Rev Mendez Sermons & Notes

Rev Arturo Mendez St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Westfield. Lent sermon week 2 Feb 24 2021 Text sermon Hymn. #656   A mighty Fortress is Our God   Text Background: A mighty fortress is Our God” was most likely written sometime between 1527 and 1529, a period that saw an epidemic hit Wittenberg, a serious illness. The Hymn is often call a “Battle Hymn of the Reformation” but in Luther’s day it was thought of in different terms, as can been seen from the heading needed at the time. The Hymn has often translated into English, but the translations most frequently  found are Thomas Carlisle’s 1831 text ‘A safe stronghold our God is still”, well known in Britain, and Frederick H. Hedge’s version beginning “A mighty fortress is Our God. A bulwark never failling’, which is more popular in America. The Missouri Synod has Historical use Neither, but rather a translation from the 1868 Church Book of the general Council, a Theologically conservative Lutheran Body. In some ways, This Translation (L