"I ask that men make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans...But if you are convinced that Luther's teaching is in accord with the gospel...then you should not discard Luther so completely, lest with him you discard also his teaching, which you nevertheless recognize as Christ's teaching. You should rather say: Whether Luther is a rascal or a saint I do not care; his teaching is not his, but Christ's." -Martin Luther, 1522 (AE 45:70;36:265)
Baptist, Non-Denominational, Reformed and Roman. These are labels I've carried before to varying degrees of both pride and shame. Within those camps, I've also experienced the movements of so-called mega-church, emergent, house-church, Hebrew-roots and other novelties. My questions, doubts and denominational schizophrenia aren't something I'm proud of but it has nevertheless been real and I know I'm not alone in running the Christian experience gambit.
Somewhere in my struggles of getting a hold of orthodox Christianity I was eventually pointed to consider the confessions of the Lutheran church. As I read through and digested this "Book of Concord" as an exposition of Scripture, I found that this seemed to me to be a confession of faith consistent with the "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic" faith of the Church.
On the eve of being confirmed as a member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran in Detroit, I am finding it more and more beneficial to be open to sharing my experiences in coming to the proverbial castle door of Wittenberg. So, I hope this blog will help me to not only think through matters of faith and practice for my own benefit, but for that of others at various places on the road.
