Summer Bible Class (SBC)

Home from vacation?  Inspired to study the Word of God more regularly this Summer?  Then join us on Thursday night, June 18, for our first Summer Bible Class.  Enjoy a relaxed, summer atmosphere with time for fellowship and the study of God's Holy Word.  The class starts at 6:30pm, or thereabouts.  We hope to see you there!

Adult Instruction Class (AIC)

The Adult Instruction Class is currently meeting.  If you would like to become a member of Light of the Valley, this class is for you.  You will be taught the basic teachings of the Lutheran Church.  Upon completion of this class and agreement with these teachings, you will be invited to join the membership of this church.  Join us Thursday nights at 7:00pm from now until August 13.

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession 

In April of 1521, Martin Luther was declared by the Roman Emperor to be a criminal and a heretic.  He was excommunicated from the church and sentenced to death.  Luther was a wanted man.  Arguably, the most powerful man in Europe, the Emperor, wanted Martin Luther dead.  The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

versus a professor of Wittenberg.  A powerful man of the world versus a servant of God and his church.  What warranted such attention from the governor of the Western World?  What did Luther do to deserve the penalty of death?

What Luther did was rediscover the Gospel.  He did not invent a new theology.  He did not put his own spin on the Bible and its teachings.  Luther simply rediscovered the single most important truth of the Scriptures: Jesus Christ crucified for sinners.  Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all sin; he shed the blood required for the forgiveness of sins.  Luther rediscovered that there was nothing he could do to remove the guilt of his sins.  The anguish he felt for not keeping God’s commands perfectly Luther was powerless to remove.  No one, no matter what good they have done, can undo the sins they have committed.  King David confessed to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4).  Every sin committed is sin committed against God, no matter how big or how small.  Only God, then, can deal with sin.  Rather than hold us accountable, he laid each of our sins upon his Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus paid the price for our sins and our forgiveness.  By his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Such is the heart and soul of the Gospel, the heart and soul of the Christian, the very truth that God wants all people to know.  Luther was blessed to rediscover that truth and he could not keep it in.  His conscience would not let him bottle up the truth of Scripture.  Even at a time in the empire when war was just over the horizon and unity was desperately needed, Luther refused to bury again the Gospel that had been buried so many generations before.  With the blow of a hammer, ninety-five statements for discussion were nailed to the church door in Wittenberg.  The contact of hammer on nail sparked the Reformation, steering the ship of Christianity back on its proper and narrow course.

All this sounds like a letter for October, the month of the celebration of the Reformation.  And it would be fitting then, too.  But this month, on June 25, the 471^st anniversary will be celebrated of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession.  471 years ago, Luther and the other Lutheran reformers of Germany presented the statement of their beliefs with their lives on the line.  The Augsburg Confession consists of articles explaining beliefs about such topics as God, original sin, the Son of God, Justification, the Ministry, the Church, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Confession, repentance, civil government, free will, the cause of sin, and many others.  The Augsburg Confession contained the foundational beliefs of the newly formed Lutheran churchof Luther’s day and it contains the foundational beliefs of the Lutheran church of our day.  Luther was branded a heretic for these beliefs and he was willing to die for them, to die for the Gospel and its proclamation.