500 Years Old and Still Growing

The end of October is only days away.  The date of October 31 brings different thoughts to different people.  For the young and the young at heart, perhaps October 31 brings thoughts of Halloween and the need to prepare by buying candy for costumed children or a mental note to get a costume for your children or grandchildren.  For the business man or business woman, it may be that the end of October reminds them that time is of the essence if there are matters that must be completed before November 1.  There is something else that is worthy of note about October 31 of this year as it is the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant reformation.  Church historians tell us that on October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.   Those theses (or complaints or abuses) are the beginnings of churches that would be conceived like Baptists, United Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians.  

There is not space in this blog to say all that could be said about Martin Luther or the Protestant reformation.  This 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation does remind me of a phrase that one of my seminary professors said to our church history class many years ago.  The phrase that Rev. Dr. David Steinmetz introduced me to was this: “semper reformanda.”   That is a Latin phrase that means “always being reformed.”    From some brief investigation, I discovered that the phrase is a derivation of a phrase first made popular by the late Karl Barth many years ago. 

While Christ is blameless, perfect, and without blemish, His Church (the body of Christ) is not perfect because the Church is made up of people.    Christ died not just for the sins of the whole world, but He died for the sins of every person that is and has been a part of the body of Christ through the ages.  Through its commissions and omissions, people in the Church have not only failed to be perfect images of Christ, but they have caused the Church to not fully be the body of Christ.   History is filled with many examples where the Church has not only failed to be whole, but failed to be the holy people of God.   

And so, in 2017 as in 1517, let the body of Christ, the Church, seek “semper reformanda.”   “Always being reformed.”    Being made more fully into the body of Christ.  That is my hope and prayer for this October 31 and every day.   Have a joy-filled week.  -- Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, I thank you for the Church, the body of Christ.  Forgive your Church for the times it has failed to be all you would have to be.  Let the winds of reform continue to blow; through Christ our Lord.  Amen.