Thoughts on Reformation Sunday

All Saints Church, Wittenberg, Germany

It’s Reformation Sunday today and I’m thinking about the church. Recently, I heard this simple statement, “a living body is continually repairing, healing its brokenness.” I am currently serving as an intentional interim in a mid-size rural congregation. In interim ministry this statement brings an element of hope and possibility. For twenty-five years, I’ve served as a settled pastor in various congregations and this statement poses both a challenge and a threat for the congregations who have become comfortable with their pastor, one another, and with their way of doing ministry. On this Reformation Sunday, it seems appropriate to reflect upon the church, both in times of change and times when our life together is static and predictable. 

In the United States, Reformation Sunday comes in the fall of the year – on the cusp – of winter when flues, colds and other illnesses seem to be more prevalent to the healthy and active. Flues and colds are an infection that compromises the immune system and creates stress for our bodies and our minds. We know that in time, the flu symptoms will disappear and we’ll be better again. This is an example of how the “living body repairs and heals its brokenness.” Our bodies are amazing. As long as we have breath, our bodies will continue to repair its brokenness. 

Consider a rock. A rock is lifeless and for centuries can remain static and unchanging. A rock changes and eventually diminishes when it comes in contact with wind, sand, or water. When the winds blow and water crashes against the rock, its only response is to chisel away to nothing more than the sand and grit that will one day blow against another rock, breaking it apart and becoming unrecognizable in the course of time. Rocks, unlike living bodies, react to the elements by crumbling to nothingness. It may take a very long time, but it will not repair itself. Instead it disappears. A living body continues to repair itself, but a lifeless body decays and soon disappears like a rock that does nothing to change its course.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses

On this day, the Protestant churches remember Martin Luther’s actions that evolved into a movement and changed the course of history. The Reformation was a historical and real event that happened long ago, but as I see it, it is also a metaphor for a viable and living church today. Reformation Sunday reminds us that every day is an opportunity to fix our brokenness and respond to change in positive ways. This day reminds the Church Universal and our own churches that we can respond to change in two ways. We can respond to change like a lifeless rock, allowing the winds of change to compromise its integrity and chisel away God’s message of Shalom. This is one way – we can allow change to act upon us or we can respond to change like a living body – continually meeting change as an opportunity to strengthen our life together. Just as a living body is continually repairing and healing its brokenness, Reformation day is an invitation to do the same today.

Re-forming, re-shaping, and renewing is the message of the day. Whether we are traveling through an uncertain time – an in-between time, we can approach the change and transition with the spirit of Martin Luther believing that such is the time to re-imagine life together. The living body is continually looking at new ways of being the Church. In the same way,  a church or a congregation that has become comfortable with their life together will not dream dreams or see visions and like the rock sitting alone in the desert will one day find they are not what they once were and the winds of time and change will define for them a life that  no longer has  meaning.