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Is making the sign of the cross an ancient practice by the way?

Is it a Catholic practice, and if so, why does the 16th Century Reformer Martin Luther

recommend that we do it every day, morning and evening?

Welcome back to Issuesetc.org, I'm Todd Wilkin, it's time for part 9 of our series, Kids

have questions today, life in the church, and practicing the faith, Pastor Jonathan

Connor joins us, he's pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Manning, Iowa, Jonathan, welcome

back.

Hey, thanks, Todd, I'm glad to be here.

My mom said that making the sign of the cross, the trinitarian invocations, just a Catholic

thing, now we do it, why is that, since that is not tradition?

Yeah, so this is a, it's actually a really thoughtful question from this child.

I mean, they're observing, and we have several members who have come into the Lutheran

confession from the Roman Catholic confession, and I'll have an opportunity to comment on

that in just a minute, but that lived experience is going to color the way they see certain

things, so it's important to be sensitive to that.

But let me answer the child's question, then I'll expand upon it just for a minute.

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