Reformation Day at Calvary was really fun! We did joint worship with Mt. Zion Lutheran in Oak Lawn, and the creative service elements below were jointly created.  Pr. David Hulse is as much as author of this post as I am.  Please see below for our Opening Litany, Gospel Reading, Sermon (Interview with Martin Luther), Pictures, and Video Highlights.   

OPENING DIALOGUE
P: We are here today to celebrate reformation.
C: God, please re-form us. 
P: Hold us, O God, and
C: Help us to experience you in new ways.
P: We are here today to honor our tradition and history.
C: God, thank you for all that has gone before.
P: We begin and celebrate in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
C: Amen
P: Let’s get this party started!
C: We’re ready!  Amen!
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How do we experience God?
A central message of the Reformation is that everyone has access to God.  What ways do you experience your faith?  How is your life impacted by God?  Today, you have the option to attend several stations around the room to interact in your relationship with God.  Later, we will move into the sanctuary and return to traditional worship.  Just as they did 500 years ago, we hold our old traditions and our new ways together as a way to look ahead to the next 500 years of life in the church that centers God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
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Station 1: Praying Through Color: Join Barry as he leads you through learning to pray through art.  Just as Martin Luther said that people could pray directly to God and that was new for his church, let’s try praying in a new way today.
 
Station 2:  The Door and Compliment Box: Martin Luther, 500 years ago, is said to have nailed his theses about life in the church to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.  What theses do you have about the future of the church?  What are your important beliefs about God?  What do you think needs reforming in the church today?  Write it down, nail it to the door, and also leave a Compliment about the Church in the Compliment Box.
 
Station 3:  Sit and listen as Jean reads the Martin Luther Pop-Up book!  For those teens and young adults who would like their graphic novel, visit Pastor Jess. 
 
Station 4: Tape your illustrated Bible verses to the wall.  Let’s celebrate that we can read the Bible in our own language!
 
Station 5: On a notecard, write down what gifts you have to offer the ministry of God and for the church.  Martin Luther taught that everyone was given gifts to offer.  Tie your note onto one of the many red flower and plants, and even though we are all unique, we make a beautiful bouquet for the Kingdom of God!

Romans 3:19-28
The New Revised Standard Version of this text is at the above link.  This is the version we normally use in worship.  Today, since we are exploring new ways of experiencing faith, we’ll read this passage from The Message as a call and response.
 
Paul asks the church in Rome:
 
P: So where does that put us? Do we Jews [ or, we who are already here] get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:
 
P: There’s nobody living right, not even one,
    nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
C: God, please re-form us.  
P: They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
    they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
C: God, please re-form us.  
P: No one’s living right;
    I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
    their tongues slick as mudslides.
C: We all need to be re-formed. 
P: Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
    They open their mouths and pollute the air.
C: We all need to be re-formed. 
P: They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
    litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
C: We all need to be re-formed. 
P: [We] don’t know the first thing about living with others.
    [We] never give God the time of day.
C: God, please re-form us.  
P: This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place!
C: God, please re-form us.  
P: And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
C: God, please re-form us.  
P: But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened.
C: Thank God for Re-formation!
P:  The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
C: Thank Jesus for Re-formation!
God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.
C: Thank the Holy Spirit for Re-Formation!
P:  So where does that leave our proud Jewish [people who are already in church]  insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled.
C: God, please re-form us.
What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.
C: We all need to be re-formed.  Thanks be to God, Jesus, and the Spirit who are always Re-Forming! 

If you wold like to add some pictures, please send them to Pastor Jess via facebook message, e-mail, or text.  If you don't have that contact info, please send her a message here. 

​Station 1: Praying Through Color: Join Barry as he leads you through learning to pray through art.  Just as Martin Luther said that people could pray directly to God and that was new for his church, let’s try praying in a new way today.

​Station 2:  The Door and Compliment Box: Martin Luther, 500 years ago, is said to have nailed his theses about life in the church to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.  What theses do you have about the future of the church?  What are your important beliefs about God?  What do you think needs reforming in the church today?  Write it down, nail it to the door, and also leave a Compliment about the Church in the Compliment Box.

​Station 4: Tape your illustrated Bible verses to the wall.  Let’s celebrate that we can read the Bible in our own language!

​Station 5: On a notecard, write down what gifts you have to offer the ministry of God and for the church.  Martin Luther taught that everyone was given gifts to offer.  Tie your note onto one of the many red flower and plants, and even though we are all unique, we make a beautiful bouquet for the Kingdom of God!

On Sunday, we had our big installation party!  It is not too late to leave us a blessing or donation by looking at this blog post.  Bishop Wayne Miller preached the sermon above, and gave me permission to post it.  I gave a short message at the end of the service you can listen to in audio here.  The texts of the day were: Exodus 18:13-22, Ephesians 4:11-16, and Matthew 28: 16-20.