This question gets asked by you of me perhaps more than any other question. Why? Perhaps it is because in this increasingly pluralistic and diverse world you wonder not only what makes you Lutheran but also why you should even bother to remain a Lutheran. Perhaps this question is important now because many of you have come to be acutely aware that you are Lutheran more because of the accident of birth (your parents were Lutheran and brought you up as Lutheran) than because of any conscious choice or decision. If you are going to remain a Lutheran, you want to know why. You want it to be the result of a personal commitment and decision. In short, you want to be a Lutheran . . . because you WANT to be a Lutheran.

I recently came a across a wonderful little article written by one of my former teachers (David Truemper who taught at Valparaiso University) which I am going to quote here because he says it so well. He says that being a Lutheran Christian means that you are always scratching a certain “itch.” Lutheran Christians are always asking certain questions or “scratching a certain itch.” That itch has to do with two important issues:

  • the nature of the gospel and how it shapes everything we do as Christians
  • how we understand the nature of the church

Enough of me. Let Truemper say it, because he says it so well:

  • “In the first case, that Lutheran itch is the foundational commitment that the Christian message is really the story of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and risen, told in such a way that what one hears is the promise—from beyond Christ’s tomb—that one’s future is certain, that one is ‘justified,’ by the sheer goodness of a God who, on account of Jesus and out of sheerest grace, promises life and salvation even to sinners like us. And the itch adds, ‘If that sounds like good news to you, then that’s God truth about you, for Christ’s sake!’”
  • “In the second case, our Lutheran itch leads to a pretty radical conception of what it means to be church. The church, ‘holy believers and sheep who hear the Shepherd’s voice’ (Smalcald Articles Pt. III, XII, 2), is not fundamentally a structure, nor a holy club/association, nor a collection of really pious or morally upright folks, nor even a hidden and invisible collection of those who are really, really Christians. No, the church occurs as ‘the assembly oaf believers among whom the gospel is preached . . . and the sacraments are administered.’ The church “happens” when believers assemble on the Lord’s Day for the gospel said and done, proclaimed and sacramentally enacted.”
  • (The Cresset, Lent 2000 p.5)

In other words, we Lutherans are always concerned about Jesus. They want to tell his story in such a way that people hear the good news of God’s promise of mercy.  When they believe that promise, their lives are changed. When and where that message gets proclaimed and acted out, there is the church. Denominational labels and organizational structures don’t guarantee that Jesus’ gracious story is being told. Therefore, we must focus on rightly telling Jesus’ gracious story, if there is to be a Christian church at all.

As Christ Church moves beyond the completion of its new facility, it seems that this understanding of Jesus and His church can strengthen us to not only legitimately claim the name of “Lutheran,” but to do it in such a way that the mission of God’s church can thrive in the 21st century.  That mission thrives when Jesus and comfort he brings is magnified and proclaimed.

Christ Church, the Lutheran Church of Zionsville
Rev. Dr. Steven E. Albertin (Click to E-mail)