Memphis doesn’t hear from us Lutherans very often, but a pretty big deal is happening this month to which I’d like to remind or inform you. Lutherans believe that God’s greatest gift to mankind is His Holy Word…the Bible. Throughout its history the Christian Church has had to struggle to proclaim and teach the truth of that Word over against many falsehoods. Toward the end of the Middle Ages (in the 15th and 16th centuries) serious false teachings and abuses had developed in the church. God in his grace chose Martin Luther to be his servant for a most important work: the reformation of the church. Luther rediscovered for himself, and proclaimed simply and clearly three great truths that had been lost: 1. Salvation is God’s gift to us in Jesus. 2. We are saved by grace for Christ’s sake through faith. 3. We can be sure of this because God’s Word - and God’s Word alone- can guide us truly in all matters of life and faith.
500 years ago, on October 31st 1517, Dr. Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on a church door in Wittenberg Germany seeking debate, not to leave but to reform the church. This day is celebrated as the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation, to which every Protestant denomination owes their beginnings. The heart of Lutheran beliefs is the doctrine of justification, the teaching of how we are forgiven and declared righteous in God’s sight, and for centuries since Luther the Lutheran Church has used watchwords to articulate this doctrine: A sinner is justified by grace alone through faith alone for the sake of Christ alone, which is a truth revealed to us in Scripture alone.
The Reformation is an ongoing never ending process of confessing the Word as the world continues to change and confuse the Gospel. So happy 500th anniversary to the Church of the Reformation and to all who love to celebrate the comfort and joy of hearing that our warfare with God is over and that we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord!
So Memphis, we invite you to celebrate that 500 years ago this month the Reformation began, because that’s a really big deal! If you like being allowed to have your own Bible, and enjoy reading that Bible in your own language, if you think democracy is a pretty good form of government, if you use social media to promote your causes, if you don’t think the state should rule the church or the church rule the state, if you believe in the power of taking a stand in peaceful protest against those in power (like Luther’s namesake; ‘Martin Luther’ King Jr. did), and basically if you like to think for yourself in terms of education, money, freedom, esthetics, politics, work, music and even beer….historically speaking we Memphis Lutherans of the Reformation just want to humbly say;
You’re welcome.
Pastor Charles Neugebauer
Christ the King Lutheran Church
Christ the King Lutheran Church