26th June 2016 - Sermon on the 486th Anniversary of the Augsburg Confession (Pastor Fox at Bethlehem Schoenborn)

Today as part of our usual Sunday worship we remember the Confessio Augustana, also known as the "Augustana"  or the Augsburg Confession.

Usually, when we speak of "confession", we are talking about admitting that someone has done something wrong.
This is not the case with the Augsburg Confession.
In this sense, "confession" is a statement of what we hold to be true - what we confess to be the things that are  of such truth and value to us that they define the way we understand our identity, faith, and religion.

This Confession is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church, and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran Reformation.
The Augustana defines what makes Lutherans Lutheran.
  
All Lutheran Pastors, including the one preaching this sermon, swear agreement with the Augustana in their ordination vows as their confession, defining their ministry.

The Augsburg Confession was written in both German and Latin and was presented by a number of German rulers and free-cities at the Diet of Augsburg on 25 June 1530, so yesterday was its 486th birthday! 


OH - BTW ... it's now called "The Prairie Hotel"