Posted on 11/01/2012 8:58:12 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Tomorrow we have our choice -- we can go with Reformation Sunday or All Saints Day. We can sing "For All the Saints" or "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Being that I pastor neither a Lutheran nor a Presbyterian Church, and thus my connections as a Disciple to the Reformation of the 16th century are more derivative than direct, and perhaps because my sermon tomorrow has to do with the Worship of God, we'll take the All Saints Day route. But, instead of For All the Saints, we'll be singing Holy, Holy, Holy.
But, it would be appropriate to note that it was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther launched the Reformation of the 16th century by publishing his "95 Theses," inviting a debate on matters of reform within the Catholic Church, with special attention given to indulgences and purgatory. It's only later that he is evicted from that church and helps found a new community of faith.
One principal of the Reformation that would be appropriate to remember today is the one that goes by the tune of "Reformata et Semper Reformanda" -- "Reformed and Always Reforming." And such should be our motto, especially the latter part of the statement -- for we should always be seeking to reform our practice of the faith, as we listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Reformers understood well that reform was an ongoing effort and not once for all!
....One principal of the Reformation that would be appropriate to remember today is the one that goes by the tune of "Reformata et Semper Reformanda" -- "Reformed and Always Reforming."
Luther started it on Halloween? Really? And that doesn’t indicate to you who his real father is? the devil took over martin’s soul and led him
The Methodist Church celebrates both Reformation Sunday (the last one in October) and All Saints Sunday, which comes a week later. At the All Saints service, the names of parishioners who have departed over the previous year are read, and we sing, “For All the Saints.” We could also sing, “When the Saints Go Marching In,” but that isn’t in our hymnal.
I like Holy, Holy, Holy, but it is a poor substitute for For All The Saints.
I have my doubts that Halloween was observed in 1517 as it is today. When I was in Germany in the 1960's and early 1970's, the only ones celebrating Halloween were American "overseas brats." They would hold a Halloween party at Burg Frankenstein, an abandoned medieval castle on a hilltop south of Darmstadt that on October 31 was transformed into "Frankenstein's Castle."
He bought an indulgence.
Did you know that you can still buy indulgences today? It's only the currency that has changed. Today you trade your labor for it, instead of coin.
no one is defending selling of indulgences, that was just the hook luther hung his sinful hat on when he formed his own “church”
never heard of it. You can certainly do penance for your sins
Another great gospel song by John Dykes, composer of the music for "Holy, Holy, Holy," that would be appropriate for All Saints Day is "Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand" (1875).
Ten thousand times ten thousand in sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints throng up the steeps of light;
’Tis finished, all is finished, their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates, and let the victors in.
Really? Allow me to indulge you:
Catholics hope to cleanse indulgences of their bad reputation
Baylor Lariat, Catholic professor spar over indulgences revival
Catholics given chance at shorter stay in Purgatory
Papal Indulgences, Two Ways: Easy and Hard
Trips to Lourdes to Cut Time Spent in Purgatory
Philadelphia archdiocese offers indulgences
8 TIPS TO HELP YOU WALTZ THROUGH PURGATORY!
That makes it even less likely that Luther, a devout Christian, was into Halloween.
He was not a devout Christian.
Yes, he was. How about yourself?
I did not know that, I'm not in the market for one anyway.
Well, then. That pretty much settles it.
No need for anything like an actual discussion of facts.
Wow, Bill Clinton Tetzl. Nice use of the verb tense. The fact is, and remains that the Catholic Church of the time did in fact not only defend the practice but promoted it. Of course when the papacy at the time was being bought and sold and those great Italian humanitarians the Borgias and de Medici were in the business of God, what are a few indulgences? Indulgences fit well with bribery and simony.
Luther had a cowl at the time, by all accounts earned. I doubt the same could be said of all the 'hats' his ecclesiastical opponents wore.
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