gifts of the Holy Spirit to all who are baptized into Christ. As Jesus invites us into relationship with him in Holy Baptism, he also invites us to be attentive as God’s gracious work is revealed throughout our lives. We then tell others about our experiences of God--maybe formally at church or in writing, or maybe informally by processing life events with friends--and there you have it...we ourselves have produced theology!

We all experience God, and so it’s safe to say that theology isn’t just for professionals. However, the Lutheran branch of the Christian family has had more than our fair share of theological heavyweights. Of course, our tradition began with the foundational work of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. Martin Chemnitz came along in the next generation after them, helping to tie up a lot of loose ends in early Lutheran writings. Later years brought the brave writings of the Danish Lutheran Søren Kierkegaard, who has inspired many with his “leap to faith” concept. The upheaval of World War II was addressed by the likes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich, and the rich Lutheran theological tradition continues today with Martin Marty and two of my personal favorites, the Canadian Douglas John Hall and the German Ingolf Dalferth.

These are some noteworthy names, but one thing unites the work of all these folks: the desire to dig deeper into the amazing grace of God expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture. The mystery of how and why such a great God would be so generous to broken sinners has no doubt been compelling since the first generation of Christians, but Lutherans throughout the ages have been particularly attentive to this good news and have made it the true focus of our theology even when the prevailing culture has found other things to seem more interesting. I am very excited to engage this rich theological tradition with you this month in worship and our educational programming!

I leave you with a few highlights of our life together this month:

• Blessing of Animals - Sun., Oct. 1, 2pm @ Humane Society of Fulton County
  
• Church Directory Photo Sessions - Thurs., Oct 5 through Sat., Oct. 7
  
• Baptisms of Lola and Foster Brackett - Sun., Oct. 15
  
• Reformation Sunday Celebration - Sun., Oct. 29