Hello! Now, am I going to advise you to ignore your pastor and find your own sermons elsewhere? Nope! But that doesn’t mean lay people can’t enjoy solid Lutheran sermon books!
I thought I’d make a list of solid Lutheran sermons books for those of us interested in some extra home piety during this time of social distancing. This is what’s been recommended on Facebook, augmented with a few more I found. Let me know what I’ve missed. 🙂
Still, remember that here’s the thing: sermons are meant to be preached. Not all sermons translate into a) book formats and b) time unbounded, un-homogenized audiences! So don’t be surprised when you see names like Luther and Gerhard. Right? Despite that there are many wonderful, powerful preachers in this world!
Lutheran Sermon Books
Norman Nagel is a favorite preacher of mine. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel was a great blessing to me when I traveled abroad for an internship and there wasn’t an English service I could attend.
- In Christ: The Collected Works of David P. Scaer, Lutheran Confessor, published by Concordia Catechetical Academy
- Luther’s Sermons! CPH has some great options. LW 51-52, 58, 57, 59, 68, 75, 76, 77 and more! Keep in mind that Luther+postil=fabulous things. Postil refers to commentary. There is also this page, which links to free PDFs of Lenke’s eight volumes! Here’s a volume that even focuses on the festival sermons.
- Christ for Us: Catechism Sermons of Rolf D Preus (The Lutheran Catechesis Series)
- A Year of Law & Gospel Preaching: Postil of Sermons on the One-Year Lectionary by Rolf D Preus
- God with Us: Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Sermons by David Petersen
- Thy Kingdom Come: Lent and Easter Sermons by David Petersen
- Gospel Sermons, Volumes 1 & 2, by CFW Walther
- The Bethany Bookstore also has a volume of sermons by U. V. Koren, the first Norwegian pastor to live west of the Mississippi, translated by Mark DeGarmeaux, which I’ve heard is quite good.
- Johann Gerhard! Let’s not leave him out! An Explanation of the History of the Suffering and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ offers a total of 24 sermons, which all sound amazing!
- Hermann Sasse’s Witness: Erlangen Sermons and Essays for the Church 1933-1944
- The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Bo Giertz with A Year of Grace, Volume 1 & 2 and Then Fell the Lord’s Fire
- Helmut Thielicke’s Our Heavenly Father, The Waiting Father, How to Believe Again, and Life Can Begin Again
- Edmund Schlink’s The Victor Speaks
Lutheran Prayer Books
By the way, here are some good Lutheran prayer books:
- Treasury of Daily Prayer, arguably more than just a prayer book, but still :). Also in compact edition & app form. (Plus, I think the regular edition is on sale at CPH right now!)
- My Prayer Book
- Lutheran Prayer Companion
- Starck’s Prayer Book
- Visitation has a wide variety of prayers, even if it’s intended to help those visiting others
- Lutheran Book of Prayer
- Seed-Grains of Prayer by Wilhelm Loehe (a devotional resource including prayers)
Now, I don’t know that these would precisely fit under either of the above categories, but I’ve also learned of a Luther’s Breviary: A Meditation for Each Day of the Year with both German and English—How cool!—also Oremus: A Lutheran Breviary.
I’ll also happen to mention Laache’s Book of Family Prayer. 🙂
What do you think? What have I left out? Are lists like these helpful? And should I try my hand at putting together one of these lists for solid Lutheran devotionals? (Though there may be a whole lot of those!)
You can also always see how in- or out-of-date my section of Lay-Friendly Theologians are on my Living Lutheran Authors page. (Suggestions welcome!)
Wishing you peace & health!
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