This is the third installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”
The Church speaks not with the cleverness of men, but with the breath of God.
I always imagined dying a faithful death for Christ would mean burning at the stake. Now, I suspect it will mean dying in my bed of natural causes.

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Friends are a gift from God, but all gifts flow from God to his children because of his love for us on account of Christ.
The following is an excerpt from“Where Two or Three Are Gathered” edited by Scott Keith (1517 Publishing, 2019).
The following is an excerpt from “Where Two or Three Are Gathered” edited by Scott Keith (1517 Publishing, 2019).
The more that we hear the law, the more we recognize others as those who, like us, are torn and tattered by the wounds of sin and brokenness.
It is only when individuals are bound together in community that they become fully human.
The word which typifies my understanding of what makes male friendships so central to the concept of masculinity is philia.
I have found that Gandalf’s words above ring true, not only in Middle-earth, but in our world as well.
Mutual Conversation and Consolation of the Brethren V — Some Examples from Rod Rosenbladt
"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." This should therefore be our starting place for understanding the basis of the doctrine.
We have to trust that there is value in these conversations. They are not valuable only when they can be counted as a program. And what are most programs but attempts to get us to “act like” Christians at some future point of time?
As with many teachings, the Lutheran teaching on Mutual Conversation and Consolation of the Brethren fits in with other teachings. The various teachings don’t stand alone, but they fit together as an organic whole.
One of the strongest elements in the evangelicalism of my youth has a place in Lutheranism that might be surprising to many. This is what our confessions call “The Mutual Conversation and Consolation of the Brethren."