Why the Catechism in a Year?
“We’ve already learned this stuff.” “The Catechism is for kids.” “I already know it.” The truth is none of us know it well enough. Listen to Martin Luther, the author of Luther’s Small Catechism:
For myself, let me say that I am a doctor and a preacher, and as learned and experienced as any… Every morning… I read and recite… the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Creed,… I must still read and study the Catechism daily, yet I cannot master it as I wish… Those fastidious fellows would… with one reading, [think to] become doctors above all doctors, to know all there is to be known. Well, this is a sure sign that they despise both their souls… and even God and His Word…
The treasure of the Holy Christian Church is God’s Word and the Confessions which have been used to structure and govern the Church from the beginning. The Small Catechism is taking those deep, rich, challenging documents called the Confessions, bring them to you, as Martin Luther expressed it, “in a simple way.”
They are something we all need daily. They are things we may believe we know, because we don’t remember what we’ve forgotten.
Why the Catechism in a Year? Because we all need it. “A Year with the Catechism” series will take us through the doctrines and confessions as they are taught in the Holy Bible. We will dig deeply into each subject and apply it to our lives so that it helps us see the world through Christian eyes.
But: “We’ve already learned this stuff.” “The Catechism is for kids.” “I already know it.” That is exactly the problem! It is a problem with so many in the Christian Church. “We already know it.” We will mark our Bibles. The Catechism you will receive is designed to be marked. That all fine. It’s good to do.
However, the real point is not how you have marked your Catechism, or how you have marked your Bible. The real point is about a very long, arduous, and sometimes treacherous journey of 18 inches. You have the brain acquisition. Has that knowledge traveled the 18 inches from your brain to your heart.
You have marked your Bible. Has your Bible marked you?!
You have marked your Catechism. Has your Catechism marked you?!
“A Year with the Catechism” series will include:
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Weekly worship messages
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Adult Study – digging deep into the Confessions and Scripture
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Youth study – Biblical events correlating to the Catechism topic
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Daily reading plan – Read through the entire Small Catechism with Explanation in one year.
- … and more!!!
Matthew 18:1-6 – The disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
