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PARADISE CORNER

October is the second month in a row that gives us a celebration at the end of the month. The celebration at the end of October is Reformation Sunday. (The celebration at the end of September was Michael and All Angels.) The calendar on pages 10 through 12 of the Lutheran Book of Worship designates both of these as Lesser Festivals (indicated by the use of small capitals.) Most of my thoughts on keeping these Lesser Festivals have to do with how those various Lesser Festivals help us learn. Remember—two of my passions are learning and teaching! For example, when our churches celebrated the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, I was (and remain) of the strong opinion that learning events would have been the most helpful way to mark the milestone. Part of the reason I feel that way is that—as Christians who speak our faith with a Lutheran accent—we get the chance to dress our church in red and sing translations of German chorales with gusto every year on the last Sunday in October.
Gail Ramshaw (a Lutheran who is a scholar of Liturgical Language) reminds us that “Over the centuries, Lutherans have kept a special day to thank God for the freedom that the word of God grants to believers and to pray that with the help of God’s Spirit, the church will be continually reformed and renewed.” My takeaway from that statement is that marking the Reformation is an old practice that we can continue to look at in new ways. One gift of our tradition is—in addition to dressing our church in red and singing translations of German chorales with gusto every year on the last Sunday in October—we also get a chance each year to notice reform and plan for renewal.
The watchwords “reform” and “renew” serve as both principles and guides helping us remember that the way forward for the church is to look for God’s reforming and renewing actions here and now and imagine ways to continue to “reform” and “renew” in the future.
My guess is that sounds scary, and I would concede that it is. However, part of what the annual marking of the Reformation reminds us of is that even Martin Luther’s attempts to “reform” and “renew” the church of his day evoked feelings of uncertainty in him. I find this a comfort in the end, because, when it comes to marking the Reformation, I can’t think of any other better company than Martin Luther himself.
Martin Luther’s gifts to the church in the Reformation were many—far too many to list in this short article. That means we will have to settle on a single one in this short article. I believe that single gift is the reminder that everything and anything that happens to “reform” and “renew” is God’s work through Christ who comes to us in Holy Scripture, Holy Baptism, and Holy Communion and that whenever we celebrate these gifts—these Means of Grace—we celebrate God who gave us Christ who gives us the Holy Spirit who invites us to “reform” and “renew.”

Live as children of light!
Pastor Scott Paradise