I don't get it

I just got back from my weekly Lectionary Bible Study. It is technically open to anyone in the Ministerial Association, but of late it has become what I refer to as my "Several Lutherans and a Token" group, with me being the token non-Lutheran. We have a floating rota of presenters, and usually we try to talk about the Lectionary reading for the Sunday a week and a half off. In other words, not the readings for this coming Sunday, but the next Sunday, as some people have already started preparing their sermon thoughts for the coming Sunday. (Again, that's not me...)

Two Sundays from now (which would be October 28th), apparently Lutherans (both Missouri Synod and ELCA) do this really weird "Reformation Sunday" that has its own readings. I am told other Protestant denominations do that as well, though I am not exactly sure which ones. I had never heard of such a thing prior to moving here to Lutheran Lake Wobegon Country. Apparently it is a big to do in Lutheran churches with pot lucks and homecoming like festivals sometimes.

I always get blank stares when I question whether Christians should be celebrating such a thing. I realize that Lutheran Identity is tied to the events of the Reformation, and so it is culturally a identity thing. But having an annual church party that celebrates the breaking apart of the Body of Christ does not sit well with me. Maybe having an annual day of repentance or lament over such a think I could understand.

I just do not get it...it is like having a party every year for 400 years that celebrates a nasty divorce. That just doesn't sit well with me.

Comments

Conchúr said…
Stanley Hauerwas preached the following sermon on Reformation Sunday in 1995:

http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/10/stanley-hauerwas-on-reformation-sunday/
10/16/2012 1:11 PM
The Archer of the Forest said…
Wow...while I am not prone to agree with Stanley Hauerwas on virtually anything, I will tip my hat to his honesty here. Well played.
10/16/2012 1:23 PM
Undergroundpewster said…
I get your point. Maybe next year you can put on the sackcloth and ashes for the both of us. Let me know if you hear any comments about that "Southern obsession with Sin" that my former rector used to harp on.
10/16/2012 1:27 PM
The Archer of the Forest said…
Being a Good Southerner, I prefer to think of that whole "Southern obsession with Sin" in light was how Flannery O'Connor characterized the South, "While the South is hardly Christ-centered,it is most certainly Christ-haunted."

I would posit that the same can be said of the Reformation.
10/16/2012 1:30 PM
Mr. Mcgranor said…
Have a good Reformation Day. The Reformation was holy, and is now profaned by postmodern pretenders. We are spiritually unified in our perspective denominations, or none--that is if you aren't an Emergent. Of which they continually upset their standing, by rebellion against God. As if he refused to be a fool.
10/30/2012 1:09 AM
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