One Protestant Minister’s Unusual “Reformation Day” Sermon
October 28, 2014 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Apologetics, Patrick's Blog
I must begin by telling you that I do not like to preach on Reformation Sunday. Actually I have to put it more strongly than that. I do not like Reformation Sunday, period. I do not understand why it is part of the church year.Reformation Sunday does not name a happy event for the Church Catholic; on the contrary, it names failure. Of course, the church rightly names failure, or at least horror, as part of our church year. We do, after all, go through crucifixion as part of Holy Week. Certainly if the Reformation is to be narrated rightly, it is to be narrated as part of those dark days.Reformation names the disunity in which we currently stand. We who remain in the Protestant tradition want to say that Reformation was a success. But when we make Reformation a success, it only ends up killing us. After all, the very name ‘Protestantism’ is meant to denote a reform movement of protest within the Church Catholic.When Protestantism becomes an end in itself, which it certainly has through the mainstream denominations in America, it becomes anathema.If we no longer have broken hearts at the church’s division, then we cannot help but unfaithfully celebrate Reformation Sunday.For example, note what the Reformation has done for our reading texts like that which we hear from Luke this morning. We Protestants automatically assume that the Pharisees are the Catholics. They are the self-righteous people who have made Christianity a form of legalistic religion, thereby destroying the free grace of the Gospel. We Protestants are the tax collectors, knowing that we are sinners and that our lives depend upon God’s free grace. And therefore we are better than the Catholics because we know they are sinners. What an odd irony that the Reformation made such
readings possible.As Protestants we now take pride in the acknowledgment of our sinfulness in order to distinguish ourselves from Catholics who allegedly believe in works-righteousness.Unfortunately, the Catholics are right. Christian salvation consists in works. To be saved is to be made holy. To be saved requires our being made part of a people separated from the world so that we can be united in spite of — or perhaps better, because of — the world’s fragmentation and divisions. Unity, after all, is what God has given us through Christ’s death and resurrection. For in that death and resurrection we have been made part of God’s salvation for the world so that the world may know it has been freed from the powers that would compel us to kill one another in the name of false loyalties. All that is about the works necessary to save us.For example, I often point out that at least Catholics have the magisterial office of the Bishop of Rome to remind them that disunity is a sin. You should not overlook the significance that in several important documents of late, John Paul II has confessed the Catholic sin for the Reformation. Where are the Protestants capable of doing likewise? We Protestants feel no sin for the disunity of the Reformation. We would not know how to confess our sin for the continuing disunity of the Reformation. We would not know how to do that because we have no experience of unity.The magisterial office — we Protestants often forget — is not a matter of constraining or limiting diversity in the name of unity. The office of the Bishop of Rome is to ensure that when Christians move . . . (continue reading)
POLL: Nearly 1/3 of Russians believe historic division of Christians to be a mistake
May 25, 2011 by Patrick Madrid
Filed under Patrick's Blog
As Father Z would say, brick by brick. The Russian news agency Interfax reports today on a recent religion survey that may offer new reasons for hope that there can somehow be a reunion between the Catholic Church and (at least) the Russian Orthodox Church. The poll results show that
Almost one third of Russians, or 30 percent, thinks the division of Christians to Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants was a historic mistake which may and should be corrected.
Such results reported to Interfax-Religion Wednesday were shown by the all-Russian poll carried out by Sreda Service Company and Public Opinion fund and covered 1,500 people.
Women, city dwellers and Orthodox Christians are more inclined to believe that the Christian schism was a mistake. And the highest percentage of respondents who agree with the above statement was shown by Orthodox believers involved in parish life (43%).
Almost the same number of respondents thinks the division of Christians into Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants was not a mistake. For the most part, they are men, non-believers and village dwellers.
The respondents’ education level had no effect on their answers. However, the individuals with only high school education mostly responded that they had no definite opinion on that matter.
39 percent of respondents have no definite opinion as to whether the division of Christians was a historic mistake.