Reformation

If you worship at a Lutheran Church this Sunday, it’s likely that you’ll celebrate Reformation.  Yu already know that on October 31, 1517 Martin Luther set in motion a movement to reform the church of his day.  We Lutherans are the inheritors of that movement.

Inheritors do have a gift but with it goes a responsibility.  The church has a responsibility to always be in Reformation and we have that responsibility as possibility as Lutherans.  For me what we inherited was an emphasis on God’s grace, on God’s steadfast love for all people.  God calls to proclaim that grace, God’s love for a world God created and loves dearly.   None of us is excused from that calling of proclamation for God has made us a part of the priesthood of all believers.  Our identity is as saints because God through Jesus says we are holy and as sinners because we live in a broken world.  Sinner saints and saintly sinners.

As inheritors of the Reformation God calls us to love this world God loves dearly.  That world belongs to God and God is always active in it.  We join this God of action in providing for and protecting all that God has made.  It’s a privilege and a duty that God grants to us.

I remember the days when our worship on Reformation Sunday was a reminder that thankfully we weren’t Roman Catholic.  I’m grateful now that our Reformation worship is truly a call to continuing reformation of our lives and our congregations and our world.  Change is the constant for us as the inheritors of the reformation Luther began almost 500 years ago

Happy Reformation celebration!!!