I'm Lutheran: What Does This Mean?

I'm Lutheran: What Does This Mean?

 Inspired by a question posed by www.lutheranzehpyr.com

Good question.  Why are we what we are, especially if we haven’t really checked out anything else? 

I was born and baptized Lutheran in the beginning of the second half of the last century.  I’ve been Lutheran ever since.  I was able to attend a Lutheran church that I could walk to as a child.  It was a boring church by today’s standards, but I got a very good Sunday School education because in those days, Sunday School was year round.  And my confirmation class was two years of memorizing the catechism and Bible verses.  We never even read the Bible or discussed how it applied to life or did any service to others.

I stuck with the Lutheran church, even getting a Lutheran college education, for which I am very grateful.

I like knowing that I am saved by Grace alone.  I like having the chance to acknowledge that I fall short of what is right and expected, but also being told that the price has already been paid.  I like knowing that I am saved -- about 2000 years ago – by what was done FOR me, not BY me. 

I like belonging to a Church that tells people that it doesn’t have more rules to comply with for membership than God has “rules” for acceptance into heaven.

I like participating in the worship service rather than being entertained.  I like singing while I worship.  I am there to worship, not primarily to be fed, although that certainly is helpful.  I like belonging to a church where I can be a worship leader, lector, serve communion, teach, or be helpful behind the scenes, or whatever suits the talents God has given me.  I like belonging to a church that reminds me of the priesthood of all believers.

In spite of all the strife and evil in the world, I think being Lutheran has given me an outlook on people that says that even the worst and most depraved people can still be saved by God’s grace.  I know that my sins may be different than what someone else does, but since all sin separates us from God, I am not “better” than some other horrible person I may want to look down on.  And when saved, we are all saints.  Perhaps this outlook is why the states that have a lot of Lutherans don’t have the death penalty.

Yes, I am a Lutheran Christian.