Class 3: Gathered and Fed

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus,

You call me to gather with Your people, to receive Your gifts, and to be nourished by Your Word and Sacraments. Open my ears to hear, my heart to believe, and my life to respond in faith and thanksgiving. Help me see worship not as something I do for You, but as something You do for me. Amen.

Big Idea:

God gathers us to receive His gifts in worship and community.

1. Why do we worship the way we do? (Historical Theology)

• Key idea: Worship is God’s service to us (Divine Service)
• Historical development of liturgy
• Small Catechism, Preface to the Lord’s Supper (CPH 2017)
• Connection to Acts 2:42 – “apostles' teaching and fellowship…”

2. Confession, Creed, and the Lord’s Supper

• Explanation to the Sacrament of the Altar (CPH 2017, Q##)
• The real presence: Christ gives His Body and Blood for us
• Tie to 1 Corinthians 11 and Matthew 26
• Why we repeat the Creed: It anchors our shared faith (Apostolic Confession)
• Discuss Confession & Absolution as a communal practice

3. Why the Church Matters

• Hebrews 10:25 and Acts 2:46
• The Church as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12)
• The Church as the place of Christ’s gifts
• Worship vs. private spirituality: Why both are important

4. Beyond Sunday: Daily Devotion & Fellowship

• Daily prayer and devotions (e.g., Portals of Prayer, LSB daily lectionary)
• Small groups, fellowship, music, and other ministries
• Luther’s encouragement in Large Catechism, Part V.25–30 [Kolb/Wengert, p. 446–448]

Take-Home Reflection

What is something you’ve received in worship recently?

How does the Lord’s Supper strengthen your faith?

What would it look like for you to be more present in the life of the Church?

From the Confessions

“We must never regard the sacrament as a harmful thing from which we should flee, but as a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort.”

Large Catechism, V.68 [Kolb/Wengert, p. 450]

“For where the name of God is preached and believed, there the holy sacrament is rightly administered, and there is the holy Christian people.”

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article VII/VIII [Kolb/Wengert, p. 175]

“He who believes these words has exactly what they say: ‘forgiveness of sins.’”

Small Catechism, Sacrament of the Altar (CPH 2017)