The Protestant Reformation – 500 Years + One Day Later

Our Lutheran sisters and brothers have been preparing for October 31, 2017 for most of the year, getting ready to commemorate the historic event of their namesake, Martin Luther, that changed the practice of the Christian religion throughout the world. Even mainstream newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post had articles about Luther’s actions and how those ripples are still being felt today.

In our modern world of free speech and rallies against all kinds of injustices, we might not realize just how radical Luther’s actions were.  He was a Roman Catholic monk and was intimately aware of the system that perpetuated ultimate power and influence over people’s lives, especially those who were illiterate and uneducated.  The lay people could not read the Bible, only have it interpreted to them, so they did not know to challenge the system.  But Luther did.  He drafted 95 reasons, or theses, as to why many of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church were unjust, even antithetical, to God’s purposes.  Specifically, he was appalled by the practice of selling “indulgences,” which I like to think of as “Get Out of Hell Free Cards.”  Essentially, if one sinned, one could buy an indulgence and the sin would be forgiven in the eyes of the Church, without the need for spiritual repentance – literally turning away from the old behavior.  It was a practice ripe for abuse, and it was.  Those who could afford to pay assuaged their consciences by buying their way into heaven (or so they believed) and those who couldn’t, lived in fear of God’s judgement. There was no sense of God’s loving kindness or mercy, which is what compelled Luther to act.

It was a David and Goliath story – one monk against the most powerful institution in the world. But the world was on the brink of change as more “average” people had access to books and information with the invention of the printing press in 1440.  Although the Roman Catholic Church attempted to silence Luther, they were not able to stop the Movement. 

One article I read mentioned that Reformation Day was not to be celebrated but commemorated because it was a sad day when the Church fractured rather than united.  In our own Catechism, we profess that the mission of the Church is “to restore unity with God and each other,” and yet we still find ways of dividing ourselves.  While Pope Francis has been working on ecclesiastic relations, the reality is that there is still much that divides us (like the ordination of women, but I digress).

All of this was an interesting history lesson that made me feel justified and proud of my heritage until I read an article in The Washington Post by Mika Edmondson, the pastor of New City Fellowship in Grand Rapids, MI, who compared the ministry and actions of Martin Luther with Martin Luther King, Jr.  Mr. Edmondson makes the argument that Luther and King were both faced with unjust systems that could only be dismantled if opposed directly.  One sobering comment caught my attention:

“The entire system of segregation in the U.S. South was built on false doctrine: namely, black inferiority. Historian Rebecca Goetz traces the idea to Anglican ministers in Colonial Virginia, who crafted the idea of “hereditary heathenism.” It was the belief that enslaved Africans and indigenous people could not become Christians. This belief, writes Goetz, ‘laid the foundations for an emergent idea of race and an ideology of racism” in the United States.’” The Washington Post 10/31/2017 (emphasis mine)

While I have not researched Goetz’s work, I was appalled, but not completely shocked, that my forefathers were culpable in promoting and perpetuating the horror of slavery. The Reformation opened the minds of some, but it did not completely change the hearts of all humankind to see each other as brothers and sisters regardless of any differences, seen or unseen.

I believe the Reformation still has much to teach us, not only in how to unify the Church, but more importantly about how to unify humanity, to truly learn how to love each other as we are loved.  Yes, some progress has been made, but not as much as we would think in 500 years.  I hope it won’t take another 500 years to make more considerable progress toward justice for all. Let’s pray and work together to make it happen.

In Christ,

Rev. Valerie+

For an excellent essay about All Saint’s and All Souls Days by The Rev. Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement, click here.