ABSTRACT
The church is a creature of the Spirit as well as the Word. For Luther, what is created by Word and Spirit is a nothing less than a holy or spiritual community, through which the Spirit speaks and works in order to grant forgiveness of sins and gather God’s people. The central event in Lutheran worship is the proclamation of the Word of God, specifically the kerygma, the good news of God’s justifying grace in Jesus Christ. Many scholars credit Luther with reclaiming the centrality of the sermon in the worship service, but Reformation historian Heiko Oberman has shown that what really changed for Luther was the role of the sermon in worship. Luther’s sermons themselves are often overlooked as a resource for his understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in the preaching event. The connections between forgiveness, reconciliation, and koinonia/communion are worth further exploration, and may be an area in which Lutherans can offer a distinctive contribution.
