that were made at the time.”
Reformation observance
500th anniversary about positive contributions, not brokenness By Charles Austin
F
Austin is a retired ELCA pastor and former journalist who lives in New Jersey.
ive years from this Oct. 31, a man dressed as a 16th- century monk will stride toward the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Surrounded by crowds, he will symbolically “nail” on the church door (made of heavy brass) a facsimile of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses—propositions for theological debate—to observe the 500th anniversary of the event that began the Protes- tant Reformation and changed the world. The ceremony in Wittenberg is the focal point for a wide-ranging series of events before and after that date which—in sometimes surprising ways—cast 21st-century eyes on the 16th-century dispute and search for 21st- century meanings to Luther’s passionate and sometimes vicious challenge to church teachings. Most now believe Luther’s challenge was properly directed and led to needed changes in the church, even though the schism that resulted is far from fully healed. For that reason, it’s being called an “observance,” not a “celebration,” said Donald McCoid, assistant to the ELCA presiding bishop and executive for ecu- menical and interreligious relations. “We do not celebrate the brokenness of the church,” he said, but the observance is a “time to go back and look at the positive contributions
28 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
McCoid also said the Reformation observance is a time for Lutherans and Roman Catholics to renew the “com- mon commitment to the church’s unity.” Margot Kaessmann, a former bishop of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Germany and its official “ambassa- dor” for the observance, said it is not a time for the “glori- fication of Luther.” She stressed the “In the beginning was the Word” theme of the “Luther Decade,” which began in Germany in 2007, and has urged Christians to study Scrip- ture because, she said, the Reformation is about “informed faith, about asking questions, even asking questions about the Bible, the book of faith.” Kaessmann also said Luther, in writing about money- lending practices of his time, might even have a message for today’s economic crises. In Wittenberg, Hans-Wilhelm Kasch, a German Lutheran pastor who represents the Lutheran World Fed- eration there, said modern Christians should take the key themes of the Reformation—justification by faith and the grace of God—and “ask what they mean in a society completely based on accomplishment, a society which does not ask about a gracious God but about a gracious neighbor.”
Kasch said Luther wrote: “Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.” One of the the- ses, Kasch said, declared: “The true treasure of the Church is the most holy Gospel of the majesty and the grace of God.”
The German pastor asked those observing the anniver- sary to consider: “What is our treasure—our savings and stocks or our structures or old customs and traditions, or the grace of God?” Luther’s theses also stressed concern for the poor, Kasch added, declaring Christians should be taught that giving to the poor is “better than buying an indulgence,” the 16th-century means whereby remission of sins and their consequences could be purchased. Luther found this practice abominable, which led him to his most significant theological insight: believers are saved by faith, not by their good works. Since Luther’s sharpest criticisms were directed at the pope and the “Catholic” church of his day, the ecumenical nature of the Reformation observance is noteworthy. Prot- estant and Roman Catholic theologians are working on a joint commentary on Luther’s 95 Theses. In Germany, Nickolaus Schneider, chair of the Evangelical Church in Germany, and Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz both commended the 2017 observance. The Roman Catholic cardinal agreed that Luther is now viewed more positively than before. Roman Catholic bishops in Germany have
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