During October we commemorate the Reformation of the Church. Specifically, we celebrate the 95 Theses, (that legend has it), Luther posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

I am reading a new history of the Reformation by *Diarmaid MacCulloch and I’m noticing many parallels between the changes in Luther’s life and the lives of the people of God, in the Church and in the world in that tumultuous period of the 16th century on the one hand, and by the changes in our lives and our congregation’s life and in our world in the beginning of the 21st century. I’m struck by several things.

The first is that when conditions are right, things can change very quickly – our lives can “turn on a dime.” In the 16th century a confluence of events and developments made rapid change possible (and necessary!) – the spread of the printing press, the threat of the Ottomans on the eastern edge of the Holy Roman Empire and the increasing wealth and influence of the Electors in Germany.

In the same way, I’m finding that our lives can turn on a dime. Of course, Linda’s and my lives have changed dramatically in just a few short months, but in settling in at Saint Nicholas, I’ve been able to talk with other people whose lives have also changed dramatically in a very short time. Changes in jobs, growing up and moving on to college or to living on our own, changes in marriages and relationships, relocation, illnesses and accidents can all cause our lives to change quickly. Some of these changes reflect larger changes in the society – some are simply part of life.

The second parallel is that change is painful and its ends are apparently unpredictable. The battles of the Reformation in the 16th century were terribly destructive. Many thousands of people died in the Peasants War of 1525 and the subsequent wars that ripped through Central Europe as the Reformation took its course. Families and relationships were torn apart by the passions unleashed in the changes of the times. Luther’s own personal history of separation from his father and his mentor in the faith provide graphic examples.

In the same way, some of the changes in people’s lives as I’ve come to know them in our little community have been very painful. Our members have experienced accidents to themselves or their loved ones, illnesses, job losses, divorce – the list of potential calamities is long.

The third parallel is that God is active in our collective history and in our personal histories in ways that we don’t always understand, at the time, or ever. As Protestants, we see a return to an emphasis on the grace and initiative of God in bringing us into right relationship with God and with our neighbors was an important and positive development and, in retrospect, most Roman Catholic historians think that this reorientation was required. But there were many points in the 16th century where the outcome was in doubt and the costs of change seemed greater than the possible benefits. We can’t, today, imagine how the world might be different had the Reformation failed, which was certainly possible.

And, again, in the same way, people I talk with in the congregation see in retrospect how God was active in the changes in their lives. More than one member who had gone through painful changes has told me, “I wouldn’t have it any other way” because of the spiritual and personal growth they’d experienced. Louise West gave me a wonderful story that I’d be glad to share in its entirety. It involved a lump of clay complaining to the potter about how painful it had been to be transformed into a beautiful porcelain tea cup and the potter patiently explaining why it had all been necessary. Sometimes, of course, we don’t ever fully understand why things happen. All we know is that we cannot know how our life would have been different if some key event hadn’t occurred but that we are convinced of the presence of God in our lives, and that is enough. I’m recalling a line from one of our recent anthems -- “If you don’t understand the purpose of His plan, in the presence of your King, bow the knee.”

A fourth parallel between the period of the Reformation and the tumultuous time in which we live – God is not only present but also works through us to achieve His aims. God’s grace through giving us a partner with whom we can share our lives would only have been an abstract idea for Luther had he not met Katie Von Bora. Similarly, the partnership between Philipp Melancthon and Luther, in spite of its stormy moments, was absolutely crucial to the success of the Reformation.

Certainly we can all point to people in our lives who have been Christ to us in ways large and small. The support of family and friends and this little community at Saint Nicholas has been a life-saver to people I’ve spoken with about the changes in their lives. We should not be too modest or too reticent to be Christs to others when we are needed.

We live in times no less tumultuous than the times of the Reformation we celebrate this month. We live as people, as a community and as a society, in times of pervasive and painful change. But we live not “as people who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13), but rather as people who are rich in hope and claimed by God for a future beyond our imagining. We are continually forming and reforming as people, as a Church and as a society. May God be praised!

Pastor Greg

* MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2003) The Reformation: A History. New York: Penguin Books.