Wednesday, October 31, 2012

What Reform Do We Need Today?

The Lutheran Church is the Church of the Reformation.  By this I don't refer simply to a period of history in the past from whence we drew our historical lineage... because, well, that's not the case.  The history our of our Church doesn't begin in 1517 -- we confess the catholic truth that is confessed in the Scriptures, by the Apostles, in the Creeds.  Our history extends much further back than 1517.

No, we are the Church of the Reformation for we are the Church that admits, more than any other, that human beings err, that sin and corruption creep into the Church and her institutions.  When we read the book of Judges, when we read the Prophets, we are not surprised that there is error that arises -- we know and expect it.  We are the Church of the Reformation - the one that knows that we often will err and replace the Word of God with devisings and desires of our own inclination.

So we must ask ourselves - what reform do we need today?  What has clouded our minds, what has sought to obscure the Gospel in our midsts?  What are our false idols that we trust in, rather than trusting in Christ and Him crucified?

We place trust in style.  Lord have mercy.

We place trust in our heritage and history.  Lord have mercy.

We place trust in our ability to reform the culture by the power of our own words.  Lord have mercy.

We focus more on making people nice and busy than on showing them Christ.  Lord have mercy.

We focus more numbers that we think we cause than on sharpening our proclamation of Christ.  Lord have mercy.

And there are others - I am sure too that I am blind to my own.  God, grant me forgiveness and reform!

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