Reformation B
October 31, 2021
Good Shepherd, Wells, MN
John 8.31-36; Romans 3.19-28
From time to time, when I was in junior high school, one of my classmates would disappear unexpectedly and without explanation. Usually, this was a boy of questionable behavior, but sometimes it was a young girl. When this happened, the rumor was that he (or she) was “up the river,” i.e., in reform school. We didn’t really know what was “up the river,” but we knew it wasn’t good, and perhaps even threatening. So it is that the word reform carries the notion of something broken that needs to be fixed.
Indeed, when Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses (propositions for debate) on the castle church at Wittenberg on this date in 1517, it was because he saw something greatly amiss in the church of the day. But I was reminded by Rolf Jacobson, Luther Seminary Old Testament professor, that there are plenty more “Re words” that can be used to celebrate this day. Return. Renewal. Restoration. Reawakening. Revival. Recommitment. Re-creation. This is not to gloss over the fact that something might be terribly misguided in our churches today. It’s to say that perhaps this is an opportunity to see where God’s Holy Spirit might be blowing through the church in new ways. It’s an opportunity to remember (another “Re word”) that our God is an active God, constantly on the move, doing new things in our midst.
There were some people following Jesus 2,000 years ago who had a hard time seeing this new thing that God was doing. People were stuck in a particular way of thinking and doing things, especially the religious leadership of the day. Jesus invites them into a new relationship, a living, loving relationship with God through him. That’s what Jesus means by continuing in his word and by continuing he means that favorite world in John’s Gospel that means abiding, staying, or resting. By abiding in Jesus, we follow the way of Jesus which is true life freely lived. But some of these folk can’t see it.
Lately, there has been a lot of noise about freedom of the “You can’t make me [fill in the blank]” variety. Sadly, what gets lost in the cacophony is that we not only have freedom from things, but we also have freedom for things. We forget that our freedom as Christians comes as a gift. As the Apostle Paul reminds us in our Romans passage that we have been “justified by faith apart from works,” i.e., set free by a gift of God’s grace. Because we don’t have to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love, we are freed to serve God and our neighbor.
Good Shepherd is in a time of transition and times of transition can be a bit uncertain, perhaps even scary. Of course, coming on the downside of the pandemic adds a whole other layer to the uncertainty. There might be a tendency to wonder what is broken at Good Shepherd that needs to be fixed, and that’s okay; it’s not a bad question to ask. But what if we look to one of the other “Re words” and see this time as an opportunity to see what God is up to in this place, where the Holy Spirit is blowing, and what new thing is happening? Return. Renewal. Restoration. Reawakening. Revival. Recommitment. Re-creation.
This Reformation Sunday, I invite you into this process of discerning where God is leading us. What if we entertain new ideas, try small experiments, and invite new voices to the table? Speaking of the table, maybe when we say “All are welcome to the Table,” we mean more than just those who are 5th graders or older. And maybe we set that Table at every service, every week because we all need it to receive God’s love and mercy more often than not. God has a mission to love and bless the world, and for that mission God has a church, one of which is Good Shepherd. The Son has freed you from worrying about your future so that you can dream a dream only God can fill. Thanks be to God. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment