“Highly Profitable and Fruitful: (Re)reading Luther’s Catechisms.”
A Lenten Study Featuring The Rev. Dr. Justin Nickel
February 25, March 4, March 11, and March 18
at Ebenezer Lutheran Church and online via Zoom
Overview
We are pleased to announce that Rev. Dr. Justin Nickel will be leading a Lenten Series, “Highly Profitable and Fruitful: (Re)reading Luther’s Catechisms.”
Just as the season of Lent liturgically returns us to basic truths about God, our humanity, and our world, this series catechetically returns us to basic truths of the Christian faith, as articulated by Martin Luther in his catechisms. At a moment when the Christian faith is entangled in all manner of partisan debate and divide, renewed attention to Lutheran Christianity’s core is warranted. Equally important, the catechisms have a way of surprising us. Whether we have read them one or a thousand times, there are new depths to be plumbed, new claims to be explored. Over four weeks, we endeavor to reorient ourselves to the central claims of our faith even as we anticipate being surprised by what these claims mean for us now.
February 25: God knows of nothing else to speak: catechism as spiritual practice and Lenten discipline
March 4: The Law: gift, accusation, and the shape of our humanity
March 11: The Child’s Creed: A wooing Father, a self-giving Son, and an enlightening Spirit
March 18: The Lord’s Prayer: Responding to grace in the world we know
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
In-person: Ebenezer Lutheran Church, Columbia
Live via Zoom: (link)
You are invited to join individually or with your Bible study group. We hope that this valuable resource will be helpful in your Lenten journey and create an opportunity for us to explore our Lutheran faith with one another in community across our Synod.
About The Rev. Dr. Justin Nickel
Pr. Nickel was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2010 and served congregations in Colorado and Pennsylvania. His research and teaching interests focus on Lutheran theology in its confessional, constructive and moral forms. He has a particular focus on bringing Lutheran theology to bear on contemporary ecclesiastical and social problems.
Nickel joined the faculty of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in 2020 as the first Baxter and Frances Weant Chair in Lutheran Studies.
Nickel’s work is featured in Studies in Christian Ethics, The Journal for the Society of Christian Ethics and Lutheran Forum. In 2020, he published a book, “The Work of Faith: Divine Grace and Human Agency in Martin Luther’s Preaching.”
