Sermon - 26 October 2025 - Reformation Day

For most Sunday sermons, I reckon it’s best to talk about what it means to be a Christian.  But today, on this Reformation Sunday, as our altar and pulpit are draped in this bright vibrant red, let’s talk about what it means to be a Lutheran. Let’s talk about our Lutheran identity.

Identity, of course, speaks to our sense of self. The word identity comes from the Latin identitas, meaning sameness. It suggests that our identity is rooted in something about us that is the same, something that remains and endures.   It speaks to our Lutheran heritage, our story.   That to which we belong.

But while heritage and story might be NECESSARY to understand our Lutheran identity, I am not sure that it will be sufficient. 

Let me say that a different way.  Knowing that “A mighty fortress is Our God” is the Lutheran fight song is a start, but we will need to dig a bit deeper.

No, to comprehend our Lutheran identity, we need to understand ourselves in a more profound way. we need to understand how we, as Lutherans, belong to God.

One way to do that is reflect on the choices we make.  For example, what do we as Lutherans tend to affirm?  What do we deny? What would we defend? And what would we protest? If we could explore that, THEN our Lutheran identity might emerge.

So let' go there.  Let’s establish some themes that will aid us in our understanding ourselves as Lutherans.

First, I think we would affirm that relative to other Christian denominations, and other religions, our Lutheran identity does not make us better. It does not improve our chances at heaven. Let me repeat that. Our Lutheran identity does not make us better or improve our chances at heaven.

If we think that, that our Lutheran identity has somehow privileged us, then we are no different than the Pharisee that we heard about in the Gospel today.

No, we as Lutherans aspire to be more like the tax collector who recognizes and admits his sin. Or like Jeremiah, who in the first reading openly acknowledges: “Our sins testify against us.”

So that’s Lutheran theme number one. Our sins testify against us. Let that sink in.

Second, we would affirm that while WE believe the Lutheran confession, it does not follow other confessions are wrong. It only means that we are different.

There is truth in other Christian traditions, and even in other religions. Our Lutheran confession articulates one way of living faithfully before God, but it is not the only way.

Now some folks might say, “Wait a second!  How can that be? Did not Martin Luther thunder against the Roman Catholic church, saying that it was wrong in 95 different ways?”

Glad that you asked that!  Indeed he did! He not only said the Roman Church was wrong, he also doubled down, saying

I cannot and I will not recant a thing….  Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

Yes, he said this, in 1521, when he was asked by an Imperial Court to publicly recant his writings.  He was asked to do this because the truth he was proclaiming undermined their worldly authority.

And that bears upon our question.  Because his 95 Theses and the movement that it spawned, the movement which has assembled us here today, was never about winning worldly power, or being right and others wrong.

It was about clearing away the clutter that obscures and hides Christ from his church. 

This friends, is the witness of Protestantism. This is the heart of the reformation that Lutherans continue today.

To the degree that other churches have sacraments and practices that make Christ more visible, more central, MORE basic to a Christian’s life, my sense is that we as Lutherans would be on board.

What Martin Luther protested — and what we rightly protest today — is theology that obscures God’s saving grace.

That’s Lutheran theme number two.  Other confessions are not wrong in the way they proclaim and live God’s grace; we are just different. We protest what obscures God’s grace. Let’s let that sink in.

Which brings me to the third theme: our Lutheran identity is less about us, and more about how we relate to Christ. How He calls to us. And the unique way that we as Lutherans respond.   

This idea of how we relate to Jesus is critically important. For Lutherans, we do not relate to Jesus as an example. Rather, we relate to Him as a gift. Think about it. If it was about following Jesus as an example, we would never measure up. Rather, Jesus death and resurrection is a gift. 

This is the difference between law and gospel. 

In other words, it is less a matter of What Would Jesus Do? — do you remember the W-W-J-D bracelets that people used to where?

That’s fine, but that not what Lutherans would emphasize.  Rather, a Lutheran’s bracelet might read T-F-G-G.  Thankful for God’s Grace. 

So that’s Lutheran theme number three.  Jesus Christ, God who became man, is gift to us. We respond not by being perfect, but by being thankful.  Let that sink in.

So then, our first three themes have established that our Lutheran identity does not make us better, it does not mean that others are wrong, and that we relate to Christ not as example, but as gift for which we are thankful.  What else?  

Even as we reflect God’s grace, we will never be complete.  We will never arrive, we will never finish.  We MIGHT make progress, but progress says Martin Luther,

“is nothing other than constantly beginning…. The Christian is always being made new; he is in a constant need of daily conversion.”

Never finishing. That’s kind of depressing.  Is our life supposed to be like one of those dreary Ingmar Bergman films where the landscape is covered in snow, where all the Lutherans are sad and despair seems to have the last word?

We are sympathetic to this.  We are sympathetic because we know what it is to live in a broken world, to face our sins and God’s sometimes silence. In other words, nothing human is foreign to us. 

But despair is not the last word. Because while we are honest about the fallen world in which we live, we also proclaim that grace is real — that God’s light has entered the world, and that our sins will be forgiven.  Let me repeat.  Indeed we are sinners, but grace is real.

So what’s the theme?  Despite our sinfulness, when we live our lives reflecting the reality of grace, then we are Lutherans.  Let that sink in.

There are many ways that we reflect grace, but I want to talk about three.  Our joy. Our charitable service. Our witness. Let’s talk about them.

And let’s not be vague.  Let’s be specific, drawing examples from very close to home.  Let’s draw examples from this congregation. 

Are you ready?

One example of reflecting grace was the joy with which this congregation has received immigrants — from faraway countries, immigrants whose language and customs are different than our own. This made us Lutherans.

Do you remember when Russlana, Viktor and Anna from Ukraine were among us? They sat RIGHT over there.  Do you remember how we welcomed them? Do you remember that morning how you clapped for Viktor after he played his clarinet for us? Take a moment to remember that. 

I spent eight years of my life living on the European economy. My two kids are Europeans. And I can tell you, when you clapped for Viktor, he had no idea it was coming.  Your applause for him was unexpected grace to him.

So VIKTOR was surprised.  But do you remember how YOU felt?

To be clear, I’m asking that you take a moment and go beyond what happened. What I am asking is that you recall how it felt.

When we remember not just the facts of an event but the feelings associated with it, then we can re-enter that event. We can reflect on how we were in that moment reflecting God’s grace.  And that moment, when you clapped for Viktor, and he heard it, and his mother and sister heard it, then we were Lutherans.

So here’s a question. The next time you encounter an immigrant — one from a faraway land, one whose language is different from our own, maybe whose skin color is different from our own — how will that feel? Take a minute to imagine the joy with which you, as a Lutheran, MIGHT welcome that person. When you make that stranger feel welcome, then you are a Lutheran.

Let’s talk about the charitable service of this congregation. Do you remember Hurricane Katrina? All that destruction.  Do you remember how this church, this very church, became the focal point of relief, providing charity for our entire town?

Brenda Montgomery shared with me her copy of the December 2005 The Lutheran magazine, and that magazine says that people came from Minnesota, Michigan, South Carolina, Illinois, Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, Kentucky to help.  They worked alongside you.  They cooked in our kitchen.  They slept in these pews. 

There is a quote in the article, from our own Amy Bearson. Amy said “It’s amazing how people all over the country have rallied to help.  People were calling saying they would try to get a vanload of supplies to us, and they show up with a semi.”

I learned that June Cates operated out of what came to be known as Christus Victor South — which was actually her front yard in Gulf Park Estates. People showed up there and got drinking water from June’s well – it was the only one working in Gulf Park Estates– along with showers, food, cleaning supplies, whatever was needed. And if those people couldn’t get to June’s house, that was okay, because June also drove her pickup truck behind the national guard Humvee delivering supplies. 

Now then. If I haven’t mentioned you in this recounting of Hurricane Katrina, I apologize.  But the point I want to make is less about what specific acts of charity that were done and more about how these acts were reflections of God’s grace. And I want you to remember what that felt like.

§   When Christus Victor took on that central role in the relief of this town, what did that feel like?

§   When you were elbow to elbow with so many people, who came from so many places, who put their lives on hold so that they could come to Ocean Springs to help. What did it feel like to be on a team with them? Cooperating with them?

§   Why would people tell Amy they were going to bring a van and then show up with a tractor trailer? What motivated that?

§   What motivated June, and Henry Harris, and Jon Biggs, and Dawna Biggs, and Bob Montgomery and everyone else to do what they did that September and October 20 years ago?

When you start to circle around these questions, and feel the answer to them, then you know what it means to be a Lutheran.

So here’s another question. The next time the world is hurting — from a storm, a pandemic, an economic recession, or God forbid, a riot or a war —how do you plan to reflect God’s grace?

Which brings us to our last example: witness. What does it mean to be a witness? What does it mean to live and act in such a way that our life gives witness to the truth of Christ’s grace?

The Greek word for witness is marturia.  It means “testimony” or “witness.” One who gives witness is a martus — or as we say in modern English, a martyr. 

Now then. In our current usage, we think of martyrs as persons like Stephen from Acts of the Apostles, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a generation or so ago.  People who have died in their witness for Christ.  But dying is not necessary for witness. 

Rather, what witness requires is that Christ be basic to our lives.  Not important to our lives, but basic to our lives.  When we live that way, then we are Lutherans.

Can you recall a time when you encountered someone who lived like this?  A person for whom Christ is not an influence, but an animating source?

§   Maybe it is a person who, in defense of Christian values, who speaks truth to power.  Over and over again.

§   Or maybe it is a person who had a habit of defending people who are innocent or incapable of defending themselves.

It could be that.  But it need not be so so heroic.  There are times when witness requires that we just show up. 

§   Do you know those women from our church who are always helping out over there at The Lord is Our Help?  They show up, and they are Lutherans.

§   Do you know that woman here who plays the piano? And the others who play the bells? They’re Lutherans too.

§   Do you know those folks who always participate in lunch bunch?  Lutherans.

§   Do you know those preschool folks who organized the pumpkin patch? Lutherans.

§   Do you know the men and women who each week prepare our church’s altar for our service? Who greets us, and serve as ushers tellers and communion assistants? All Lutherans.

If you know these folks, and if you have seen the way that they habitually reflect grace, then you have an idea of what it means to be a Lutheran.

May God bless us in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.