It’s the Luther Year! In 2017 we are commemorating the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, and what better way to celebrate than to read something by Martin Luther. My church history students may remember that there are two towering personalities from the past whom we can really get to know through their writings; Augustine is the first, and Luther is the second.

I’ve chosen to observe the Luther Year by using again a daily devotional book entitled Day by Day We Magnify You: Daily Readings for the Entire Year Selected from the Writings of Martin Luther, compiled and translated by Margarete Steiner and Percy Scott (revised edition, edited by Marshall Johnson). The book follows the Church Year instead of the calendar year, so on January 1^st one must begin with the New Year’s Day devotions (p.49) and return to the Advent and Christmas season ones next winter to complete the year.

Each page begins with a title and a Scripture reference and concludes with a brief prayer, plus the name and year of Luther’s writings from which the reading was taken. There are also Scriptural and topical indices at the end of the book, which makes it a helpful tool for further study. It is interesting to see that the books of the Bible most frequently quoted are Psalms, Matthew, Luke, John, and Romans.

Both the secular and religious worlds recognize the impact of the life of Martin Luther, but it is important to remember that the heart of the Reformation was not a man but the rediscovery of the Scriptural teaching of salvation by grace through faith. So it’s good for us to commence our celebration of the Luther Year, not by reading a biography, but by following a devotional pathway through selections from the insightful writings of the great reformer. Remember that they are all drawn from Holy Scripture, which will nourish and encourage us, just as it did for him . . . “the great and precious thing is the noble Word of God, proclaimed in the gospel, that offers us the grace of God in Christ” (p.252).

Pastor Robert L. LeeAFLBS/TS Professor of Church History, Plymouth, MN

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