Reformation Sunday

October 27, 2019

Living by Faith

Romans 3:19-28

Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law?  By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.  Romans 3:27-28

According to recently sainted Episcopal Church leader and lay theologian, Phyllis Tickle:  “Every 500 years, the Church cleans out it attic and has a grand rummage sale.”

We are at the 500 year mark and in the midst of an overwhelming transition parallel to the time of Dr. Martin Luther.  Luther lived at a time of tremendous upheaval: 

The world was beginning to reframe its life from a flat earth with a three story universe and the world at the center to a solar system of which earth revolved around the sun. 

The new world was being discovered and explored and Europeans were encountering Native Americans. 

Europe was very divided and ruled by Divine Right of Kings crowned by the Pope – yet nation states were beginning to emerge.  A divided Europe was being threatened by the Turks. 

It was a time of transition and great upheaval when Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church Door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.  These Theses were an attempt to engage in a dialog regarding the abuse of Church power with the selling of indulgences to forgive sins.  Luther, a devout monk, priest, and professor had no ill intent but to correct false church teachings with the Gospel.  Thanks to Gutenberg’s recent invention of movable type – the printing press – Luther’s tract was spread throughout the Empire.

And thus began his journey toward reform and his excommunication from the Medieval Church.

It is 500 years hence and we live in a parallel time.  Our understanding of the universe has dramatically changed thanks to the Hubble Telescope. 

Our small pale blue dot circles a mediocre sun and our solar system is a grain of sand in the Milky Way Galaxy among 2 trillion galaxies throughout the universe.  We now know our universe is 13.8 billion years old and that the human species is but a blink of an eye in the evolution of this planet.  Astro-physicists are suggesting that there may be multiple universes.

We are in a struggle between exclusive tribalism and global inclusion.  Are we going to circle the wagons, or will we embrace diversity and a global perspective? 

The terror attack of 9/11 and the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the new war in Yemen and the Russian and Korean threats makes our time similar to that of Luther.

Due to human pollution and interaction with the environment, climate is changing and warming temperatures are causing weather to be more severe more often.

Thanks to the invention of the I-Phone communication is instant and like Gutenberg’s printer – worldwide.  Some of you may be on your hand held computer – that is what an I-Phone is – and receiving the latest news.  This alone has changed the way we think about each other and the world.

And lest we forget – the Church is in decline and it seems like its influence is continuing to wane amidst Catholic scandals and Evangelical distortions.

We are at the 500 year mark and in a massive transition and it can feel most disconcerting and threatening. 

Reaction:  Some folks retreat into denial – insisting that despite the facts the world is only 6,000 years old, climate change is a myth, we need to take care of our own and retreat into an isolation to protect ourselves from the onslaught of such deep and dramatic changes.  Some suggest going back in time and becoming what we thought we were again.

How do we as individuals and a faith community live through this time of transition?  Shall we visit the ecclesiastical attic and conduct a rummage sale?  How do we make our mark and leave a legacy?

Luther and the change that happened 500 years ago can give us some clues.

In the midst of such upheaval Luther was captured by this Scripture verse: “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.”

Paul is writing to followers of ‘The Way’ in Rome.  He boldly announces God’s inclusion of Gentiles through God’s announcing that the old covenant – the old system of counting sins has be thrown out.  God has declared in Christ that grace abounds and that God has set humanity free from bondage to SIN. 

Noticed I said SIN not sins.  SIN is that lost relationship with the Creator.  That heart of stone in each of us….that binary world of winning or losing…that hierarchy of power over others.  God in Christ has created a covenant of presence and partnership.  As Jeremiah says: 

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.”

God is present in with and under all of life.  God has declared you right with God.  Are you saved is an irrelevant question.  You are – now live into this gracious way of life.  You/We are free – free to be.  The truth is that we are no longer under the spell of SIN but free in Christ.  God has so declared you to be – you are God’s daughter – you are God’s son.

Living by faith means living in this promise so then people of faith take risks.

Look at Luther – in the freedom of the Gospel he reluctantly but boldly spoke out against abuse and injustice of a corrupt church selling God’s grace. At his trial at the village of Worms before Prince and Pope he spoke up when asked to recant.

Since your most serene majesty and your high mightiness’s require of me a simple, clear and direct answer, I will give one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the council, because it is as clear as noonday that they have fallen into error and even into glaring inconsistency with themselves.

If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God’s word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me! Amen.

In the freedom of the Gospel Luther was exiled and excommunicated from the Medieval Roman Catholic Church.  He trusted in God’s promise not knowing what would happen.

Janis Joplin got it right:  Freedom is another word for nothing else to lose.

We live in the same freedom.  At such a time as this we dare not circle the wagons or cave into fear mongering and isolation.  We dare not remain silent in the face of divisive rallies and injustice.  We need to build bridges not walls.

In this time of uncertainty for the church we have the freedom to experiment…take risks as a faith community…reach out and give ourselves away.  Imagine being accused of reckless compassion for the sake of the Gospel. 

As people of the Reformation why are we so eager to cling to the way things are?  Have not God’s people lived as a minority in exile before? And from exile called able to be a light to the nations and to give witness to the grace of God?

Annie Dillard is a contemporary author.  Pilgrim at Tinker Cottage is one of her best known works.  Here she reflects on the Christian faith:

Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? [At Sunday worship]

Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?

The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.  It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.

For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.”

Reformation is at the heart of the Christian faith.  Do we have the foggiest idea of what sort of power for change that we invoke when we come together?  How dare we blithely speak of God’s compassion and the call to discipleship?

Annie Dillard suggests crash helmets instead of straw hats, life preservers and signal flares and safety belts on the pews to lash people in.  Why?  Because we are playing with sacramental mysteries that have a way of changing and transforming life itself!

Living by faith means trusting God’s promise of unconditional love.

Story after story in Scripture speaks of risk and change.  Abraham leaves security and wealth behind and journeys based on God’s promise.  Moses takes to the desert with the people of Israel for 40 years – based on God’s promise of a new land.  In Exile and in despair the people of God return to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. Christ sends the Spirit and the church moves out to the Gentiles.

Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda (the church reformed, always reforming).  So we live in a time of transition…like a woman in labor…we are experiencing birth pangs.  In the freedom of the Gospel we can be faithful mid-wives of a renewed church.

Are you ready to step into the fray with God’s message of new life?

The Lord be with you.  And also with you.

Let us pray:

O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Any of this Message may be quoted.

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