Reformation Sunday

A number of years ago, Guy Savastano of our science department approached me and asked if I would be willing to play bagpipes at his church for its celebration of “Reformation Sunday.” The commemoration, taking place on the last Sunday of October each year, recalls the story of Martin Luther posting his “95 Theses” on the parish church door in Wittenburg, Germany on October 31,1517.

While Luther’s act—inviting fellow scholars to debate propositions—was a common practice among academics (and largely ignored by the masses), it nonetheless started a process which would quickly take on a life of its own. The result was the Protestant Reformation: an event which the German philosopher, Novalis, called “the shipwreck of Christendom.”

So I, who tends to be a little traditional in my Catholicism, can be forgiven when I said to Guy: “Asking me to play at a Protestant church on Reformation Sunday is like asking me to play at the Japanese embassy on Pearl Harbor day.”

But I knew, even before I got my shot in, that I was going to play at the service: those who know the Savastanos know that they are among the most selfless, giving people one will ever meet. I find it hard to say “no” to a couple who seem to say “yes” to everyone who asks for help. So I went, fully expecting a tirade against the “Roman Church" and an exposition of the triumph of Protestantism over “superstition” and the “man-made” traditions of Catholicism.

What I got was a one-minute acknowledgement of the historical reality of the Reformation framed in the context of the need the Christian Church as a whole had, and has, of reform. The pastor went on to talk about how we as individuals are also sinful and in need of conversion to and through Christ. His point was that we are all in need of reform and he encouraged us to use the occasion of “Reformation Sunday” to re-commit ourselves to that endeavor.

I’ve been going back to the Independence Presbyterian Church every year since and the tone has remained the same: we are all in need of reform. This past Sunday, Pastor David Wigger referenced the dictum Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (“the church reformed, always reforming”)—a mantra within the Protestant community—reminding us that reform is an on-going process. 

This sentiment echoes Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church which affirmed that the Church "embracing in its bosom sinners, is at all times holy and also always in need of being purified” (Lumen gentium #8), and in her Decree on Ecumenism which reminds us that:

Christ summons the Church to continual reformation as she sojourns here on earth. The Church is always in need of this, insofar as she is an institution of men here on earth. Thus if, in various times and circumstances, there have been deficiencies in moral conduct or in church discipline, or even in the way that church teaching has been formulated - to be carefully distinguished from the deposit of faith itself - these can and should be set right at the opportune moment (Unitatis Redinegratio # 6)

The Church is always in need of reform, especially if it is to be faithful to its mission to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). 

In his moving novel, The Keys of the Kingdom, author A.J. Cronin recounted the adventures of a Scots-Catholic priest, Fr. Chisholm, while he served as a missionary in China. Years into his ministry, he was faced with an American Methodist couple looking to establish a mission of their own nearby. Encouraged by some of his parish to make life difficult for the minister and his wife, Fr. Chisholm refused, reflecting that:

[he] knew the hatreds which developed between rival missions, the ugly jealousies … the charge and countercharge, the raucous denunciation which made the Christian faith appear, to the tolerant Chinese mind, an infernal tower of Babel where all shouted at lung-pitch: “Behold, it is here! Here! Here!” But where? Alas! When one looked, there was nothing but rage and sound and execration.

The attempted construction of the tower of Babel, the story goes, was the occasion of God introducing different languages to the human race. It was another step in the increasing divisions among human beings. Those divisions would extend into the Christian faith as heresy and schism have constantly chipped away at the unity of the community which ostensibly follows Jesus.

As we’ve previously discussed on these pages, these divisions have no place in the Christian faith. At the Last Supper, Jesus—loud enough for St. John (at least) to hear—prayed to God the Father that “those who will believe in me … may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (Jn. 17: 20-21). Countering the Babelesque confusion wrought by human arrogance, the Holy Spirit enabled the Apostles to speak to people from throughout the world in a language all could understand (Acts 2:5-12).

So that they could overcome their differences.

And there remain very real and substantial differences among Christian groups that need to be resolved, however difficult that may be. But as we work to rectify them there are points of unity we can develop. Praying with each other is one. There are others: having a “preferential option for the poor and vulnerable,” recognizing the dignity and value of every human person from the moment of conception until natural death, obeying the command to “welcome the stranger,” feeding the hungry, and sheltering the homeless are not options for the authentic Christian, they’re requirements, regardless of denomination. As is working to build a society where others see those acts as necessities as well. How much more effective Christians would be in this if we were a united front! 

But we’re not, and I fear we are reaping the results as a consequence.

No one group is responsible for the Reformation: there is plenty of blame to go around. Sin, ignorance, and arrogance divided the Christian Church. Sin, ignorance, and arrogance continue to divide us. We can’t change the past, but we can change our future. The reality is that we are all in need of reform: Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox alike. Reformation Sunday reminds us that we Christians need to get our acts together.

The Holy Spirit further reminds us that true reform means we need to get our acts together, together.

A.M.D.G / B.V.M.H.