John 8: 31-36
10-25-15
Reformation Sunday
Today we remember the day Martin Luther
nailed the 95 thesis up
to the door of Wittenberg.
You won’t see this celebration in other
denominations of churches.
Methodist, Episcopal,
Roman Catholic, churches.
Just really Lutheran
churches and some other stray protestant Churches
but certainly was one
of the most important event in world history.
If you don’t know it yet by heart,
When Martin Luther was
an Catholic, Augustinian Monk
he was told what the church taught throughout the
ages:
that the less he sinned, the more he prayed and
went to mass
the more he followed the traditions of the
church,
the closer he would be to God and Jesus.
But the truth is, Martin Luther said that during
his time as a monk,
Even with most of his time spent in worship and
prayer -
he felt the opposite.
The more he prayed, the further away from Jesus
he felt.
He said it was a time of deep spiritual despair.
He said, “I lost touch with Christ the Savior
and Comforter,
and made of him the jailor and hangman of my poor
soul."
Other people felt the same thing about God and
Jesus for sure.
The church was causing people to be afraid of God
instead of love God.
This feeling hung on for Luther
And then when the Roman
Catholic church started to collect indulgences
for the building of St. Peters,
with a threat of Purgatory for people who didn’t
give,
Luther started to feel that instead of
something not being right in his head or with
God,
maybe it was not right with the church.
And when he was reading Paul’s letter to the Romans
he realized what it was, the truth of the gospel
of Jesus:
since
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
they
are now justified by his grace as a gift,
through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
It was the church’s teaching that were wrong.
So Martin Luther outlined 95 grievances he had with the church
places where he thought the church went against
the gospel.
And he nailed them to the door
of the Wittenberg Church on October 31st,
1517.
So today on the nearest
Sunday,
We celebrate the
Reformation.
But today, and every Reformation day,
we need to remember that we don’t worship Martin
Luther.
And we don’t just celebrate one moment in history
and we don’t need to cling forever to the
German roots of our denomination.
Today we celebrate the Reformation.
The Reformation means that
the human institution that holds
holds the gospel in its hands, can be changed.
It needs to be changed, in order to keep up
with God’s spirit and the wonderful things God is
doing in the world.
The Reformation means that
The church is something that can be questioned
and challenged. It’s not infallible,
you don’t have to check your brain at the door
and listen to everything that one person says or
thinks is right.
The reformation means that God’s spirit
and the truth of the gospel of Jesus
will never be stopped by
corruption, or greed, or our own fear or
indecision.
God’s Spirit is always finding new ways to
reach and inspire people,
whether that is in a church or on a computer
or around a table at someone’s house.
The Spirit of God will not be stopped.
The reformation means that
the inspiration of even one person can
start a movement and create change.
And what the Reformation really means is that
You can tell your children and grandchildren
and neighbor and the stranger you meet on a bus
that no matter where they go
no matter what they do, or what decisions they
make,
God will love them forever.
The Reformation means that
We can tell everyone that God loves them.
Even someone who spent his youth
on drugs and doing bad things
and going to jail.
Even someone accused of murder.
Even someone who has never been to church.
Because of the Reformation,
We can tell this man , or woman.
and we can tell ourselves that
God has picked them as God’s child,
God has forgiven them,
God loves them,
and God will welcome them home when the time
comes.
When we celebrate Reformation
we’re not celebrating a monk with a hammer,
We are celebrating the gospel of Jesus
that was covered up by years of
human law and power and tradition
and was then revealed and set free on the world,
When we celebrate the Reformation,
we’re celebrating how the Spirit changes us,
reforms us, renews us and gives us new life in
every age.
The Reformation means that
this Sunday and every Sunday,
we celebrate Jesus crucified and risen again.
we celebrate God’s power, grace, and love.