Celebrating Reformation

 John 8: 31-36

10-25-2026

Reformation Sunday

 

So it’s near the end of the month, so let’s take an inventory.

Have you sinned this month?

Have you sinned in thought, word, or deed?

Did you take something that wasn’t yours?

Did you covet something that wasn’t yours?

Did you yell at someone? Brush them off?

Did you say many bad words when someone cut you off in traffic?

Did you wish someone harm? Did you gossip? Did you judge someone?

Did you avoid someone who needed your help?

I think everyone in here has sinned, probably more than once.

 

So in the Christian church through the 16^th century,

which most everyone in the western world was a part of,

for every sin that you committed, you had to go through a process:

 

First Contrition: You had to consider your sin and feel true sorrow 

for offending God and fear the consequence of hell or purgatory.

Second give a private Confession: The sinner had to go to an ordained

priest in a confessional and name their sins. The priest then exercised

the power to grant absolution, forgiving the guilt of the sin.

Or not, depending on how they felt that day.

Third, you had to do your Assignment of Penance:

The priest assigned a "satisfaction" or penance—

such as multiple prayers, fasting, or good works—

to pay off the spiritual debt left by the sin.

If you completed all that, you were absolved. Mostly. There were catches.

And all that was for one sin.

I mean you could bunch them up and confess a few at the same time,

but still for each and every sin you had done, you were supposed to follow this process. 

And what if the priest was not there when you went?

Or what if he wasn’t in a good mood that day?

What if you forgot a sin? What if you missed one?

And what if you didn’t have time to do assignment of penance?

The sins just kept piling up.

 

If you didn’t keep up, then you’d have to work this all out in purgatory—

that place between death and heaven where you’re purified of all the sins

you forgot to confess or didn’t confess, and also some of the ones you did confess 

but were too major to be absolved by confession and penance.

Like intentionally missing church on Sunday without a good excuse.

 

Imagine the time and the psychological energy involved in all this.

Every sin counted, every thought word and deed was

getting you closer to hell or closer to centuries of purgatory.

And every bit of God’s forgiveness was brokered and dictated

through the church and church leaders.

Ignoring all this was not an option at this time, the Church had a hold on every facet of life then. 

People were very concerned every day about the state of their souls 

and what would happen after death.

I’m sure some people mentally checked out, or gave up being loved by God.

But it was still a big part of everyone’s life.

And the most faithful one were the most plagued.

 

These threats were drilled into people inside the church and outside.

That had been the religious situation for hundreds of years.

 

Until some relief was found – in the form of indulgences.

So, the truth is, the very wealthy

could always absolve their sins by and going on a crusade,

or making a pilgrimage to Rome,

or building a church or palace for a bishop.

But what if you couldn’t do those things?

 

The church offered a bit of grace to the people with indulgences.

People could pay a small amount and get their sins –

or the sins of their relatives, dead or alive – forgiven

and get a little more time taken off their time in purgatory.

The logic –slim as it were— was that monks and nuns 

who lived in monasteries and had plenty of time to pray and do penance,

had accrued extra absolution from their sins. 

They were like penance factories. 

And they could share that penance with others.

For a price of course.

  

This must have felt like quite a relief to those who were

concerned about their souls and their time in purgatory.

And we know it was, because people jumped at the chance to

take advantage of it, and the church made a lot of money.

 

Selling indulgences for forgiveness had actually been a thing

for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t promoted much.

Over the years, there were a lot of scammers

who sold their own sell indulgences to people.

One of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales written in the 1300’s

was from “the Pardoner” who was portrayed as a huckster, 

selling indulgences just get “silver, wine, and cheese”, not save souls.

 

And then local priests and local bishops realized that they could make

a pretty penny off of selling forgiveness to the wealthy.

But the Pope decided that he wanted the church

to reap some of the benefits of this practice too.

And in the 1500’s with a big construction project looming in Rome,

they decided to really push these true, pure papal indulgences.

 

And Johann Tetzel – part monk, part flea market sales person –

was promoted to the position of “commissioner of indulgences”

for the diocese that included Wittenberg University, (not in Ohio.)

And he spent a lot of time selling indulgences to the people.

Tetzel’s little slogan he gave at the end of his sales pitch was:

“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

Which I happily found out this week, rhymes in German too.

 

Father Tetzel was real good at selling these, and the money

poured in for him, and for the church, and for the reconstruction 

of St. Peters basilica in Rome, and for paying off the enormous debt the

local Archbishop had taken out for his lavish office building.

 

Tetzel also got into selling indulgences for future sins.

Once you paid enough for sin you committed in the past, you might want

absolve yourself for sins you might commit, or plan to do commit,

in the future. Which even the Church at the time couldn’t stand behind.

 

 I mean this is a mess, right?

You needed an Excel spread sheet to keep track of all your sins, 

and where you were in the process of forgiveness, and you could never keep up.

Or you could give the priest some money,

if you were rich, then forgiveness was easy.

But if you were poor, forgiveness was limited. People were opting not to buy food, 

they were giving up their last savings, 

and selling their livestock and other things in order to buy indulgences.

Like many plans that enrich institutions,

this plan preyed mostly on the poorest people.

 

It was a mess for the average person to deal with on a daily basis,

And it was also a mess because of what it conveyed about God.

God became this ruthless dictator instead of the merciful

creator, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

God was to be feared at all times (and not fear in the honor way,

but fear in the be very afraid way) and Jesus was his enforcer.

And God’s favor and forgiveness was sold to the highest bidder:

The rich were absolved, and the poor were guilty and condemned.

 

And this is where Martin Luther came in.

He was a professor at the Wittenberg University (not in Ohio)

He was a monk in the church, and he was a professor

of theology at the University. And in studying and translating

the bible, he realized what the church’s doctrine and practice

about sins and forgiveness did not match with the

what he was reading in the bible.

 

Martin Luther said that during his time as a monk,

even with most of his time spent in worship and prayer and confession

and forgiveness, he felt alienated from God.

Because of the church doctrine, the more he prayed, 

the further away from Jesus he felt. He said it was a time of deep spiritual despair.

He said, “I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter,

and made of him the jailor and hangman of my poor soul."

 

He realized through his studies and teaching of the bible, that it was not

God or Christ who were making him and others feel this way.

It was the church, and its oppressive rules and doctrine.

 

As a professor, he started to preach against the church

and what it taught, and what Tetzel taught, and the practice of indulgences.

He came up with 95 arguments against this practice

which were called the 95 Theses. People didn’t do that then.

There were grace consequences for people who spoke publicly

against the church, especially about the way it made buckets of money.

 

Luther understood that forgiveness didn’t come through payments to the church, 

or through endless cycles of guilt and fear and penance,

it didn’t actually come through the church at all,

but only through God’s grace.

Number 62 of the 95 theses, was

“The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel

of the glory and grace of God.”

 

If we can imagine the mental pressure that people were

experiencing because of the church’s doctrine at the time,

and the way they were now going broke because of it -

these kind of words from a professor and priest of the church

must have been comforting, and revolutionary. And it was.

Hundreds of years of anxiety relieved, knowing that God loved us 

and didn’t hate us. It was an emotional and social revolution

that went hand in hand with all the other social

revolutions happening a the time.

 

On October 31^st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed these

95 theses – or as it was titled,

Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences

on the door of the church at Wittenberg for anyone to read.

From there it was translated from Latin into vernacular

that more people could read and understand.

And they were printed in bulk on the printing presses

which was actually invented in 1450 – 100 years before,

(Which the church had ironically used mostly to print indulgences with)

but were becoming more widely used outside the church at the time.

 

So lots of regular people started to read these copies and

these statements and questions reflected by Luther

reflected their concerns and complaints.

And their complaints and concerns became viral

and became a movement and the doctrine was written down

and eventually formed a denomination that became separate 

from the church in Rome. And 509 years later, here we are celebrating that day again.

Reformation Sunday.

 

I give you all that background

and history because I think it’s important to remember,

But I also want to say that we are not here today

to celebrate Martin Luther, or just one day in history either.

 

If anyone does a little bit of diving into history,

Martin Luther, the namesake of our Lutheran denomination,

is both a hero and a problem. He did what others didn’t

have the courage to do at the time, he was driven by

a deep love of Christ and the gospel and the people of God

which he served. And he also said and wrote and advocated

for some things which we realize now were seriously flawed

and had serious repercussions.

 

Martin Luther as both theological saint and sinner

is an apt model of the revolutionary that he was.

It’s the story for many revolutionary leaders.

But that’s okay.

Because, as I said, we’re not here to venerate Martin Luther.

We’re not here to remember just one moment in history.

We’re not even here to celebrate the Lutheran Church.

We’re here to celebrate Reformation.

 

We are here to celebrate the ongoing Reformation of the Church.

We’re celebrating the fact that we can, and should,

call the church to task when it stops representing

God’s will and Christ’s cross.

  

We celebrate the fact that the Reformation meant

that God’s love and grace and forgiveness was

again shared with a world aching to hear it.

 

We’re here to celebrate the fact that God heard the groaning

of the people and remembered his covenant with them,

and sent someone to release them.

 

We celebrate the knowledge that Christ’s

message and God’s love does not need to be

brokered by religious leaders.

 

We celebrate the truth that God’s forgiveness

is not a grueling task that no one can complete,

but a constant comfort that undergirds our whole lives.

 

We celebrate the fact that being loved

and forgiven by God is not

just for the rich and privileged.

 

We celebrate the knowledge that the gospel

of Jesus Christ can be found and uncovered,

rediscovered and opened anew in

every age and time.

 

We celebrate the understanding that

the message and sacrifice of Jesus can, and does,

still change lives over the centuries.

 

And we celebrate the fact that with

understanding scripture, and with prayer

and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

that this church and so many other

churches are being reformed in the image

of Christ today and every day.

 

We don’t just celebrate history or person today.

We celebrate that through those things,

we know about the grace and forgiveness of God.

Today, like every Sunday, we celebrate God’s love.

What is God's?

 Matthew 22: 15-22  October 18, 2026

 

This scripture has been misused a lot.

Sometimes its used as a stewardship sermon.

Which isn’t the worst use of it.

This logic is that Jesus says you have to pay your taxes –

but don’t forget to give some to God, which is the church.

Like I said, not the worst use, but

I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about.

 

I think it has been used in the past mostly,

to justify the separating of the work of God

from the work of politics or government.

 

People have used this to say that Jesus was telling the church

not to get involved in any part of politics.

Give to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor – earthly things.

and give to God what belongs to God – spiritual things.

 

This theory says that Jesus was saying that these things are separate – 

the realm of Caesar is money, finances, your business, 

and work life, your voting, your stance on issues.

And the world of God is praying, worship, hymns, spiritual stuff.

 

The belief was that God doesn’t get involved in those other places,
and neither should you.

Church people should worry about spiritual and eternal stuff.

Politics are worldly, always evil, and temporary –

as people of faith, we shouldn’t bother with it.

 

Throughout history, especially American history,

that has left many thoughtful, faithful people out of the

conversations that affect many people’s lives so much.

 

The fact is, how we use our money is a spiritual and moral question.

And how the government uses the money we give them is

a spiritual and moral question.

And how we engage with that question is politics.

Now I completely believe in separation of church and state.

The government should not mandate any religion,

even ones I agree with and love.

And religions should not mandate that its followers to

follow any political ideal or that it vote for one person or another.

 

We’ve all seen over the last 50 or so years,

how the radical right wing of the Christian church

has demanded that they get special treatment under the law,

and they want the law to protect their faith alone.

Or how they want their Christian teachings in public schools,

or they want to impose their specific, peculiar spiritual

practices and interpretations on the general public.

And I am here to say that is NOT how we should be

involved in politics as people of faith.

 

But should people of faith completely stay out of politics?

Should we remove themselves from any kind of politics?

That’s kind of the question that’s being posed by the pharisees, even if,

as the narration said, it was posed as a trap.

It wasn’t like the Pharisee’s invented this dilemma

when they asked it of Jesus.

It was already a debate.

 

At the time of Jesus, the Israelites were under Roman rule.

They had gone from being under one rule to another for many years.

The Romans were good in some ways, they developed conveniences, roads, 

methods of commerce,  And Romans allowed people to worship how they wanted, 

even the Jewish people.

 

And the Romans invaded and took control and then

required a ‘Tribute’ be paid to it – a tax.

Romans required two things, that you pay the tribute

and that you keep the peace. 

No protesting, no gathering in the street, no organizing,

definitely no telling people not to pay their taxes.

The Romans government required submission.

On top of that, the Roman government elevated their emperor to the

level of a deity. The Caesar was actually worshipped along with other gods. 

After years of wrangling and negotiation,

Jewish people were exempt from this part of life.

 

But one of the ways that they elevated or venerated the Emperor 

or Caesar was to put his face on money. Of which there were only coins.

It was a constant reminder of the Emperor’s deity.

 

Now Jewish people were exempt from worshipping,

but the money was a sticking issue.

Roman Coin

The money with the picture of the was a graven image, 

an idol to the Jewish people and they weren’t supposed to use Roman money,

especially for religious purposes for paying the Temple tax or fees, 

or for buying animals for sacrifice. 

That’s what the money changers were there for. 

They would exchange Roman money, with the graven image

on it, for Jewish money.

(Which was basically worthless outside of Jewish circles.)

 

So the Jewish people removed themselves from the surrounding culture 

in that way, but the question was still there.

Was it faithful to even pay taxes to this government?

Of course there were severe penalties if you didn’t pay taxes.

But the question was there for them.

 

And that question has been there for Christians and for other

religious people forever. The world is sinful, bad things happen.

Society does bad things. Governments do bad things.

So should we, as people of faith, retract from society?

 

John the Baptist withdrew from public life by living in the wilderness. 

The Essenes a Jewish group (which some people believe that 

John The Baptist was a leader in) that lived completely separate from society.

The Amish and some Mennonites maintain physical and cultural

separation from regular society.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t vote in elections.

 

 

Mostly, though religions in the US,

seem so want to be involved in the culture in most ways,

but we want to remain quiet on things when taking a stand

would cause controversy. It’s called “Political quietism.”

Being kind of neutral about everything

 

And I get it, with the culture so divided on certain topics,

it feels like avoiding all topics that could be seen as political

might seem like the best approach.

Don’t take a stand on anything controversial.

Just focus on the Spiritual side of things, so we

don’t offend or divide our parishioners over things.

 

And a lot of times, people are fine with churches speaking

up on politics when it’s a stance they agree with.

But when they disagree, then the church is being “too political”.

 

So that means that the radical wing of the church doesn’t have 

a problem making demands that their doctrine be heard and adopted 

by every facet of government and society, 

but the more thoughtful even-tempered portion of the church ends up keeping quiet,

just trying to keep the peace. Not speaking out at all.

 

That means that the church has been quiet on matters that would be

very important to God.  I mean in the 1800’s.

 the Lutheran Church, didn’t have much of anything to say about the issue of Slavery  until the Southern half of the Lutheran church left the

General Lutheran church in 1863.

By then, the Civil War had already been going on for two years.

 

In the 1960’s, Martin Luther King wrote his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was written in response to eight white clergy members,

who wrote a public letter to him printed in the newspaper calling for unity. Which basically meant that yes, they agreed with him about civil rights, but they would rather he stayed quiet and stop being so controversial stop protesting. They didn’t like the tensions and discomfort that the protests and sit ins created. They wanted him to leave it to the courts.

Then in the Letter Martin Luther King wrote in response, he

said that the contemporary church often acts merely as a thermometer that records, reflects, and passively measures popular opinion, cultural norms, and the status quo of society when we should be acting like a thermostat that actively regulates, sets, and transforms the moral climate.

 

William Barber contemporary pastor that led Moral Mondays

and the Poor People’s campaign said: 

“Preachers don’t get to opt out of politics; 

we can be chaplains of Empire or prophets of God.”

 

And large swaths of the church have remained silent on poverty,

on immigrants, on violence, on gun violence, on war,

on housing, on cuts to medical and food assistance

which hasn’t served our churches or our country well at all.

 

The reality was, it was a very political world that Jesus came into

The time that Jesus was in was deeply steeped in politics.

People couldn’t get away from it even if they wanted to.

And Jesus did not shy away from it.

He was not a politician, he did not advocate for any politician,

He didn’t want to rule in any kind of political leadership.

He didn’t want his way to be the law of the land.

But he was political.

 

He was political in how he advocated for people.

How he talked to them, and  how he talked about them,

He was political in the way that he kept the company

of certain people in public.  He was political in the way

that he talked about God’s forgiveness when God’s wrath 

and anger was a way of controlling people. 

He was political in the way that brought light to  oppression and human suffering.

He was political in the way he empowered the poor and oppressed.

Even feeding people was a political statement.

  

Jesus was killed by the authorities for being too political,

for not staying in, what some people thought, was his lane.

If he had just commented on strictly spiritual stuff,

no one would have cared enough to arrest him and kill him.

 

It says that the Pharisees were trying to catch Jesus- to entrap him—

With the question that they were asking in today’s gospel.

If he said that the Jewish people should not pay the tax to the Romans, 

then Jesus could be arrested by the Romans for sedition.

If Jesus said that they should pay taxes to Rome, then

he would have looked like he was kowtowing to the government,

and lost his appeal to his Jewish followers.

 

But Jesus doesn’t answer yes or no (of course)

Rather, he catches the Pharisees in their own trap:

First thing he does is ask the pharisees for a coin used for the tax.

the he asked them for a Roman Coin. And they give it to him.

 

Why would THEY have a Roman coin on them?

Even those that fancied themselves the closest to God

could not escape becoming a part of the Roman world.

 

Maybe Jesus could have stopped right there,

and he would have had one up on the people

who were trying to catch him in a trap.

But Jesus goes on.

 

He looks at the coin. It had picture of Cesar on it,

so give it back to him. Give him his taxes.

But remember always give to God what belongs to God.

It was a complex and subtle answer for a complex issue.

 

I think that Jesus was saying with this

is that being in the world doesn’t make us bad disciples.

Pay your taxes. Be part of the world.

Even if that world is corrupt and broken.

Give to Ceasar what  Cesar wants.

Maybe even get involved in politics.

But, as a disciple, don’t ever forget what belongs to God.

And that is everything.

God reigns over and cares for all things.

The poorest person, the immigrant, you and me,

the frogs and the plants and trees.

And even that egotistical Caesar who puts his

own face on a coin. The one true God reigns over it all.

 

So give to God what belongs to God

That doesn’t mean forcibly make all people Christian,

or put the ten commandments in the classroom or any of that silliness.

But that means work to make the world more reflective of God’s will.

Make sure that everyone has a place at the table,

everyone is fed, everyone is healthy, everyone is safe,

and well paid for their work, that everyone has a voice.

And if making sure of that makes us political, so be it.

 

We are created in the image of God.

All of us.  Not just the spiritual side.  We are not just half a coin.

We are not just souls hanging around the earth

waiting for heaven one day.

 

And God just doesn’t hover around in the ether and

let the rest of the material world go to seed.

God is interested in the whole package the spirit and the body.

 

God loves us all, and God every part of us.

The neat and tidy parts and the messy complicated parts.

And God wants that love to transform every part of our lives.

Not just one hour on a Sunday morning.

Not just our prayer life and our spiritual life and our home life.

But every part of our life: Including our budgets, our communities,

our commerce, our government, and our politics.

 

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Give to God what is God’s.

And that is everything.