All Hallows Eve; Nailing of the 95 Theses

“For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 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, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.” Romans 3:20-28

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses or points for discussion on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany. They were 95 issues he had with the church, mostly regarding the practice of selling indulgences, and he was hoping to have a scholarly debate on these points. What they sparked was not just a conversation but a complete Reformation – the Protestant Reformation.

Today we must come to a sad realization: we are in danger of losing that Reformation Spirit in the Lutheran Church. The church that was born out of challenging the norm and questioning the practice of the church now fights so hard NOT to change, NOT to reform in any way, and to hold onto what now we call the “norm” even if it means our demise.

Our society and Church, like the church of Luther’s time has experienced great changes from the pandemic. In Luther’s time the “One” Catholic church found itself challenged with the growing “Protestant” churches, fracturing into numerous denominations. The bible was translated into the vernacular so that the cobbler, the baker, and the printing press maker could read holy scripture and find meaning for themselves. And with the advent of the printing press, writings and sermons and the like could be duplicated and distributed so that the masses were no longer in the dark with new ideas.

Today people think of church as a place they come to worship, and/or a website they go to and watch the worship – both have become a community of believers. The church has fundamentally changed in two years – and that reformation spirit needs to continue. We must fight the urge to return to old ways — we need to re-capture the essence of the Reformation.

On this night, children will dress up to go door to door to ask for “treats”. The treat I ask for this October 31 is to be treated by disciples of Jesus who do not just “dress up” as Christians, but actually will live in the Reformation Spirit, seeking to keep the gospel of Jesus in their hearts as they stop holding themselves and others hostage to ways that may need to be reformed – and will hold onto only those traditions that are necessary to point to the cross of Jesus, as they live the Christ-like life.

Pastor Dave

“If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.” 1 Corinthians 9:16-19

“To make the way smoother for the unlearned—for only them do I serve—I shall set down the following two propositions concerning the freedom and the bondage of the spirit:

A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

These two theses seem to contradict each other. If, however, they should be found to fit together they would serve our purpose beautifully. Love by its very nature is ready to serve and be subject to him who is loved.” Martin Luther (1483-1546) The Freedom of a Christian, 1520, “For All The Saints” volume II, (p. 977)

As Christians, we are free from any kind of necessity to earn our righteousness or work our way to heaven. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ — but it is not the teachings that Jesus focused on throughout his ministry. Yes as Christians the work has been done by Christ – so we are free and subject to nothing and No one. But if the thought ended there, we would be so much poorer as people of faith. Yes we are subject to no one and no thing, and yet we are subject to all people, and to all things as servants.

A few years ago the Pope came to America with a message — his message gave us three needs for us to consider – three areas that require each one of us to prayerfully consider how we might address them:

1. Income inequality
2. Refugees
3. The environment including climate change.

We could say, “There are programs to serve those needs”. And that is true. But that reality does not release us from our obligation to do something on our own to help bring about more equal pay for all, assistance for refugees, and caring for our environment.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I would also say that it takes the church, both locally and globally, those disciples of Jesus and other kinds of disciples to bring about justice and peace for all people.

Pastor Dave