Growing up, I always loved going trick-or-treating and dressing up, but as I got older and began to understand the roots of the holiday, I found myself generally shunning the day. Don't get me wrong, I love a good costume as much as you (I'm sure you love costumes, don't you? how could you not?!), And I don't think that everyone who celebrates is evil, but I just didn't feel right about the rest of it. Even the "Christian" version of celebrating saints didn't really make it feel much better.
Fast forward to 2009 and our first autumn in Billings at our wonderful Rocky Mountain Community Church. Their October 31st festivities are in celebration of the day the great Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church- the singular event that is credited with beginning the Protestant Reformation. There is always a brief message on the Reformation and dinner is provided for everyone. (Almost) everyone dresses up and there are costume contests as well as plenty of games, candy and a cake walk. It's a great time of enjoying the lighter-hearted aspects of the evening with something that is actually meaningful and worthy of celebration.
Just a few reasons to celebrate the Reformation:
1. The Gospel of salvation by grace through faith for Christ's sake was recovered!
2. If you are able to read, there is (more than likely) a Bible translated into your language.
3. When you go to church, the sermon is in a language other than Latin.
There are many many more reasons than I have time to post here, but if you would like to read an excellent but brief explanation of the significance of Reformation Day from Monergism.com go here. The link also includes a great selection of free MP3 downloads on the subject.
If you would like to listen to a fantastic sermon from this past Sunday at our church on the importance of the Reformation you can click here and click on the sermon from 10/28/2012.
And, if you have children and would like some fun ways to celebrate the Reformation with them, Janna over at MustardSeeds.com has some wonderfully fun ideas!
Have fun! And Happy Reformation day!
