It's Reformation Day ... Not a lot of People Know That ;)

Today is Reformation Day - a day worth remembering, methinks.

I'm re-posting from a couple of years ago, because I loved looking back at the photos of the kids and their wonderful costumes.

*      *      *

When our homeschooling families came together to celebrate Reformation Day, our kids came prepared for the plays in which they they were performing.

Here is our cast of characters.

Here is a poor German parishioner buying an indulgence from ...

er... hang on! Is this who I think it is? Selling indulgences??

A word with you later, young man, please.

Here were some of the nuns that were able to escape from the convent. 

(This was them trying to look very serious. Frightened even, 

because the consequences would have been serious indeed had they been caught. So... do they look worried to you guys?)

Many nuns who, when they heard the Gospel, became aware that the vows they had taken were not binding in God's eyes. Martin Luther helped some escape, with the aid of a fish merchant who came with his delivery of fish one night to the convent.

(Isn't the cart fabulous?! Well done, Mary and your troops, for the wonderful props)

Leaving the convent, among the stinking barrels were twelve nuns. One of the twelve was Katharina von Bora, who was later to become Luther's wife.

The third and final time Luther was convicted of the total sufficiency of Christ's finished work came when he was in Rome, climbing the steps of the Scala Sancta. (Read about them here.) As Luther climbed the steps on his knees, the words...

...screamed out to him.

This portion of Scripture, "The just shall live by faith", spoke to Martin Luther on three separate occasions. Although he had been saved, his grave clothes of superstition, of tradition and of works were bound tightly to him. (see yesterday's post) Three times, the Lord spoke to him through this truth, until finally, here on the steps of the Scala Sancta, Luther was able to shout with joy and with all conviction, 

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH!

Homeschoolers' Reformation Day Get-together

When our homeschooling families came together to celebrate Reformation Day, our kids came prepared for the plays in which they they were performing.

Here is our cast of characters.

Here is a poor German parishioner buying an indulgence from ...

er... hang on! Is this who I think it is? Selling indulgences??

A word with you later, young man, please.

Here were some of the nuns that were able to escape from the convent. 

(This was them trying to look very serious. Frightened even, because the consequences would have been serious indeed had they been caught. So... do they look worried to you guys?)

Many nuns who, when they heard the Gospel, became aware that the vows they had taken were not binding in God's eyes. Martin Luther helped some escape, with the aid of a fish merchant who came with his delivery of fish one night to the convent.

(Isn't the cart fabulous?! Well done, Mary and your troops, for the wonderful props)

Leaving the convent, among the stinking barrels were twelve nuns. One of the twelve was Katharina von Bora, who was later to become Luther's wife.

The third and final time Luther was convicted of the total sufficiency of Christ's finished work came when he was in Rome, climbing the steps of the Scala Sancta. (Read about them here.) As Luther climbed the steps on his knees, the words...

...screamed out to him.

This portion of Scripture, "The just shall live by faith", spoke to Martin Luther on three separate occasions. Although he had been saved, his grave clothes of superstition, of tradition and of works were bound tightly to him. (see yesterday's post) Three times, the Lord spoke to him through this truth, until finally, here on the steps of the Scala Sancta, Luther was able to shout with joy and with all conviction, 

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH!

Reformation Day

Today is Reformation Day. We had a homeschoolers' get-together the other day, and once, again, a huge thanks to Mary and her kids for the effort and research they put into making our day fun and hugely informative.


I'll post photos of our day in tomorrow's post. But for today, I want to think of Martin Luther, who, under God's hand, was instrumental in bringing the truth of God's word to so many.

Poor Martin Luther.


Like so many others, Martin Luther was trying to earn his way into heaven by his 'good works'.  You may already know that he became a monk following a terrifying experience he had one night as he returned from home to the university in Erfurt, where he was studying Law. As the thunder and lightening raged around him, the terrified Martin prayed to Saint Anne and promised to become a monk, if she would spare his life.


And become a monk he did. That part was easy: what wasn't easy for Martin was finding peace with God. Desperate to earn his way to heaven, and to have peace through the knowledge he was heaven-bound, Martin caused himself great suffering. He would endure freezing cold; he would suffer hunger (almost to the point of killing himself); he would beat himself until the blood ran. He suffered all this, believing sufferings here on earth would both sanctify him, and lessen his sufferings in Purgatory (a place, believed by Roman Catholics, where souls are cleansed by suffering before becoming fit for heaven).


Poor Martin Luther.


All this suffering, and yet no peace.


Martin would speak to the priests constantly. He would confess all the sins he was aware of. 


Still no peace. 


He would just have left the confessional, when he'd remember another sin he hadn't confessed. Back to the priest he'd go. Martin's problem was that all he did was 'coming short of the glory of God', and so all he did was sin. How could he ever reach the end of his confession? 


How could we? The greatest commandment says to 

'love the Lord thy God with all your heart, your 

mind, your soul, your strength'. 

Who of us can say we have ever, for one moment, loved the Lord with all of our being perfectly. Of course, we cannot, and so there must be some other way of salvation - otherwise we're all condemned to a lost eternity.


Never could Martin's works or sufferings have saved him.


Poor Martin.


As he read his Bible one night, he read these words:

"For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.! (Eph 2: 8, 9)

Through his studying of Scripture, Martin finally had his heart and his eyes opened to see that our 'good works' are as filthy rags, but we have, in Christ, HIS righteousness. This is our only hope.


Mary, our host, had a perfect illustration of what Martin Luther had to go through. Even after he was brought alive by the work of the Holy Spirit, he was, in her words, like Lazarus who, having been brought alive by the Saviour, was still bound tightly in the grave clothes. 


Martin's 'grave clothes' of works, of tradition, and of superstition had to be taken away. Bit by bit, God's words of

"The just shall live by faith" 

echoed in his heart and mind, until finally the last of the binding grave clothes were torn away, and Martin Luther had true peace.


Poor Martin Luther? Not a bit of it! He had the liberty of the Gospel. He was RICH!


He had the righteousness of Christ; the peace of God, which passes all understanding; he was safe for time and for eternity.


And so, on this Reformation Day, I give thanks for the peace my Saviour has given me. I give thanks that my salvation is by grace alone, that it is the gift of God, and not of works. I give thanks that, because it is God's work, it can never be undone. And I pray for those who are in spiritual bondage, still believing they can do something to earn God's favour.

"It is the gift of God...."