Fabulously Flawed People

As Lutheran Christians, we are:

Simultaneously Sinner and Saint

We believe that humanity was made in God’s image and for communion with Him, but because we sin (or “miss the mark”), we have fallen out of communion with the perfect God and become subject to death and the devil, who hates God.  We are sinners.  Christ did not come to improve people who are basically good but fall a little short; God sent Jesus to rescue the spiritually dead and raise us to new life!

Because we are claimed by Jesus and have responded in faith, we have the beginnings of that new eternal life NOW and are therefore saints, not on the basis of our merit, but on the basis of Christ’s.  This doesn’t mean we don’t sin any more, it just means we are claimed by Jesus Christ to be His holy people.  To grow into this, our new destiny, is the journey of a lifetime that Christians have usually referred to as “sanctification,” or “growth in holiness.”  Such growth is a struggle, but one worth engaging in because it gives us real life, not a facsimile!

Evangelical

Much used and abused, the word evangelical simply means “focused on the good news (or evangel).”  Martin Luther did not want the church he helped form to be known by his name.  He wanted it to be known as the evangelical church, for it placed at the center of its worship, proclamation, and life the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  As you can see from the above statements, the focus is totally on Jesus and what He does for us, not our own paltry efforts; this is what it means to be evangelical.

Catholic

Also much abused, this word really means “universal.”  Lutheran Christians have no desire to innovate on the Apostles’ teaching about Jesus, recorded most fully for us in the Bible.  As Vincent of Lerins said in 434 A.D., “Now in the Church catholic itself we take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.” Lutherans see the reforms that have been engaged in throughout church history (including those begun in the 1500’s) as attempts to return the Christian church to its evangelical, that is to say, truly catholic roots.  To say it another way, what is most evangelical is most truly catholic.

Orthodox

Also much abused, this word originally meant “right praise,” but since the only way to praise God rightly is to name, describe, and attribute only true things to Him, it has also come to mean “right teaching.” Although we are flexible in our approach to worship, incorporating new music and technologies while remaining rooted in the Western worship tradition, we try to never innovate in our practice of “the faith given once for all to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) God has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, and we cannot change Him; we must change ourselves to match Him. Christianity can only be truly evangelical when it is orthodox.