Learning the Faith by Heart
What is Learning the Faith By Heart?
Speaking, Praying, and Singing God’s Word Together
Learning the Faith By Heart is a weekly devotional and catechetical guide for use by families and individuals in the home. Each week the congregation will be provided daily Bible readings, a section of Luther’s Small Catechism and a Bible verse to memorize, as well as a hymn to learn together. Pastor DiLiberto will prepare the guide each week and it will be distributed in the Sunday bulletin, as well as in the weekly e-newsletter. By speaking, praying, and singing the same texts of Scripture, the Catechism, and the Hymnal, our church family will be given a common language for prayer and meditation upon God’s Word. This resource is not only for the families of our congregation! It is meant to help both families and individual Christians in prayer, reading the Scriptures, and learning the Catechism at home. It teaches the congregation to use the Bible, the Catechism, and Hymnal as daily companions for the Christian faith and life (i.e. at your bedside, around the dinner table, etc.).
How to use Learning the Faith By Heart: use will vary depending on size of family and ages of children. The Order of Meditation and Prayer is provided as one simple option for families or individuals to use as they gather around the Family Altar at the beginning of the day, during a homeschool block, or after dinner. Other orders of service may also be used, such as any of the Daily Prayer offices found in LSB pp. 219-260 (Matins, Vespers, etc.). On Mondays and Thursdays of the Academic Year, the congregation is invited to gather at Church with our Classical School children to hear, pray, and sing God’s Word together at Matins (service begins at 8:30). It is better to do less but form a regular habit of hearing and singing God’s Word, than to bite off more than you can chew and quit after the first couple of times you can’t follow through. The father should lead the family devotion time, as he is the God-appointed head of the household.
The Family Altar: Just as we have special places for eating, sleeping and having fun in our homes, it is fitting that we also have space set aside to hear God’s Word and pray to Him as a family. It can be located anywhere in the house, but one typical location is the dinner table. All you need is to copy the items you see at church – candles, a crucifix, a Bible, and hymnal. The “Family Altar” mimics the Altar around which the Holy Spirit gathers us to receive God’s gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation at church on Sundays.
Sources of the Schedule: The daily readings will be taken from the appointed Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel for the coming Sunday from the LSB Three Year Lectionary (LSB xviii). However, these daily readings are not intended to replace your current daily devotion. If you already have a routine in place (using Portals of Prayer, for example), then no need to make a change. You can read your Portals of Prayer devotion as the “daily reading”. The Catechism memory each week will correspond to the memory work assigned to our Jr. Confirmands as well as our students at the Grace Lutheran Classical Academy. The Hymn of the Week will be appointed Hymn of the Day for the upcoming Sundays. The Gospel reading appointed for feast days and commemorations will also be included in the daily readings (LSB xii).
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” – Deuteronomy 6:6-8
The Week of August 9 – August 16
Preparing for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Hymn of the Week: In Christ There Is No East or West (653)
GLCA Learn by Heart Hymn: The Gifts Christ Freely Gives (602:1)
GLCA Catechism Memory: Review Ten Commandments (Second Grade +)
Bible Verse Memory: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6-7 (GLCA Theme Verse for 2026-2027)
Monday: Catechism Bible Story – Mark 4:1-20
Our theme this year at GLCA is “Rooted in Christ.” Jesus told a parable about seeds to teach us how God’s Word grows in our hearts. Read the Parable. What would be some examples today of people ignoring God’s Word (like seeds eaten by birds)? What are some examples of people hearing God’s and then giving up when life gets hard (like seeds on rocky ground)? How about examples of people who hear God’s Word, but they let worries or distractions crowd it out (like seeds that fell among weeds). How about examples of people hearing God’s Word and loving it and growing? – LCMS School Ministry Chapel Talks 2026-27
Tuesday: Old Testament – Isaiah 56:1, 6–8
Read vs. 7. For whom is God’s house of prayer? Jesus scatters the seed of His Word all over the world because He wants all people, everywhere to hear what He’s done for them and grow in their faith in Him. How do we grow in our faith?
Wednesday: Epistle – Romans 11:1–2a, 13–15, 28–32
God chose the Israelites to be His special people, set apart from other nations. The Messiah would come from the Israelites (later called the Jews). But God’s plan all along was for people of every nation to come to know Him as their God and Savior. What does Paul say in these verses from Romans about whom God desires to be saved? Whether Jew or Gentile (not a Jew), how is a person saved? – Enduring Grace: Year A, pg. 126
Thursday: Holy Gospel – Matthew 15:21–28
The Canaanites were descendants of a group of people that Israel was supposed to exterminate because of their idol worship. But this woman had heard God’s Word and been brought to faith in Jesus, the Son of David. She cries out to Him for mercy, even though her people were enemies of Israel. Read vs. 28. How does Jesus respond to her cry for mercy? How is she an example to those of us who are not children of Abraham by blood?
Friday: Feast of St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord – Luke 1: 46-55 (Aug 15)
What kind of woman was Mary? What was her status in the eyes of the world? Who was her God?
The Order of Meditation and Prayer
The sign of the cross + may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism
Invocation
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty…
Bible Verse Memory
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6-7 (GLCA Theme Verse for 2026-2027)
Bible Reading for the Day (From Upcoming Readings for Sun, Portals of Prayer, or other Daily meditation)
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Hymn of the Week
In Christ There Is No East or West (653)
Catechism
You shall have no other gods.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Family Prayers
For___________________, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord’s Prayer
Taught by our Lord and trusting in His promises, we are bold to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven…