This,
being one of those Sundays where we’re lifting up this congregation’s 250-year
history,
I thought it might be worth taking a walk down memory lane
—peering like time travelers,
at the myriad of works of the Spirit that God is up to, among us Lutherans.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran
Let us pray:
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran
It’s all there from the start, you
know:
-“Justified by God’s
grace as a gift.”
At-one-ment with God “effective through faith.”
-The Word working on us as
“The knowledge of sin” and as “The Law of Faith.”
-God’s goodness disclosed
in his Crucified and risen Son.
-The tensions between the
power of descending from Abraham and being adopted into God’s
household.
-Varieties of faithfulness
and practicing Christian freedom in the meantime.
In other words:
-Grace & Faith,
-Word Alone—the message of Law and Gospel,
-Theology of the Cross and Two Kingdoms,
-Adiaphora and Vocation.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran
From
the beginning…
1517—Luther questioning the practices of
indulgences,
in light of the Word of God,
in light of God’s mercy,
not our works, faith in the promise’s of God.
As unexpected as God on a cross
—academic points of debate shaking all of Europe,
that’s the Spirit for you!
1525—Luther and Katie are married,
Luther’s understanding of Christian vocation widens beyond the confines
of the monastery,
into every role, relationships, and responsibility he has.
1530—The German princes present their
confession of the faith to the Emperor
—their very lives on the line,
they pry apart a place between Church and State where Lutherans can live
faithfully, as our conscience dictates.
1534—Luther, hiding from the authorities
in a castle attic and disguised as “Knight George”,
translates the Bible into German,
so the Word might be known more broadly.
1546—Luther’s death, and his final words,
“Pray, let God do the worrying.
We are all beggars, that is true.” Pointing to grace and trust, even in
the end.
The various wars and persecutions,
forcing Lutherans to ask what are central things and what are indifferent things
—what of the faith is worth dying for,
and coming up with a rather short list: Word and Sacrament.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran.
Even
before Luther, the Spirit acted in Lutheran-ish ways:
In 400—asking Augustine about being citizen
of Heaven and Rome
In 1200—Francis of Assisi attacking the wealth
and waste he saw in Rome.
1350—Wycliff translates the Bible into
English,
and is burnt for his efforts.
1415—610 years ago this year,
Jan Hus burnt for questioning papal authority,
indulgences,
and clericalism in Holy Communion.
…But
we’re here to talk about Lutherans.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran.
1675—Spener publishes “Heartfelt Desire”
and empowers the movement known as Pietism, at its best itbringing the faith
into the heart of our day to day.
1696—Continuing the tradition of writing
in the language of the people Lutherans translate the Small Catechism
into Algonquian and Lenape.
1723—A young fella named Bach is hired as
a Cantor, and uses his music to connect worshipper’s hearts to God’s Word.
1774—A group of people meet in the Fritts’
barn and read scripture together…
by 1775 these folk have organized as a congregation.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran
1861—Lutherans from throughout New Jersey
gather at that same church,
this very church!
and hold the founding convention Ministerium of New Jersey… what will become
the New Jersey Synod.
1922—Based on the Lutheran minimalist definition
of Church
—Word and Sacrament… Everything else is commentary…
the Anglicans and Lutherans enter into eucharistic fellowship.
Just 3 years later Lutherans
leverage that same impulse to organize the Universal Christian Conference on
Life and Work, that leads to the creation of the World Council of Church.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran
1934—Questions of Church and State
—Two Kingdoms,
shock German Lutherans as the Nazis wrest control of the Church from the Called
and the Ordained…
only the Confessing Church holds out against the pressure.
By 1945 that
Pressure leads to the death of so many members of the Confessing Church,
culminating the in Martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of Adolf Hitler’s
final orders.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran…
sometimes even when they’re Roman Catholics…
1969—The Roman Catholic Church, mirroring
Luther’s Reforms,
declares the importance of individual conscience and translates worship
into the language of the people, and opens the way for Ecumenical relationships
with the rest of the Church.
1989—100s of Lutherans gather at St.
Nicholas Lutheran in Leipzig for prayer.
A small act, like posting 95 theses, or God showing up on the cross.
They are beaten by East German police.
A month later 70,000 East Germans return the St. Nicholas.
The next week 120,000.
The next week 320,000.
By the next week, the Berlin Wall falls.
1999—Lutheran and Roman Catholics come
together and sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.
We admitted the Splitting of the Church was tragic,
and they admitted that Luther’s reforms were necessary.
Catching Lutherans being Lutheran
And it is of course
harder to discern what’s God at work, and what’s just things that happen,
especially as we get closer to contemporary times…
but if we look carefully,
I think we can still see the Spirit’s work:
Adiaphora and Vocation—
Every ecumenical event laced with it,
every service centered on Word and Sacrament,
every Role, Relationship, and Responsibility done faithfully,
embraced by our baptismal calling.
Theology of the Cross and Two
Kingdoms—
We likely won’t see it until we’re on the other side of it, and God chooses to
reveal it to us.
God’s cross and God’s Kingdom,
coming without any effort of our own,
and yet there it is! Oh wow!
Word Alone—
Every week I endeavor, from this pulpit here,
to get out of the way and let Scripture kill you and your desires to earn what
is freely given,
and make you alive again in Christ.
Grace & Faith—
Every time we trust God’s promises to be true. Every time God reveals that
which already is…
mercy and gift,
mercy and gift.
I pray that you will be caught being
Lutheran.
Amen.
