Jeremiah 31.31-34                                                                                                 Carol A. Solovitz

Psalm 46                                                                                                                 Reformation Sunday

Romans 3.19-28                                                                                                                    October 30, 2005

John 8.31-36                         

All Those “RE” Words

               

 

            We have had more than a month of celebration here at Zumbro.  First, we had our 140^th anniversary party, followed by four weeks of focus on our mission and stewardship.  Today, we continue with the festival celebration of Reformation Sunday.  Will the fun never end??

As I thought about the past weeks, I asked a few people what they thought of the stewardship events – worship, various talks and sermons, and brunch.  One person told me, “It was great, but it seemed like we heard the word ‘reconciliation’ an awful lot.”  Then, as I read through some sermon notes (yes, kids, we DO read them), under “What didn’t you understand?” one student wrote, “What is reconciliation anyhow?”  That got me to thinking about all these big words were throw around in church--  reconciliation, reformation, repentance, redemption--and I realized that they all start with the letters “R-E”.  What DO all those “RE” words mean?

“God has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”  2 Corinthians 5.18  “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”  2 Corinthians 5.19

Reconciliation means, “restoration of friendship, harmony, or communion.”  Think of relationships.  When a relationship is broken – a disagreement between friends, a divorce, a lovers’ spat, an argument between child and parents – there is a loss of harmony, trust, confidence, and loving feelings.  Sometimes, there are “irreconcilable differences,” and the relationship ends.  But when the love and desire are there, it takes humility and repentance to restore the relationship – to reconcile.  Wow!  I just used another batch of “re” words – repentance, restoration, relationship, and so on.   They just keep coming to mind.

Today, we celebrate the Reformation of the Church.  Tomorrow marks the day when in 1517, Martin Luther placed the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  His study of the Scriptures, especially Romans 3, and his opposition to the selling of “points for Paradise” (indulgences) led him to write 95 criticisms of the Church.  When the document was reprinted and distributed, there grew a widespread movement to change the way the Church taught about salvation and also related to the common person.  It caused a huge uproar in the Holy Roman Empire, and Martin Luther became a wanted man, both a threat and an inspiration.  It was the Protestant Reformation of the Church, and we are children of that movement.

Reformation also is a word that begins with “re”.  So do revolution, rebellion, and revival.  So does the color RED, with which we note this day in the life of the church.  In the Reformation, Martin Luther and other reformers stressed that salvation does not come by our acts of good work.  No, our salvation and our good works come from the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  By the death and resurrection (another “re” word) of Jesus, we are given the free gift of redemption (yet another “re” word) and are freed from sin and death.  We have nothing to do with our own redemption; it is the work of God alone – an act of grace.  When we accept and believe that this is true, we call it “faith”.  Believing in the gracious love of God, we are renewed, and our relationship with God, which had been broken by sin and rebellion, is restored.  It is reconciled.  What a relief!  We are released from the bondage to sin and eternal suffering.  We are free to return to the Lord our God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

In Psalm 46, on which the Reformation hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” is based, there is a very reassuring word in verse 11.  “Be still, then, and know that I am God.”  This is not a reprimand for fidgeting in church or moving around too much.  It is about our inner fidgeting, our anxiety.  This is the declaration of a God who will not abandon us when the going gets tough.  When we are in our darkest hour, God is still God.  “God is our refuge and our strength.”  We need not fear or fret.  We need only to be still, for God is God and will keep the promises made to us.  God has a pretty good reputation, you know… one of loyalty and care and sacrificial love.

In May, as I stood in front of the now-bronzed double doors of the Schlosskirche – the Castle Church – in Wittenberg, I grieved.  Someone had thrown a bag of yellow paint at the painting of the risen Jesus that is above the doors.  It had dribbled down the painting and was touching the top of the doors.  It had been that way for several weeks, because it cost too much for the church to repair at that time.  I saw those doors almost every day for 2 weeks, and I came to realize that even the offenses of vandals could not erase or even slightly damage the effect that those 95 Theses had on the entire world.  The courage of Martin Luther and the reformers should inspire us to stand up to bad theology and cruel injustice.  We need to remember (another “re” word) what it is that makes us Lutheran.  We follow the teachings of a radical, rebellious, but righteous German priest, who reminded us that we are not in charge of the world.  In truth, we are not even in charge of our own lives.  By the grace of God, we have been reconciled to God and each other through the loving act of a Heavenly Father who gave his only begotten Son to die for us.  We have been reformed – RE-formed in Christ’s image – through no desire or act of our own.  Let us accept this reformation and reconciliation as our own mission.  And let us remember with joy and thanksgiving our calling as God’s own disciples.

 

Let us pray:  O God our refuge and strength, give to your Church your Holy Spirit, that we may see our mission anew, trusting in your faithful Word, and relying solely on your grace, that the eternal message of your Son, uncorrupted by the spirit of our times, may be received with joy and be good news for a new world, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen!