I’m getting ready for Reformation Sunday. This year, we celebrate the 500th Anniversary. It all started with one man nailing his concerns, the 95 theses, on the chapel door in Wittenberg. In my preparations, I’m taken by the impact one person can have on the world. Or better, what impact one person can have when God works through them. Martin Luther changed not only the direction of church history, but of world history. The Reformation is an amazing story. As we celebrate that story, the question, for me, is whether we are open to the same power of the Spirit? How can God work through us? How can we be a part of the reforming spirit within the life of the church? The truth is that Martin Luther is not an isolated story to be simply remembered and celebrated. There is a much greater truth.
At the last Youth Gathering in Detroit, one of the speakers challenged everyone who was there. She said that the human tendency is to sit back and wait for the next Martin Luther, Nelson Mandela, or Martin Luther King. We wait for the next reformer, prophet, or truth teller. We believe that God works through other people. Her challenge was to allow God to work through us. Her challenge was not to wait. Be the next Martin Luther or Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King was her cry. She was right. It is easier to sit and wait for someone else when the truth is so much greater. That greater truth is that, in the water of our baptism, the same Holy Spirit is poured into every one of us, not just a select few. Through us, God can and will do amazing things. The Reformation is not locked in the past. The Reformation is a promise for today. The reforming spirit of God is still blowing. May that Spirit blow through our hearts and lives. May this year’s Reformation celebration open us to God’s possibilities. May we not only celebrate the Reformation, but live it.
Peace,
Pastor Summer
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