10-26-15<\/p>\n
A Reformation lesson.<\/p>\n
The observance of Reformation Sunday also provides an umbrella over a discussion of \u201ctolerance,\u201d Christian charity, \u201cturning the other cheek,\u201d loving your enemies, and similar topics. In the United States Reformation Sunday has come to be observed on the last Sunday in October, but is conterminous with All Saints\u2019 Day. It is a legal holiday in parts of Germany, in Slovenia (despite its majority Catholic population), in Chile, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
October 31 is when the German monk Martin Luther, pushed to holy exasperation by the Catholic Church\u2019s selling of indulgences (certificates promising to keep one from hell) and other extra-biblical practices, nailed a list of his complaints to the cathedral door in Wittenberg. These were the \u201c95 Theses\u201d \u2013 a lengthy set of arguments indeed \u2013 and are regarded as the spark that ignited the kindling of resentment and reform within the Catholic church. <\/p>\n
Protestantism \u2013 now myriad denominations \u2013 resulted. First followers of Luther, then Calvin, the Wesleys, Pietists, Puritans, Baptists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, through evangelicals to perhaps the church\u2019s very first manifestations again, Pentecostals. The Roman Church remains, as do various Orthodox traditions. <\/p>\n
The Reformation came to my mind when, as occasionally happens, a subscriber to this blog \u201cunsubscribed.\u201d Actually it was an old friend, and the spark for him was an essay in which I criticized recent social trends, and took President Obama to task, I think over his advocacy of homosexual marriage or abortion, contrasted to his professed Christian faith; or perhaps it was his Administration\u2019s virtual silence in the face of Christian persecution around the world. <\/p>\n
I thought, and think, that such attitudes and national policies deserve criticism. \u201cNot interested in political critiques,\u201d my friend wrote. To me, policies make politics, no avoiding it. And Protestants originally were those who Protested.<\/p>\n
Once I asked the cartoonist Al Capp about making a distinction between commentary and pure humor. He saw none, and replied, \u201cEvery cartoonist is a commentator. Even when you draw a cat, you automatically are commenting on cats.\u201d In a similar manner, contemporary life has tuned everything political: much affects us, and reactions are inevitable; this is politics, in a way. But everything is not \u201cpartisan\u201d \u2013 this party or that; liberal or conservative \u2013 and many people confuse the two P words. <\/p>\n
Many Christians cite the scriptural admonitions to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, \u201crender unto Caesar,\u201d and, at the extreme of these modes, to honor the \u201cdivine right of kings.\u201d My friend objects to receiving blogs with points of view, and I can sympathize. Many of us fends off scores of these every day. I have a friend who submits magazine articles critical of the Christian Right, a shorthand term, and even has invented conversations with Christ in the manner of the Socratic elenchus. Between this and an essay mentioning policies that are counter-Christian\u2026 a distinction perhaps without a difference.<\/p>\n
Speaking personally \u2013 which I do in these messages \u2013 I wrestle with the challenge of resisting laws, rules, and practices that I consider inimical to the cause of Christ. <\/p>\n
Yes, we should obey laws; and the Bible says that has God has ordained those in authority, that He has placed those in authority. But, obviously, we are free in God\u2019s eyes to resist the appeals of incumbents to vote for them, and instead support their opponents. No? Should Jews have been compliant in Nazi Germany? Were Blacks wrong to commit civil disobedience against segregation? If our Christian beliefs convince us that abortion is murder, must we remain silent? decline to work for change if we can? <\/p>\n
God has given us brains (that is, consciences — not always the same thing) as well as hearts, and I am quick to acknowledge the slippery slope of applying the argument that we can love our own enemies but not God\u2019s. Possibly too facile, so we rely on prayer and the Holy Spirit. But yet, challenges and contradictions confront us.<\/p>\n
It brings me (a happy inspiration) to Reformation. The attitude that we must without deviance obey ecclesiastic and civil authority, as Christians, would condemn the martyrdom of uncountable saints past and present. What of those in the Age of the Apostles who defied Rome in order to establish Christian communities? What of those who defied their superiors to translate Scripture, and to evangelize? What of the reformers, in centuries before and centuries after Luther, who worked to return Christianity to biblical foundations? <\/p>\n
Among others, if the Wesley brothers had been compliant clergymen, not dissenting nor resisting, where would our faith, our hymnals, our churches be today?<\/p>\n
Welcome back to the dichotomy: one man\u2019s \u201cinjecting politics\u201d is another man\u2019s \u201cdefending Christianity\u201d or defining morality. To navigate the slippery slope recognizes the need, as we said, for prayer and Holy Spirit guidance at all times.<\/p>\n
I am reminded of David\u2019s petition to God, in Psalm 109, that He punish and discomfit those who accused and disagreed with him. And \u2013 on Reformation Day \u2013 I cite the words of Martin Luther, the priest who defied the Pope; criticized his fellow, corrupt, churchmen; published 95 scathing critiques; publicly burned the Papal Bull (arrest warrant) against him; refused to renounce his writings; was caught up in the \u201cpolitics\u201d of the day and went into hiding to save his life; and, commanded to renounce his views, declared: \u201cHere I stand. I can do no other.\u201d<\/p>\n
From his great hymn, \u201cA Mighty Fortress Is Our God\u201d:<\/p>\n
Though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
\nWe will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.
\nThe prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
\nHis rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.\n<\/p>\n
\nThat Word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
\nThe Spirit and the gifts are ours, through Him who with us sideth.
\nLet goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
\nThe body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever!\n<\/p>\n
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I have heard the Battle Hymn of the Reformation performed, in many venues large and small, including on the 500th anniversary of Luther\u2019s birth, in the cathedral chapel in the city of Augsburg, Germany, where he defended his faith. And I have sung it myself uncountable times, frequently with tears in my eyes. But few performances have the impact of Steve Green, singing it a cappella before 70,000 men at a Promise Keepers gathering. <\/p>\n