To Always Be Reforming

Blessed Reformation Day!

For Lutherans, October 31st is about more than candy or even the celebration of All Saints Day— it’s the day our tradition began and on it we celebrate the heritage we participate in!

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Saxony. This document, arguing against the power, efficacy, and legitimacy of indulgences, was also mailed to the area’s archbishop. Indulgences— in those days, waivers to reduce the amount of punishment one would have to endure in the afterlife— were sold by the Catholic church to line pockets and finance extravagant building projects. Luther, and many others, argued that indulgences did not have the ability to dictate a person’s salvation. More immediately, by withholding forgiveness until it could be bought, the Church was extorting the common people with something that God had given to us freely. Luther’s reformation would ripple out from All Saint’s Church in Wittenberg, and Christendom would never again be the same.

Martin Luther challenged the Catholic church with his 95 Theses because he was called to speak to the needs of his time. Luther’s reformation is not an event come and gone and buried in history; it is a directive to speak to the needs of our own day, and a reminder that our duty is to attend to our neighbors in need.

Luther Nails His 95 Theses to the Church Door, Ferdinand Pauwels

Luther the Advocate

Of the many commentaries, biographies, and articles written on Luther in last 500 years, only a few talk about the role advocacy played in his life even though the very act of writing and publicizing the 95 Theses was an act of advocacy.

Luther did not set out to tear apart the church or start his own movement; he intended to address the issues within the Catholic church as a member. He was moved to this advocacy because of his care for oppressed. His theological pre-occupations with grace and the nature of salvation were heightened by the church’s unfair treatment of the poor. The rich could afford to avoid the church’s wrath through purchasing indulgences, but common people couldn’t. Throughout the Bible, God’s followers are tasked with uplifting those in need; Luther was sure that locking salvation behind a paywall contradicted the gospel’s message of liberation for all, and actively hurt the poor he had been tasked with protecting. With the 95 Thesis, Luther used his clerical voice to advocate for the voiceless before the Church government.

Luther’s advocacy extended outside of the church as well. Every-day people in sixteenth century Europe had to deal with high interest rates, poverty, food scarcity, and wealthy landlords in addition to the Church’s pressures. Throughout his life, Luther encouraged his followers and churches to speak out to the secular government about these problems. He argued that clergy have a duty to address injustices publicly and condemn them where they are seen— after all, Christ publicly deposed authority many times in order to uplift the poor. In his 1534 commentary on Psalm 101, Luther writes,

“The spiritual government or authority should direct the people up towards God that they may do right and may be saved; just so the secular government should direct the people out towards one another, seeing to it that body, property, honor, wife, child, house, home, and all manner of goods remain in peace and security and are blessed on earth.”

According to Luther, both the church and the state can be tools to enforce justice and uphold goodness and dignity in our world. It is our job to use all of the tools we can to help our neighbors. In administering charity, churches are able to alleviate the immediate suffering of the oppressed, and in advocating for them, we are able to create a world that is more just for all of us.

A Continuing Reformation

For the last hundred years, Lutherans in America have not necessarily been viewed as loud-voiced rabble rousers or trouble-makers, and in some ways, this makes me sad. Luther caused a good deal of trouble for the rich and powerful with his commitment to the gospel. So did Christ. Just because we do not contend with all the same issues as sixteenth century Germans doesn’t mean that we don’t need to use our own voices for change. Luther did not ask his followers to preserve his personal legacy or cultivate churches that continue to mirror his or to make sure we wear red on the last Sunday in October. Instead, he left us the directive to be a church that is in constant conversation with the world in which it lives. As a Lutherans, it’s our job to make sure that the Church responds to the needs it sees.

It shouldn’t be our goal to build a church or government that is fool-proof and air tight; this isn’t possible. Eventually every organizational system, world view, and set of answers will fail, or face corruption, or meet pitfalls. Instead, our systems should be committed to constant conversation with people, culture, and issues, continually reforming to meet the community’s needs. We are called to be reformers in our own time, building a Church which truly works towards justice, peace, and salvation everywhere it is needed.

We are also called to advocate for those in need. Our Lutheran heritage shows us that we cannot have a functional faith community unless the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the homeless are housed, and the orphan and widow are protected. Right now, many of our neighbors are in need: housing is become scarcer and more difficult to maintain in Arizona, childhood poverty has doubled in the last few years, hunger rates are rising, and so the list goes on. If Luther could risk his own safety and comfort to protect the marginalized, then we Lutherans in America, with its democratic systems and representative governments, must also answer the call to reformation and advocacy.

Martin Luther’s favorite Psalm was Ps. 118.

When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
    he brought me into a spacious place.
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me? (ps 118:5-6)

This Reformation Day I pray that we may turn our churches into spacious places for the hard pressed, and that we will lean upon the ever-present strength and courage of the Lord as we continue to advocate for a better, kinder, more just world.