RE Formation of Faith

It has been 507 years since a 34-year-old priest and professor of theology, Martin Luther, nailed a flyer on the door of a German church that was his invitation to a conversation. Luther’s 95 theses were a list of questions laid out in a humble tone, welcoming his church to examine themselves. Specifically, he asked that they consider their practice of granting indulgences that amounted to paying the priest extra in order to assure that their sins would indeed be forgiven. Luther wanted to see the church reformed in faith and in practice. He believed that God alone had the power to forgive sins. He wanted scripture translated into a common language that could be read by anyone. I’m sure Luther never dreamed that his invitation to a conversation would lead to such a reformation of thought, belief, and practice.

Reformation is the act of transformation and as Luther himself explained, “The church needs a reformation which is not the work of a man, namely the Pope, or of many men, but is the work of the whole world, indeed the work of God alone.” The goal of any re-formation is to better understand what is most basic and important in belief and practice.

When Luther nailed his note to the church door, he couldn’t quite see what was ahead. Being in the state of re-formation is where the church has to live. We consider The Reformation a historical event, but we are continually being called to an internal reformation of the heart.

Psalm 137 represents a challenge to the reformation of the ancient Hebrews. They asked in the Psalm, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” They found themselves prisoners in Babylon with their homes, livelihood and memories shattered. Somehow, they were still in possession of their musical instruments. The Babylonians had allowed them to keep their harps they had used in worship. The Hebrew people hung their harps in the willows as a symbol of their devastation over the upheaval in their lives. The Babylonians chided, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion” Zion was a reference to the land of Yahweh, their God. The Babylonians had destroyed their homeland and the heart of their worship. The response of the Hebrew castaways was haunting. “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”

The Hebrews grappled with how they could continue to be God’s people in such strange and adversarial surroundings. Reformation is the act of transformation.

In her book Psalms for Praying, Nan Merrill prayed part of Psalm 137 this way:

The future – pure mystery.

For eternal moments lived in total surrender

Glide smoothly over troubled waters…

O, Heart of all hearts, set a clear course that I might follow.

Guide me to the Promised Shore!

In 2nd Timothy, we are reminded that reformation begins in the heart. This is the most personal pastoral epistle Paul wrote. Paul begins with gratitude for what Timothy had meant to him. Paul recalls Timothy’s tears and commentators say that Timothy was distressed about how the faith community had turned against Paul. Pauls writes,

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure lives in you. For this reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you.”

What Paul calls Timothy to rekindle the gift of God that is within him. What does that mean to rekindle the gift of God within us? It implies that there is something important to save, to maintain and protect. What did you learn from your mentors in the faith? Did they teach you to pray? To value the lessons of scriptures? To treat others as you would want to be treated? I think it is easy to forget. The difficulties of life cause us to be consumed by things that seem more important than what we were taught about our faith.

To rekindle is to cause something that was already there to begin again. I heard at Synod last week that transformation is not about becoming something we are not, it is about becoming more of who we really are.

Re-formation is a transition, an opportunity to begin again. The challenge for you at St Andrew’s rekindle who you are, not who you had been, but who you are at your core and to remember the most important aspects of your faith.

What do you personally need to rekindle? What is the work of reformation for you? Reformation is not just something that Martin Luther started over 500 years ago, reformation is something that happens inside of us first. What do we need to remember, what do we need to reclaim, what do we need to hold on to that was taught to us.

We can talk about what we do in this building, we can talk about the acoustics, we can talk about our location in the downtown core but can we talk about how we affect the world in the name of Jesus Christ? How do we call people to a deeper faith, how do we nurture that faith, how do we broaden people’s sense of a personal relationship with God? If we don’t do that for ourselves, how will we ever offer Christ’s love to our own community?

Paul writes, “for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to Him.”

As we take up the offering in a few moments, you will sing your commitment that reflects the sentiment of Paul’s words to Timothy, “ I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that Christ is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”