FROM THE PASTOR

Stale Bread

My wife and I have been married for 44 years.  There are several things that I continue to do over the period of time that really upset her – one of the big things is my refusal to make sure the unused bread bag is tied up after I have grabbed a slice from it.  My wife loves fresh bread – and so do I – but because I often forget to tie the bread bag – the bread in the bag dries out and becomes stale.  

I think about the “bread issue” that my wife and I have today – because it really ties in to Reformation Sunday – this Sunday at St. Luke’s!  Luther found the church that he was a part of in 1517 to be quite stale – the message of Jesus’ love had dried up – and what was being preached from the pulpits throughout Europe was dry, tasteless and bad.  

Luther believed that the Holy Spirit empowered individual Christians to identify staleness where they saw it and call it out for what it was – horribly tasteless and unhealthy to consume.  So Luther put together 95 points that he believed proved the church to be stale – pounded them on the church door at Wittenberg’s Castle Church on All Hollow’s Eve night before the large expected church crowd would show up on All Saints’ Day and read his points.   This is known as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.  It is why we remember Reformation Day on Halloween each year.

Reformation is truly about identifying those things in our lives that are stale – they may be in our personal life, our church life, at our work, school, or in the neighborhood.  Once identified, we believe that God offers through the Spirit, an opportunity to reform or renew those stale areas with the power of God’s love and grace.

Reformation is not just about church – it is about using God’s power of love to reform and rebuild…..an example…..

I suspended my account on Facebook this week.  I agonized over my decision for several weeks since watching a 60 minutes interview with a young woman “whistle-blower” who shared information about the business model of Facebook built on algorithms that actually sought to create conflict experiences on the social media giant – which benefited Facebooks bottom line profit.

Since 2013 when I first visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC – I have continually worn a bracelet which states – “Erase the Hate” with a serial number depicting one of the more than 6 million victims of the holocaust.  It has become my mission statement since 2013 to attempt work against hate in any form – and  so when I heard from a very thoughtful person who had been on the inside of Facebook – and discovered that the business model of the company was to promote conflict or might I say hate – between people in this country and throughout the world platform – my mission statement “Erase the Hate” demanded that I take action in the only way I knew how – to suspend my account.

I will say it has been a painful process – even after only a week – as I have loved so many of the features of Facebook.  I have commented on many of those virtues in my sermons – the way it has enabled me to virtually close to family and friends, to hear what other friends think and express – and yes there are those thought-provoking MEME’s that I have mentioned on occasion right from this pulpit – not to mention all the funny stuff that I see you and others post regarding our loyalty to a sports team, a college, or an individual athlete.

But all of those positives that I just listed grew stale when I realized what was truly at stake with Facebook and other social media platforms that not only instigate hate, inferiority, and intolerance – but in the end actually profit from them as they go unregulated and unfettered…..

I am sure that some of you think this action is crazy and unwarranted.  Others might think – one more person contributing to “cancel culture” and inhibiting free speech that this country is based on.  

But for me, it is bigger than that – there came a point in my life when I need to understand my personal responsibility to the staleness that is taking place, and to seek a greater good than our own entertainment. 

For me – this is the Reformation Spirit.  You might ask yourself today – where is there staleness in your life – where has God’s love been cast aside.  Once identified – pray about it, and then take action – use the recreative powers of the Holy Spirit to bring hope and change into a stale situation!

Sincerely,
Pastor Johnson