Pastor's Corner: Remembering Reformation Day

Well, not yet. It’s Reformation Sunday for churches in the liturgical tradition this weekend, but the anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 theses in Wittenberg is Oct. 31.

It’s been 502 years now.

That means the big 5-0-0 celebration centered in Wittenberg and spread around the world is itself fading into history and memory.

And my pastor/dad joke that Levi’s 501 Jeans ought to be solicited to sponsor an after-party is not only corny, but now outdated and corny.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. One of the things I enjoyed most about the commemoration of a half-millennium? The time devoted to looking forward, not merely looking back.

The hopefulness of the prior years’ events included gathering Protestants and Catholics together to worship all around the world, including in Tucson, Arizona, near where I lived at the time. Together, we set aside age-old disputes.

A collaboration of leaders from the Lutheran and Catholic traditions prepared a declaration that confessed quarreling theologians from each side in the past “repeatedly violated the eighth commandment, which prohibits bearing false witness against one’s neighbor … often deliberately exacerbating conflicts rather than seeking solutions by looking for what they held in common. Prejudices and misunderstandings played a great role in the characterization of the other side. Oppositions were constructed and handed down to the next generation.”

In recent decades, surely not every Lutheran-Catholic division has been bridged but there has been increased recognition and celebration that there is more that we share than what separates us. We can move forward with that kind outlook instead of carrying so much baggage as dead weight.

A slogan many followers of Christ latched on to around the time of the commemoration is “always reforming,” or for those who prefer the Latin: semper reformanda. As I said, the excitement around turning over to a big round number in odometer-like fashion has since waned. Yet I always try to keep this concept simmering on the back burner when it’s not at the very forefront of my mind. How is the church to maintain this mode of reforming to continue to serve a rapidly changing world? It is a mighty challenge, with which we struggle, to adapt while also maintaining integrity to the core of who we are and what we believe.

For believers in the Good News, there often appears to be little in the way of good news these days. Just a week ago, the Pew Research Center released its latest survey results showing a continued decline in the percentage of Americans who describe themselves as Christians, increase in the religiously unaffiliated and diminishing attendance among those who do still claim an attachment to a church.

The ongoing trends continue to make the people who are still in the pews nervous and fearful. It’s a natural human reaction. However, I believe that as Christians, God is calling us beyond that. A day after the Pew report came out, a seminary professor of mine, himself Episcopalian, offered insight which uplifted me.

“Resurrection is so often presented as moving beyond death, getting over this life, or on to what’s next. Especially as expressions of Christ’s Church we face death poorly. Rather, because of the Resurrection, we don’t have to worry about these things. Because of the Resurrection, we can pay attention to and be with and love right now, people in front of us, a world in grave distress. Resurrection means we can ‘keep death before us’ (The Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 4, 47) and love this world fiercely.”

I know I needed to hear that word right now.

In light of this wisdom, I feel encouraged to face the challenge to always and continually reform with boldness. I also know it is easier said than done. Survivalist instinct tells us not to be big risk-takers. But church … if we have faith, what do we really have to lose?

——

The Rev. Sean Janssen is pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, Havre, and Christ Lutheran Church, Big Sandy