ISSUES OF FAITH: The Gospel in a nutshell

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 27, 2026

Readings: Second Sunday in Lent for the Revised Common Lectionary

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

ISN’T THAT BIT glorious? It’s the Daily Collect from the Book of Common Prayer (yes, yes, I’m now a Lutheran, but my love of the good ol’ Book of Common Prayer is eternal) for the Second Sunday of Lent.

We’re in the penitential season in which folks used to head towards Baptism which would occur, usually, during the Great Vigil of Easter.

If you don’t know what a vigil is, it’s a period of waiting and watching, and there used to be three of them for major feasts: The Vigils of Easter, Pentecost and Christmas, aka Christmas Eve.

There are actually whole bunches of vigils, one each night for the next day, traditionally said very, very early in the morning (5 a.m. the time I visited a monastery for a month, which nearly made me die) to kick off the day and get the blood flowing.

We still all know the Vigil of Christmas, but the vigils for Easter and Pentecost are rare these days, though that for Easter, the most important night of the church year.

But now we are in Lent and I promise not to go into the usual Lent thing of what we give up. If you need or want to give something up, go for it — it’s a good discipline and good for your soul.

You could also try adding something for Lent, but this year, I want to talk to you about preparing for something.

That something is Jesus’ death and resurrection. People who were waiting for Baptism would be escorted out of the church service: they weren’t allowed to view the mysteries of Communion.

Eucharist was reserved for those already in the flock.

So the catechumens would be taken out so they didn’t see the unseeable.

It wasn’t their time yet. I don’t know exactly what they did in the early or medieval church, but in my day, they were taken out for further instruction, using texts intended for lay people such as Luther’s Small Cathecism.

Yes, there is also a Large Catechism, a gathering of things we believe.

The Small Catechism was in the form of a Q&A:

You shall have no other gods.

What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.

Indeed we should. The Roman equivalent, known as the Baltimore Catechism, starts right at the beginning:

Who made us?

God made us.

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, (Genesis 1:1).

Gets right to the heart of things, doesn’t it? But for Lutherans, as Wikipedia notes, “Luther wrote a Small and Large Catechism, the first is a catechism proper, in question-and-answer format, designed for parents and pastors to use especially for instructing children; the second, the Large Catechism, is actually a set of lectures on the Catechism, and so is much lengthier.”

I might add, much, much lengthier. But the Small Cathechism? That’s beginners’ stuff.

Each question had its short answer and a slightly longer explanation that would expand on what came before, not just a bible verse but a bit of holy thought, a kind of introductory theology for the young’uns, and for those new to the faith.

Today’s reading, however, includes the shortest bit of all but is basically offered as the start of Christian thought: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

That’s really it.

Technically, that’s called Christology, the study of Christ, at its simplest form.

Other, more-complex formulations are out there, but this is the basic, the ABC of the Gospel.

Our ethics are also found in cheat sheet form.

If you want to do the right thing, just do this:

[One of the Pharisees, an expert in the law], tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’,” (Matthew 22:35-40).

That’s it.

These two things are everything to us Christians.

They take care of what we call the vertical and the horizontal.

The vertical makes us think about what God wants from us and what we need to do about God.

The horizontal is about how we treat each other, remembering that, in Jesus’ eyes, everyone is our neighbor, near or far.

But all we really need to know is this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (I’m repeating those two verses for anyone who came in late!)

So now you know what to do. So go do it.

And if you fail, you’re not alone. You’re with all the rest of us in the boat.

And so we need repentance and to remember that our God is “[the God], whose glory it is always to have mercy.”

________

Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. Previously a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, Dr. Keith Dorwick is a lay person continuing his walk with God who has joined the community at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Port Angeles. He’s also the executive director of e-space (https://e-space.website), his next holy adventure.