Each Sunday, 9:00 am to 9:50 am. Coffee and and other “goodies” are waiting for you! We will continue to meet in the sanctuary while the classroom is being renovated!
December 18. Unit 13, the Eighth Commandment. The Relationship between Sacredness of Human Life and our Place in Society.
December 11. Unit 12, The Seventh Commandment. The Relationship between the Sacredness of Human Life and its need for material support, Work, and the Care of the Poor.
December 4. Unit 11 Continued. Today we provide a positive, constructive approach to Christian teaching regarding sex, marriage and procreation. The Sexual Revolution jettisoned Christianity’s strict teaching regarding marriage and chastity; here’s the greater god they jettisoned with it.
November 27. Unit 11, the Sixth Commandment. Obligations arising from the Procreation of Human Life.
November 20. Unit 10, the Fifth Commandment. Obligations arising from the Nature and Value of Human Life.
November 13. Unit 9, Fourth Commandment Wrap Up. We examined certain beliefs commonly held among Americans but which are quite contrary to the Christian Faith. Unfortunately, this class failed to record!
November 6. Continue Unit 9, the Fourth Commandment. A discussion of Cultural Authority in the lives of Christians and the challenge that presents.
October 30. Continue Unit 9, an Exploration of the Fourth Commandment, with special emphasis on the Lutheran Reformation as a conservative reformation of the Church.
October 23. Unit 8, The Second Table of the Law, and begin Unit 9, the Fourth Commandment.
October 16. Unit 7, The Third Commandment Respect for the God’s Word and the Holy Things of God. See below for the study sheets for units 5-7.
Thank you to Stephen Burns for taking over in my absence on September 25 and teaching an excellent class about the amazing backstories of some favorite hymns! Click here to watch!
Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study: The Christian Faith
Starting September 11, our Sunday Morning Adult Bible Class will begin an extended focus on the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. You could call it an adult catechism class, but it will not be quite that, exactly. Rather, you might think of this class as encompassing everything that I, as a pastor, would like every seasoned member of the congregation to know or at least to be acquainted with. There will be many tie-ins to Scripture, to the catechism, and to the various worship rites of the Church.
The course is subdivided into units, which should not be equated with classes. Some classes will cover several units, and some units will take several classes. They are logical units. Each unit has a “Class Sheet” meant to contain an outline of the topics to be covered as well as (a sometimes extensive) list of Scripture references. Sometimes there will also be references to the liturgies and to the catechism. The hope is that everyone will have read and thought about all the Scripture references in advance of class each Sunday. I won’t be calling on anyone, so you’re safe if you don’t, but I promise you you will be blessed if you do!
Below is a outline of all 62 units for your reference. Below that are the class sheets for the first major division in the course, the 21 units covering the Christian World View. Below that is a more bite-sized 4-page document with class sheets for the initial class. You can download and print these if you like, or just review them online. I will also be printing some myself and making them available to those who would prefer that. Although a lot of work has gone into this already, it remains a work in progress. Therefore, I might and likely will be making changes as we go. For that reason, if you are going to print anything our yourself, the sheets for the upcoming class are least likely to be changed.
Class Sheets for Units 8-10
Class Sheets for October 2 and 9 (Units 5-7):
Class Sheets for September 11 and 18 (Units 1-4):
Full Class Outline for “The Christian Faith”:
Video Archive of Previous Classes of The Christian Faith
To watch video of previous classes of The Christian Faith, click on the following links:
Units 1 and 2 (The Christian World View)
Units 3 and 4 (The Commandments and the First Commandment)
Unit 5 (The Remaining Commandments of the First Table, the Fear of the Lord)
Unit 6 (The Second Commandment, The Name of God)
Unit 7 (The Third Commandment, Understanding and Respecting Holiness)
Unit 8, and Begin Unit 9 (Second Table Summary, begin Fourth Commandment)
Unit 9 Continued (The Fourth Commandment, Cultural Authority, Religious Authority and the Lutheran Reformation)
Unit 10 (The Fifth Commandment, Obligations arising from the Sanctity of Life)
Unit 11 (The Sixth Commandment, Obligations arising from the the Procreation of Life)
Unit 11 Continued (The Sixth Commandment, a Positive Approach to the Sanctity of Sex, Marriage and Procreation)
Unit 12 (The Seventh Commandment, Obligations Arising from the Need For Material Support)
Unit 13 (The Eighth Commandment, Truth, Justice, Honor and the Well-Ordered Society)
Archived Classes:
Sunday, August 28: We continue looking at Hebrews. This time our focus is on the Thirteenth Chapter.
Sunday, August 21: By nature, human being do not do Christ-Like things, but that’s what God calls us to. To be more Christ-like, disciple–that is, training–is required. Partly what it means to be a Christian is to discipline ourselves, partly it means accepting the discipline of the Lord.
Sunday, August 14: We discuss current ideas about nationalism, and how nationalism, religion generally, and the Christian Faith relate. We also explore the expression “Christian Nationalism” and how that expression can mean anything from a harmless desire for Christians to vote in accordance with what they believe, to a highly problematic and unholy mixing of Christianity and temporal politics and patriotism.
Sunday, August 7: The Christian World View is a heritage we share with Jews and even with many unbelievers. Although it is not unique to Christianity, it forms the basic substructure, so to speak, for what is unique to the Christian faith: Trinity, Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection, Christ’s reign, His Return in Glory, and the like. To the extent that some say America is a “Christian” nation, this is often what is meant, that our founding assumed a Christian World View.
Sunday, July 31: To help us all prepare for worship, we examine the propers for today’s worship service in detail, looking at the readings from Ecclesiastes 1 and 2, Colossians 3, Luke 12 (the Parable of the Rich Fool), Psalm 49, as well as two hymns and the Collect for the Day.
Sunday, July 24: We discuss the benefits of a regular Scripture reading plan to help our prayers become more of a dialog with God than a monolog, and we survey the Lord’s Prayer as a model for a structured prayer life.
Sunday, July 17: We explore the nature of Pietism–an overemphasis of the emotions and the heart–and Rationalism–an overemphasis of the mind and thought–and the distortions these things bring to the Word of God.
Sunday, July 10: We explore the Parable of the Good Samaritan from a purely moral perspective, and then from a Christological perspective.
Sunday, July 3: We explore the Fourth Commandment and its call to receive and preserve and conserve the wisdom of our elders and forbearers, and how this applies to the family, to the Church, and to our culture at large.
Sunday, June 26: “Church and Society, Institutions of Cultural Transmission.” When the influence of the Church in the larger culture is withdrawn or removed, other influences fill the void.
Sunday, June 19 (Father’s Day): We take a positive look at patriarchy, what it is and what it does for us.
Sunday. June 12: A detailed look at the Athanasian Creed, and a great companion class to the worship service which followed it on this Trinity Sunday.
Sunday, June 5: It’s Pentecost Sunday and we examine the relationship between baptism and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church.
Sunday, May 29: We examined the Gospel Lesson for the Seventh Sunday after Easter, John 17:20-26, in which Jesus prays for the Church.
Sunday, May 22: We look at the relationship between confessional, evangelical, Lutheran theology and other major streams of Christian theology.
Sunday, May 15: Today we discuss C.S. Lewis’ excellent little book “The Four Loves”. No need to have the book or to have read it.
Sunday, May 8: An extended discussion regarding the apparent plan of the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the basic moral reasoning behind a pro-life position.
First Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) 