Marty :)

I almost forgot but here it finally is, last Sunday's sermon. Sunday was Reformation Sunday and since many of the congregation come in fact from other backgrounds I like to take the possibility to tell something about how the church I happen to represent came about. I also think there is something very universal in Martin Luther's struggles to understand and accept God's grace.

I think it appropriate to tell the story every four years or so. So, take a good position because here we go:

On the Eve of All Saints Day, October 31, 1517, Augustinian Father Doctor Martin Luther, professor of Scripture at the University of Wittenberg, Germany posted an invitation to debate on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. This started what now called the era of reformation in Europe.

Martin Luther was brought up in the strict religious environment of the Roman Catholic Church. His parents enrolled him in school and it turned out that young Luther was a promising student. As a result Luther was then sent to the University of Erfurt in 1501 to study law. He did very well at his studies and graduated with a Master of Arts degree four years later.

Like many others of his time, however, Luther was distressed by his sins and lived in terrible and constant fear of God's angry judgment. After being caught in a ferocious thunderstorm that that made him scared for his life Luther abandoned his plans to practice law and entered an Augustinian monastery. He hoped that the rigorous life of a monk would allow him opportunities to do enough good works to please God and escape eternal punishment.

Luther threw himself into monastic life and was ordained in 1507. He meticulously followed all the strict rules of his abbey. But although Luther did everything a devout and conscientious monk should do, he did not find the peace of mind he was seeking.

This is how he describes it himself:
AI felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, "As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the Decalogue (i.e. the ten commandments), without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!" Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.”

A year after his ordination Luther was sent to Wittenberg to pursue a doctoral degree and to teach at the newly established university there. During his time there he struggled with Paul’s letter to Romans and finally there was what is often called his "Tower Experience" the revelation that changed his understanding of what the Gospel is about.

And so he continues:
“At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, "In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, 'He who through faith is righteous shall live.'" There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.”

For those of us brought up in this tradition this is what we have been taught from the get go. Of course what Paul declares is that Jesus Christ has already paid for all our sins by His death on the cross. And from this follows that to all who put their trust in Him – and Him alone – God gives His full forgiveness. Theologians now call this justification by faith. However, for Martin Luther it was his life’s biggest struggle to both to understand what Paul was writing and to trust what he had read. At the end of the day this is something that might not be quite that far from our own experience either.

Now then, in 1517, Luther (now a Doctor of Theology and a respected professor) was drawn into a controversy over the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were certificates sold by the Roman Catholic Church that promised people release from works of penance for absolved sins, both in life and in purgatory.

Luther drafted a series of ninety-five statements in Latin discussing indulgences, good works, repentance, and other topics, and invited interested scholars to debate with him. Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church on October 31st, 1517. Incidentally this was not an act of defiance or provocation. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Today, a professor might publish an article in a journal or post it on a web site.

By posting his document on the eve of the All Saints' Day mass, Luther ensured that his Theses would come to the attention of all the of literate Wittenberg residents and educated visitors who filed into the Castle Church for worship the next day.

For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had been plagued by rather peculiar doctrines, superstition, ignorance, and corruption. There were of course people of God who questioned what was happening, but since most ordinary Christians were illiterate and had little knowledge of the Bible, people had to rely on their clergy for religious instruction and guidance.

The problem was that monks, priests, bishops, and even the popes in Rome taught doctrines like purgatory and salvation through good works. Spiritually earnest people tried to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions, but they were left wondering if they had done enough to escape God's anger and punishment. The good news that God is loving and merciful, that He offers each and every one of us forgiveness and salvation not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has already done for us was largely forgotten by both clergy and laity.

What Luther wrote in the theses was a direct challenge to the Papacy – and even more alarmingly for the Church – to the economic system enriching the Papal treasury. Thus, the Pope initiated proceedings to have Luther tried for heresy. Luther, however, with the support of the Wittenberg faculty, appealed to elector Frederick III of Saxony for protection.

Luther intended the Ninety-five Theses to initiate an academic discussion. He did not expect them to serve as the agenda for a major reform of the Catholic Church. However, events soon overtook him. Within weeks, the Theses were translated into German, reproduced using the new moveable-type printing press, and circulated throughout Germany. It wasn't long before they were the talk of Europe.

The publication of the Ninety-five Theses brought Luther to international attention and as a result into direct conflict with the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the Holy Roman Emperor. A little over three years later, he was excommunicated by the pope and declared a heretic and outlaw.

Although Luther did not intend to begin a separate Church, that was the unavoidable consequence of his challenge. By 1530 Germany was divided between communities loyal to the Pope and those following the reforms initiated by Luther. And nowadays there are over 70 million professing Lutherans worldwide.

In many ways reformation did change the Roman Catholic Church, too, although more slowly than Luther probably wanted. One of the latest signs of this is that, on Reformation Day 1999, eight years ago, the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church publicly signed in Wittenberg a declaration stating that: "Together we declare: by faith alone is the centerpiece of this expression of ecumenical convergence."

Let us pray:

Our heavenly Father,
Do no let us bury ourselves into the bunkers of this-is-how-it-always-has-been.
Father, give us courage to look for reformation when we've become too set in our ways.
Do not let us be too afraid of change.
Father, please give us courage and faith to give room for your Spirit in our lives, in the lives of our families and ultimately in the life of our Church.
And as you do that, please fill us with your love and joy, so that we could be the salt of the Earth and the light of the World.
In the name of your Son,
our loving Saviour,
Amen.