sermon from the highlands conference Reformation Service...please share with Highlands Churches! Jeremiah 31:31 – 34 Reformation, 2013 Psalm 46 Highland’s Conference Romans 3:19 – 28 John 8:31 – 36 I remember art class as a child. For one who has limited artistic talent, art class was sometimes fun, sometimes painful. I enjoyed trying to paint and draw, but hated someone’s judgment of my work. I enjoyed making plaster of Paris things because the glue was slimy, thick and squished in your hands so beautifully and you could smooth out most wrinkles. Mostly I enjoyed working with clay. Clay is a wonderful venue because of the number of times that it can be reworked, re-formed, redone from scratch. A simple and powerful smash of the hand was all it would take to begin again. Clay is forgiving, moving and willing to take correction from the slightest touch of a finger, until of course it is fired and turns rigid and breakable.. Almost 500 years ago, Martin Luther, a monk, professor, biblical scholar and pastor, sought to reform and reshape eventually redo the church. He began his endeavor by drafting an outline for debate called the 95 theses. If you have read these recently, and this may be a tad heretical, many of them are repetitive, say very little or simply do not make a lot of sense, but there are some gems in the bunch. As this is the Reformation, I thought I would share a few with you to get a sense of what Martin Luther is fighting against: 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, Repent ( Matthew 4:17 ), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. 21. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences. 27. They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory. 32. Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers. 45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but Gods wrath. 46. Christians are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on indulgences. 75. To consider papal indulgences so great that they could absolve a man even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness. 91. If, therefore, indulgences were preached according to the spirit and intention of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved. Indeed, they would not exist. 92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, Peace, peace, and there is no peace! ( Jeremiah 6:14 ) 93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, Cross, cross, and there is no cross! 94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, death and hell. 95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace ( Acts 14:22 ). From this beginning, Luther sought to re-form the church from within until he was excommunicated 4 years later. During that time and in the years to come, he constantly reformed and rework his ideas and ideals for what the church should look like in his day and age. We too are constantly being re-formed, re-shaped and renewed. Though we do not fight battles over indulgences anymore, we are constantly fighting battles over relevancy in our communities, culture and nation. We are constantly fighting to keep our doors open, the bills paid and the focus on the gospel and not the walls or roof around us. Despite these struggles, perhaps because of them, there is a faithful remnant willing to face the world not with scorn, but love; not with an I told you so attitude, but with the gift of forgiveness; not with faithlessness but with a hope born in the promises of the cross. There is an awesome truth to be shared in our churches, in our communities, in our conference and then to the ends of the earth. There is an awesome truth that involves a few tenets of our Lutheran faith, a faith we can hold fast to in the midst of a world that seeks and wants the theology of glory over the theology of the cross. I learned much over the course of growing up in my home church, I learned a lot in Seminary and in serving churches. However, I think I have learned more since becoming an internship supervisory that at any other point. Supervising interns is fun, exhilarating, and exhausting all at the same time. It has, among the many things it has done for the church, the community and my own understanding, forced me to be concise and upfront about a few beliefs that are most important to me. Here are the three we have boiled it down to as central to our faith, worship and proclamation. 1. The theology of the cross – St. Paul says it best when he proclaims in 1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified”. I remember very few sermons from my growing up years but I do remember one my home pastor proclaimed on a Reformation Sunday. He stated simply, that a sermon is not a Christian sermon if Christ and him crucified and resurrected isnt proclaimed. This is the foundation of our faith. 2. Justification by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of our understanding of what it means to be Lutheran Christians. We hold that we are justified or made right before God by grace. Grace is a pure, undeserved, immeasurable gift that cannot be earned. We receive this gift of grace through our faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God. This faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Luther writes in the explanation to the 3rd article of the Creed: “I believe that by my own understanding and strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord.” 3. Ultimately our faith, our hope and our joy are found in a God who is willing to send an only son into the world in order to be known. God comes down to us; we do not make our way to God. God chooses us; we cannot seek or find our way to God. The incarnational form of God comes down into the arms of Mary, nurses at her breast, and grows into the fully human, fully divine natures of Christ that we celebrate. Fully human, fully divine, only Christ could come down, live among us, die on the cross for us, be raised from the dead for us and give us the new life we have and proclaim for all eternity. These three foundations of our faith, while certainly not complete, are at the heart of the proclamation we seek to share in our communities of faith, in the communities we live in, and in our homes and families. This is the faith sharing we talked about a month or so ago when we met with bishop Mauney at Holy Trinity. This is the faith sharing that Bishop Mauney is going to proclaim next year in our conference gatherings as well. How can our communities of faith remain faithful to the historical story we share, the buildings we often struggle to pay for and the communities we too often do not know? We are called, nay we are challenged to become little communities of Christian faith, love and service where the gospel in its purest and most grace-filled means is proclaimed; where the love of God is seen, shared and felt, and where the gospel, God’s love and the message of freedom in Christ propels us into the world around us. This is the type of faith we are called to share, not simply to save our buildings, our faith communities and raise the offerings, though that certainly helps if it comes; however, we are called to share these good things simply and powerfully because they were first shared with us! As we seek to move forward together as a conference, we are being called to find new and innovative ways to work together, to be reformed together as a body in Christ seeking to proclaim the gospel in new and exciting ways to our neighbors around us. How are being called to work together in mission and ministry, perhaps even calling and sharing the work of the gospel, and pastors of the church? We are like that ball of clay, ready to be worked and re-work by the hands of our Creator, Redeemer and the one who makes us holy. We are constantly bring formed and re-formed as a body of Christ seeking to bring the good news of salvation through the forgiveness of sins; seeking to always being made new; seeking to always share what was first given to us! When I gather with Bishop Mauney and the other Deans, I am always reminded how wonderful it is to be a part of the Highland’s Conference. We have a group of Pastors who faithfully gather every other week to study the word, share our joys and sorrows, and grew together in mission and ministry. We have a faithful group of church and members of these communities, who gather for Corn Roasts, Talent Shows, Reformation Services, and hand bell Concerts, Ascension Crab Cakes, and various other meetings in-between. I know it’s a sin to be prideful and brag about such things, but dag gone it, we do things most others cannot dream of or fathom! This is a joy to celebrate! Now we are being called to gather, to consider, to pray about our missions and ministries, to seek what can be shared; to forgive the hurts and wrongs that need to be forgiven; to give thanks for over two hundred years of proclaiming the gospel; and to hope for a future that is bright and faithful to that gospel! We will meet in the spring with bishop Mauney to share ministry possibilities. Last time we did this; we formed two new parishes and brought two more parishes together to host an intern. Our hopes are just as high for the next round. What can we do to serve together in the gospel we share? What can we do to be about ministry to ad for our neighbors. What can we do to lift up the work of our Hungry Mother Camp and continue to share the gospel through its ministry to the community and our youth? We ourselves, the gospel we share the churches we attend and the conference itself is that ball of clay, waiting to be formed and reformed, worked and reworked, and every once in a while perhaps flattened and made new. This is the good news we lift up today. The gospel is ours to proclaim, we simply share what was first handed to us. Today, brothers and sisters, we celebrate the ministry we share. Today brothers and sisters, we proclaim our baptism into Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Today, brothers and sisters, we hold fast as the bread and wine are given to YOU, for YOU, for the forgiveness of sins. Today, brothers and sisters, we proclaim Christ is resurrected, the tomb is empty, why do you seek the living among the dead? Today we are alive in Christ, always being made new: redeemed, forgiven and sent into the world, we are the body of Christ in this place, for these folks, now, into the future into eternity. This was our calling, it is our calling, it will be our calling into the future, together in Christ, always being reformed and re-formed, we are made new by the one who calls us, gather us, enlightens us, and makes us holy yesterday, today and forever. Rev. Jonathan D. Hamman Dean, Highland’s Conference Virginia Synod, ELCA October 27, 2013
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:39:04 +0000
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