Reformation Sunday
Reformation, Media
Larry V. Smoose
I can still remember Matthew’s first word – “Da.” At least that was how I interpreted it. It was exciting to hear a purposeful sound. I imagine that most of remember our child’s first word, and whenever we have our first child, we proudly call grandparents and friends to tell them about it. We even begin to encourage the now communicating child to say the word again, so others can hear it. It is one of these grand moments in child-raising!
Forget the fact that by the time they reach confirmation age you will have to consider a separate phone line to handle the non-stop talking of this monosyllabic infant. Forget the future words that they will learn on school buses, that you would just as soon they would never use. For now, there is simply the wonder of the first word. Da. It is enough.
One of the phenomenon’s of human existence is the ability to communicate – Words. Descriptive, exciting, demanding, inviting words. Words that call us to action and lull us to sleep. Words that express deep feelings and evoke powerful images and memories. When a child says their first word, it brings with it the anticipation of communication and the expectation of understanding. Language, words, is one of the key characteristics that separates human-beings from animals. Oh, I know about the potentially communicating sounds of porpoises and humpback whales, but there is no true parallel that we know of in the animal world to words.
And yet, words are treated so lightly by most of us, and used without an appreciation of their possibilities and power. Poets and novelists understand. They work to craft their words with exceedingly great care because they understand more than most of us the wondrous ability of words to move us beyond time and place. With the proper image, a single phrase can evoke memory and emotion. Let me show you what I mean – I’ll give you a phrase, and you tell me what image comes to mind.
Is it any wonder then, that in the beginning was the Word. The creative Word of God that said, “let there be light!” And there was light. A Word so powerful that in the moment of its being spoken, it is actualized! A Word so awesome that there was no separation of Word from reality. A Word so perfect, that it could only be called the Word of God, the source of all meaning and the ground of communication.
Through the Word, God tries to help people fathom the unfathomable wisdom and truth of the divine being. Through the Word, God reaches out to embrace and comfort fearful people, spanning realms of time and space to make sense of the here and now, as the Word became flesh and lived among us – “Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good news of great joy, for to you is born this day, in the City of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord.” “I am the Good Shepherd, I know my own and my own know me.” “You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is not here, he has been raised.” “If you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
So important is this Word of God, that we say to the parents and sponsors of those who are baptized, “place in their hands the Holy Scriptures. . .” So important is this Word of God that Martin Luther translated the entire Bible into German so people in his congregation could read it in their everyday language. So important is this Word that it has been translated into more languages and printed more than any other book in history.
Imagine, the same language we learn as infants being used to convey such wondrous truth. The same language you and I speak every day as the vehicle of God’s revelation and the carrier of life and salvation. It is all there in the Bible. The same Bible we give to our Sunday School students. And, while the translations might be different and language more contemporary, it is the same Bible read by parents and grandparents and ancestors through the ages. For Lutherans, this Word of God revealed through Holy Scripture, is our authority for matters of faith and life.
That is why, on this anniversary of the Reformation, when Luther released the Word of God from its captivity by clerics and scholars, I urge you to READ IT, LEARN IT, CHERISH IT, so that it is part of the fabric of our lives. It is a sad truth that we can quote the time and channels of our favorite TV programs but do not now the chapter of verse of our favorite Bible story. We read to our children from Dr. Seuss and ignore children’s Bible stories recommended by Dr. Smoose! We read thrillers and trade books on the best seller list, but don’t glance at the best seller of all time!
A few years ago a church member called and asked me to stop by. When I got to the house, he said, “Pastor, I’ve been reading the Bible. I want to read the whole New Testament and then go back and read the whole Old Testament. But I have some questions about some of what I have been reading and I thought we could talk about it so I could understand it better.” I was delighted and for the next hour we talked about Paul’s letter to the Romans – the very letter that Luther was reading and studying when he had his great insights into the wondrous grace of God – our second lesson for today.
Over 500 years have passed since Luther’s church-changing understanding of the Word of God was shared with the world, and yet the Word of God continues to have the power to transform lives, as surely as it did in Luther’s day. There is nothing with more power to change a life, or a country or the world that this Word. It’s worth reading!
I was at Blockbuster Video a few weeks ago, trying to look among the older videos in the middle to redeem one of my free coupons, and I spotted “The Client” and remembered it as a good movie, worth seeing again. It’s about a lawyer, Reggie Love, who is representing a young boy who could have important information needed to solve a murder. Not knowing who to trust, the frightened young boy frustrates everyone, including the police, his mother and his lawyer by lying and trying to figure everything out on his own. It’s like he has lost his way and doesn’t know what direction to go.
A key scene is when the boy, Mark, confronts Reggie about her own deception. She realizes that the only way to gain his trust is to be completely honest with him. So she tells him about her struggles in life. A painful divorce; Her former husband’s efforts to discredit her and drive her to the edge of insanity; Her alcoholism, her stay in a psychiatric ward, and her alienation from her children.
At one point he asks her about a small compass that she always wears around her neck and she tells him, “It belonged to my son. It’s all I have to remind me of him and it reminds me that I never want to lose my direction again. I never take it off.”
At the end of the movie, as Mark and his mother and his brother prepare to board a plane for their new life under the federal witness protection plan, he suddenly realizes that he will never see Reggie again. She had been worthy of his trust. She had stayed with him through every part of his ordeal. He runs back and puts his arms around her. “I’ll never forget you,” he says. And Reggie, looking at him, takes off the precious compass and gives it to him. “Here,” she says, “wear this to remind yourself never to lose your direction again.”
Well, I have my own compass – (lift up the cross) It’s the compass that God gives us to remind us that the Word of God that comes to us in Jesus Christ and that is revealed to us in Holy Scripture is a Word we can trust to guide us along the right pathways in our lives so that we won’t lose our direction. There is nothing more precious that he could give us to remind us about his Son’s teachings that reveal the love and grace of God to us. “For if you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Amen.