For Lutherans, the life of the church rises not from bishops or politics or worldly institutions, but from the gospel itself. The gospel is the good news of God’s love for everyone — no exceptions — revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

As an expression of the gospel, we share sacraments — visible signs of hidden, spiritual realities — of baptism and communion. The water of baptism — cool, warm, splashed or drenching — brings to our senses God’s word of forgiveness, cleansing from sin, and new birth as God’s child. The bread and wine of communion — sweet, bitter, dry or fresh-baked — place on our tongue God’s word of sustaining love, strengthening us to serve in God’s world.

The songs we sing, the prayers we pray, the blessings we offer, are all about gathering us into and helping us hold onto God’s love, that we might share it as freely and fully as it is given.