It is not all that important to me to be "Lutheran." It does not matter all that much that I share in a worshiping community which carries that name. But it is absolutely essential to me that I am part of a Christian community where there is a strong sense of the ongoing reform of the Church.
As the world around us evolves; as the human species develops; as the stars burn out; and as the oceans reshape the coastline - God's Spirit moves over it all and aids those who turn their hearts toward the movement of the winds. Reform is necessary, if we are to keep up with where the Spirit is leading us and to how God is calling us.
Martin Luther did not trash all that was in the past and start anew. He carefully and methodically combed the wisdom of scripture and the collective wisdom of those who had gone before. He justified the places where he understood reform to be necessary and he acknowledged the writings which remained applicable to today's issues.
It is said that he appealed to "scripture and sound reasoning." And those anchors will surely guide us as we follow the Spirit, as we attend to the proclamation of the Word, as we consider what reforms are necessary in our own day and for the times in which we live.
I like to shock folks by pointing out that the congregations where the Reformation began are not Lutheran. The whole state-church thing in Germany is confusing, but what I have learned during our student trips there is that those regions of Germany are affiliated with the Reformed wing of the Reformation. But that does not matter. The name does not matter; what matters is the commitment to following God and listening for the instructions of God so that we never again become disconnected from the lives of those living the faith.
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