{"id":6722,"date":"2025-08-01T03:38:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T03:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learn.elca.org\/jle\/?p=6722"},"modified":"2025-08-09T01:10:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T01:10:34","slug":"for-congregational-discussion-families-raising-children-into-safe-healthy-and-equal-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learn.elca.org\/jle\/for-congregational-discussion-families-raising-children-into-safe-healthy-and-equal-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"For Congregational Discussion: Ethics of Marriage and Family on the 500th\u00a0Anniversary of Katie and Martin\u2019s Wedding\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For Congregational Discussion:<\/p>\n<p>This year marks the 500<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the wedding of Katharina Von Bora and Martin Luther. We at the <em>Journal of Lutheran Ethics<\/em> invite congregations to celebrate this event and discuss its meaning. Below is a four part series meant to help those organizing adult education in congregations to embrace this anniversary and to think about what it might mean.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Celebrate the history of Katharina and her Martin! Read (or listen on YouTube <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FqHbyfebFTk\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/FqHbyfebFTk<\/a> ) to Diane Bowers\u2019 essay on their meeting, courtship,\u00a0 and Luther\u2019s final pivot to take his Katie to wife. Together discuss the following:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Luther\u2019s fear of death and the devil initially kept him from marrying, however he finally decided to marry and embrace joy and love to spite the devil.\u00a0 How do you see love, joy, and commitment to family as a way to resist evil and trust God?<\/li>\n<li>What elements of Katie\u2019s faith impress you? Do you think they impressed Martin?\u00a0 What do you think their marriage taught him about God?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Talk about healthy relationships! Read Joy McElroy\u2019s essay about teaching children about healthy relationships and consider the following:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>In order to have healthy relationships, both partners are to consider the other as an equal. What barriers do we have in our culture and society to equal partnership?<\/li>\n<li>What might we learn about our own relationships as adults when we teach these values to children?<\/li>\n<li>What might healthy relationships between parents and children look like?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Talk about parenting! Read Elisha Branch\u2019s essay about learning to be a shepherd in her family and consider the following:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>How does recognizing God as a graceful parent help a human parent to better accept their child in all the child\u2019s messiness?<\/li>\n<li>How does recognizing that we have God as a graceful parent help us be better parents ourselves?<\/li>\n<li>What is the role of the church in helping parents?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Talk about the role of the church! Read Alvin Erickson\u2019s essay about churches that expect everyone to be involved and consider:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>How can prayer help build up faith in parents to be bishops of their families?<\/li>\n<li>How can churches be a foundation that support and feed families and all people?<\/li>\n<li>What specific actions can your church do to help support healthy and just relationships between spouses, parents, children, and those inside and outside the church\u2019s structure?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Congregational Discussion: This year marks the 500th anniversary of the wedding of Katharina Von Bora and Martin Luther. We at the Journal of Lutheran Ethics invite congregations to celebrate this event and discuss its meaning. Below is a four part series meant to help those organizing adult education in congregations to embrace this anniversary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-child-youth-family","category-feminist-mujerista-womanist-theologies"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>For Congregational Discussion: Ethics of Marriage and Family on the 500th\u00a0Anniversary of Katie and Martin\u2019s Wedding\u00a0 - Journal of Lutheran Ethics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.elca.org\/jle\/for-congregational-discussion-families-raising-children-into-safe-healthy-and-equal-relationships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For Congregational Discussion: Ethics of Marriage and Family on the 500th\u00a0Anniversary of Katie and Martin\u2019s Wedding\u00a0 - Journal of Lutheran Ethics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Congregational Discussion: This year marks the 500th anniversary of the wedding of Katharina Von Bora and Martin Luther. 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