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Welcome to the Reformation (In Case You Thought You Had Missed It) |
2005-09-29 |
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October is Reformation Month!
Mention the word "Reformation" and what comes to mind? For many Protestants, the word immediately evokes heroic memories of a determined monk named Martin Luther defiantly hammering his challenge to the Roman Church with his posting of his Ninety-five theses on the Castle Church door on October 31, 1517. This is said to be the beginning of the Reformation. We remember this event in Protestant History on Sunday, October 30th. Reformation was as popular in the Middle Ages as democracy is today -- and it meant as many things to as many people . . . Then reformation meant return to original ideals. The Church was to emulate the model of the early Christian community, to be united again in love; or a monastic community was to regain sight of the original, authentic principles of the founder of their order. With regard to the individual reformatio stood for the renewal of individuals.
The reformation undertaken by Luther was a reformation of doctrine rather than ethical renewal. And the reformation of doctrine occurred through the preaching of the Gospel of justification by grace through faith. The real aim in this life for Luther was for all to know Christ's forgiveness.
Other reformers (such as Zwingli and Calvin) and reformations (such as the Bohemian, English, Swiss, French and radical reformations) were a part of this medievel reformation.
One battle cry of the reformation was, Ecclesia semper reformanda est... meaning the church always needs to be reformed. This reforming takes place through the work of the Holy Spirit. Reformation will never be completed. As long as she remains the Church Militant, sin and error will continue to fuel her need for reform. Another battle cry was "Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide! Word Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone....meaning that God gives His Word through the Holy Bible, that His Word promises salvation as a GIFT through Jesus Christ, and that we receive this gift by believing and trusting that it is true for us.
The Augsburg Confession, written primarily by Philipp Melanchthon, was unveiled at the Reichstag in Augsburg on 25 June 1530, and presented to the Emperor in Latin and German. The Confessio Augustana contains 28 articles and is divided into two parts. The first 21 sections relate to fundamental issues of faith according to Protestant understanding. The last seven articles address abuses within the church in need of remedy. The Reformers originally attempted to use the articles of the Augsburg Confession to recover commonalties with the Roman Catholic Church. Only in the last articles did the authors see true differences with respect to the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore they hoped to find an understanding. Thereafter, the Augsburg Confession became the central document for the faith of the churches of the Reformation in the Lutheran tradition.
We recently voted as a congregation to join the Association of Confessing Churches. This is an important statement that we make as a congregation about who we are and what we believe. It is intended to call the ELCA to look at the places where it has wandered off the path of truth in recent years and to call the church back to its foundations of Scripture and the Confessions. We have made this available for the council to study and have tried to provide opportunities for you to know more about it so that you can be informed. We hope to provide you with resources to continue to grow in understanding these issues.
We encourage you to look at the elca.org website for information about the Churchwide Assembly. Check out www.wordalone.org for a copy of the Common Confession and articles that will help you come to understand these complicated issues facing our church today. Stop in and see us for a conversation---we are more than happy to talk to you about where we stand together on these important issues facing the church today.
Most of all, we encourage you to attend Sunday School. We have planned a schedule for classes that will vary each Sunday including Bible Stories for Adults (Bible Study of familiar and not so familiar passages in the Bible); Gospel Text Study where we will look at the texts used for the Sunday sermons; Lutheranism 101- a look at the Lutheran heritage and its impact on our faith life today; Leadership series about how we can grow in our faith and develop as leaders in the church; Opportunities for looking at other traditions and faiths. Other topics will be healing, evangelism, faith in daily living....and other topics you might want to look at! Watch the bulletin each week for the class that will be available. Welcome to the Reformation. The Holy Spirit may have used Martin Luther to get it started, but the Holy Spirit is using you today to keep it going!
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Summer: starting Memorial Day Weekend
9:00 am Worship Service KMSD Broadcast
10:00 am Coffee and Fellowship
WOW (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 pm
Winter: starting after Labor Day
8:30 am Worship Service KMSD Broadcast
9:35 am Educational Hour
9:35 am Coffee and Fellowship
10:45 am Worship Service
WOW (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 pm |
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401 South Flynn Drive
Milbank SD 57252
605.432.5566 |
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