It is mind boggling to reflect upon the aftermath of a revolution that took place 500 years ago. October 31, 1517 is five centuries away. Begwen welcomes Rev. Brian North as a guest blogger to help us reflect upon the weight of this stunning and transforming moment in history!! Lastly, it’s a reminder to us that “reformation” is a core part of God’s work in our lives. He is always reforming us and reshaping us. Sometimes it’s a fine-tuning, a small adjustment; other times it’s a major shift in a whole new direction and a fuller sense of holiness.
Imagine, for a moment, climbing a steep set of stairs going
up the inside of a church tower. At the top of this tower is the church bell –
when it rings, it is heard all over town. As you climb up, you stumble over the
steps. In an effort to keep from falling you reach out to grab onto something.
Unfortunately, you grab the rope that is attached to the church bell, and it
starts ringing out for everyone in the town to hear.
This is analogous to what happened to Martin Luther 500
years ago. On October 31st, 1517, he tacked to the door of All
Saints Church in Wittenburg, Germany a list of 95 things that he felt needed
changing and correcting in the Church (not just that one church, but the
Catholic Church as a whole). The “95 theses” (as it’s usually called) pretty
much all revolved around one general topic: indulgences. “Indulgences” were a
way for a person to pay a small financial price for their sin, as a way of
atoning for what they’d done wrong. Luther rightly felt that doing so was
unbiblical, and reduced the important spiritual work of repentance. The intent
of his list (which was also mailed to a friend) was to engage in academic
debate with other scholars – Luther himself was professor of Moral Theology at
the University of Wittenburg, and it was common practice to post things like
this on the door of this university-area church as a way of inviting people to
dialogue.
But, much like the analogy of accidentally grabbing on to
the church bell rope, his 95 theses led to much, much more. Other issues that
he had – many of which he considered more important than the question of
indulgences – came to light as well. Others – like John Calvin – joined him
in seeking to reform the Catholic Church. 1521, he was excommunicated from the
Catholic Church. And, as we know, this all ended up being the start of a whole
new branch of Christianity, typically referred to as Protestantism. (Root word,
“protest.”)
Why does this matter to us, 500 years later? Well, we might all be Catholic if it hadn’t happened, for one. Second, I believe that the variety of
churches that has grown out of the reformation has been used by God to carry
the good news of Jesus in ways that would not have been possible within
Catholicism.
Wherever you are in your journey of faith, and as we
remember this 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation,
let’s remember that God is not through with us, and He is still reforming us. He
is reforming you – through His Word, His Spirit, and through Christians
around you – and He works through you
to bring reformation in to other people’s lives, too. And as that work
continues, may the Good News of Jesus Christ ring out into the world, just like
a church bell.
