First Lutheran Church Plainville, Kansas
Peace Lutheran Church Natoma, Kansas
May, 2024
I have always found it interesting, if not a little bizarre, that before a basketball game begins, the players form a layup line, and practice their layups; and when they are done with that, they often line up at the free throw line, and practice their free throws.
Now even if you cannot tell a basketball from a pickleball, you know that layups and free throws are two of the most basic things that every basketball player knows how to do. It is the equivalent of playing catch in baseball, or a hole in one on hole #1 at the mini-golf course. It is that basic, that if you cannot do these basic things, you probably should not be playing.
I would think that prior to the game, the players should be working on their out of bounds plays, or their end of game plays, or even how they are going to defend the best player on the other team; but no, they are practicing free throws and layups.
The idea, is that when you master the basics, you can do the rest that much easier. If you cannot make a layup in warmups, then how are you going to make one on an out of bounds play under the basket? If you cannot make a free throw in practice, the coach will probably not want you on the floor at the end of the game. And so it is back to practice; back to doing the basics again and again and again.
I think of this as May is traditionally a time of confirmation in many churches. And how there is a tendency among the youth, and their parents, and the rest of the congregation, to assume that when you are confirmed, you have mastered the Catechism, and now it is time to move on to other things.
Except the Small Catechism, and the Large Catechism, are the basics. Here are the basic teachings of the Church laid out for you: Law (Ten Commandments), Gospel (Apostles Creed), and how to live the Christian life (Lord’s Prayer, Confession and the Sacraments).
When we lose track of the basics, when we forget what the Law is, or what the Gospel is, then how can we teach this to the next generation? How do we defend the faith against those who would threaten and attack it?
When you stray from the basics, you forget how simple things can be. When you forget the Fifth Commandment, you forget how broad the definition of murder is. When you forget the Sixth Commandment, you forget what it means for husbands and wives to love and honor each other. When you forget the Second Article of the Creed, you forget that Christ Jesus saved you not with silver or gold, but with His holy and precious blood. You forget that baptism saves, and that forgiveness is just as certain as if God spoke it Himself.
When we go back to the basics, suddenly the world does not seem that complicated anymore; and living as a child of God does not come with nearly as many questions as we thought it did.
One of my goals for this year, is to read through the entire Book of Concord, and the reading plan I’m using began with the Small Catechism, and then moved onto the Large Catechism. And I was a little frustrated, because I had read those multiple times, taught them multiple times; I wanted to get into the Augsburg Confession and its Apology; or the Formula of Concord. But what lays the foundation for those articles? What sets the groundwork for our defense of the faith that is in us? It is the Small and the Large Catechism.
Take this month as an opportunity to return to the basics, to refresh yourself with the basics of the faith; so that you might have a solid foundation to build upon and to fall back upon when the challenges and temptations of life come your way.
God Bless!
Pastor Schmidt
Such a time as this - Esther 4:14 