In the midst of all of the things that Megan and I had going on this Summer, one of them was hosting a family from Germany who are friends of ours from Seminary. They contacted us back when we lived in South Dakota about making the trip across the pond and asked us about dates. Well, actually they told us which dates they were coming because of the deal they got on tickets. The week they were going to be in the States happened to be the same date Elias was due. Not the best situation but hey, a lot could happen in a few months. And it did. First it looked like Elias would be here well before they arrived and then, not so much. One night while they were here, I asked them to watch Avery because I had to take Megan to the hospital. On the bright side, they got to see Elias during their stay and we certainly had no shortage of things to talk about.
One of the things we talked about before all the baby hullabaloo was the Reformation. Fritz and myself, being Lutheran pastors (or nearly so, he will be ordained shortly) we talked about some Lutheran stuff. What is more Lutheran than the Reformation? Nothing. Fritz asked, “Is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation a big deal to Christians here in America?” After contemplating the question for a moment I replied, “It is to Lutherans.” Of course, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation is a huge deal to Germans of nearly any religious affiliation. The 500th anniversary of Luther’s birth (back in 1483) saw huge amounts of celebrations even in atheist (officially at that time) East Germany. Luther is woven into the fabric of German heritage in a way that he is not to most Americans.
Yet at the same time, perhaps he should be. My follow-up response to the Reformation being a big deal to Lutherans was that it should be a big deal to other Christians in America, too. All of the Protestant denominations in the United States own their existence to the Reformation. Sure, Lutherans bear the name of the Reformation’s most notable reformer, but that does not mean that Luther or the movement he inspired is exclusively important to us. When Luther broke with Rome, others saw that it could be done and they took the opportunity to do so as well. Most of the non-Lutheran Protestants settled on theologies that differed from that of Luther (obviously) but they only had this opportunity because a monk in Wittenberg nailed a series of arguments to a church door 500 years ago.
Even Roman Catholics have benefited from the Reformation. Sure, their official position is that Luther was some kind of heretical spawn of Satan or some such thing, but the Roman Catholic Church of today is not nearly as despicably corrupt as it was 500 years ago. Much of that has to do with Luther and the light that the Reformation cast on that church’s institutional immorality. It may still be official Roman Catholic doctrine, but I think that your average Catholic today would be horrified at the prospect of Bishops buying their position or the Church selling forgiveness (to say nothing of the nefarious activities the Church unofficially undertook in the Late Middle Ages).
As the date of the Reformation approaches in October, perhaps it would not be a bad idea for a good Lutheran like yourself to brush up on some Reformation (or other related) history. Dust off that catechism (the Large Catechism if you are feeling especially Lutheran) and just read through it thinking about why Luther wrote the thing. Find yourself a short biography of Luther. I recently have begun rereading one I used at the Sem. There are a number out there that are quite approachable. There is also the Luther movie that our congregation will be taking part in hosting this October as well (do get your tickets to that if you want to go since we need a certain number). Perhaps through looking at Luther and the Reformation you will gain a better appreciation for being Lutheran. Also, you might see more clearly the thing which Luther himself was always concerned about showing people, namely the Gospel, the free salvation that belongs to all people though Jesus Christ.