Yes, it’s Friday… and…
Then it becomes Reformation!
You mean Halloween?
No, I mean Reformation…
Or All Hallows Eve!
And then comes All Saints…
What a 1-2 punch of events…
If only people took notice…
They do, just look at the yards of so many. You can’t move around in some of them, they are so crowded with the images of the dead and the demonic.
But that is not what they mean, and not what I mean either.
Is it wrong to celebrate Halloween? No, not as such. It is too bad people replace Reformation and All Saints with it, but that is one thing. The other is just a fun day to make light of the devil’s try at his usual scare tactics.
So, make light. The devil hates it when we do that.
But, no never take it very seriously. That is when it—when he—gets more due than he should.
But, come on Lutherans! Let’s try and make something of these days! I have tried for these past 20 years as a pastor, and they fall flat.
It is like when I tried to change Sunday into the day it should be—the FIRST day of the week. It is, but when having mid-week services, everyone thinks that the readings and all else are for the next, up and coming Sunday, not the previous.
Can’t fight city hall as the saying goes.
Can’t make people give up Halloween.
So, we make the best of it. Some churches do Trunk-or-treats. Many of them are huge successes. The cars (and trucks… “pick-up beds” or treats?) become pieces of art!
All the same, we should focus… we should pay more attention to our church calendars. They were put together for our learning. You can read through the Bible using it. Each service would have deeper meaning if we did.
Back to the Reformation.
Who has not read a good biography of Martin Luther yet? Well, if not, why not this year?
I will list 3 great very readable choices:
“Here I Stand” by Roland Bainton – https://a.co/d/20YRbe2
“Luther: Man Between God and the Devil” by Heiko A. Oberman – https://a.co/d/gYRTHwG
“Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career” – by James Kittleson – https://a.co/d/b666A5D
I have a copy of each, and the church library has a copy them too, but that won’t cover it if many you take me up on this. But it would not be a bad idea to have your own as I have read these a couple of times now. So, they are worth owning. They are! Luther himself said that it is not how many books you have read, but how many times you have read the good ones!
The point?
16 …the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” [Matthew 4:16].
The church of the Old Testament was right there, as was the church of Rome in Luther’s day. But I have to say, so was I for the first 20 years of my life, until I heard the Gospel for the first time in an ORTHODOX Lutheran church.
There is nothing like it in the world. For those who wanted me to come back to the church bodies and fellowships of my past (Baptist, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic), I would say to them that I will die first. I will NEVER GO BACK! I will never go back into bondage.
Luther and these other later, movements: they are Different Reformations!
Luther didn’t start a movement of rebellion.
He called the Church back to the Gospel —
to the Word, the Water, the Bread, the Wine.
The other traditions came later,
not continuing Luther’s Reformation, but reacting to it. Reducing it.
Where Luther said, “God gives,”
the other said, “I decide.”
That’s the difference between
Grace delivered and Grace described.
Between Gospel as gift and faith as performance.
Semper Memoria — Always Remember.
So those of you who have known nothing else? You are not missing anything. The grass is not greener over there. Ever thought that maybe it is because the devil is shoveling manure in plenty into their yards?
The way to life, Jesus says, is narrow and difficult—not popular. Few find it. Crowds? We don’t got them. No surprise there.
But what we do have is light. Freedom. Peace. Rest.
Come celebrate with me.
I know, it is Friday….
Yeah, but Reformation Sunday is so near…
The celebration is about to begin. Come one, come all!
Yes, yes…it’s Friday, and so what… Reformation Sunday… is almost here!
This coming Sunday – Reformation – October 26th 2025
Readings:
Old Testament – Jeremiah 31:31-34
Epistle – Romans 3:19-28
Gospel – John 8:31-36
Psalm – 84
Sermon Theme – FREE AT LAST! – Based on the Gospel reading
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Prayers: For the people of Israel and Gaza. For the People of Russia and the Ukraine. For the people of Central America. That these war-torn counties can find peace and lives be spared. But especially that through these conflicts people come to trust in Christ Jesus rather than their leaders, and through faith in Him, find true and everlasting peace. For our government and its leaders, that they could come together for the benefit of our country to enact justice and legislate God pleasing laws. To also protect and thwart all violence in our schools and churches.
Reflection from Luther:
“The faith that we obtain the forgiveness of sins solely for Christ’s sake by faith has been the faith of the Fathers and prophets and all saints from the beginning of the world; and it has been the doctrine and teaching of Christ and the Apostles, who were commissioned to spread it in all the world.
And it is to this day, and will be to the end, the unanimous understanding and voice of the whole Christian Church, which always in one mind and with one accord has confessed and fought for this article, that only in the name of the Lord Jesus forgiveness of sins is obtained and received. And in this faith they have been justified before God and saved.” (St. L. XII:494 f.)
