Reformation Day

Since I am a Lutheran and proud of it, and since we celebrate the Reformation each October, I decided to talk about the Reformation and Lutheranism in this month's article.

The Lutheran Reformation began on All Hallows Eve, or October 31, 1517 when he posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle. These were supposed to be items Luther wanted to discuss concerning his faith and his struggle with how one comes into the presence of a gracious God.

In Luther's studies, he came to the conclusion that the only way one was able to approach God was through the grace of God, or sola gratia, and all one needed was faith, or sola fide. To sum up his belief, he used the phrase justification by faith. We are saved by God's grace through of faith or belief in God's saving act through Jesus Christ.

Since Luther found all of this through the Bible and not through church teaching, or the writing of the church father's, he used the phrase sola scriptura, which means that Lutheran are to use the Bible as their only source of teaching of God's grace for their lives.

Luther believe that the Bible should be written in the language of the people and not just in Latin or Greek, so he translated the Bible into German for all to read. He did this at the Wartburg Castle while he lived in exile. It was his "luck" or God's providence, that Gutenberg was developing the printing press at that time, so his Bible and his writings were easily made available to many people.

Since Luther believed that it is God's act of grace which saves, Lutherans believe in infant baptism. It is God's grace that comes to a child through the water and word and begins to transform that child's life into Christ.

Luther believed in an educated laity, so he developed the Large and Small Catechism as a way of teaching people about their faith. The Large Catechism was to be used by pastors for instruction, and the Small Catechism was to be used in the home during daily devotions. To this day, Lutheran have an excellent Sunday school program along with an emphasis on adult education. Lutheran clergy are trained in seminaries for four years, as our church believes in an educated clergy who can education their flock about the teachings of God.

Lutheranism is the largest non-Catholic religion in the world. In the US, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the fourth largest non-Catholic denomination. Lutherans have developed a compassion for those who have felt the brokenness of the worlds, as we have developed, hospitals, inner city missions, and other means to reach out into the world.

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