February 24, 2016

Luther’s Preface to the Small Catechism

“Martin Luther, to all faithful and godly pastors and preachers: grace, mercy, and peace be yours in Jesus Christ, our Lord. The deplorable, miserable conditions which I recently observed when visiting the parishes have constrained and pressed me to put this catechism of Christian doctrine into this brief, plain, and simple form. How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw: the common man, especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine, and many of the pastors are almost entirely incompetent and unable to teach. Yet all the people are supposed to be Christians, have been baptized, and receive the Holy Sacrament even though they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments and live like poor animals of the barnyard and pig pen. What these people have mastered, however, is the fine art of tearing all Christian liberty to shreds. Therefore dear brothers, for God’s sake I beg all of you who are pastors and preachers to devote yourselves sincerely to the duties of your office, that you feel compassion for the people entrusted to your care, and that you help us accordingly to inculcate this catechism in the people, especially the young. If you cannot do more, at least take the tables and charts for catechism instruction and drill the people in them word for word…”

Thus begins the preface to the Small Catechism written by Martin Luther. The opening lines say it all – The deplorable, miserable conditions – no one knew the Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds or the Ten Commandments. And so he took it upon himself to give the pastors a teaching tool – and we still use this teaching tool today in our catechism classes. Luther admonished them, but also encouraged them to stick with it, not to give up, and to continue it year after year.

This continues to be our tradition in teaching the faith in the Lutheran church. And, we all could use a refresher from time to time. This teaching tool is still vital to our faith understanding today.

Pastor Dave