Everybody believes something.

Twenty-first century people don't like to take one stand of belief which excludes another; it's considered bigoted and hateful. When we are forced to do so, we just don't take it that seriously. "What's the impact?" and "How will it affect me?" are the questions we usually ask, not "Is this true?" or "What facts do you have to support your position?" But we like to be clear about not only what we are about, but what we are not about.

First of all, Lutheranism isn't oriented toward "self help" psychology. If your first purpose is to find a belief system that will make you feel good about yourself and what you've done during the week and be a measuring stick for your spiritual growth, you've probably come to the wrong place. Sorry. On the other hand, if you seek forgiveness of sin and long to hear the voice of your Father as His Word is read to you from scripture, welcome.

If the truth of Jesus' bloody death on the cross and resurrection from the dead for your salvation hasn't gripped you yet, we're more than willing to talk with you about it.

Our focus is not the "cutting edge" or the practical. You won't find a "praise" band swaying back an forth on a stage in the front of the church. The pastor doesn't have an MBA and we've never heard messages like, "twenty things you can do to improve your marriage" or "eight things you can do to keep the kids from fighting in the back of the mini-van." Not much room for it in Lutheranism.

We're not "dynamic." There are some new things in our service ( like liturgical music put to modern instruments ). Other than that, everything is pretty old. However, we don't have thousands of swooning teenagers. Our pastor is a good preacher, but he isn't the focus of the service. The service isn't about spiritual exaltation – going up into heaven – some unearthly "mountain top" experience, but Jesus coming down to us through the words of Scripture and in bread and wine. If you don't understand this last statement, don't worry about it too much just yet. The point to get here is that God is the one who is dynamic, we're pretty much static.

We're not "holier than thou." At least, we try not to be. We believe we are saved by God's gracious favor alone. We aren't able to do anything to please Him. This doesn't give license for putting on "spiritual" airs.

We're not perfect - not even close. We don't expect you to be either. Jesus was and is. He was perfect in our place and gave us His perfection as a gift. We wish this gift meant we didn't have to struggle either, but it doesn't. God by royal decree pronounced us righteous for the sake of his Son, we're still waiting for our bodies to catch up with that good news.

We don't believe sex is bad. We actually think it's great – the more sex the better. Where you have it and with whom is important, but as with all of creation we believe it has received God's blessing. God loves what he has created – sex and all of it; He loves matter. He made it. In redeeming a broken creation, God has used and continues to use matter. Jesus born as we are, His body broken on a cross, bread and wine which connect us to that body, and water through which we are buried with Him. This takes us to the practical aspects of being a Lutheran.

First, we open our ears. In many churches, there is an emphasis on sitting and listening, but often this is so that you can hear your marching orders. In our church, we have a different message. You will be told how as a race we failed to march into battle and got taken captive. But God became man and fought in our place, winning the battle we lost.

Second, we open our mouths. The victory spoils are ours. What has been won for us is eternal life. We receive this life with our mouths when we partake of Holy Communion. Christ's death in our place ensures that we don't have to die eternally. We are sinners, and the wages of sin is death. Yet where the penalty is already paid, there is nothing to suffer. Partaking of Communion unites us to the One who has already suffered death and been released. When God sees Christ's body and blood in us, spiritual death passes over us, for it has already claimed its due.

But what do we do then? What comes naturally? What would you do if you really believed that God had reconciled Himself to you freely by taking your place in death? Whatever that is, do that. Our primary purpose is not to tell you what to do in response to the story, but to tell you the story itself. We have a tendency to forget the story.

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