Commemorating Martin Luther and 500 Years of Reformation

After years of much prayer, meditation, and struggle, Luther discovered the true meaning of God’s Word: “Then finally God had mercy on me, and I began to understand that the righteousness of God is a gift of God by which a righteous man lives, namely faith.”

The Reformation was one of the decisive events that made the world we live in, for better or worse. Luther and his followers weren't trying to reshape the world: they were trying to save it. They had a gospel to proclaim and thought the end was near. But in their urgency they trampled down the walls that had kept life in Western Christendom neatly ordered.

Luther outflanked the power of the Catholic Church hierarchy with a new communications technology, the printing press that allowed him to speak directly to the people. When he was finally dragged before the assembled majesty of church and empire in 1521 and ordered to renounce his errors, he refused, insisting that his conscience was captive to the Word of God, a higher authority than any pope, bishop or king.

Suddenly, everyone had a voice and no one could tell anyone else what to believe. Luther's radical appeal to the total supremacy of personal faith would trigger nearly 200 years of religious warfare.

But, there were limits. Martin Luther wanted Christians to believe the truth, not whatever they wanted. By insisting that all human authority was provisional and that conscience can be constrained only by the Bible and the Holy Spirit, he ensured that his followers who try to police the boundaries of acceptable argument will, in the end, always fail.

As a child, ego rules.  Everything is about “me” and immediate satisfaction.  As a person matures, their concept of time changes. One can look back at results and consequences, as well as plan for the future. Luther and the Reformation freed people to do that; to carve out a spiritual space where the authority is scripture and the Kingdom of God is most important. It is a space where education is not only for this world but for the next as well.  It is a space where each individual is able to say “here I stand”.

So, as we celebrate 500 years of Lutheran heritage, knowing “scripture alone”,  “faith alone”,  “grace alone”, Luther reminds us the responsibility is now the individuals. We need to know where we do stand! It behooves us to read the word of God regularly, nourish our faith, and share the grace we have each received.