Sermon - 2018-10-28 - Reformation Sunday

Here we are again, celebrating the Reformation.  Now last year was a great year, we took time to transform our church.  We shared the story of the Reformation, who the people were and what each contributed.  We celebrated who we were and what we have come from. It was so much fun and so much energy was shared in the making of it all happen.  

However, like a birthday celebration or the celebration of a new year.  I began to reflect on who we are, but perhaps more importantly “What’s different here?” How have we changed?  How have we grown? How have we improved ourselves?

Thinking about all of this though, I reminded myself of what Luther was trying to do in the Reformation.  I was reminded that Luther did not want to make a new denomination but rather reform the current church. The focus of the church had been on making money.  They were more interested in the almighty dollar (ok, really gold coin) However, the church should not worry about raising money but should be focused on raising the FAITH of the people.  People want a relationship with God but instead were often told that they should pay a monk to read an order of Mass for them or their loved ones.

Yes the people wanting more in their life and they were told instead to take something out of their life.  God was not the focus of the church but God should be the focus. So like the church today, we need to keep church simple of what it is we are and what it is we are doing.  Luther called the people to focus on these three areas: Word Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone. These simple slogans were used to get the people to focus back on what was important and trust in for their relationship with God.  To enter into God’s Word and know the message that God was sharing within it. It raises the question, how many of us have been reading the Bible? Growing in understanding that message. Now not only are we to read the Bible but we are also suppose to believe in it.  Trust and have faith in the message that is being delivered to us. That it is through faith that we bear witness to the this Grace being bestowed upon us.

This was always the heart of the message that people needed and still need even to this day.  So we study the Reformation, we learn more clearly the lessons that were the mistakes of those who have gone before us. Drawing us back into the reflective questions that we must still ask today.  Of “How are we still living out this reformation today?” Keeping the focus of our lives and our church upon the simple truths of: “Word Alone, Faith Alone, and Grace Alone”. That we may not consider it only for ourselves for all whom God has created.  But let this not be but a simple checklist but something that truly moves our heart, mind, soul and keeps us in relationship with God.

For many of us today, we struggle with this last part.  We declare Grace Alone but we then say that it is alone for us.  We do not always know how to share it with others especially as we see that they are different than us.  A different language, different food, and even different way of living. So today, I invite into a similar and simple message of Reformation.  To spend time knowing God’s Story in God’s Word, Listen to the stories of others, sharing your own story and all of this can be done through the Sharing Groups that we have here at Grace.  

Today this message is needed now more than ever.  In light of recent events in our world, we need and should be following these lessons learned by those who have gone before us and not repeating the same failures of the past.  So today, may we be reminded that we are doing God’s Work with Our Hands. We are living out the Reformation but not in the past but today, here and now. May we recognize that and live to make God be the focus.  Amen.