Reformation Day

I know Halloween is the more popular thing going on today, but today is indeed Reformation Day. That is, the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door of Wittenberg. He wanted an academic debate to reform the church over practices he saw that were contrary to scripture. In the 500 years since, yes there are the many fractured branches of the Protestants. And the reformers were still sinners. Luther, Calvin, Knox, to name a few, had their clear faults.

However, what was recovered was the doctrine of justification; that we are dead in our sins, but that God, solely out of his mercy, has chosen to love his people and forgive them, placing the punishment for their sins on Jesus. We do not and cannot earn God's favor.

What else was recovered was worship. We, the regular folks, got to participate again, to sing, to hear God's word in our own language, and to take both elements of the Lord's Supper.

So, I encourage you who are my brothers and sisters to be thankful today for what was recovered. And, we can pray even now for the whole Church to be reformed, indeed conformed, more and more to what our God would have us believe and do.