Reformation Sunday - The Reverend Robert G. Walker - Pentecost 21 - year B  - October 25, 2009

Mark 10:46-52

From that beginning, to borrow from the late Paul Harvey, here is the rest of the story.

The sale of indulgences was sort of the last straw for Luther.  Corruption of many different sorts was very evident in the church of that day.  There was social corruption, and there was theological corruption, and theological corruption was what the sale of indulgences was.  Buying one’s way into heaven ran counter to what the gospel writers and St. Paul had proclaimed.   They spoke of God’s love and compassion, and the fact that Christ was the mediator and advocate for us already.  We couldn’t buy what had already been given.  By grace we live, through faith.  That message moved very swiftly from Wittenberg, Germany, throughout Europe and across the English Channel into England, where for some it was not a new message.

Luther has been called the Father of the Reformation.  That is not totally accurate, because there were those who preceded him who also had called for reform of the church.  John Wycliffe of England, in the 14^th Century, had proclaimed that the only mediator we needed was Christ Himself.  The intervention of priests and even the pope was not necessary.  He and others from Oxford translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English, and that was a gross affront to the church of his day.  He was declared a heretic, even though he was already dead,  and his body was exhumed, his bones cremated, and his ashes scattered across a river.

Jon Hus of Bohemia, also in the 14^th Century, was mightily impressed with the thinking of Wycliffe, and he too challenged the need for a pope, especially when at that time there was a pope in Rome and another in Avignon, France.  Hus went to the Diet of Constance, supposedly under safe passage, but it wasn’t.  His trial as a heretic was a farce, and he was burned at the stake.  He too had proclaimed that God’s grace was sufficient for salvation.   Hus is reported to have said, in his refusal to recant his position, “In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose attempts at reform will not be silenced.”  That was 1415.

In 1517, 102 years later, Luther nailed his 95 Theses.  Jon Hus’s prediction came true.   If Wycliffe or Hus had had access to the moveable type printing press, like Luther did, the Reformation would have begun maybe 125 or so years earlier.  There was a piece of music written in 1572 that had three medallions drawn on it.  The first showed Wycliffe striking two stones together for a spark.  The second showed Hus putting tinder on the spark and blowing on it.  The third showed Luther with a full-blown torch.  The Reformation by then was a well-accomplished fact.

Luther was a very prolific writer and theologian.  One of his accomplishments when he was incognito at the Wartburg Castle for his protection following the Diet of Worms was translating the Bible into German, the language of the people, and that translation still stands today as a classic.  He was also a musician who composed a number of hymns, one of which, of course, is “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”  He also wrote the “Deutsche Messe,” the German Mass, which influenced  the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, when he produced the First Book of Common Prayer in 1549.  Cranmer may also have been influenced by his wife, Margaret, who was the niece of Andreas Osiander, a German Lutheran reformer.  The first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury’s wife was a Lutheran.  (I love that!)

The common thread that ties Wycliffe, Hus, and Luther together, and all of us who have succeeded them through the centuries, is a shared theological understanding that we live by God’s grace, and not by any “good works” that we might do.  We can’t buy our way into heaven, because through Christ our salvation has already been given to us.  That’s the promise of the Gospel. 

I’ve used this Luther quote before, but it bears repeating.  He said, “Faith is a living, restless thing.  It cannot be inoperative.  We are not saved by works, but if there be no works, there must be something amiss with faith.”  That is an indicator that we live our lives in gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ.  We do things out of gratitude for the gift that has been given , not out of fear or an idea that we can earn salvation.

Today, we take a major step for supporting our mission and ministry as the Church of the Holy Comforter for next year.  We are to be involved locally, at the diocesan level, at the national level, and at the world level.  Is there a connection between this history and theology of the Reformation and our thinking about pledging for the financial support of our ministry?   Of course there is.  And it is very direct.

Simply said, we are grateful to God for the life we live and the promise of eternal life.  We are grateful for our fellowship in this congregation where we love each other and support each other.  We are grateful for the opportunities for ministry that being together here at Holy Comforter provide.  So, out of gratitude for all of this, we pledge our support.  Out of gratitude, we support those whom we have called to lead us, our rector, our minister of music, and all of the support staff.  Out of gratitude, we maintain a place for worship and a base of operations for our outreach ministries.    Out of gratitude, we reach out to help those who so desperately need our help through the Millennium Development Goals and our commitment to the Heifer Project.  Out of gratitude, we move forward, knowing that God in Christ has given us so much, and continues to give to us day after day.  Out of gratitude we sign our pledge cards and commit ourselves to furthering this ministry which we do in the Name of Christ.  Out of gratitude, we give of ourselves.

James Russell Lowell wrote these words: 

          “Give to the hungry sweet charity’s bread,

                        For giving is living,“ the angel said.

            “Must I be giving and giving again?”

                        The weary, wondering question came.

            “No,” said the angel, piercing me through,

                        “Just stop, when the Lord stops giving to you.”

Pray about your pledge.  Respond to God’s love.  Enjoy the fellowship in Christ.

Be blessed this Reformation Sunday.  Amen.