October is the month of reformation. The weather is re-forming, preparing to take its turn into winter. The trees and fields join in as well shaping the familiar scenes we know from summer into a brilliant burst of color as all of nature is re-formed. As Lutherans, each October we celebrate reformation day to commemorate Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. We think of this as the moment that sparked the reformation, where the church was re-formed.
Reformation is not just about change per-se. It is about a very specific kind of change: renewal. Summer always changes to autumn and autumn to winter, the seasons bring us back to where we were before, but still carrying us forward in time. This cycle of renewal is how life is perpetuated, carried forward, and passed on, re-forming our world. Our spiritual lives are meant to work like this as well. The church has seasons within each year which guide us through a cycle of being renewed by the work of God’s Holy Spirit. Without the change and renewal, life, both physical and spiritual, would stagnate and end. Thank God for reformation.
If Reformation is about being reshaped and renewed, where should the church look for inspiration? Martin Luther didn’t want to do away with the things he had, he wanted to see them renewed. For Luther, the answer was to look back to a time when things were closest to what they should be today. I thank God for so many good things to look back upon, and to look forward to seeing renewal.
There were times before the brokenness and decline of the church throughout America knows today; before church splits, a time before society and politics influenced the church’s views of God more than the Holy Bible. Perhaps this isn’t such a bad place to start a new reformation, a renewal that brings the best things of the past back to life to be lived again in the future. Perhaps now is the time to start. It is the season of reformation after all. When you see me this month I would love to hear about the times you feel are worth looking back upon, and that you’d hope to see again in the future. God can do it.
In Christ’s Freedom,
