"Suffering and Reformation" Celebration

10-25-20Sermon Notes“Suffering and Reformation”
It was on a Halloween in 1517. A German monk named Martin Luther walked up to the door of the Wittenberg Church and nailed to that door his 95 Theses. These theses listed his concerns over the corruption he saw in the Roman Catholic Church. Among his concerns was the selling of indulgences to people in order to release them from having to serve penitence for their sins (sort of like buying a stairway to heaven). Martin Luther’s courageous act opened up a debate among religious leaders and scholars that would eventually lead to what we now know as the Protestant Reformation.
This Sunday is officially, Reformation Sunday. It is the Sunday closest to Reformation Day (October 31). We will be finishing up our series on suffering (When You’re Over It – But It’s Not Over) this Sunday by looking at how we are “re-formed” through suffering.
Job went through bitter suffering, and thought at times that God was not there – hiding from him. He came to realize, though, that his suffering…his “testing”… was changing him, liking refining him on a crucible.
“If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold. (Job 23: 8-10 NRSV)
We will be looking at some “what ifs” this Sunday. What if God is not absent or hiding during our times of suffering, but instead very much involved in our lives? What if we can come through our suffering re-formed – changed for the better?
Look forward to worshipping with you this Sunday in-person or online!
Pastor Sam