Reformed and Remade:

There once was a man entering college. His parents wanted something better for him beyond life in the copper mines. So, they planned and prepared for this young man to go to university and study to become a lawyer.

At this time, a severe thunderstorm came up and lightning was striking the ground where this young man was. He cried out, “Saint Ann, save me. If you do I’ll become a monk.” The young man survived the storm, and he was true to his word. He became a monk.

The young man always struggled with faith in God. He saw God as angry and vengeful. He feared God’s judgment of him and he tried, as hard as he could, to push himself to be “perfect.” All the young man experienced was frustration and doubt.

The young man’s superior, a priest named Staupitz, redirected the young man’s attention from himself to God. The young man was appointed to be a professor of Theology, teaching priests about the Bible and the Church. It was during the young man’s preparation for his lectures on Romans, that God opened his with life to God. “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

From then on, Martin Luther was driven to study more of God’s Word. He validated his faith, trust, and understanding God. Martin Luther was now driven to reform the Roman Catholic church from her errors and remake Christians into a life of grace and peace with God.

That lead to Martin Luther attaching his “95 Theses” to the door of the Church in Wittenberg. That was on “All Hallows Eve,” October 31, 1517. The Reformation Era began.

And we live in that era, 508 years later. We are the present Church that Luther reformed. 

The Church’s teachings were re-formed and re-focused upon Jesus Christ and His righteousness poured out into every Christian. The Church was remade into people living in God’s righteousness and not their own. 

And we are both re-formed and re-made. Jesus took you and me, sinners through and through, and changed us in such a way as to be new people. No longer are we bound by fear of God’s justice and judgment. We are now bound to Jesus and His grace and favor through the sacrifice of His body and blood on the cross. We are new and energized to serve God by means of grace through faith. We do this, not under obligation, but under obedience to God’s grace.

So, let us celebrate the anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation Era with great joy and peace. We will do this on Sunday, October 26, 2025, in our Divine Service at 10:30am. Please join with us.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Robert