Reformation Sunday
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today is Reformation Sunday. Lutherans love Reformation Sunday. We like to sing “A Mighty Fortress”, a hymn Martin Luther composed. And we like to underline it with some ‘umpf’, like brass music. We celebrate the heritage of the reformers who opened for us a grace-filled understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ: the belief that we are saved not by our own good works, but by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
However, as one commentator warned, Reformation Sunday is not “Lutheran Pride Day”. After all, our reading from Romans this morning states clearly that boasting is excluded. This is not the day to bask in our wonderful, let alone superior theology (though I do think Lutherans have a great understanding of God and the scriptures).
Rather, this is a day to focus on knowing God, and on knowing who we are in the presence of God, and on being thankful for God’s grace, and on examining our daily discipleship as well as our church’s ministry to discern where we need to move closer to the gospel again.
In our opening prayer this morning, we asked God to guide the church as it strives to be faithful to her calling. The church is a living organism. As such, it is constantly changing. Therefore, it is good to pause now and then and wonder if, in our ongoing changes, we might have moved away from Christ. Where might we need to become more faithful in our worship, in our preaching and teaching, in our ministry and service, in our advocacy and our daily labor, in our witness and walk with God?
One area I am going to look at in today’s sermon is the question of how we talk about what we believe.
Dr. Martin Luther was a very learned man who could read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew fluently, who taught at the university, and who loved holding complicated theological debates with other professors.
At the same time, he was passionate about his understanding of God’s grace in Christ Jesus and wanted to make sure that every man, woman, and child would understand and embrace this grace, would be touched by God’s love and encouraged by the promise of salvation.
To achieve this, Martin Luther paid special attention to language. He listened to how everyday citizens spoke, and then borrowed their language when talking about his faith. When he wrote his catechism as a tool for mothers and fathers to teach their kids the faith, he made sure to use words even his small son could understand. Luther translated the whole Bible into plain German so everyone could read the scriptures. He composed hymns because singing made it easier for people to memorize the gospel truth, and then he used tunes for his hymns that people were already whistling on the streets.
At a retreat for pastors and deacons last year, Dr. Guy Erwin, President of United Lutheran Seminary and former Bishop of California, wondered if it might be time for the church to learn from Luther once again. What language are we using to talk about the gospel that people beyond our walls might not understand? And what language could we use instead?
In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus speaks about sin. What is the meaning of ‘sin’ in today’s language?
I googled “sinfulness”, and aside from dictionary posts, these were the links that popped up:
The Sinful Kitchen, a restaurant
A dealer of luxury handcrafts from Iceland
A nail polish company
Sinful Confections bakery
The sinful sister Halloween costume
And an image search brought up all kinds of very sexy pictures.
This is a far cry from what Luther experienced when he wrestled with his sinfulness. Luther was struggling all the time, wondering how he could possibly find favor before God because of all his sins. He was constantly confessing, constantly fasting, constantly praying. He would be up all night in his cloister cell and agonize over the terrible fate that was awaiting him because his sinfulness would bring the wrath of God upon him. For Luther, this was a gut-wrenching, existential struggle.
Then he taught a class on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and in his deep dive into this biblical book, Luther had a revelation. He read verses like those in our reading today: … the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Being right with God is a gift! All people sin, and still God grants us righteousness! Through Christ, everyone can live in a peaceful and hopeful relationship with God!
This changed everything for Luther. Gone were the nights when he wrestled with God. Now he was filled with joy. The grace of God completely changed his life: He left the monastery; he married and had six children; he continued teaching at the university, wrote countless books and pamphlets, and preached in area churches, all to spread the joy of the gospel he had rediscovered for himself. He wanted everyone to feel that at peace with God.
Jesus says in the gospel today, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” And also, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Luther experienced that freedom. Luther rejoiced in that freedom. Jesus Christ had set him free from his worries and struggles and sleepless nights and fears. Now he was free!
With today’s understanding of what sin means, I am not sure anyone would experience this joy of freedom. If “sinful” relates to chocolate dessert or nail polish or sexy Halloween costumes, what would it mean to be set free from such sin? Not much. No big deal. And really, why should Jesus care about my piece of cake?
The word ‘sin’ does not hold the meaning anymore that it did for Jesus and Paul and Luther.
However, people are still very much familiar with the feeling of what sin used to mean. People know sleepless nights. People know existential struggle. People know worry about life and the end of life and what might come after death. People know the longing for a loving, gracious God who blesses us with strength and guidance. People know the desire for a friend like Jesus Christ who meets us with compassion and acceptance. People know the thirst for the Holy Spirit with its power to heal and soothe. People know hunger for a community of relationships that foster wholeness of mind and soul.
People know all that. They don’t call it ‘sin’ anymore, but they know the struggle. How can we talk about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and about human existence and about what they have to do with each other? What words could we use?
Maybe ‘regret’ would be an option. I myself know how regrets can keep me up at night. Regret for situations when I should have said something but didn’t, or when I said something I shouldn’t have that hurt others. Regret when I had the opportunity to make a difference but didn’t take it. Regret when my generosity was called upon but I acted stingy. Regret when I could have shared my faith but chickened out. Oh yes, I know regret. I imagine many of you do, too.
Telling someone that God will help lift the burden of regrets off their shoulders, that would be a message that causes the kind of joy and freedom Luther felt.
Another option would be ‘pressure’. Many of us feel the pressure to constantly be ‘on’, constantly be in a good mood, constantly be capable as we take care of family and home and work and occupations. We post only our best moments on Facebook or Instagram, yet feel like we can’t share what is really going on in our lives, because we think we won’t measure up to other people’s expectations.
Today’s gospel is such good news in this struggle: Through Christ, we have a place in the house of God forever. In baptism, God adopted us as beloved children forever, just the way we are. And God made us part of a community where we can be honest, can share our true self, can say how overwhelmed we sometimes feel, and still be welcomed and supported and treated with compassion.
In the Luther film starring Ralph Fiennes, there is a scene where Luther talks to one of his fellow reformers. He was from the Netherlands and was about to go there to share the new understanding of the gospel. Luther warned him not to go because he would travel through territory where Protestants were being killed. But his friend wouldn’t wait. He was so full of joy about the gospel he couldn’t keep it in. “I want my countrymen to also feel this joy that I have found in Christ,” he says to Luther.
When have you felt that joyful about Christ? When has your faith made a real difference in your life? When has God’s grace touched you in an amazing way? Go back to that moment, and then describe it in words that your neighbors or coworkers would understand. And then tell the story.
On Reformation Sunday, we celebrate our salvation by grace through faith. This year, let us reform how we talk about the freedom and joy we find in Christ, because telling our story lifts us up, strengthens our fellow believers, and brings hop to a struggling world. Amen.