A Reformation Day Round-up
Just to remind us the it is not only Lutherans and other Protestants who pay attention to Reformation Day, you can find a reflections by a Roman Catholic here.
Kletos at the Amor et Labor blog posted these Reformer-O-Lanterns.
The ELCA homepage offers this perspective on the question What is a Lutheran? A few years ago, ELCA presiding bishop Mark Hanson wrote the following letter on Lutheran identity to mark the occassion of Reformation Day.
Reformation Day is a great opportunity to read some of Brother Martin's words, and Project Wittenberg is a great place to do that online. The 95 Theses would be especially appropriate today; Concerning Christian Liberty and the Preface to Romans are also good starting places.
Of course, the town of Wittenberg holds a special place in hearts of many Lutherans. Take a virtual tour of the city here. This includes a tour of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church) where Luther posted his 95 theses here. One of the little known facts about Wittenberg (one of two cities in Germany officially known as Lutherstadt), is that it is home to an ELCA research center creatively called "the ELCA Wittenberg Center."
Reformation Day 2006 also marks the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church. You can read more about the JDDJ here and here.
Finally, you can read the text of my Reformation Sunday sermon here.
I am sure that by the time tomorrow rolls around, there will be a whole slew of blogs posting about Reformation Day. But for now, perhaps this is enough to start off your celebrations.
2 comments:
We only have a handful of Lutheran Churches in England and they are chaplaincies really, so I've only got to know about modern Lutherans through blogging. The Lutherans on this side of the Atlantic resolutely refuse to speak English so they're not much use.
It was only through your blog that I found out that you call today Reformation Day. In The Church of England today is the feast day of Saint Martin Luther (I'm sure he would have loved that). But English saints don't have to perform miracles and we certainly don't pray to them (well the Anglo-Catholics pray to some but I don't think they'd bother your Martin!).
Do you have a different Martin Luther commemoration?
I think that Roman Catholicism is more full of heresy now than it ever was in Luther's time. Then it was just corrupt. The way it has centralised power in the Vatican, its insistence on papal infallibilty, its doctrines about the immaculate nature of Mary and her assumption, are in fact anti-catholic as well as obviously anti-reformist. I think all non-Roman churches should concentrate on coming together at the national level, in a more organic way. Once you get bigger than national you get all sorts of trouble as the Anglican Communion is finding out. Also, its more Biblical.
MP,
Yes, we do observe the commemoration (feast) of Martin Luther on a different day. Feb. 18, the date of Luther's death in Eisleben, is the date set aside for him on our calendar. The other important date is June 15, the date of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession (in 1530).
I attended an Anglican (episcopal) seminary here in the states, so am quite familiar with the worship styles and piety of Anglicanism. Indeed, the Episcopal Church (USA) observes the feast of Martin Luther on Feb 18 as well. In my experience with the Anglican views on the saints (even the most high church anglo-catholics), I don't think Martin would object at all.
To me, the biggest problem with Rome is the intrenchability of papal infallibility. It seems to me to the biggest roadblock to any sort of conversation between Rome and anyone else. Of course, the Protestant equivelent, which arose about the same time, is the idea of scriptural inerrency (which the church of England largely avoided). I think the Protestant biblolatry has done as much damage as papl infallibility.
Thanks for your comments ... come back anytime!
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