From Conflict to Communion: The 500th Year

As many of my friends and confidants know I love to blog. I do not always take the time to sit down and write out blogs even when I have great ideas for them. Throughout the past couple years I have found that the art of blogging has been a great way to refresh my mind and in an effort to blog more I am going to try to write a weekly blog post on topics that you, my friends, suggest to me via social media. My goal is to write one blog post a week. I will be sharing my opinion on the topic suggested so if there was ever something you wanted to know about me then this would be a time to find out. 

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My first blog in this "You Suggest It" series was suggested by one of my best friends. He is currently attending seminary to become an Ordained Lutheran Minister and suggested that I write a non-Lutheran perspective on the "500th year." As it turns out this year, 2017, is the 500th year since the famous Reformation that began with Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses or the "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences." Along with many other reformations led by John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other early Protestant Reformers in 16th-century Europe this was what led to a schism from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther's theses was meant to be a list of propositions up for debate which argued against the selling of indulgences to absolve sin and that faith alone, not deeds, leads to Salvation. (Christian Heritage II class at MVNU & http://www.history.com/topics/martin-luther-and-the-95-theses). Luther's theses was meant to be a announcement for an academic discussion which should be led with humility.Regardless of intent this move along with many others led to the rise of Protestantism and naturally much bloodshed from both sides of Christendom for years to come. 

One can argue whether or not we should have focused solely on Faith alone or if Works have something to do with it too. There are many passages of Scripture that could back up both. The first that comes to mind is in James 2 which tells us that both "Faith without Deeds is dead" and compare that with Romans 3, "

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Today though, I am not here to discuss which one is more accurate. Today I want to focus on this celebration. 500 years of celebration.

I do not think it is wrong to celebrate the beginning of your group, your denomination, your tribe. Humans tend to want to compartmentalize ourselves and put ourselves in groups. It helps us feel organized. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but how we respond within those tribes...now that can be an issue. As soon as it becomes an "Us vs. Them" then we have an issue. In the words of the band Gungor, it's not us or them it's "Us For Them." We, as a people, as followers of Christ, whether that be Jew, Gentile, Slave, Free, Male, Female, Catholic, Lutheran, Nazarene, Nondenominational, Methodist, United Church of Christ, Christian Church, Assemblies of God, and on and on we list; we are ALL one. We are told in Scripture that those labels do not matter and we are all one in Christ Jesus. 

So if you want to celebrate the beginning of your group that's fantastic! But, first let's make sure we are not rejecting, oppressing, or marginalizing those who are "other" to our group. Once we understand our intentions I think it is perfectly fine to celebrate the 500 years since the Reformation. I am not someone who thinks that this should be boycotted and not celebrated because some people have used this schism to create war, violence, and oppression. Yes, that was wrong. Yes, that was injustice. But no, that was not all that came out of this Reformation. Some of my dearest friends and family members belong to the Lutheran tradition and when I visit with my best friend I jokingly tell him that I am Lutheran for that week. It's not about rejecting everything from it, it's about learning and truly knowing our history, understanding the good, bad, and ugly, and celebrating the good. 

This, in fact, happened this year amidst the 500th year celebrations. There was a joint prayer service of reconciliation among Lutherans and Catholics in Chicago. When asked about the event the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, remarked that "For 500 years Lutherans and Catholics have been divided into two camps, each believing that the other was not only wrong but alien, yet we know that people are yearning for reconciliation. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic joint prayer service, one of the fruits of 50 years of dialogue between our two churches, was a beautiful celebration of what we hold in common. We could see each other again as brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that our increasing unity is a witness to our culture."

So let's celebrate that we've made it this far in this dysfunctional world and that we can work together each bringing something good to the Table to help bring Renewal to THIS earth, THIS solar system, THIS galaxy, THIS universe, and beyond. 

Grace & Peace my friends.

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For informative resources to celebrate the 500th year: 

https://www.elca.org/Resources/500-Years 

Beautiful tale of reconciliation amidst the 500th year celebrations: https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7876 

Other Resources: 

https://www.elca500.org/