When Martin Luther nailed his 39 theses to the
Wittenberg Door he hadn’t anticipated starting a revolution. It was a way
of involving himself in scholarly discussion and reasoning together with others to solve difficult problems. The Church was passing through a difficult time and Martin Luther was wrestling with troubles in his own
soul.
His personal struggle had to do with the nature
of truth and what it meant for a person to find the salvation of God. He knew
that in the Scriptures there were answers to the deepest questions of life and faith, but it was a struggle to discern exactly
what the Holy Spirit was trying to show him.
He knew the church was missing the mark and needed
to change. The challenge was that he wasn’t sure exactly how that change
should come about. For sure there were things that he felt were completely wrong
about the church to which he belonged, but how did you go about reforming and redirecting the energies of an institution like
the church into a more positive direction?
Three strands - change, challenge and Reformation
- danced together throughout the events of his life. As we worship together on
this Reformation Sunday, a date which coincides with our Stewardship Commitment Sunday, I would like to suggest to you that
the church in our day faces similar struggles.
Change
“How many Presbyterians does it take to change
a light bulb?” The answer is “Only one,” but it’s a six
year process that has to be ratified from a motion by the General Assembly and sent to the Presbyteries before being approved
by the Session of the local church.
For better or for worse we are wed to a system
of checks and cautions against rapid change and hasty decision making. Quite
besides all that, we are often far more comfortable with what we know than seeking to alter anything. I’ve heard it said whenever change is mentioned: “If it’s not broken, don’t fix
it.”
The problem is that there are a lot of things broken
in our churches life. Let’s begin with ourselves. According to Reformation theology we are ALL broken and cannot be fixed without the intervention of the
grace of God. Before healing can take place the brokenness that expresses itself
in many different ways has to be acknowledged.
It’s a lot easier to cover it over and patch
it up than to admit the need for change. But ‘Band-Aid’ theology
doesn’t take us anywhere positive. Martin Luther knew that he could not
stand by and let things go on as they always had. He was convinced that things
had to change, which means he faced a second thing.
Challenge
Change is, of course, the biggest challenge that
we face. God’s Word constantly challenges us to see that staying the same
is not an option. Time and time again in the stories of God’s people it
is when ‘change’ stops that the people start reaching for lesser gods. Whenever
the people became smug and self-satisfied it became a wide open door to deception.
Change is all around us. Walk out the front door of the church and look around. The
challenge is how do we react to change? You know what an ostrich does when it
gets overwhelmed by things it finds threatening? It puts its head in the sand
and thinks that the problem is solved!
The stewardship challenge God has laid before us
is simple. How do we best use the resources that God has entrusted to us to accomplish
the things God is calling us to do. I suggest to you that what God is calling
us to do is reach people with the love of Jesus Christ. Catch them up in experiencing
the Kingdom. Take actions that soften their hearts so that they may receive the
Holy Spirit and be made whole.
Making changes moves us beyond our comfort zone.
It can mean that familiar landmarks are no longer there to guide us. It can mean
that some of the things that we have previously relied upon are no longer there to offer support. It can mean singing strange unfamiliar songs to people we don’t recognize in situations where we are
not always made welcome.
The Challenge that God calls us to is the challenge
of change. But it is not change with out a purpose. It is Reformation change.
Reformation
My daughter Helen captains a Dance Team at Shepherd University. On those occasions I’ve been able to watch them,
I’m fascinated by the way they put their routines together. It’s not just the choreography, it’s not just
choosing the music, it’s not just working together, but it’s the whole package. As
they go through the different phrases in their performances the dancers are constantly changing pace and moving place. Every phase requires a new formation.
Responding with new formations against the background
of a world where the tune keeps changing is the dance that we are called to make as a Church; re-forming in order to connect
with the songs of new people and new places. If we keep dancing to the rhythm
of a tune that that is no longer being played by anybody but ourselves, we are in danger of looking even more foolish than
an ostrich with it’s head in the sand.
When Martin Luther proclaimed, “Here I stand,”
he had no idea what a Re-formed Church would look like in the future. He was
convinced however that if things didn’t change, then there would be no church for the future. I do not know exactly what a Re-Formed Church in downtown Beckley West Virginia for the 21st Century should look like, but I’m prepared to trust God to lead us
towards becoming that Church.
To rise to that challenge will take faithful stewardship
of our time, talents and treasures. It will take pledges and commitment and, above all, willingness to change. Let me stress
though that our hope is not in the process of change, nor even in the nature of the challenge, but in the thing that Martin
Luther rested all his hopes for salvation upon – Faith in Jesus Christ.
It was against the background, not just of a changing
city, but of a continent being pulled apart and threatening to self destruct that Martin Luther penned the opening verses
of the hymn we sang for an opening this morning.
When he wrote these words, the outcome of the reforms
he envisioned was far from being any kind of reality. He placed his hope and
trust and faith in the right place. Not in his own abilities. Not in his works. Not in the Churches’ abilities. Not even in the abilities of his fellow Believers. It
was Christ alone who had saved him. And it was to the God who saved him, by grace
through faith, that he turned to move forward.
“A Mighty Fortress is Our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Protecting us with staff and Rod
And power all prevailing.
What if the nations rage,
And surging seas rampage?
What though the mountains fall!
The Lord is God of all;
The Lord of hosts is with us!”
Rev Adrian Pratt
