26 dezembro 2013

Devotion from Romans 6: 22-23 (December26, 2013)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:22-23


Christmas Day is passed. Are you tired? The commercialization of this holiday can have that effect on us. By the time December 26th arrives, we may be all Christmas-ed out.

Much like a commercialized Christmas, enslavement to sin gets old really fast. That tempting master never satisfies. He only takes. And in return for a lifetime of service, the pension is death.

But can the real Christmas celebration ever grow old? Christmas reveals God’s base of operations in his campaign against sin and death. It was a campaign into which he sent his Son to fight victoriously from the cradle to the cross. As a result, you are no longer a slave to sin. Sin may badger you. Sin may threaten you. However, when sin comes knocking, you don’t have to answer. When sin makes demands, don’t listen. Sin has no authority over your life.

Through faith in Jesus, you have a new, life-giving master. He has made you into a new creation. He gives you the freedom to be who you were created to be. He created you to be healthy in holiness, not sick in sin.

Many may be acting as if Christmas is over. Traditionally, however, today is only the second day of Christmas. The season has just begun, and the celebrating really lasts all year round.

In some countries the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day. Originally, Boxing Day was a day when servants would receive gifts from their masters. What a great reminder for us as we receive God’s gift again this Christmas!

The gift which we receive from God, wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, is a gift that always amazes. For when we were at our worst, God gave us his best. And no matter how long we’ve had it, God’s gift of a Savior, Jesus Christ, never gets old. For his salvation outweighs our sin; his grace covers our guilt; his rescue ends our rebellion and gives us life.

Prayer:
Lord God, thank you for giving me the gift of life for free in exchange for the death I deserved eternally. Amen.

25 dezembro 2013

Um feliz e abençoado dia de Natal

Um feliz e abençoado Natal a todos os Irmãos e Amigos da Igreja Luterana de Portugal!
  
Nascimento de Cristo, Lucas Cranach, 1510

Lucas 2: 1-20

  1. E ACONTECEU naqueles dias que saiu um decreto da parte de César Augusto, para que todo o mundo se alistasse
  2. (Este primeiro alistamento foi feito sendo Quirino presidente da Síria).
  3. E todos iam alistar-se, cada um à sua própria cidade.
  4. E subiu também José da Galileia, da cidade de Nazaré, à Judeia, à cidade de David, chamada Belém (porque era da casa e família de David),
  5. A fim de alistar-se com Maria, sua esposa, que estava grávida.
  6. E aconteceu que, estando eles ali, se cumpriram os dias em que ela havia de dar à luz.
  7. E deu à luz a seu filho primogénito, e envolveu-o em panos, e deitou-o numa manjedoura, porque não havia lugar para eles na estalagem.
  8. Ora, havia naquela mesma comarca pastores que estavam no campo, e guardavam, durante as vigílias da noite, o seu rebanho.
  9. E eis que o anjo do Senhor veio sobre eles, e a glória do Senhor os cercou de resplendor, e tiveram grande temor.
  10. E o anjo lhes disse: Não temais, porque eis aqui vos trago novas de grande alegria, que será para todo o povo:
  11. Pois, na cidade de David, vos nasceu hoje o Salvador, que é Cristo, o Senhor.
  12. E isto vos será por sinal: Achareis o menino envolto em panos, e deitado numa manjedoura.
  13. E, no mesmo instante, apareceu com o anjo uma multidão dos exércitos celestiais, louvando a Deus, e dizendo:
  14. Glória a Deus nas alturas, Paz na terra, boa vontade para com os homens.
  15. E aconteceu que, ausentando-se deles os anjos para o céu, disseram os pastores uns aos outros: Vamos, pois, até Belém, e vejamos isso que aconteceu, e que o Senhor nos fez saber.
  16. E foram apressadamente, e acharam Maria, e José, e o menino deitado na manjedoura.
  17. E, vendo-o, divulgaram a palavra que acerca do menino lhes fora dita;
  18. E todos os que a ouviram se maravilharam do que os pastores lhes diziam.
  19. Mas Maria guardava todas estas coisas, conferindo-as em seu coração.
  20. E voltaram os pastores, glorificando e louvando a Deus por tudo o que tinham ouvido e visto, como lhes havia sido dito.

15 dezembro 2013

2017 Lutherrosen für 2017

Ihr Lieben, noch 3 Lutherrosen und wir haben schon 400 Lutherrosen gesammelt! Was uns besonders stolz macht, sie stammen aus 39 Ländern: Deutschland, USA, Papua Neuguinea, Brasilien, Malaysia, Ungarn, Polen, El Salvador, Palästina, China, Italien, Portugal, Russland, Irland, Österreich, Australien, Nicaragua, Syrien, Slowakei, indien, Südafrika, Bolivien, von den Philippinen, aus der Dominakanischen Republik, aus Tansania, Madagaskar, aus der Niederlande, Argentinien, Costa Rica, Kanada, Kuba, Venezuela, Chile, Slowenien, Schweden, Indonesien, Kenia, Haiti und aus Dänemark.

Herzlichen Dank an alle fleißigen Sammler, ein dickes Dankeschön an die Lutheran Church of St. Andrew, the Apostle - Brisbane City, an die CELC - Comunidade Evangélica Luterana Concórdia, an die Magyarországi Evangélikus Egyház und an luteranie w Polsce, die uns mit großen Sammelaktionen in ihren Ländern unterstützen! Wir freuen uns sehr über so viel Unterstützung!




Stiftung Luthergedenkstätten in Sachsen-Anhalt's

13 dezembro 2013

Continuamos a acreditar

• Numa época de constante mudança, continuamos a acreditar na imutável Santíssima Trindade: Pai, Filho e Espírito Santo.

• Numa época de teorias e especulações humanas, continuamos a acreditar na criação do universo por Deus.

• Numa época de cepticismo, continuamos a acreditar que Jesus foi concebido pelo Espírito Santo e nasceu da Virgem Maria.

• Numa época de culpa, continuamos a acreditar que Jesus morreu na cruz para remover das nossas vidas o poder do pecado, da morte e do Diabo.

• Numa época de medo e incerteza, continuamos a acreditar que Cristo ressuscitou verdadeiramente para nos assegurar a vitória sobre a morte.

• Numa época de confusão, continuamos a acreditar que a Bíblia é a Palavra de Deus, livre de erros, contradições e mitos.

• Numa época de infidelidade à Palavra de Deus continuamos a acreditar que devemos testar todos as doutrinas para confirmar se são ou não de Deus.

• Numa época de auto-suficiência, continuamos a acreditar que o Espírito Santo cria e fortalece a fé, através dos Meios da Graça: o Evangelho em Palavra e Sacramento.

• Numa época de inúmeras filosofias, continuamos a acreditar que as nossas vidas devem ser guiadas por Deus Todo-Poderoso, através da sua Palavra inspirada.

• Numa época em que predomina o evangelho social, continuamos a acreditar que Deus atribuiu à igreja a missão de proclamar o Evangelho verdadeiro: arrependimento, remissão dos pecados e vida eterna.

30 novembro 2013

Capela do Rei Carlos Alberto

A Capela do Rei Carlos Alberto, numa foto c. de 1900, onde hoje se celebra o culto da Igreja Luterana de Portugal.


Capela do Rei Carlos Alberto na Avenida das Tílias, jardins do Palácio de Cristal, c.1900.

Construída em 1854, por iniciativa da princesa Augusta de Montlear, em memória de seu irmão, o rei do Piemonte-Sardenha, Carlos Alberto, que se exilou na cidade do Porto depois de derrotado pelos austríacos na batalha de Novara. Após ter vivido no Palácio dos Condes de Balsemão (Praça de Carlos Alberto), mudou-se para a Quinta da Macieirinha, onde morreu. A sua irmã mandou construir uma capela nos terrenos da quinta actualmente incorporados nos jardins do Palácio de Cristal.

26 novembro 2013

Be thankful for everything

Think of three things you would like solved, changed, or cured in your life? Do you want a job you actually like? No more unexpected expenses killing your budget? What about an illness afflicting you or a loved one? If we allow ourselves, we can think of plenty of things that just don’t seem to be good in our lives. But have you ever thought to be thankful for everything – even hardships?
Sometimes being a Christian can be challenging, but with God’s comfort and encouragement, we can also be thankful, even in hardships.
St. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5, “16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. …
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
Be joyful always? Give thanks in all circumstances? It’s not that we say, “Thank you, God, for mass murderers and evil dictators. Please send more.” But, what we can and should say is, “Thank you, God, for this hardship in my life, this struggle, this pain. I know you have a reason for it. I know you have allowed it not to punish me, but because you love me—and to accomplish your purposes.”
How can there possibly be joy in our hardships? How can we be thankful for the pain and frustrations in our life?  God tells us in Romans 5:  1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Knowing that God is always working for us or through us for the sake of others, we can pray for the strength to say “thank you” for his guiding, ruling influence in life, his control of things to serve his best purposes. Forgiveness, faith, and salvation matter most. They are the big things sometimes nurtured in ourselves and in others through sorrows and hurts.
Romans 8 says: “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And with that comforting outlook, we can all enter the Thanksgiving holiday, thankful for all circumstances – even those three things you want to change.
By Rev. Bryan Gerlach, Director, Commission on Worship

25 novembro 2013

Totalmente persuadido - pelo poder e pela promessa de Deus

TOTALMENTE PERSUADIDO — PELO PODER E PELA PROMESSA DE DEUS

Romanos 4:18-25
 

“Abraão, em esperança, creu contra a esperança, tanto que ele tornou-se pai de muitas nações, conforme o que lhe fora dito: Assim será a tua descendência. E não enfraquecendo na fé, não atentou para o seu próprio corpo já amortecido, pois era já de quase cem anos, nem tampouco para o amortecimento do ventre de Sara. E não duvidou da promessa de Deus por incredulidade, mas foi fortificado na fé, dando glória a Deus, e estando certíssimo de que o que ele tinha prometido também era poderoso para o fazer. Assim isso lhe foi também imputado como justiça. Ora, não só por causa dele está escrito, que lhe fosse tomado em conta, mas também por nós, a quem será tomado em conta, os que cremos naquele que dentre os mortos ressuscitou a Jesus nosso Senhor; O qual por nossos pecados foi entregue, e ressuscitou para nossa justificação.”

Eu tenho fé em Deus. Então por que não vivo sempre como se tivesse fé? Por que fico impaciente com tanta rapidez? Por que me debruço sobre as falhas das pessoas quando o que deveria era orar pelo seu futuro? Por que questiono a sabedoria, a vontade e os caminhos de Deus? Por que o meu pensamento está ensombrado com dúvidas?


Abraão não era perfeito. As Escrituras deixam isso bem claro. No entanto, contra toda a esperança, Abraão acreditou. Mesmo que ele tivesse quase 100 anos de idade e Sara 90, Abraão creu. Ele sabia que, no que tocava a ter filhos, ele poderia já estar morto. Ele sabia que a sua esposa Sara estava já muito além da idade fértil. Quanto a poder ter filhos ela poderia já estar morta também. No entanto, Abraão creu que ele e Sara teriam um filho.


Por que Abraão acreditou contra toda a esperança? Porque lhe tinha sido dito a ele: "Assim será a tua descendência". Porque Deus lhe tinha dito: "Abraão, vais ter um filho, e por esse filho eu vou ' fazer os teus descendentes tão numerosos como as estrelas o céu e como a areia na praia do mar" (Génesis 22:17). Deus disse. E Abraão creu na promessa de Deus.


Por que é que Abraão acreditou contra toda a esperança? Porque ele estava plenamente convencido de que Deus tinha poder para fazer o que prometera. Abraão sabia que o poder de Deus superaria o que ele via em si mesmo e em Sara: idosos, cujos corpos humanamente não deveriam, não poderiam, ser a fonte da vida. Mas Deus é todo-poderoso. E Abraão confiava no poder de Deus.


Pela fé, Abraão acreditava que Deus poderia levantar um filho de si e de Sara, mesmo com os seus corpos mortos, e pela fé cremos também que Deus ressuscitou o Seu Filho. Em ambos os casos, a morte não pode prevalecer. Abraão foi abençoado com um filho. E nós somos abençoados com um Salvador. "Ele foi entregue à morte pelos nossos pecados e ressuscitou para nossa justificação".


Quando as circunstâncias da vida o levam a questionar a sabedoria ou a duvidar dos caminhos de Deus, acredite o mesmo que Abraão creu: que Deus vai realizar a sua boa vontade, mesmo quando não parece provável, mesmo quando não parece possível, pela sua promessa e pelo seu poder.


Oração: Senhor Deus, fortalece-me com uma fé que Te dê glória, certo de que tens o poder de fazer o que prometeste. Por meio de Jesus, nosso Senhor, que foi entregue à morte pelos nossos pecados e ressuscitou para nossa justificação. Amém.


Devoção original: WELS, www.WhatAboutJesus.com

24 novembro 2013

Em que acreditam os Luteranos?


SOMOS EVANGÉLICOS. Somos uma igreja que enfatiza o "Evangelho". Nada é mais essencial para a nossa fé do que o Evangelho de Jesus Cristo: a alegre boa notícia de que recebemos o perdão e a vida eterna como um dom gratuito de Deus através da fé em Jesus Cristo. Rejeitamos todos os ensinamentos que possam sugerir ou implicar que uma pessoa pode entrar no céu pelas suas obras ou piedade pessoal (Romanos 3:21-28; Efésios 2:8-10). Em toda a nossa vida, este Evangelho é a nossa motivação e foco.

SOMOS SACRAMENTAIS. Para nós, Luteranos, o Baptismo e a Ceia do Senhor são o centro das nossas vidas como cristãos. São poderosos meios da graça, através dos quais o Espírito Santo trabalha para criar, fortalecer e sustentar a nossa fé. Acreditamos que o Baptismo é uma água da vida que salva; acreditamos também que a Ceia do Senhor é o verdadeiro corpo e sangue de Cristo que dá a certeza do perdão.

SOMOS CATÓLICOS. Apesar de termos o nome de Martinho Lutero, reformador da Igreja do século XVI, o nosso ensino está em conformidade com a doutrina ensinada pela antiga Igreja Cristã dos primeiros quatro séculos. Lutero não inventou novos ensinamentos nem criou uma nova igreja. Pelo contrário, pela graça de Deus, ele simplesmente tentou reformar a Igreja Católica da sua época pelo Evangelho, e ensinou novamente a doutrina que a Santa Igreja Cristã já tinha acreditado, mas tinha perdido. Somos católicos, não católicos romanos. Muito antes de haver uma "Igreja Católica Romana" ou papa, a palavra católica foi utilizada nos primeiros séculos da história da Igreja, significando "universal", ou seja, a Igreja que está espalhada por todo o mundo, não está restrita a um lugar. Somos um com esta santa igreja católica que existe desde o princípio.

SOMOS BÍBLICOS. Acreditamos que a Bíblia Sagrada é a Palavra inspirada e inerrante de Deus. Esta Palavra é a única fonte e autoridade para a fé e a vida cristã.

A NOSSA LITURGIA. O nosso culto é litúrgico porque acreditamos que as antigas liturgias eram fiéis ao Evangelho e às Escrituras e extremamente edificantes. Grande parte da nossa liturgia remonta à época de Cristo ou à igreja primitiva. Acreditamos que o culto público é a coisa mais importante que fazemos juntos. Porque o culto público é o principal lugar em que Cristo está entre o Seu povo para os abençoar.

A NOSSA VIDA. A Bíblia ensina que somos salvos para fazer boas obras, não pelas boas obras (Efésios 2: 8-10). Portanto, os Luteranos ensinam e enfatizam uma vida plena de amor e boas obras. Dito de outra forma, nós esforçamo-nos para ser como Jesus em tudo o que dizemos, fazemos ou pensamos, evitando o pecado e buscando a santidade. Fazemos isso não para ser salvos por estas obras (apenas as obras de Cristo nos podem salvar); fazemos porque já fomos salvos pela graça de Deus em Cristo.

A NOSSA ÉTICA. Seguimos a mesma ética judaico-cristã que a civilização ocidental tem seguido nos últimos 1.000 anos, uma ética bem resumida pelos Dez Mandamentos. Defendemos e lutamos para defender a santidade e o valor de toda a vida humana, desde a concepção até ao túmulo. Vemos a família como um dom de Deus e como o alicerce da nossa sociedade. Entendemos a sexualidade, no sentido bíblico, como dom de Deus para ser desfrutado por um homem e uma mulher no sagrado casamento.

19 novembro 2013

Devotion - November 19, 2013

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

Eternal Encouragement

Life can be pretty discouraging at times. There is depressing news happening all over the world and the media is more than willing to bring us down by sharing every detail. Health problems, family problems, financial stress, and much more are very depressing. Christian people can feel pretty lonely and stressed trying to believe and defend all the teachings of Scripture, as God wants us to, in a world that cares little for what God says in his Word. And looming on the horizon for each one of us is the great equalizer – death, and the eternal questions that death brings.

Encouragement from family and friends is most welcome at times like this. Vacations, hobbies, and entertainment can distract us from our problems for a time. Unfortunately, those things don't provide "eternal" encouragement. We need to look to God for that and he does not disappoint. "From the beginning God chose you to be saved." Before you were even conceived and born God chose you to be saved from the eternity in hell and determined heaven for you instead. "He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Those God has chosen to be a part of his eternal family he also makes sure they hear and believe the good news (gospel) that Jesus Christ loves you so much that he was willing to suffer hell in your place so you wouldn't have to. And just like Jesus rose victoriously from the grave and now lives in the glory of heaven forever, those who are connected to Jesus in faith will experience that same resurrection from the dead and will share the same awesomeness of heaven…forever.

"The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." God will not let anyone or anything, including the Devil, get in the way of you spending eternity with him in heaven. My friends, as you navigate through the discouraging things that happen in life, be eternally encouraged by God's promises.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help me to treasure the physical life you have given to me as a gift. Even more so, help me to treasure the spiritual and eternal life you give to me as a gift through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Today's Devotion is brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com

18 novembro 2013

Dear Lord, Thank You

Dear Lord, thank you for _________.

{How are you filling in that blank? Are you taking time to thank God for the blessings he provides?}

06 novembro 2013

How Luther went viral

Social media in the 16th Century
How Luther went viral

Five centuries before Facebook and the Arab spring, social media helped bring about the Reformation


IT IS a familiar-sounding tale: after decades of simmering discontent a new form of media gives opponents of an authoritarian regime a way to express their views, register their solidarity and co-ordinate their actions. The protesters' message spreads virally through social networks, making it impossible to suppress and highlighting the extent of public support for revolution. The combination of improved publishing technology and social networks is a catalyst for social change where previous efforts had failed.

That's what happened in the Arab spring. It's also what happened during the Reformation, nearly 500 years ago, when Martin Luther and his allies took the new media of their day—pamphlets, ballads and woodcuts—and circulated them through social networks to promote their message of religious reform.

Scholars have long debated the relative importance of printed media, oral transmission and images in rallying popular support for the Reformation. Some have championed the central role of printing, a relatively new technology at the time. Opponents of this view emphasise the importance of preaching and other forms of oral transmission. More recently historians have highlighted the role of media as a means of social signalling and co-ordinating public opinion in the Reformation.

Now the internet offers a new perspective on this long-running debate, namely that the important factor was not the printing press itself (which had been around since the 1450s), but the wider system of media sharing along social networks—what is called “social media” today. Luther, like the Arab revolutionaries, grasped the dynamics of this new media environment very quickly, and saw how it could spread his message.

New post from Martin Luther

The start of the Reformation is usually dated to Luther's nailing of his “95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31st 1517. The “95 Theses” were propositions written in Latin that he wished to discuss, in the academic custom of the day, in an open debate at the university. Luther, then an obscure theologian and minister, was outraged by the behaviour of Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar who was selling indulgences to raise money to fund the pet project of his boss, Pope Leo X: the reconstruction of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Hand over your money, went Tetzel's sales pitch, and you can ensure that your dead relatives are not stuck in purgatory. This crude commercialisation of the doctrine of indulgences, encapsulated in Tetzel's slogan—“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, so the soul from purgatory springs”—was, to Luther, “the pious defrauding of the faithful” and a glaring symptom of the need for broad reform. Pinning a list of propositions to the church door, which doubled as the university notice board, was a standard way to announce a public debate.

Although they were written in Latin, the “95 Theses” caused an immediate stir, first within academic circles in Wittenberg and then farther afield. In December 1517 printed editions of the theses, in the form of pamphlets and broadsheets, appeared simultaneously in Leipzig, Nuremberg and Basel, paid for by Luther's friends to whom he had sent copies. German translations, which could be read by a wider public than Latin-speaking academics and clergy, soon followed and quickly spread throughout the German-speaking lands. Luther's friend Friedrich Myconius later wrote that “hardly 14 days had passed when these propositions were known throughout Germany and within four weeks almost all of Christendom was familiar with them.”

The unintentional but rapid spread of the “95 Theses” alerted Luther to the way in which media passed from one person to another could quickly reach a wide audience. “They are printed and circulated far beyond my expectation,” he wrote in March 1518 to a publisher in Nuremberg who had published a German translation of the theses. But writing in scholarly Latin and then translating it into German was not the best way to address the wider public. Luther wrote that he “should have spoken far differently and more distinctly had I known what was going to happen.” For the publication later that month of his “Sermon on Indulgences and Grace”, he switched to German, avoiding regional vocabulary to ensure that his words were intelligible from the Rhineland to Saxony. The pamphlet, an instant hit, is regarded by many as the true starting point of the Reformation.

The media environment that Luther had shown himself so adept at managing had much in common with today's online ecosystem of blogs, social networks and discussion threads. It was a decentralised system whose participants took care of distribution, deciding collectively which messages to amplify through sharing and recommendation. Modern media theorists refer to participants in such systems as a “networked public”, rather than an “audience”, since they do more than just consume information. Luther would pass the text of a new pamphlet to a friendly printer (no money changed hands) and then wait for it to ripple through the network of printing centres across Germany.

Unlike larger books, which took weeks or months to produce, a pamphlet could be printed in a day or two. Copies of the initial edition, which cost about the same as a chicken, would first spread throughout the town where it was printed. Luther's sympathisers recommended it to their friends. Booksellers promoted it and itinerant colporteurs hawked it. Travelling merchants, traders and preachers would then carry copies to other towns, and if they sparked sufficient interest, local printers would quickly produce their own editions, in batches of 1,000 or so, in the hope of cashing in on the buzz. A popular pamphlet would thus spread quickly without its author's involvement.

As with “Likes” and retweets today, the number of reprints serves as an indicator of a given item's popularity. Luther's pamphlets were the most sought after; a contemporary remarked that they “were not so much sold as seized”. His first pamphlet written in German, the “Sermon on Indulgences and Grace”, was reprinted 14 times in 1518 alone, in print runs of at least 1,000 copies each time. Of the 6,000 different pamphlets that were published in German-speaking lands between 1520 and 1526, some 1,700 were editions of a few dozen works by Luther. In all, some 6m-7m pamphlets were printed in the first decade of the Reformation, more than a quarter of them Luther's.

Although Luther was the most prolific and popular author, there were many others on both sides of the debate. Tetzel, the indulgence-seller, was one of the first to respond to him in print, firing back with his own collection of theses. Others embraced the new pamphlet format to weigh in on the merits of Luther's arguments, both for and against, like argumentative bloggers. Sylvester Mazzolini defended the pope against Luther in his “Dialogue Against the Presumptuous Theses of Martin Luther”. He called Luther “a leper with a brain of brass and a nose of iron” and dismissed his arguments on the basis of papal infallibility. Luther, who refused to let any challenge go unanswered, took a mere two days to produce his own pamphlet in response, giving as good as he got. “I am sorry now that I despised Tetzel,” he wrote. “Ridiculous as he was, he was more acute than you. You cite no scripture. You give no reasons.”

Being able to follow and discuss such back-and-forth exchanges of views, in which each author quoted his opponent's words in order to dispute them, gave people a thrilling and unprecedented sense of participation in a vast, distributed debate. Arguments in their own social circles about the merits of Luther's views could be seen as part of a far wider discourse, both spoken and printed. Many pamphlets called upon the reader to discuss their contents with others and read them aloud to the illiterate. People read and discussed pamphlets at home with their families, in groups with their friends, and in inns and taverns. Luther's pamphlets were read out at spinning bees in Saxony and in bakeries in Tyrol. In some cases entire guilds of weavers or leather-workers in particular towns declared themselves supporters of the Reformation, indicating that Luther's ideas were being propagated in the workplace. One observer remarked in 1523 that better sermons could be heard in the inns of Ulm than in its churches, and in Basel in 1524 there were complaints about people preaching from books and pamphlets in the town's taverns. Contributors to the debate ranged from the English king Henry VIII, whose treatise attacking Luther (co-written with Thomas More) earned him the title “Defender of the Faith” from the pope, to Hans Sachs, a shoemaker from Nuremberg who wrote a series of hugely popular songs in support of Luther.

A multimedia campaign

It was not just words that travelled along the social networks of the Reformation era, but music and images too. The news ballad, like the pamphlet, was a relatively new form of media. It set a poetic and often exaggerated description of contemporary events to a familiar tune so that it could be easily learned, sung and taught to others. News ballads were often “contrafacta” that deliberately mashed up a pious melody with secular or even profane lyrics. They were distributed in the form of printed lyric sheets, with a note to indicate which tune they should be sung to. Once learned they could spread even among the illiterate through the practice of communal singing.

Both reformers and Catholics used this new form to spread information and attack their enemies. “We are Starting to Sing a New Song”, Luther's first venture into the news-ballad genre, told the story of two monks who had been executed in Brussels in 1523 after refusing to recant their Lutheran beliefs. Luther's enemies denounced him as the Antichrist in song, while his supporters did the same for the pope and insulted Catholic theologians (“Goat, desist with your bleating”, one of them was admonished). Luther himself is thought to have been the author of “Now We Drive Out the Pope”, a parody of a folk song called “Now We Drive Out Winter”, whose tune it borrowed:

“Now we drive out the pope 
from Christ's church and God's house.
Therein he has reigned in a deadly fashion
and has seduced uncountably many souls.
Now move along, you damned son,
you Whore of Babylon. You are the abomination and the Antichrist,
full of lies, death and cunning.”

Woodcuts were another form of propaganda. The combination of bold graphics with a smattering of text, printed as a broadsheet, could convey messages to the illiterate or semi-literate and serve as a visual aid for preachers. Luther remarked that “without images we can neither think nor understand anything.” Some religious woodcuts were elaborate, with complex allusions and layers of meaning that would only have been apparent to the well-educated. “Passional Christi und Antichristi”, for example, was a series of images contrasting the piety of Christ with the decadence and corruption of the pope. Some were astonishingly crude and graphic, such as “The Origin of the Monks” (see picture), showing three devils excreting a pile of monks. The best of them were produced by Luther's friend Lucas Cranach. Luther's opponents responded with woodcuts of their own: “Luther's Game of Heresy” (see beginning of this article) depicts him boiling up a stew with the help of three devils, producing fumes from the pot labelled falsehood, pride, envy, heresy and so forth.
Amid the barrage of pamphlets, ballads and woodcuts, public opinion was clearly moving in Luther's favour. “Idle chatter and inappropriate books” were corrupting the people, fretted one bishop. “Daily there is a veritable downpour of Lutheran tracts in German and Latin…nothing is sold here except the tracts of Luther,” lamented Aleander, Leo X's envoy to Germany, in 1521. Most of the 60 or so clerics who rallied to the pope's defence did so in academic and impenetrable Latin, the traditional language of theology, rather than in German. Where Luther's works spread like wildfire, their pamphlets fizzled. Attempts at censorship failed, too. Printers in Leipzig were banned from publishing or selling anything by Luther or his allies, but material printed elsewhere still flowed into the city. The city council complained to the Duke of Saxony that printers faced losing “house, home, and all their livelihood” because “that which one would gladly sell, and for which there is demand, they are not allowed to have or sell.” What they had was lots of Catholic pamphlets, “but what they have in over-abundance is desired by no one and cannot even be given away.”
Luther's enemies likened the spread of his ideas to a sickness. The papal bull threatening Luther with excommunication in 1520 said its aim was “to cut off the advance of this plague and cancerous disease so it will not spread any further”. The Edict of Worms in 1521 warned that the spread of Luther's message had to be prevented, otherwise “the whole German nation, and later all other nations, will be infected by this same disorder.” But it was too late—the infection had taken hold in Germany and beyond. To use the modern idiom, Luther's message had gone viral.

From Wittenberg to Facebook

In the early years of the Reformation expressing support for Luther's views, through preaching, recommending a pamphlet or singing a news ballad directed at the pope, was dangerous. By stamping out isolated outbreaks of opposition swiftly, autocratic regimes discourage their opponents from speaking out and linking up. A collective-action problem thus arises when people are dissatisfied, but are unsure how widely their dissatisfaction is shared, as Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, has observed in connection with the Arab spring. The dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia, she argues, survived for as long as they did because although many people deeply disliked those regimes, they could not be sure others felt the same way. Amid the outbreaks of unrest in early 2011, however, social-media websites enabled lots of people to signal their preferences en masse to their peers very quickly, in an “informational cascade” that created momentum for further action.

The same thing happened in the Reformation. The surge in the popularity of pamphlets in 1523-24, the vast majority of them in favour of reform, served as a collective signalling mechanism. As Andrew Pettegree, an expert on the Reformation at St Andrew's University, puts it in “Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion”, “It was the superabundance, the cascade of titles, that created the impression of an overwhelming tide, an unstoppable movement of opinion…Pamphlets and their purchasers had together created the impression of irresistible force.” Although Luther had been declared a heretic in 1521, and owning or reading his works was banned by the church, the extent of local political and popular support for Luther meant he escaped execution and the Reformation became established in much of Germany.

Modern society tends to regard itself as somehow better than previous ones, and technological advance reinforces that sense of superiority. But history teaches us that there is nothing new under the sun. Robert Darnton, an historian at Harvard University, who has studied information-sharing networks in pre-revolutionary France, argues that “the marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the internet.” Social media are not unprecedented: rather, they are the continuation of a long tradition. Modern digital networks may be able to do it more quickly, but even 500 years ago the sharing of media could play a supporting role in precipitating a revolution. Today's social-media systems do not just connect us to each other: they also link us to the past.

Dec 17th 2011 | From the print edition of The Economist

05 novembro 2013

Through the law we become conscious of sin.

DEVOTION - NOVEMBER 5, 2013
Daily devotion from Romans 3:20.

Through the law we become conscious of sin.
Romans 3:20

Look at the Picture

One night I couldn’t sleep. I stumbled downstairs, turned on the television and began surfing through the channels. And that’s how I found it. It was an old movie entitled, The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s a period piece set in the 1800’s. It’s based on a famous novel by the same name. And in its own way, it’s one of the most frightening movies I’ve ever seen.

Dorian Gray is a handsome young man who also happens to be a fine, upstanding citizen. An artist has just painted Dorian’s portrait. Dorian takes the picture home and hangs it on his wall.

As time goes on, two things happen. For one, Dorian Gray begins to slide into a life of immorality. As he does, it seems as though he never has to suffer any consequences for his behavior. But the other thing that happens is truly chilling. It has to do with Dorian Gray’s picture. He discovers that the more he drifts into immorality, the uglier his picture becomes. Finally, the picture troubles him so much that he takes the picture upstairs into the attic and covers it with a cloth.

Years pass. Dorian Gray has by now slipped into a dark lifestyle of hedonism and apathy and cruelty. But again, it appears as though he never suffers any consequences. In fact, even though many years have passed, Dorian Gray looks as though he has not aged a day.

Then, one night, Dorian Gray decides to look at his picture. He climbs the stairs, enters the attic, approaches the picture, and pulls down the cloth.

It’s horrible. Grotesque. Monstrous beyond description. From the attic of that house comes the sound of a scream and a great crash. Then all is quiet.

To learn the end of the story you’ll need to watch the movie (or read the book). But what the picture does for Dorian Gray is much like what God’s Law does for you and me.

It’s easy for me to excuse my sin, make light of it, and ignore it. I may even convince myself that putting myself first in life is the only way to live. But then God’s Law summons me to look at the picture – my picture. There I see the ugliness of my sin. There I see the full view of my corruption. There I see the desperate lostness of my soul.

But the horror of my picture is not the end. For now Jesus has come. His blood has washed me clean. The ugliness is gone. Forgiveness and life have taken its place.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, move me to look into my picture that God’s Law paints. Bring me to repentance. Wash me clean. And give me peace and joy in you. Amen.


Today's Devotion is brought to you by WELS and www.WhatAboutJesus.com


04 novembro 2013

S.t Markus församling i Ljungby - Predikan av Hans Ahlskog




S.t Markus församling i Ljungby
Predikan av Hans Ahlskog 3/11 2013
Matt 22:15-22
Hans Ahlskog är bibellärare i S.t Johannes församling, Vasa, Finland
bekannelse.se

03 novembro 2013

Who can baptize?

Who can baptize? In the Catholic Church anyone can baptize in case of an emergency. Do Lutherans allow lay people to baptize?


The power of baptism rests in Jesus' promise (John 3:5,6; Titus 3:5,6; 1 Peter 3:21), not in the person doing the baptizing. For that reason, the Lutheran church recognizes the validity of baptisms performed by laypeople. This often happens (and properly so) when there is an emergency, i.e., a situation where the candidate's survival is in doubt.

A number of needs are met, however, by having a pastor do the baptizing. These include: good order, absolute clarity about whether the person was baptized, a clear public statement that the person is being baptized by the officiating church and into the church, and (if done in a worship service) an opportunity to remind the congregation of their own baptism and its blessings. That's why baptism by a pastor during a worship service is our normal practice.


Questions and Answers
www.wels.net

Comemoração da Reforma Luterana

Domingo, 3 de Novembro




COMEMORAÇÃO DA REFORMA LUTERANA
16:00 HORAS

CAPELA DO REI CARLOS ALBERTO
PALÁCIO DE CRISTAL
PORTO

Durante a Missa serão recebidos três novos membros da Igreja e haverá um baptismo!

Vinde e Vede!

22 setembro 2013

WELS Hymnal Project

www.welshymnal.com

In 1993 we reflected on the grace of God which has come to us "unasked, unforced, unearned," (CW 54). In 2008 we marveled that "on the cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied" (CWS 752). The next milestone for gospel-centered worship in WELS is 2024 when a new hymnal will be released. What will the world look like in 2024? The future "Class of 2024" is only seven years old today. Children whose first day of school is in 2024 won't even be born for another six years. What changes will you have seen by 2024?

We know one thing won't change. The grace of God displayed in Jesus Christ. We will always need his forgiveness. We will always need his love. We will always need his gifts.

Christ's church on earth has always been blessed by people who think not only of themselves, but of those who worshiped before them, those who worship with them, and those who will worship after them. For it is in worship that Christ himself approaches us to forgive our darkest sins and bring us a glorious hope.

How will this new hymnal project help a new generation of Christians to reflect on the grace of God? Time will tell. For now, we humbly undertake this project to bring glory to God and to proclaim Christ's saving name. We begin our task so that worshipers now and long into the future can both hear for themselves and proclaim to God and the people around them the saving work of Jesus Christ.


WELS Hymnal Project
1250 North 113th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53226

www.welshymnal.com

24 abril 2013

Light for My Path

ELS Daily Devotion
April 23rd, 2013
Written by: Paul Fries
www.evangelicallutheransynod.org

Light for My Path Daily Devotions
Bible Reading

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25 ESV)

Hymn ELH 370:1,6 The King of Love My Shepherd Is

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His,
And He is mine forever.

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never.
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

Prayer

Jesus, my Shepherd and my King, thank You for bearing my sins on the cross, so that I can live with You in Heaven. Amen.

21 abril 2013

Adam and Eve Bemoaning the Death of Abel

Lucas van Leyden 1494 – 1533

Adam and Eve Bemoaning the Death of Abel
engraving (16 × 11 cm) — 1529
University of Michigan Museum of Art

This work is linked to Genesis 4:13

Adam and Eve mourn the death of their son Abel, who was killed by his brother Cain.

This is the last print from a series of six by Lucas van Leyden called The history of Adam and Eve.

1. The Creation of Eve
2. The Test Commandment
3. The Fall
4. The Expulsion from Paradise
5. Cain Kills Abel
6. Adam and Eve Mourning over Abel

Worms, Abril de 1521

Doutor Martinho Lutero em Worms, Abril de 1521:

«A menos que seja convencido de erro pelas Escrituras ou por raciocínio claro, pois a minha consciência está presa à Palavra de Deus, não posso nem quero retractar-me, porque agir contra a própria consciência não é, nem verdadeiro, nem honesto. Aqui estou! De outra maneira, não posso! Que Deus me ajude! Amém!»

20 abril 2013

Johannes Bugenhagen

Igreja Luterana de Portugal
Calendário Luterano - 20 de Abril
Johannes Bugenhagen, Pastor

Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558), originário da Pomerânia, no Norte da Alemanha, foi nomeado pastor em Wittenberg em 1523, tendo sido o pastor e confessor de Martinho Lutero, de quem celebrou o casamento em 1525. Foi um dos grandes académicos da era da Reforma, tendo colaborado na tradução do Novo Testamento para o "baixo-alemão" e escrito um "Comentário ao Livro de Salmos". Colaborou na organização da Igreja Luterana no norte da Alemanha e na Dinamarca.

Here I stand

It was 492 years ago, but the words still ring out today.

On April 16, 1521, Martin Luther arrived in a German city called Worms for an appearance before the emperor, Charles V. The emperor had summoned him to defend his public teaching against accusations of heresy by the Roman Catholic church.

On April 17, in the presence of the emperor, a representative of the Roman Catholic hierarchy opened the hearing by reading the titles of a large pile of Luther's books and asking him whether the books were his. Luther answered, "Yes, the books are mine." When asked, "Will you retract the doctrines in these books?" Luther answered cautiously, saying, "It would be rash and dangerous to reply to such a question until I have meditated on it in silence and retreat." The questioner told Luther to come back the next day at the same time with his answer.

The next day, April 18, Luther entered a larger hall that was filled to overflowing. The Roman Catholic representative demanded, "Explain yourself now. Will you defend all your writings, or disavow some of them?"

Luther saw an opportunity to give a speech, rather than simply giving a "yes" or "no" answer, and he took it. After he summarized the contents of his teachings and explained why he had written as he did, the questioner asked again, "Martin--answer candidly and without horns--do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors which they contain?"

Luther replied, "'Since then your imperial majesty and your lordships demand a simple answer, I will give you one without teeth and without horns. Unless I am convicted of error by the testimony of Scripture...I cannot and will not retract, for we must never act contrary to our consciences...Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me! Amen!"

Faithful Lutherans around the world today still say the same thing. Our consciences are bound by the Word of God. When the Bible speaks clearly, we also speak clearly, regardless of how strongly the world condemns that testimony.

We cannot do otherwise. God help us!

By Rev. Paul Prange

WELS
www.wels.net

18 abril 2013

Fé (Martin Chemnitz)

“Em primeiro lugar, a nossa fé deve agarrar-se a Cristo como Deus e homem, nessa natureza pela qual Ele se fez nosso vizinho, parente, irmão.”
Martin Chemnitz (séc. XVI)

“In the first place, our faith ought to lay hold on Christ as God and man in that nature by which He has been made our neighbor, kinsman, and brother.”
Martin Chemnitz


13 abril 2013

Domingo MISERICORDIAS DOMINI

14 de Abril
Domingo MISERICORDIAS DOMINI


Salmo 23

1. O SENHOR é o meu pastor, nada me faltará.
2. Deitar-me faz em verdes pastos, guia-me mansamente a águas tranquilas.
3. Refrigera a minha alma; guia-me pelas veredas da justiça, por amor do seu nome.
4. Ainda que eu andasse pelo vale da sombra da morte, não temeria mal algum, porque tu estás comigo; a tua vara e o teu cajado me consolam.
5. Preparas uma mesa perante mim na presença dos meus inimigos, unges a minha cabeça com óleo, o meu cálice transborda.
6. Certamente que a bondade e a misericórdia me seguirão todos os dias da minha vida; e habitarei na casa do Senhor por longos dias.

www.facebook.com/IgrejaLuteranaDePortugal

07 abril 2013

Quasimodo Geniti - 7 de Abril

2º Domingo da Páscoa - Quasimodo Geniti

A incredulidade de S. Tomé, Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1622
João 20: 19-31

19 Chegada, pois, a tarde daquele dia, o primeiro da semana, e cerradas as portas onde os discípulos, com medo dos judeus, se tinham ajuntado, chegou Jesus, e pôs-se no meio, e disse-lhes: Paz seja convosco. 
20 E, dizendo isto, mostrou-lhes as suas mãos e o lado. De sorte que os discípulos se alegraram, vendo o Senhor. 
21 Disse-lhes, pois, Jesus outra vez: Paz seja convosco; assim como o Pai me enviou, também eu vos envio a vós. 
22 E, havendo dito isto, assoprou sobre eles e disse-lhes: Recebei o Espírito Santo. 
23 «queles a quem perdoardes os pecados lhes são perdoados; e àqueles a quem os retiverdes lhes são retidos. 
24 Ora, Tomé, um dos doze, chamado Dídimo, não estava com eles quando veio Jesus. 
25 Disseram-lhe, pois, os outros discípulos: Vimos o Senhor. Mas ele disse-lhes: Se eu não vir o sinal dos cravos em suas mãos, e não puser o meu dedo no lugar dos cravos, e não puser a minha mão no seu lado, de maneira nenhuma o crerei. 
26 E oito dias depois estavam outra vez os seus discípulos dentro, e com eles Tomé. Chegou Jesus, estando as portas fechadas, e apresentou-se no meio, e disse: Paz seja convosco. 
27 Depois disse a Tomé: Põe aqui o teu dedo, e vê as minhas mãos; e chega a tua mão, e põe-na no meu lado; e não sejas incrédulo, mas crente. 
28 E Tomé respondeu, e disse-lhe: Senhor meu, e Deus meu! 
29 Disse-lhe Jesus: Porque me viste, Tomé, creste; bem-aventurados os que não viram e creram. 
30 Jesus, pois, operou também em presença de seus discípulos muitos outros sinais, que não estão escritos neste livro. 
31 Estes, porém, foram escritos para que creiais que Jesus é o Cristo, o Filho de Deus, e para que, crendo, tenhais vida em seu nome.

06 abril 2013

Calendário Luterano - 6 de Abril

CALENDÁRIO LUTERANO – 6 DE ABRIL
Comemoração de Lucas Cranach e Albrecht Dürer, Artistas


Lucas Cranach (à esq.) e Albrecht Dürer (à dir.) – séc. XVI
Estes dois artistas cristãos usaram a sua vocação de pintores para glorificar Deus e anunciar o Evangelho através da imagem.
Cada um destes pintores foi capaz de transpor as profundas verdades teológicas da fé Cristã para os seus quadros, de modo que as pinturas pregavam a Cristo para aqueles que meditavam sobre eles.

Oração
Ó Deus, que pelo Teu Espírito Santo dás a uns a palavra de sabedoria, a outros a palavra do conhecimento, e a outros, a palavra da fé, nós te louvamos pelos dons de proclamar a Tua graça e glória através da imagem que deste aos Teus servos Albrecht e Lucas , e oramos para que a Tua Igreja não seja nunca destituída de tais dons; através de Jesus Cristo, nosso Senhor, que vive e reina conTigo e com o Espírito Santo, um só Deus, agora e para sempre. Amém.

Semana Santa - Wittenberg

Na Semana Santa , em Wittenberg, o retiro da WELS European Civilian Chaplaincy contou com a presença de um grupo de membros da nossa Igreja Luterana de Portugal. Foi uma bênção esta comunhão em Cristo, e a possibilidade de visitar a cidade onde a Reforma Luterana aconteceu, onde o puro Evangelho de Cristo foi restaurado à sua singeleza!

Even the snow and cold temperatures couldn't dampen our Easter joy! We are so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate Jesus' resurrection with our Christian family in Wittenberg, Germany.


WELS European Civilian Chaplaincy - Easter Retrat