Like the class on adult baptism, this talk may not really be a program for the usual Sin Boldly listener. It is the second part of a class called Jesus 101 that seeks to lay out the basics for a person unfamiliar with Christianity. The first class went unrecorded. It focused on whether we can trust the New Testament as a historically reliable document. (You can, by the way!) This class looks at the crucifixion: did it happen and what significance does it hold? This is a class I developed originally to reach out to college students, and I am using it now to teach a number of a young adults in the congregation.
Why the name “Sin Boldly”? Martin Luther wrote to his friend Philip Melanchthon in 1521: “If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” To sin boldly, therefore, is not to seek unholy living, but to follow the course we believe the Bible demands even if the world is against us. And if and when we sin, trust in an even greater savior.
First Lutheran also publishes a daily podcast called The Scarlet Thread (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-scarlet-thread/id1110938468?mt=2). This podcast is a reading of the appointed texts for the Two-Year Daily Lectionary. After two years, listeners will have heard most of the Old Testament once and most of the New Testament twice. If you are liturgically-minded and want a little more Bible in your life, this is a great podcast for you.