Luther's soul was tormented by the fear that he was a sinner condemned by God.  Then one day a new light broke upon him,  which in its results was like a miracle.  He was reading the words of the Apostle Paul.   "The just shall live by faith."  So that was the real meaning of the Gospel!  Life would come not by works but by faith.  Not by what a man had to try to do but by what the love of God had done already.  Not by fasting and scourgings and by all sorts of desperate efforts supposed to win God's mercy, but by the mercy that was declared in Christ.  Jesus was not most of all the Judge;  He was the Saviour.  He,  Martin Luther, poor sinner though he might be, through the love of Jesus crucified was already saved!
    The Reformation is not just an event that happened 500 years ago.  It is all about Grace alone, Scripture alone, and Faith alone in CHRIST ALONE ! ! !

​-Remi Tufts, Member of Atonement Lutheran Church

Author and Composer:     Martin Luther , 1483-1546

English Translation:          Frederick  H. Hedge,  1805-1890

Tune Name :                    "Ein'  Feste Berg"

Scriptural Reference:       Psalm 46

    One of the important benefits of the Reformation was the rediscovery of congregational singing. `Luther became intensely interested in encouraging it.
He said, " I wish to compose sacred hymns, so that the Words of God may dwell among the people also by means of song."  He felt that the people should have hymns as well as the Bible, in their own language, so that they could " read God's Word and speak to Him in their songs."  The Protestant Church
services were no longer to be in Latin, but in the common language of the people.

    The first Protestant hymnal was published in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1524.  It contained only eight hymns, four of them written by Luther himself. This powerful hymn, written  about 1529, became the battle cry of the people, a great source of strength and inspiration even for those who were martyred for their convictions.  The first line is inscribed on Luther's tomb in the famous old town of Wittenberg.

- Remi Tufts, Member of Atonement Lutheran Church