Today is the 479th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession (1530) and the 429th anniversary of the Book of Concord (1580). This is a pretty big day for Lutherans, a good day to give some thought to what it really means to be a Lutheran. And the Lutheran Confessions, as contained in the Book of Concord, give us a pretty good idea of what it means to be a Lutheran. This is a pretty important thing, especially in our times when some who call themselves Lutheran seem to be going out of their way to deny the truths that Lutherans defend. I read a pretty good post on the subject this morning: Does Being Lutheran Still Matter?

Starting next week, I’ll be starting a new Bible class here at Trinity on the Large Catechism, another of the Lutheran Confessions. Since Concordia Publishing House is offering the Readers Edition of the BoC for half price during June, we put up a sign-up sheet for people at church to order. It gave me a chance to encourage Lutheran families to have a copy of the Book of Concord in their homes. We ended up ordering 19 copies.

I have several versions of the Book of Concord on my shelf. One of the ones I prize most highly is a copy I received after my great-uncle George died. It is a copy of the Confessions in German and Latin. It is a reminder to me that this book is not just for pastors. (Uncle George was a farmer.)

If you don’t already have one, now is a good time to pick one up. The regular edition is now only $15. I purchased a copy of the digital Libronix version so that I now have a version I can search through and copy quotes from. One of our members ordered the genuine leather edition, and I got to look at it as I was unpacking the boxes which arrived today. It is really nice, and despite its regular price of $100, $50 is not a bad price for such a nice quality book.

Of course, the real treasure is inside the book. I am just finishing up reading through the whole thing on the reading schedule in the book. It has taken me longer than the year ti is supposed to, but it has been a joy to read through it again. As Professor Deutschlander always says, “The nice thing about the Confessions is, they’re so Lutheran!” They really are refreshing to read.

Tags: Lutheran_Confessions