As we do on the last Sunday of each October, we celebrated Reformation Sunday at church yesterday. Of course in a Lutheran church, we took note of some of the thoughts of one of the prime Reformers, Martin Luther (pic).In our adult class during the Sunday School hour, Pastor Alison Shane keyed on the wonderful, “freeing” aspect of Lutheran theology. Luther’s view was that as Christians we are not “bound” by things of this world. Our lectionary readings for the day included these words by Jesus from the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John:
“Very truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” But also in the chapter he said, “if you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
The theology of Martin Luther was remarkably simple. His basic beliefs involved two concepts: justification and vocation. We are justified (made holy in God’s eyes) by grace through Christ alone, and we are then called (by God) to serve, or, live out our faith.
It’s not rocket science, but at the same time, living the faith can be very thorny. In fact, in our Lutheran liturgy we confess every week that “…we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves” (words penned by Martin Luther).
But thankfully, through God’s grace, we are released from sin’s clutches and we are enabled to live freely as a follower of Christ. A little later in that liturgical prayer we conclude, “Forgive us, renew us and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name.”
I think that’s what Pastor Kent Shane was alluding to, when, in his sermon yesterday, he suggested that we should regularly “take our theology out for a walk”.
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