500 Years of the Protestant Reformation

The month of October 2017, marks the 500th year since the simple Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, in Germany, protested what he saw as the heresies of the church of his day.  He posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg.  What happened, from his bold step, laid the foundation for the faith and culture and basic understandings of the Western world.

A wonderful teacher, Professor Lois Malcolm, of Luther Seminary, came to Colonial Church's Reformation Banquet Friday night to teach us the way of freedom and love that grew out of the stunning truth of Paul's great affirmation to the Roman Church (Romans 1:17), "The just shall live by faith."  Not by the good works they do but by the gift of salvation that God gave in Christ's life through His death upon the cross and His resurrection life.  There it was: "BY FAITH ALONE."  A stunning assertion, direct from Scripture.

The next day sermon by the young on-fire professor, was "Living by Faith, Serving in Love."  A wonderful word that helped us all.

In the Hearth Room after, she came around to the heart of our need in our angry, divided land today, is for the church, out of its faith and practice, to pioneer a pathway for peace through reconciliation by the daring act of forgiveness.  Acknowledge there are ways that the church knows through experiences like those retreats the Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation has had - and continue to have - of opening the way for love to come and vanquish hate and revenge and bring people together, miraculously, by humble acts of forgiveness and completely new relationships.

It was exciting for me.  In the meantime, PCR was having a deeply moving Training Retreat that was bringing willing people to deep places out at Koinonia Retreat Center.

It was a formative, challenging weekend for me.  At this time wonderfully diverse and willing people were being trained to expand the number of retreats we can do at a time, and here was an influential leader in the theological world, saying essentially - Colonial, through the Pilgrim Center's work - as its extended mission - is already doing the one thing needed for the healing of our land, in our time.

I hope you'll offer to come, be trained, and will pray for and encourage this vital work to live on, love on, and bring the healing that our time so desperately needs.

- Transforming, revolutionary work.  FOR OUR TIME.