Today on the show, we remember the “second Martin” of the Reformation on the 500th anniversary of his birth.

What does it look like to preach while the world is ending? Ringside Preachers, Craft of Preaching, and John Pless from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne tackle this topic from a practical and historical viewpoint after eating fried chicken livers, of course.

The series on the history of the Reformation comes to an end with a recap on the Formula of Concord and the beginnings of the Thirty Years War.

The Confessions instead look forward and provide a critique of the world and of all my various religions and idolatries.

As the last confession in the Book of Concord, the Formula of Concord strove to unite a Lutherans around a standard set of answers regarding doctrinal controversy.

(This article first appeared in Modern Reformation and is posted here with permission.)

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?