The Reformation happened a long time ago on Halloween.
The Reformation happened 506 years ago on Halloween 1517. If we break down the word Halloween, it means “All Hallows Eve” or “Holy Day Eve.” That means November 1st is a holy day. That’s right, All Saint’s Day! Therefore, Martin Luther was sly to nail his 95 thesis, or grievances, to the door of a specific church called “All Saint’s Church” in Wittenburg, Germany.
Martin Luther was gutsy.
Immanuel observed this big deal on the last Sunday of October. Wrapped up in symbolic red clothing, we leaned in to hear the annual retelling of a gutsy priest named Martin Luther, who risked his life to expose church abuse. If you are not Catholic, you are likely a descendant of this reckoning and protesting group—the Protestants.
Luther was not wrong to call foul on the church for abusing the flock. Dishonest theology was rampant as the Bible was not available for everyone, nor could most read. Priests could deceive the laity and get away with it…until the printing press was invented. Weaving a dishonest theology that money could bond out souls from purgatory was a sham to pad the bank for ornate cathedral construction, among other excessive niceties—the time had come to stop religious abuse.
As the reformation progressed, the theological reconstruction was messy, raw, and beautiful. There was no reference point for this freedom. Christians stretched their newfound theological wings, but it came with a bounty. The powers that depended on an abusive theology for their structural survival were set on bloodshed for the laity who walked away into spiritual freedom. Eventually, over several hundred years, Christianity shifted and settled down, and Catholics and Protestants were better for the Reformation’s upheaval.
Every 500 years is the marker.
In religious studies, it has been observed that about every 500 years, religion endures a massive upheaval, followed by a settling down that flows into new rules and structures. The rules and structures grow inadequate, and upheaval follows again.
I mean, think about it. The church we know today began before Luther’s Reformation in 1517 AD. The church has endured over 2,000 years of stress and strain. Going back 500 years to 1000AD, the Great Schism deeply divided the church into Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Falling back another 500 years to 500 AD, the Roman Empire collapsed, and the chaos of the Dark Ages ensued. Then, of course, in the first century, Jesus Christ was crucified unjustly, and Christianity was born. During the upheaval of each era, people experienced fresh encounters with God, and Christianity spread, becoming better than before.
Isn’t it interesting? Today, we are no doubt in the 500-year era of upheaval. Christianity is being called out for horrific abuses left unchecked. Sex and power abuse scandals of all denominational stripes have harmed people. Church trauma is real. Thirty percent of Americans dislike organized religion but have a relationship with God. Churches are closing. Some pastors in apparently successful churches have ended their lives or walked away. Many Christians are deconstructing their faith and shedding old ideas to find God dynamically. Denominations are shattering over the social issues of human sexuality, race, immigration, pandemics, abortion, women pastors, mental health, and ad nauseam.
Hope.
There are so many broken pieces, but remember, the church has been shattered before. Some worry that the church could die, but this has not been the first brush with death. So what if death comes? Resurrection only happens to the dead.
I have hope. The church will rise again, becoming better than before.
Sources:
Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, Baker Books, 2012.
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