Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Psalm 119:89

When a visitor attends the Divine Service in a Lutheran church for the first time, he may be puzzled by a seeming paradox.  He knows that Lutherans are  Protestants, and that the service folder identifies this as an "evangelical" Lutheran parish.  He listens to the sermon and hears the classic themes of the Reformation preached with clarity and directness.  He notices, too, that the congregation sings all the hymns at full volume, in the usual Protestant fashion.  And yet he is surprised to discover that the form of worship in this church has a decidedly "catholic" feel.  The liturgy is almost entirely chanted, and many of the worshipers make the sign of the cross at certain points in the service.  Communicants kneel at the altar to receive the Eucharist, which the announcement in the bulletin makes clear is "the true body and true blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."  The pastor wears traditional priestly vestments and conducts the liturgy with great reverence and attention to detail.  Our visitor thinks to himself, "Either this parish is a bit odd, or Lutherans are not what I thought they were!"

Actually, there is no paradox here at all, since Missouri Synod Lutherans regard themselves as both evangelical and catholic.

We are evangelical in our belief that the Sacred Scriptures are the infallible Word of God; that they are the only source and norm of Christian doctrine; and that we cannot know Christ apart from the Scriptures, nor the Scriptures apart from Christ.  The proclamation of the “evangel” (literally, “good news”) of our reconciliation with God solely through the person and work of Jesus Christ is the hallmark of Lutheran preaching, and the reason we call ourselves “evangelical.”

We are catholic in our adherence to the great liturgical and cultural tradition that has come down to us from our forebears.  The Lutheran Reformation retained the treasures of learning, piety, art and music that had enriched the lives of Christians over the course of 1,500 years.  The voice of the ancient and medieval church resonates today in the liturgy that we sing, the prayers that we pray, and most of all in our confession of the apostolic faith. 

We believe that these two elements of our heritage are not contradictory, but complementary. The church has always been most catholic (that is, most faithful to the whole of her tradition) when she has clearly and fearlessly articulated the teachings of the Scriptures. Conversely, she has always been weakest and most sectarian when she has strayed from the Word of God, or tried to alter its meaning to suit the times.

In keeping with our "evangelical catholic" identity, Emmaus is a confessional congregation.  This means that we accept certain statements of faith as true expositions of the Scriptures and correct formulations of Christian doctrine. For us, and for all Missouri Synod Lutherans, these include the three catholic creeds (Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian) as well as the confessions drawn up by the Lutheran Reformers and published in the Book of Concord. Unqualified subscription to these documents is required of every congregation and every clergyman in the Missouri Synod.

The following is not at all an exhaustive list of the tenets of Lutheran theology, but it does touch on some of its most important points.

• God is one divine essence in three persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- whom we call the Holy Trinity.

• He created all things, "visible and invisible," by the power of His almighty Word.

• Humanity was created in the image of God, but lost its physical and spiritual perfection through the fall into sin.

• We cannot free ourselves from this inherited state of corruption, and are powerless to prevent its ultimate consequences, which are death and hell.

• In order to restore our fallen race, God the Son took our human nature upon Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

• This Jesus is both true God, begotten of His Father from all eternity; and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary.

• He has perfectly fulfilled the law of God on our behalf, and has paid the penalty for our sin by His sacrificial death on the cross.

• He has risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now reigns over all creation.

• God the Father offers eternal life to all who place their faith in the saving work of His beloved Son.

• The Holy Spirit creates this faith and imparts the forgiveness of sins through the Word and the Sacraments .

• God calls certain men into the Office of the Holy Ministry to preach His Word of Truth and to administer the Sacraments instituted by Christ.

• Holy Baptism washes away the stain of sin, bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit, and makes the newly-baptized a member of Christ's church.

• Our Lord's true body and blood -- the same body that He received in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, and the same blood that He shed on the cross -- are present in the Sacrament of the Altar and are consumed together with the bread and the wine.

• The souls of all who die in the faith and communion of the church will immediately experience the blessedness of heaven.

• Our Lord Jesus Christ will return on the Last Day, when He will raise the dead and pronounce judgment on all men.

• The saints will live forever with Christ in the new heaven and the new earth, while the damned will suffer for eternity what they have chosen in this life -- separation from God.

• The church has no authority to alter the Scriptures or to change this catholic faith, but only to hand on what she herself has received from the Lord.