REFORMATION THOUGHTS

October 28, 2001    October 29, 2006

Jeremiah 1:4-10      Readings from Luke and Acts

I hope that you will humor me this morning.

I want give you a short, maybe ten or twelve minute lesson in church history.

The most important and time in Church history was when she began dramatically back in the first century.

The second most important time for the church was what I’m going to tell you about this morning

So here goes.

We Baptists sit here today in this sanctuary with the freedom to be here…to worship as we please…to proclaim what we think about life, death, sin, God, the church…because of the Protestant Reformation which occurred way back in the 16th century.

And what the Protestant Reformation was about was an institution which had a death grip on western civilization…not just on religion…but on government…on scientific experimentation… on the arts… and on the individual freedom of  men and women in the western world.

Overwhelmingly the Christian Church centering in Rome, had become precisely what she had condemned in her beginning …a religion dominated by legalism, judgementalism, authoritarianism and lifeless worship  rituals.

Now without question, the church through the centuries had given to the world many wonderful things.  

Beautiful, timeless art.  

Magnificent architecture.  

Magnificent people like St.Augustine, St.Francis, Teresa of Avila, St. Joan in France and  St. Brigid and St. Patrick and St. Columba in Ireland.

And so many others.

In times past in certain periods, the church had brought a compassion and a quality of love to great numbers of people.

But subtly and then not so subtly, she had become a sad caricature of what she had been.

She had become power-hungry.

She took advantage of the poor and preyed on the childlike faith of people.

Her priesthood had become elitest and autocratic,  complete violations of Jesus’ teachings about humility servanthood.  

And she forbade freedom of speech and worship to the point of imprisonment,  physical torture and execution.

So, the Reformation was about an institution, the historical Roman Christian Church which had become a tragic institution.

And the Reformation was about a man.  

The man’s name was Martin Luther.  And what a larger than life man he was.  

He was a paradox.  

He was controversial.  

He was rough and crude at times.

He was a man who thrived on conflict and admitted it.  

One great scholar, digging through Luther’s writings, found this statement written by him.  He wrote:

“I have been born to war, and to fight with 

factions and devils; therefore my books are stormy and war-like.  I must root out the stumps and stocks, cut away the thorns and hedges, fill up the ditches.  I am the rough forest ranger who breaks the  path and makes things ready.”

So Luther was this kind of person.

But he was also known to be a man of great empathy and compassion.

Another scholar writes this about him…He had a deep sensitivity for the wavering (weak).  A gentle sympathy for the fallen.  He showed profound touches of religious feeling and a rare practical sense.  In the plague of Wittenberg in 1516 (at the risk of losing his life) he would not abandon his post and he ministered and comforted the afflicted.”

So the reformation was about an institution which was in deep trouble.  

It was about a man, Martin Luther, flawed but loving, courageous and full of faith.

And the Reformation was about at least one more thing which has to be mentioned.

What had happened in western civilization was a violation of one of the basic rights of human existence.  And that is, that every man or woman who exists has the right to be free.

The Reformation was about human freedom.

One of the great legacies that comes to us from the Reformation is that no institution; no church; no pope or potentate; no bishop or pastor; no Mike Easterling or Susan Sparks, no book and no writing; no tradition; no authority anywhere can legislate  to people what they must believe. 

Every man or woman has the soul freedom to make that judgment for themselves. 

Am I saying that we shouldn’t listen to the traditions  of the past?  

Am I saying that we should disregard the Old and New Testaments which have been handed down to us?  

Of course not.  

We learn from the past.  We learn from the experiences of those who have gone before us.  We learn from the writings of our forefathers and foremothers who recorded their pilgrimages and  spiritual experiences and passed them on with all sincerity.

But all of our sacred writings, and all of our traditions, all we have been taught, must come before possibly the most treasured possession we have….the God given freedom of our souls.

The God given conscience and reason which are within each of us.

Back in the 16th century as the Reformation gained momentum, Martin Luther was called before the diet (council) at Vorms by the hierarchy of the church.

If convicted of heresy, he could be sentenced to death.  

Johann Eck, powerful spokesman for the Roman Church, challenged Luther.  Eck said:

“You have no right to call into question the most holy orthodox faith, instituted by Christ the perfect lawgiver, proclaimed throughout the world by the apostles, sealed by the red blood of martyrs, confirmed by the sacred councils, and defined by the church…and which we are forbidden by the pope and the emperor to discuss.  I ask you, Martin—answer candidly and with out distinctions—do you or do you not repudiate your books and the errors which they contain?”

Luther listened intently, then sat in the silence.  

Then responded:

“Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer.  I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against my conscience is neither right nor safe.  God help me.  Amen.”

Well, we give thanks for the Christian Church, warts and all.  We are a part of that church. In a very real sense she is our mother.

We rejoice in her great contributions over the last two thousand years.

We confess her glaring sins and errors, and pray that we will learn from her mistakes.

We give thanks for the Reformation and for Brother Martin and for all the men and women who have had the courage to question and to challenge…to risk it all for conscience’ sake.

And finally, we give thanks today for the gift of personal and religious freedom. 

May we cherish it, and use it responsibly.  

May we realize how absolutely priceless it is.

The history lesson is over.

And the people said……AMEN