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!
I hadn't remembered this happened on Oct.31st so thanks for reminding me. What a great way to celebrate the day and reinforce church knowledge/history at the same time. My cousin is celebrating this for the first time with her kids and this is what she is doing: "Brats and Saurkraut along with beer for the adults and root beer for the kids [German food as Luther was German]. We will also be eating a special cake made of oreo cookies, pudding, and gummi worms (for the "diet of worms," which was the meeting in Worms, Germany where Luther refused to retract his position). As for games, I chose bobbing for apples, "pin the theses on the door" (instead of the donkey), pictionary with words from the reformation, throwing "indulgences" in the trashcan (basketball with paper wads), and a "Bible smuggling" relay race because Luther copied the new and old testament into German, the common language which was a big no, no with the Catholic church. We'll also be singing a few hymns written by Luther, like "A Mighty Fortress."
ReplyDeleteLaura, what fun ideas! I love it! Thanks for sharing. :) We had brats as well, but I don't think there was an intended connection. Our church bought a custom portable grill this summer, and we like good food. ;)
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