St. Luke's Lutheran Church
CONNECT
  • Home
    • Staff >
      • Bios
    • Worship Times
    • About >
      • Church Council >
        • Council Minutes
      • Contact Us
  • 100th Anniversary
    • St. Luke's Stories
  • Worship/Music
    • Online Worship >
      • 2021 Online Worship Services
    • Sermons
    • Music Ensembles
    • Weddings
    • Baptisms
  • In-reach and Outreach Ministries
    • Current Volunteer Opportunities
    • Member Information >
      • Annual Report
    • Community
    • 12 Step Programs
  • Preschool
    • Registration
    • Calendars, Forms and Classroom information
  • Faith Formation Ministries
    • Faith Formation for All Ages
    • Wednesday Night Live
    • Pre-K- 5th Grade
    • Youth Ministry Summer Opportunities
    • VBS
    • Forms
    • Adult Faith Formation
  • Calendar/Events
    • Church Calendar
  • Newsletter
  • Job postings
  • History
  • Tithes & Offerings
  • St. Luke's Lutheran Church Blog
  • Faith Formation Ministries

Carrying the Cross

10/25/2022

 
Picture
Confirmation

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” – Jesus (Matthew 16:24-25)
 
This week I’m walking in solidarity with our Confirmation Students who will affirm their faith this Sunday in Celebration of Reformation Sunday.

In preparation, the confirmation students were given a cross to carry. Hopefully they will wear it, sparking questions and conversations, for they will be making a public profession to continue in their faith in which they were baptized.

“I do. And I ask God to help and guide me.”

Martin Luther’s cross to bear happened on Oct. 31, 1517. Luther posted his 95, sparking a conversation about reforming extra-Biblical church traditions and church-instituted teachings and activities that he believed had no basis in Scripture. He believed those traditions and teachings made salvation dependent on good works or, worse, church-sanctioned indulgences, buying your way or a loved one’s way into heaven.

Luther argued that the Scriptures were clear – salvation was achieved by “faith alone.” Good works were a response to this gift given by God in Jesus.

Luther had struggled trying to please God to achieve his salvation. However all that changed when he read in Romans 1, “The righteous shall live by faith.” This is the heart of Luther’s theology.
For three years, Luther was told to recant his statements – the “95” and his other writings and teachings. He refused. In January 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X. By April, Luther was being charged with heresy at the now-famous Diet of Worms, an assembly of princes and prelates overseen by the Holy Roman Emperor. At stake for the 37-year-old excommunicant, if found guilty he could be burned at the stake. All Luther had to do was “recant,” and all would be “forgiven”.

Instead Luther announced,
“Here I stand. I can do no other.”

So you are invited upon reading this to wear a cross in solidarity with our confirmation students. And then join us on Sunday, to stand and make public profession of your faith.

Blessings,
Pastor Rob Norris-Weber


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020

    Categories

    All
    Council
    Easter
    Lent
    Music
    President's Letter
    Sermon Series
    Stewardship
    Summer

Give Here
Simply Giving
St. Luke's Lutheran Church
1701 West Old Shakopee Road Bloomington, MN 55431
952-881-5801 | office@stlukesbloomington.org
​