We marked the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with the occasion of Martin Luther writing his 95 Theses. For those of us living with the Reformation heritage, however, another of his writings has likely been more influential in shaping our identity: his Small Catechism of 1528. The occasion for this handbook was that Luther discovered the need to teach the basics of the faith after visiting the evangelical or protestant congregations a decade in to the Reformation.
This exercise takes Luther’s back-to-basics approach, and also sets it in a broader ecological perspective. As a church that is “always reforming,” we know that the good news of God continues to encounter us in our life. Just as the papacy and indulgences (the focus of the 95 Theses) are not our central concern, so we also attend to contemporary threats and current events, recognizing the need in our times for Eco-Reformation.
Here, each piece of Luther’s Small Catechism is followed by a learning question, then by a suggested participatory action. You may use this personally, or print one section each week in your bulletin, or adapt it for confirmation classes. This is only one way to try seeing the entirety of our faith as permeated with creation care.