Reformation or Re-Formation?

As we remember Martin Luther's act of defiance today when he nailed the 95 Theses to the church, I think we need to remember exactly why we're celebrating.

Are we doing it to celebrate the victory of Luther over Roman Catholicism?

Are we doing it to celebrate Luther's writings and teachings?

Are we doing it to remember God's ongoing revelation and work within our lives today?

I hope it's that third option.

I appreciate Martin Luther, and I value the work that he and the other reformers did to shake up the way church has been done, so that more and more people might find engagement with God where God has already been meeting them.

I think Martin Luther had some serious complaints about how the Catholic church was handling their responsibility as the church of God's people, and they needed to be shaken out of their complacency with some systems that were hurting the very people the church was supposed to be helping.

I think it's always important to remember that we cannot earn our salvation and that we do good works out of a response to the very thing that God has done.

I also think we've turned Martin Luther's legacy into something that itself is becoming an hindrance to the body of Christ.

Any time we celebrate the Reformation and celebrate Luther instead of God, we're doing it wrong.

Rather, we must be looking to see how God has worked, is working, and will continue to work to re-form our faith.  A living God requires a living faith.  A living faith requires pruning and growing.  A living faith sometimes requires dying and being resurrected.

Is our faith really a living faith?

We want to say "Yes!"  We want to believe that we are able to let go of some things in order to try something new.  We want to say that we are willing to lose ourselves, so that we might be found by God.

But I'm not so sure this is the case.

I know that every time I read a new book and come across a new idea I have a really hard time carrying that idea into action - especially if I like what the day communicates about God.

For example, part of Peter Rollins' book How (Not) to Speak of God includes ten service descriptions from his ikon community in Belfast.  Each service is radically different from what mainline churches in North America is doing.

And there are parts of his services that I really like.  The messages and themes that Rollins is communicating are exciting - they provide an opportunity to shift our perceptions of God ever so slightly and grow from the experience.

I am terrified to let go of my familiar worship patterns.

As much as I would love to implement the ideas and themes and develop thoughtful ways to integrate them into my own spiritual/prayer life, I am much more terrified of letting go of something that has shaped my identity for almost 25 years.

I am terrified to let go.

I have to let go.

I have to trust that God will still show up when I take away something near and dear to whom I perceive myself to be.

I have to trust that God is going to make me stretch and grow into a new and better identity when I let go of something that has defined who I am.

I have to take a leap of faith.

That's not to say I must rush into it without thinking - but at some point (soon) I need to start acting on what I'm thinking.  I have to experiement.  I have to try something new.  I have to learn to fail and let God succeed.

I hope that's where the church is being called - to let go and let God take hold.

As we walk on this journey together, what are some other places where we should let go and let God take over?

What scares you or those you know about letting go?

What are some ways you've experienced that in your own faith journeys?