Reformation Dawn

You don't have much time left to decide how you'll spend Reformation Sunday.  Will you be going to church?  Protestant or Catholic?  Will you sing some stout German hymns?  Will you drink stout German beer?

Even if you're not a church going type, the Reformation has changed your life.  I won't cover 500 years of history here, but let us remember that Martin Luther translated the Bible into German so that anyone could read it.  Because the sacred text was available, more people achieved literacy.  I will always argue that more literacy is better.

More literacy for the masses has larger implications too.  Once people can read, they can see the reality that there are other ways to live our lives.  Once people can read, it's harder to oppress them, either spiritually or politically.  I will always argue that more freedom is better than oppression.

Suffice it to say that those Reformers launched us further down the road towards modernity than we would have been without them.

Will we some day say the same thing about a contemporary social justice movement?  Any political figures?  Is there a religious group that is even now working to change the Church in such ways that we will barely recognize it 500 years from now?

Or maybe these thoughts are too heavy for a Sunday morning.  Maybe you want to dress in red today and think about your personal Reformations for which you yearn.

May your bulwarks never fail! Wait, we don't use that line (from "A Mighty Fortress") any more. Drat! How will children learn that word?

That song seems more appropriate than ever for our age. Societal institutions left and right have shown us of their inadequacy. We're lucky to have God as our shield and comfort.

So, in whatever way you celebrate, may you have a meaningful Reformation Sunday.  I plan to spend some time thinking about grace and the places in my life that could use some grace.  I will pray that God fill me with the spirit of grace as I move through these darkening days of Autumn.