Martin Luther was a German monk who had issues with the church and its leadership, especially in Rome. In his early years in the monastery, he struggled with the threat of an eternity in hell and kept trying to repent his failings and earn God’s forgiveness. He found it an impossible task, for he kept making mistakes. Eventually, Luther was invited (or ordered) to teach Bible at the local university in Wittenberg and everything began to change for him. Through actually reading scripture (which wasn’t terribly common then, even among church leaders), he realized that the beliefs and practices he had been taught were not consistent 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.
In 1517 Luther shared 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 understand 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 creates and loves the whole 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 invited to try again, empowered by God’s unfailing forgiveness.
Reformation wasn’t a one time thing. It continues still today. Luther pointed out mistaken teachings and harmful practices back in his time. Today, we continue to work to find our way through mistaken teachings and harmful practices we encounter now. Followers of Jesus continue to struggle with the effects of sexism, colonialism, racism, cultural bias, nationalism, abuse of power, and more. The church is trying to do better. Like every 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.
As the church continues to reform, the same is true for us. As we try to follow Jesus, we are also called to notice and repent of our shortcomings – we are not perfect and we certainly will err. We can find comfort and hope in the knowledge that God welcomes us, forgives us and gives 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,