Yesterday was a ‘two-for-one’ on the church calendar: Halloween and Reformation Sunday.
The reformation is a big turning point in the 2,000 year history of the Christian church and as Presbyterians we’re part of that.
As tradition records it, a little over 500 years ago a small town monk named Martin Luther challenged the authority of big organized religion by nailing his 95 arguments to the church door. These included his insistence that we cannot ever earn or buy our way into Heaven.
Instead, it’s all about and only about our all-powerful God’s all-powerful love gracefully offered to all of us only because of God’s all powerful love for all of us.
About 20 years later another man - John Calvin – expanded on this theme as well in starting the Presbyterian Church.
So in thinking about bringing the two days together (Reformation Sunday and Halloween), I looked for appropriate costumes. There are none to be found. (Although there was this t-shirt).
Something else that tuned up is: “costume” is both a noun – the ‘thing’ you dress in; and a verb – as in the action of dressing somebody.
And there’s the overlap: Jesus has a teaching about this all powerful love and grace with a lesson that includes a young man who had dishonored his father and family, even going so far as to abandon his religious teachings and disrespect religious traditions.
When he came to his senses, he returned with little hope and wearing a lot of shame.
But his father would hear none of it – instead he had his servants dress (costume) the son in a powerful demonstration of love and acceptance.
Grace had cast off that heavy coat of shame.
Dr. Brene Brown writes this about grace: “Grace means that all of your mistakes now serve a purpose instead of serving shame.”
Join us Sundays at 10AM in-person (masked) or virtually as we clothe ourselves and each other in grace. For on-line email prinevillepc@gmail.com and we’ll send the invitation.
Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike