Lutheran evangelismWednesday Night Adult Study

Fall 2014

Please join Judy Wellert and Judy Nakamura as they lead 9 weeks of Wednesday night Bible studies based on articles from The Lutheran magazine. Each week will be a separate study within itself, so you don’t have to commit to the entire series. Copies of the article will be available, so you don’t have to have a subscription in order to attend. (To Subscribe go to www.thelutheran.org and click on Subscribe in top right corner)

The class will meet from 7:00-8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays in room 201.

 

Sept. 24-What Matters Most in Worship?

Ask a hundred Christians what’s important about worship and you’ll get lots of different opinions. But for Lutherans, the answers should be less varied because, theologically, it’s the centrality of word and sacrament that makes our worship distinct.

Oct. 1-Our Lutheran Liturgy and Favorite Hymns

Many Lutherans feel strong connections to our time-honored liturgy, even if they may not fully know the origins or biblical roots of our order of worship.Traditional liturgy connects us not only to the first Lutherans of the early 1500s, but also to the earliest Christians of two millennia ago.  “Music,” Martin Luther commented, “is an endowment and a gift of God.” The reformer loved music and wrote “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” and many hymns that are even today sung and loved by millions. Fittingly, Lutherans still put music and hymns at the center of worship, to glorify God and bring the faithful into the presence of the holy.

Oct. 8-Beyond tolerance

The world is getting smaller all the time. Ease of international travel and the revolution in Internet communications bring more and more of us in contact with one another all the time. It means we are more likely than ever to encounter others with whom we have differences of opinion or outlook.

Tolerance may keep things civil — and it’s a whole lot better than intolerance — but we have to go deeper in order to live in harmony, peace, understanding and love.

Oct. 15-Traditions

In three years Lutherans will celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg—the Oct. 31, 1517, event that began the Protestant Reformation. No wonder Lutheran churches are steeped in tradition. The challenge for us is to use our traditions as a springboard into the future rather than a shackle keeping us in the past.

Oct. 22-Prayer

Prayer forms the foundation of our house of faith. With each prayer we take another step on our journey as disciples. Prayer is our communication with, to and from God. We pray in our community, in our families over meals and individually whenever we say or think the words, “Dear Lord ….” While there are no bad ways to pray, many have found their prayer life enriched by discovering new ways to pray.

Oct. 29-Evangelism

Like the people he met two millennia ago, Christ calls us from our varied stations in life to follow him and be his disciples. And in the succeeding 2,000 years Christians have struggled with exactly how to be faithful disciples of Christ while keeping their jobs, raising families, paying taxes and being good citizens of the countries in which they live.

Nov. 5-Cluttered Lives

Clutter seems a fact of American life—we accumulate more and more material goods and then buy bigger houses to put them into. When the attic, garage and basement are full, we turn to self-storage units for the overflow. Is this the life of abundance that Jesus promised us in John 10:10?

Nov. 12-Simplicity

The economy is forcing many families and congregations to tighten their belts. Others are cutting back because we don’t know what the future will hold. Most everybody is rethinking the role money plays in our lives. Though downshifting can be painful, many are learning anew the joys of simple living.

Nov. 19-“The Great Surprise”

It may be human nature to focus on what we don’t have and feel resentful for our wanting, rather than to focus on what we have and feel gratitude for our sufficiency. Human nature or no, our consumer culture certainly encourages us to crave more of everything and to be dissatisfied with anything short of complete fulfillment of our desires. But Jesus invites us to a clear-minded awareness of who we are, whose we are and God’s providence.