Journey Through Heidelberg
Introduction
So, Cheyenne and I have been looking to improve the way that we teach the Scripture to our children. My familiarity with the Heidelberg Catechism is only slight but I have always been interested in studying it more deeply.
Without getting too ‘book reporty’, the Heidelberg Catechism was written fairly late in the Reformation(1563) in Heidelberg, then the capital of the Electoral Palatinate, now a smallish and very beautiful city in the German State of Baden-Wurttemburg. It sits in the Rhine-Rift valley and that lovely river running through it is called the Neckar. It is the site of the oldest german university, a castle, and a mountain, which we may learn more about as we go.
The Catechism was commissioned by the Elector Frederick of the Palatinate, this was a much higher position in the Holy Roman Empire than the name Elector suggests to American ears. He was one of a handful of Princes who got to pick the next Emperor. But anyway, Fred(I call him Fred we are cool like that.) saw that religious instruction in his kingdom was a mess. And commissioned some scholars to develop a plan to instruct the children in the Christian religion, why he didn’t just hire some drag queens to thrust their crotches at them and teach them how to burn down cities I don’t know but they did things differently back then.
The HC importantly avoids being specifically Lutheran or specifically Reformed, Fred and Zac(the man who is now thought to be the main author Zacharias Ursinus), saw that there were a great variety of people in their kingdom and wanted something that would be useful to them all. What the Catechism is very specific about is the Comfort that is found in Christ. The overarching theme of the HC is that miserable people, hounded by the uncertainties of life and depending on themselves and their ability to please God can find Comfort in Christ, that they can have peace with God, and then live in gratitude to their Saviour. The Catechism, divided conveniently into lessons for 52 sabbaths which our very unstructured family will probably take about 5 years to get through, takes us through the Law, in the Ten Commandments, the Gospel, taught through the framework of the Apostles Creed, and our assurance of pardon and peace with God, taught through the Lord’s Prayer and the Sacraments.
I am pretty excited to get started. We hope that you will enjoy coming with us.