Reformation Reflections - ABLAZE #19
Ohio District ABLAZE
Rev Terry Cripe
October 28, 2009
It's near the end of October, and we all know what that means: time for trick-or-treating!
What? Well, it is Halloween for everyone except that odd 1 – 2% of Americans who celebrate something called “Reformation.” Celebrating such an event might be seen as an edgy counter-cultural move, except there aren't enough of us celebrating it for the prevailing culture to sit up and take notice. If anyone passing by our churches observes that the lights are on for an evening activity, they'd probably more easily imagine that we were evangelicals hosting an “alternative” event to protest secular Halloween's witches, goblins, and demons. Reformation? What's that?
It's near the end of October, and we all know what that means: time for trick-or-treating!
What? Well, it is Halloween for everyone except that odd 1 – 2% of Americans who celebrate something called “Reformation.” Celebrating such an event might be seen as an edgy counter-cultural move, except there aren't enough of us celebrating it for the prevailing culture to sit up and take notice. If anyone passing by our churches observes that the lights are on for an evening activity, they'd probably more easily imagine that we were evangelicals hosting an “alternative” event to protest secular Halloween's witches, goblins, and demons. Reformation? What's that?
To read a number of October “From the Pastor” newsletter articles, you'd think this was the greatest thing since bratwursts soaked in beer. It certainly has all of the makings of a good drama – the defiance of church authority, spirited debates, a manhunt, an undercover alter ego known as Knight George. And the substance – the recovery of the Gospel itself – that is certainly important! So pull out all the stops and celebrate in grand style!
But my ABLAZE instinct asks, “Can this be more than a time for self-congratulations?” Oh, I know, we say it is a time to give thanks to God that He restored the Gospel's purity through Martin Luther, and that is true. But if we gather only to remember the past without allowing it to direct our present and future, we are to be pitied.
Some have got themselves exercised because ABLAZE set its terminus for planting 2000 new ministries and revitalizing another 2000 congregations as AD 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. They fear this might overshadow or dilute an important milestone. Well, here's what a former LC-MS president said in a sermon he preached on Reformation at Bethany Lutheran Church, in Milwaukee, in 1937:
“The festival of the Reformation is a completely appropriate day for a mission festival, since precisely this festival admonishes us that we not hold for ourselves the rich treasures of Lutheranism which we possess, but should communicate it to others. The eternal Gospel, which Luther proclaimed anew, is to be proclaimed to all non-Christians and all races, and in all languages and to all peoples.” (The Duty of the Lutheran Church to be a Church of Mission, Rev Friedrich Pfotenhauer, trans by Rev Matthew C Harrison)
This belief propels our plans for West Virginia, northeast Kentucky, Ohio, and throughout the world. This connection between missions and the treasures of the Reformation continues to move us to work together with the rest of our Synod to support missions overseas with generous Fan into Flame gifts. What an exciting Reformation festival it would be if technology allowed us to celebrate with African Lutheran churches what God is doing in their midst! Could their excitement and commitment to Christ in the face of persecution serve as examples for us? Would it move us to petition God for renewed zeal on our continent and bump us off the dismal European pathway we seem to be following? Would it move us to work together again as a Synod in mission for the spread of the Gospel treasure, Jesus Christ? Would it move us to a spirit of self-sacrifice as it has them? What a treat that would be!