Texts: Matthew 23:1-12; Joshua 3:7-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
The date October 31, 1517 may not mean very much to most Anglicans. It is one of the most important dates in history of our Lutheran brothers and sisters. On that day, Martin Luther nailed a document to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, setting in process the events we now know as the Protestant Reformation.
Commemorating that event, many Protestant Churches, especially the Lutherans, observe the last Sunday in October as Reformation Sunday.
Although we understand ourselves to be neither "Protestant" nor "Reformed," in a strict understanding of those words, the Anglican Church is a church of the Reformation—the English Reformation, starting a decade and a half later, which drew on the events in Europe. The 39 Articles of Religion bear a strong resemblance in some important ways to the Augsburg Confession, the foundational document of Lutheranism.
Martin Luther never intended to found a separate church. Rather, his intent was the "re-formation" of the church catholic—the one and indivisible Body of Christ. The "95 theses" which he nailed to that church door were a sustained attack on what he understood as abuses in the life of the church, which had diverted it from the proclamation of the pure Gospel.
Luther was a prolific writer, and an outstanding theologian. His works continue to be studied today, naturally among the churches that bear his name, but also within churches that were historically opposed to him. One of his chief theological principles was that the church should be "semper reformanda," a Latin phrase which means "always in reformation." Only by constant re-examination of itself is the church able to remain true to its fundamental calling. For Luther that meant being that "congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." (1.)
Constant reformation is an uncomfortable thought for many (most?) people, who want the church to remain essentially unchanged. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, (2.) so why can the church not be the same—yesterday, today, and forever? The short answer is SIN. Churches are human institutions, made up of fallible sinful human beings. Without care, the church will always find ways to avoid truly being the church.
Luther wanted nothing more than the church truly to be the church. Ought we to want anything else? I think not.
Another major reason why the church must embrace change is that we exist in culture—and cultures change. The English church of the sixteenth century that Henry VIII took over as supreme governor existed in a society hugely different from today in almost every way. Closer to home, the way of life in this city has seen dramatic changes during the lives of many of our members.
The Church must respond to the culture around it. Only in that way can the Gospel be heard and rightly taught. We must speak language that people understand—not just in the words we use, but in music, art, architecture, and social behaviour.
Change will happen, whether we like it or not. Our only choice is in how we respond to it.
One of the sad realities of church history is that reform and renewal movements within the people of God have often resulted in division—schism, if you will. Like Luther, most of the leaders of these movements had no intention of splitting the church, but human agendas intervened, and the body fractured.
The Gospel of Matthew was written at a time when the first great schism was happening. The early Church saw itself as a kind of renewal movement within Judaism. In the years after the destruction of the temple in AD 70, however, the church and the synagogue found co-existence increasingly difficult. Chapter 23 of Matthew, from which today’s reading is taken, is believed by many scholars to reflect the bitterness between church leaders and the rabbis, the descendants of the Pharisees. To our shame, it has been misused to justify hatred of all Jews. Let us not read it as such, but rather as a call to the leaders of God’s people constantly to engage in reformation, both personal and corporate.
What I hear Jesus saying is that the love for place and preference that infected some leaders of Judaism can also infect the church and its leaders.
The people of God have always needed leaders, from Moses and Joshua, his anointed successor, through the disciples whom Jesus gathered around him, to the church and its lay and ordained leadership today. What distinguished Moses and Joshua was the clear sense that both men did what they did at God’s behest, and that both understood that it was God at work, not them. Their work was to build up God’s people, to guide them and feed them, and finally to point the way into the Promised Land.
Paul did his missionary work not out of self-advancement but out of love for God and God’s people, like a father with his children. He sought only their good, and not his own.
St. Matthew’s Cathedral faces a number of issues:
- The congregation is aging: one-third of our members are over the age of 65.
- As the congregation ages, out lay leadership, drawn from a shrinking pool, is tiring.
- We have a large, inefficient building, costing more to operate and maintain every year.
- We are competing with other organizations for people’s interest and financial support.
We are alone in none of these issues. There are many other churches across Canada dealing with exactly the same issues. That may not solve the problems here, but perhaps it can mitigate the sense that it is all someone’s fault.
I believe what it tells us is that change has overtaken us in a way that is currently making life "interesting." (Ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.)
What it also tells us is that the leadership of this Cathedral parish has a very significant role to play in the months and years ahead, seeking the good of the people of God. That does not mean doing what everyone wants, but in prayerfully seeking God’s desires for our church. It means having the conviction and the courage to move forward in seeking the reformation of St. Matthew’s Cathedral so that we may for years to come be that congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.
May God continue to bless this church, that it may continue to be a blessing.
Notes:
- Augsburg Confession, Article VII
- Hebrews 13:8