Reformation ““ A Festival for the Brothers of John the Steadfast, by Pr. Rossow

(October 31 is Reformation Day)

 

Reformation is a great day for men. It is a festival for men to exhale with all the breath in their lungs the strong notes and vigorous rhythms of “A Mighty Fortress,” until they have to gasp for more air to sing the next measure even louder. It is a festival of blaring trumpets calling out our courage in Christ to stand firm on the edifice of his pure word.

 

Reformation is a remembrance decked out in the crimson blood of the martyrs who remained steadfast in the pure Gospel, some even to the point of death by burning at the stake. It is a festival that marks the stand that stout John the Steadfast took using his left-hand kingdom authority to form a league of princes who would fight with swords rather than compromise the Word of God.

 

Reformation is a time for the Brothers of John the Steadfast to rally to the support of brave men like Pastor Wilken whose voice trumpets out each day the cross of Christ as a strong breath of the Holy Spirit against the devil, and against the culture and institutions that seek to muffle the sound of truth. The Reformation Fest calls the Brothers of John the Steadfast to stand on God’s word and on the Lutheran Confessions in order to be real leaders in the home and in the church.

 

Reformation is a time for men like me, to confess my countless failures at being a real man, Christ’s man. It is a time for me to take one small breath, enough to get me through a sip of the crimson blood from the chalice, so that I might go quietly back to my pew and thank God for his mercy…and then hope for a real rouser of a closing hymn that I might robustly and steadfastly, one more time, sing till I lose every bit of breath in my reanimated lungs.

 

Blessed Reformation to you Brothers of John the Steadfast and to all our readers,

 

 

Pastor Rossow

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