Re-formation

Brothers and sisters,

            This past month has been the month of endless speeches, political ones, I mean, and promises, and different strategies to aid our country out of the recession it is in. It has also been a time in which the word “reform” has been at the top of everyone’s vocabulary list. Both presidential candidates are out to “reform” the government and their parties and everything else. But in all truthfulness, who knows the word “reform” better than Lutherans?” After all, isn’t that how we came to be in the first place? From a young monk/priest who sought to tidy up the church and bring it back in line with the gospel?

            Reform is easier than it sounds though, and sometimes I think we tend to glamorize the Reformation think that it was easy to do. It wasn’t. It was an exceptionally slow, tedious and sometimes bloody process. Ask Jan Hus who first tried to reform the church. It cost him his life. Savanarola also spoke out about the corruption in the church and was burned for it. Reformation is no easy task and it does not happen overnight. It is hard work that requires time and patience and a willingness to wait as the seeds planted germinate and grow.

            I think it is easier for us to try to reform some “thing” or some “one” else. It is easy for us to sit in our pews every Sunday and say “this should be done” and “that needs to be changed” but it is much easier said than done, especially when you are only the one criticizing and you are not the one actually helping out.

            It is much easier to say “This church needs to change” than it is to say “I need to change.” It is much easier to point the finger and say “so and so needs to change” instead of looking in the mirror to see what ways we need to change.

            The Transformation Ministry program that several of us went through a few years ago, pushes the principle  “Changed People Change Churches.” You could rewrite that any number of ways: “Transformed People Transform the Church,” or even “Reformed People Reform the Church.” How about “Renewed People Renew the Church,” or “Revived People Revive the Church?” All would apply. What is important is that we be willing to change ourselves first and then change our church.

            This month as we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation, think of ways in which you can transform yourself. Is it possible for you to be more loving and caring of others? Is it possible that you could think of the needs of others first? Is it possible for you to look at the positive side of things instead of the negative? Is it possible for you to pitch in a help with a project? In what ways might changes in you make changes in our church? We must all ask ourselves these questions. Why? Because Re-formed people re-form churches!