Praying the catechism
John H Monday 21st May, AD 2007
As I mentioned in a recent post, the Small Catechism is great reading for Christians of any tradition. It represents a “mere Christianity” that is believed, and can be appreciated, far beyond the institutional boundaries of “Lutheranism”. (See, for example, CraigS’s reference to the catechism he prepared for his sons, based on the Small Catechism.)
And as I said in the same post, the Small Catechism has been described as the only catechism that can be prayed (PDF). Luther wrote it, not as a doctrinal standard, but as a resource for personal and (especially) family instruction and devotion (hence the inclusion of prayers for morning, evening and meal times).
So one of the best ways to “get into” the Small Catechism is to pray it. As I’ve mentioned, the Catechism contains orders for morning and evening prayer, and these can easily be expanded to an informal “catechism office” along the lines of the following:
- Introduction
- Confession
- Praise
- Reading
- Creed
- Prayer
Make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Read or recite the Ten Commandments, perhaps dwelling on two or three questions from Luther’s exposition, and confessing to God any particular sins that come to mind.
Sing or recite a psalm or two, ending each with the “Glory Be…”.
Read a passage from Scripture, according to whatever scheme you choose to follow.
Read or recite the Creed, perhaps dwelling on Luther’s exposition of one of the articles or (once you’ve worked your way through the Creed) a question or two from the sections on Holy Baptism, the Sacrament of the Altar or Confession and the Office of the Keys.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer, and then go back to focus on some or all of the petitions as expounded upon by Luther, adding your own particular prayer requests as come to mind under each heading. Conclude with the “little prayer” for the morning or evening (as applicable) from the section of Daily Prayers.
Any suggested refinements are very welcome.
The best version of the Catechism for this purpose is probably the small “tract” edition produced by CPH. It’s a small, plain booklet that fits easily inside a Bible, and can then be easily referred to. I also hope to put some further resources up on this site at some point that may be useful for this purpose. (No promises, though, mind…)
Note: Updated on 12 June 2008 to reflect developments in my own practice, and to bring it closer to Luther’s own practice as described in A Simple Way to Pray.
- Tags: Daily Office, Mere Christianity
- Categories: Luther , Prayer , Small Catechism
- Comments(7)
I’ve just been looking through the section on the 10 commandments. I have a couple of questions.
Whatever happened to the 2nd commandment (‘You shall not make an image… etc)?
Why has the 10th commandment been split in two to form c9 and c10?
Derek: thanks for your comment.
The Lutheran church retained (with a slight tweak to 9/10) the numbering system for the commandments used the Catholic church (the Orthodox church follows a similar scheme). This reflects the approach of the “conservative Reformation” of seeking to change only what needed changing for the sake of the gospel.
Lutherans would then say that the commandment against idolatry forms part of the first commandment. This can be seen more clearly if you read Luther’s exposition of the first commandment in the Large Catechism.
The commandments in the original text are not numbered or subdivided, so any numbering of them is merely a human interpretation rather than relating to the original text. A number of different subdivisions have been used by various churches (and by Jews, of course), but all accept the full text of the commandments regardless of how we divide them.
Very good questions. One of my ‘hobbies’ might be considered a study of the Small Catechism. And a distinction is made in the meanings of the ninth and tenth commandments. When you covet an inanimate object (9th), that object can’t return your affection. But coveting a wife, maid, animal, etc.(10th) is something different. They have a will and can turn that will against their ‘master’ and toward you. Even though it appears that they made the decision and not you, your coveting is still wrong.
Paul: thanks for that. I’d not previously come across that particular distinction, which I think is helpful. Though I notice that in the Large Catechism, even Luther conflates 9 and 10 back together again!
Thanks John and Paul.
[...] As I’ve said before, I believe the Small Catechism is a statement, not of “Lutheranism”, but of “mere Christianity”. It’s even more basic than “Augsburg evangelicalism”. The Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper and prayer: that’s Christianity for you, right there. [...]
Thank you for this post. I’ll be sharing some of these insights with our Wednesday evening Lenten gathering tomorrow night. We’ve been looking at the Daily Prayer tradition of the church for the past two weeks, and now I’m turning to devotional prayer practices. I’ve been reading Luther’s “A Simple Way to Pray,” and have fashioned for myself a prayer rite that includes the 10 Commandments, Creed, Lord’s Prayer …
Thanks again for these insights.