Martin Luther Bobblehead Is An Object Lesson For Reformation Sunday

Our Lutheran Pastor, Don Jukam, not only has a sense of humor, but he also knows how to illustrate a point.

At church today during “kid’s time”, Martin Luther - in Bobblehead form - made an appearance in the hand of Pastor Jukam, as we observed “Reformation Sunday.” (My cell phone cam caught the image shown at right following the service.)

All of us kids will not soon forget it.

The “theological” problem with the Bobblehead (where did he ever get one of Martin Luther?), suggested the Pastor, is that his head moves mostly up and down (indicating the affirmative). This is somewhat inconsistent with Luther’s famous declaration to his adjudicator, “No, I will not recant (my writings); here I stand.”

Perhaps a better Martin Luther Bobblehead would have the head only able to move side to side.

In his regular sermon, Pastor Don went on to shed some light on the Reformation. Luther, of course, was not the only Reformer but likely is the best known. There were some before him and many after him. Their shared anxieties were the transgressions of the medieval Roman Catholic Church.

Our pastor graciously pointed out that the then Roman Catholic Church was quite different than today’s Roman Catholic Church (with whom we share many scriptures and salvation through Christ.) Today’s idiom longs for unity rather than schism.

Pastor Don’s primary summarization of the celebrated Reformation focused on its three essentials: Faith, Grace and Scripture. All else, according to Luther, was “adiaphora” (matters that are "indifferent," that is, are not commanded or forbidden by God.)

The practices of the Catholic Church of the 16th century included a lot more than Luther’s stated requisites – among them penances and indulgences that could be purchased and papal infallability. Luther’s study of the book of Romans had convinced him that it was only the grace of God that justified humankind through faith in Christ and his provision of salvation.

That simple but profound belief by Luther was what we celebrated today.