Some call this the birthday of the Lutheran Church, but that’s not nearly accurate, but that’s for a different time. Why? Because reformation is not really about celebrating Lutheranism. It’s easy to get caught up in something like Lutheran triumphalism and self congratulations and banner waving, but the day marks a celebration and solemn acknowledgement of something far more important and organic. The reformation is not a one off 1517 occurrence, a moment frozen in time and a simple historical fact to be memorized by confirmands and seminarians. On that Wednesday, Martin Luther posted 95 statements about the church that he felt needed to be debated or discussed. The disputation protested against clerical abuses, especially nepotism, simony, usury, pluralism, absenteeism and, most especially, the sale of indulgences. By the way pluralism is the practice of Bishops being in charge of many dioceses at the same time and living like Princes, fighting and spending vast amounts of money. Simony: this was the buying and selling of church positions. Absenteeism: Cardinals and bishops who had more than one diocese could only live in one of them, so they were absent from the others. Luther felt the church was skirting the laws against usury and their sale of indulgences was a practice that essentially created an unpleasant not heaven, not hell waiting room where you did time until the sins that you didn’t confess and do penance for were worked off. The idea was that this would take millions of years. Pretty scary idea, but buying indulgences or visiting and paying to visit relics could get time off of your own or a loved one’s purgatory time. It’s not in the Bible, but people did not have the Bible in their own language and many could not read anyway. Mostly people relying on the good word of their clergy that wasn’t forthcoming. So Luther was calling out the abuse by nailing to the door and pointing to the graciousness and mercy of Christ that is documented in scripture. So what does this mean for us today? The Reformation was about confronting practices, traditions and attitudes that created barriers or walls that, by their nature, sought to impede God’s grace. Martin Luther had been through a great and very difficult struggle in his life until, in his reading of scripture, he witnessed the freeing message of God’s grace. So he nailed some questions to the church door in an effort to try to remove those walls and barriers. At Living Faith we are recognized as a church without walls. We rent our worship space and have members that worship with us remotely and are seeking to worship in a way that celebrates our cultures and offers opportunities for all to have a voice in our church family. Here’s the deal though. We are a church of the reformation, a reformation that has never stopped because there are still far too many barriers and walls that are in the way. We have to watch out for them here in our family and throughout the church. We are called to nail stuff to the door. One of the verses in the hymn ”Just as I Am” goes, “Just as I am, Thy love unknown Has broken every barrier down; Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!” God loves us and accepts us just as we are, yet so many have not been able to experience it because of the barriers that we are often guilty of unwittingly or quite wittingly building up. We say God’s work our hands, so we are called to call out the barriers and break down the walls. Martin Luther said, “So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!’” It’s a powerful, freeing, life giving message and we must confront the barriers and nail stuff to the door in order to continually reform and eliminate barriers as we build the kingdom of God. So let’s nail some stuff to the door. Will Starkweather is pastor of St. Martin Lutheran Church, Sugar Land, Texas. Will got to speak to 30,000 youth at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering. I got to see him speak on youtube and it nailed some more lines to Luther’s Theses to the door for me. Will stated in an article that, “ I remember the first time I saw myself in the Scriptures. Jesus encountered a man who lived among the tombs and “was always howling and bruising himself with stones.” He addressed the youth, “I was a freshman in highschool when I started cutting. On the surface I looked like I had it all together.” However, Will suffered from anxiety and depression and as he said, “There was a pain in my heart and in my head that I didn’t know how to heal.” For him, cutting was a place where he found control. Whenever he felt threatened, he turned to self harm. When he became a college sophomore he sought help for the first time and shared his hurt and shame that he had been carrying. Will was a very religious person so he went to his pastor. Will said he shared these things and then with four words he broke me, ‘You’re going to hell” Will left the church and college and sank deeper into depression and self harm. Two years later he was trying to get his life back together and amazingly he found another church, but you can only imagine the fear. What a barrier! He finally found the courage to try again. He talked with the pastor and was met again by four words. She told him.”There’s grace for that.” That broke down a barrier. It began a reformation as Will began the road to recovery and re-forming and has been safe from self harm for over ten years. He points out that when we have experienced grace, we become able to share it with others. He points out that we will have people come to us with difficult things we can’t understand but that there’s grace for that. The reformation must continue. Will nailed it to the door. We must confront the barriers and always defer to God’s grace. What else is on the door? Thankfully, I was given permission to share this video with you as an example.
It’s a new beginning. God’s grace is building something new to eliminate a barrier. We must have the courage to nail these things to the door and to acknowledge the barriers that are there. These are but two examples of so many more. We’ve got to be constantly reforming by living in, growing in and sharing God’s grace. It’s the only thing that can free us to the bondage of sin. Finding barriers, be they sight, anxiety, deafness, depression, the color of our skin, the way we dress, mental illness, the language that we speak, who we love, whether we walk or roll, poverty, or homelessness and realizing that there is grace for that until we have built God’s kingdom. And we’ll know we’re there when we look around and there ain’t a wall in sight.
Jesus speaks of truth and freedom as spiritual realities known through his word. He reveals the truth that sets people free from sin. John 8 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic church. Fill it with all truth and peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
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