Once upon a time, in 1517, there was a monk named Martin Luther. He lived in Germany and had issues with the church and its leadership in Rome. He had spent his early years in the monastery struggling to repent of his failings and earn God’s forgiveness, trying to save himself from eternity in hell. He found it was an impossible task, for he kept making mistakes. Eventually, Luther was invited (or ordered) to teach Bible at the local university in Wittenberg and that is where everything began to change. Through reading scripture (which wasn’t terribly common then, even among church leaders), he realized that the practices and beliefs he had been taught didn’t fit with Jesus’ teachings and the other writings in the New Testament. The church had strayed from the life and ministry of Jesus and the writings of his early followers. Luther wrote a list of topics he wanted to debate, changes he believed were important for the church to make. Powerful church leaders were not interested in correction from a monk in a small town in Germany. They tried to silence him, but instead, his ideas spread and he accidentally became the leader of a new religious group. Every year, protestant Christians across the world mark the anniversary of Luther supposedly posting his 95 Theses on the door of the church (a delightful, but likely fictional story) with Reformation Sunday.
Reformation Sunday is a day we celebrate the church reforming, changing, how we see God and how we see our connection to God and each other. Luther helped the world to see again that we worship a God of grace, forgiveness and love. God created and loves the world, including humans who are called to bless and care for creation. Luther realized that while humans are imperfect and struggling, we are not rejected by God. Instead, we are called to try to do better, empowered by God’s forgiveness over and over again.
The Reformation wasn’t a one time thing. It continues still today. Luther pointed out erroneous teachings and harmful practices back then. We work to find our way through the erroneous teachings and harmful practices we find today. Followers of Jesus struggle today with the effects of sexism, colonialism, racism, cultural bias, abuse of power, and more. The church is trying to do better. Like every other human institution, the church is flawed. But the church is also striving to be faithful to the God who creates and redeems and empowers us. The church is struggling to reform, even now. The same is true for us. We are called to follow Jesus. To notice and repent of our shortcomings, knowing full well that we are not perfect and we will err. Finding comfort and hope in the knowledge that God will welcome us, forgive us and give us yet another chance. Reformation is about continuing to change, continuing to strive toward faithfulness, continuing to try and improve. Reformation reminds us that despite our failures, imperfection and brokenness, God loves us and empowers us to continue the struggle. Reforming is a never-ending process, for we are never finished trying to faithfully follow Jesus.
Peace,