Diets and Worms and Protestors

I think it is time for a little history lesson about Protestantism. I am not doing this post just so I can show this photo but it is a cool one, don't you think? I took it awhile back of a Lutheran Church in Melville, Montana. I would like to take credit for capturing the cool shadow on the roof but truthfully, I was not even aware of it until later. My sister-in-law, Sue, noticed it when I was showing her some of my photos.

Anyway...

In the beginning of the 1500's Christians were all of one flavor. They were all Catholics. Today, a Christian is either a Catholic or a Protestant. Martin Luther is kind of like the Father of Protestants. He didn't mean to be that but he is. He was a Catholic Priest at a time when some leaders within the Catholic Church were doing things that he thought were outside God's will for us. The Catholic Church and the political leaders of that time were wrapped up together with pretty strong control over the lives of the people.

Enter Martin Luther. He wanted to make some changes in the church. There were others who didn't want those changes to happen. That led to a lot of drama! Luther had death threats and narrow escapes. There were princes and knights involved in the story. In the midst of all that, Luther had some strong supporters.

Eventually it became important to write down what this new group of Christians really believed. Remember that the Catholic Church and the Government were kind of one and the same and they didn't take kindly to these people that wanted the changes, people referred to as Lutherans.

There was a diet of Worms involved. OK, maybe that wasn't quite right the way I said that. A diet meant a meeting or a conference and one happened with the Holy Roman Emperor in the town of Worms, Germany. It was a VERY big deal.

The following is something my husband, Pastor Mike, wrote in a recent church newsletter.

Last month I wrote about the reading of the Augsburg Confession before the Holy Roman Emperor in 1530. The Augsburg Confession is “the” foundational document of the Lutheran church. The first German ruler to sign the Augsburg Confession was a prince who would be known as John “the Steadfast.”

John was born in 1468. His family was part of the aristocracy and so John received a formal education and training as a knight. He was involved in battles against the Ottoman Turks who were trying to overthrow Europe.

John read the writings of a German monk called Martin Luther. He became a supporter of Luther and encouraged his brother Fredrick “the Wise,” elector of Saxony, to defend and protect Luther when he made his famous stand before the Holy Roman Emperor in Worms, Germany in 1521.

In 1525, Fredrick “the Wise” died, and his brother John “the Steadfast” became the next elector of Saxony. This was the second most powerful position in the Holy Roman Empire behind the Emperor. In 1529, at the 2nd Diet of Speyer, Lutheranism was outlawed. John “the Steadfast”, along with other German princes, “protested” against this decision and so they became known as the first “Protestants.”

John “the Steadfast” was a brave ruler who insisted that the Gospel should be preached in its purity without human additions. John was a layperson, not a theologian, but he defended the truth of the Gospel. He is a reminder to all Lutherans that the Christian church will not survive without faithful laypeople who are willing to confess and defend the Christian faith.

That was kind of interesting, don't you think? Although I've been a Protestant my entire life, I don't know that I ever knew from where that name came. No I know and so do you.

Now, I'm thinking what my name would be.  Susan the ________?  I really like steadfast but I don't want to be a copycat.  I think I will go with Susan the Faithful? Susan the Loyal? What about you? What would your name be?

From Pastor Mike - The Freeing Word

 The following is a sermon Mike wrote based on Mark 7:24-37.  So, in my husband's words...

The first time I saw Rich he was sitting next to a window overlooking downtown St. Paul.  Rich was a patient at the Ramsey County Hospital Psychiatric Ward.  He was 23 years old.  He had a severe case of acne and he had a slight quiver to his movements.

Rich was an addict.  He told me he chain smoked cigarettes, drank 3 pots of coffee a day, smoked marijuana when he could and drank alcohol to excess.

Rich came to the hospital when someone became concerned about his behavior. He said he wasn't doing anything bu the cops threw him down, handcuffed him and took him to the hospital.

Rich told me, "I didn't have any problems until I started drinking. I drank my first beer when I was 12 years old and I immediately knew that I had a problem with alcohol."

Rich said he suffered from schizophrenia.  He said, "It isn't good when I start drinking heavily.  Sometimes I hear voices from cars or radios.  Sometimes I wake up and wonder if I just dreamed something or if it really happened."

When I talked to Rich, I realized he was a man imprisoned. Sure, he was in a psychiatric ward with bars and locked doors, but his prison seemed deeper that that. He was a prisoner looking to be free from addiction and mental illness.

In our gospel reading for today Jesus encounters two people in prison, a woman who had a child with an unclean spirit and a man who was deaf with a speech impediment. In both cases, Jesus speaks a freeing word and people ARE set free.

The demon or unclean spirit was cast out and in the deaf man's silent world he could suddenly hear the sound of his own voice. The actions of Jesus reflected the words of Isaiah 35. The eyes see, the ears hear and the lame leap, the speechless sing for joy.

The healing ministry of Jesus was like Jesus going to a prison, opening the lock on the door and speaking the words, "You may go now.  You are free!"

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus traveled back to his home town, went to the synagogue, opened the scriptures and read from Isaiah that he has come "to bring release to the captives."

As humans we can become imprisoned by so many things, some of our own making, some we don't understand, some we have inherited from ancestors or from birth and sometimes it is others who imprison us with their actions.

As for Rich who was in the psychiatric hospital in St. Paul, I prayed for him be he didn't become immediately healed.  I talked with the chaplain on that floor. He said we are not Jesus but prayer is a good thing.  He encouraged me to keep praying for people.  He said he has seen many people become better through prayer, talk therapy and medicine.  He told me not to give up hope in Jesus who speaks the freeing word.

Sin is another power that can enslave us. We say that sometimes in our confession.. "We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves."

At the  beginning of every worship service I appreciate the time of confessing and forgiveness.  It is a time to be set free so we can turn our focus to the worship of God and to be strengthened by God for our journey through this life.

Jesus died on a cross to set us free from the power of sin.  I like the word REDEMPTION. It's a word that is sometimes used in the Bible to speak of slaves being set free for a price, through the death of Jesus. We are set free. We are no longer in sin's power. The door is opened. We have received God's forgiveness.

Martin Luther often felt deep remorse for his sinfulness. He felt like he deserved to die by the gallows, run through by a sword or burned at the stake for his sinfulness. He knew he had offended God with his sin but as he read the Bible he knew God didn't want him imprisoned by sin but rather set free by Christ. He wrote, "This is wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves. I am justified and acceptable to God although there are within me sin and unrighteousness. Yet I must look elsewhere (to Christ) and see no sin. This is wonderful not to see what I see, not to feel what I feel. Before my eyes I used to see a gallows or a sword or a fire. But now, through Christ, I can say there is no gallows, no sword, or fire. This is what the forgiveness of sins is like."

I believe the ministry of "the freeing word" is something that Jesus passed on to the church. Jesus told his disciples, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them..." And so we make confession and forgiveness and Holy Communion key components of our worship services.

And all of us, as Christians, have many opportunities to speak freeing words to one another, like...
"I forgive you."
"I'm sorry."
"I love you."
"Peace be with you." The sharing of the peace is more than a handshake and a phrase. It's a time for us to say, "I hold nothing against you. I want God's peace in your life."

It's so easy to be negative with someone, to hold a grudge, to keep people down when you've got them down. But we set ourselves free when we are able to speak a freeing word to others.

Finally, I want you to hear a word from a former teacher, Gerhard Forde. He asked our seminary class, "Now that Christ has set you free, what are you going to do?"

The ways we live out our lives before God is to serve in and beyond the congregation. Now that Christ has set you free, what are you going to do? We need ushers, readers, greeters, communion servers, fellowship servers, teachers, helping at the rescue mission, serving comfort food and so on.

Are you already serving on or beyond the congregation? Well, take somebody with you.  Be a mentor. Be a teacher, a discipler. The book of James reminds us that the works we do are a response to the faith we have.

Hear and do the word.

You are free!

Go.

Serve the Lord this week.


Mark 7:24-37 RSV

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. 25 But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoeni'cian by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 And he said to her, "For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." 30 And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap'olis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Eph'phatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

Giving Up Control

One thing that is hard to remember, as a Christian, is that I have given up control of my own future.  In fact, that explains the name of my blog; it is a reminder for me that my life is not my own.  Really, it was only a perceived control in the first place.  Like most people, I like to think I have control over my own life.  Anyone who has ever watched the news knows how quickly that control can be lost.  Illness, natural disasters, wars, etc. can all play a part in destroying an individual's feeling of control.  Those things are not what this post is about, though.

I'm talking about giving away control.  I have given control of my life to God.  This is how I do it, though.  I give God control (yes, I know I'm not really giving anything as he always had control), I try to take back control, I repent, I give God control, I try to take back control, I repent, repeat... repeat... repeat.

I think being an American maybe makes it all even more difficult.  I love living in a country that tells me I have the right to pursue happiness and all that.  I'm grateful that I get to choose where I live, my career path, who  I marry and a myriad of other choices.  As glad as I am to have those choices, though, I am constantly trying to hand it all over to God.

A few years ago I saw this prayer printed in a church bulletin.  I clipped it out and stuck it on our fridge where it has been for years.  I found that it is believed the original version was written by Dr. Martin Luther in the 1500's.

If you are not a Christian you may wonder why anyone would want to give control away.  Well, one reason is because we are told to do so...

New Living Translation (©2007) Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. ...but the main reason I choose to give control has to do with trust.  I absolutely trust that God has all wisdom.  I absolutely trust that he will protect me and eventually bring me to himself.  I absolutely trust that he knows better what is important for me in all things.  I absolutely trust that he is God and I am not. How about you?  Do you have times when you want to give God control but are having trouble letting go?  Do you have times when you know that giving up control has turned out to be a blessing to you?  Tomorrow I am going to tell you a story about someone else giving up control to follow an unexpected path.

Explaining Your Neighbor's Actions in the Kindest Way Possible

 I want to talk about Martin Luther for a minute.  Nope, I don't mean Martin Luther King, Jr.  I mean Martin Luther who was a theologian and reformer in the 1500's.  

Actually, this post is not so much about him but it is about one of the things I learned from his teaching.  He was an interesting guy and an important historical figure.  He certainly was not perfect but he was passionate about making the gospel available to everyone.  During a time in history when the average person didn't have access to a Bible, Martin Luther helped by producing crib notes.  OK, not really but Luther's Small Catechism is kind of like that.  

On to what's on my mind...

In Luther's Small Catechism there is a part that comes to my mind often, sometimes really often.  The part I am referring to is his explanation of the 8th Commandment, the one that tells us we aren't supposed to lie (bear false witness) about our neighbors.  Biblically, a neighbor is pretty much anyone around you.  I think we all know that lying isn't right.  Luther, however, goes on to say we should not just refrain from lies but we should also explain our neighbor's actions in the kindest way possible.  What?  That's asking a lot!

Explaining your neighbor's actions in the kindest way possible is very difficult and perhaps goes against my very nature.  My first instinct might be to point out my neighbor's flaws, maybe hoping it will make me look better by comparison.  Of course that doesn't really work but still, it is a human tendency.  

I have noticed, though, that when I start making myself at least try to explain someone's bad behavior in the kindest way possible, I become less judgmental.  I start to understand them just a bit.  For example, I might notice that the young woman who was just a bit pushy has 4 little kids tugging on her.  Or perhaps the gentleman that scowled at me had a tummy ache.  Maybe the teenager who was rude had just broken up with her boyfriend.  See?  It's not that hard when you give it a go.  Be creative!

Probably you all do this all the time anyway, and the problem is mine alone.  In a world where we are made to believe we should fight for our rights, push our way to the top, teach them a lesson, stand strong against opposition, etc.  I am glad for a reminder from the 1500's of a different way to go through this life.  I want to try to be better at explaining my neighbor's actions in the kindest way possible.