In February, we continue in the Epiphany season of the Church Year. We end February with Ash Wednesday on the 25th which marks the end of Epiphany, and the beginning of the Lent season. In Epiphany, we remember the Light of Christ, who came into the world for all people. We remember the pure light of the Gospel which is so crucial to our faith. Anything which tends to distort this true light ought to be something of which we are quite concerned about.

In the Gospel, we have been given a wonderful gift by God. He tells us how much he loves us, even to the point of sending His only Son to die on the cross for us. This love brings us complete forgiveness of all our sins. It comes through God's unconditional love, and not in response to what we have done. Unlike the ways of the world around us, we are not rewarded by God for being good, rather He gives us salvation as a free gift. Our response to this tremendous gift is to love God and desire to please Him. That is what we then do with our lives. This message is the Gospel.

Any person or church body which distorts the truth of this Gospel is to be rejected and turned away from. They are to be condemned, as God's Word indicates in Galatians 1:6-9:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

I ask you to again answer the question asked of you last month, "Why are you a Lutheran?" In your answer, you ought to be convinced that your Lutheran body teaches and practices the Gospel in the purest form. Rather than judge on surface appearance, we ought to strive to determine, from our own investigations, if Lutheranism keeps the Gospel the purest. Knowing and studying the Gospel from God's revealed Word allows us to ask if what our church teaches is consistent.

This month we offer another Bible study to help. This study will continue last month's study of the actions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). This month we will look at the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the ELCA in an agreement which was finalized by the ELCA on this subject last summer. It is important for us to understand the direction which other churches that have the name Lutheran are going. Come to this Bible Study offered at two times and locations: Monday, February 16, 7:00 p.m. at Bethlehem and Tuesday, February 17, 10:00 a.m. at St. Paul's.

May you be blessed by our Savior, Jesus Christ.