Change (Reformation Sunday)
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Back in the days when we used to have light bulbs – or at least incandescent bulbs that constantly needed changing – you may remember that there were all kinds of jokes about how many people it would take to change a light bulb.
When I was in college, I was a computer science major, and so we told the joke about how many computer science majors it takes to change a light bulb. The answer is none – it’s a hardware problem!
And in those same days, we used to tell the joke about how many Lutherans it takes to change a light bulb. And the answer was 10. One to change the bulb, and 9 to talk about how much they liked the old bulb better!
Of course, it’s not just Lutherans. Lots of people – and lots of church groups – can find change difficult. Sometimes change is hard. Often, change is disorienting. And frequently, change takes effort that we just don’t feel we have the time for. And so change is often resisted.
And so it’s always been a bit of an irony that our one, specifically Lutheran church holiday – Reformation Day – celebrates change. Reformation Day is, among other things, the remembrance of the changes in the western Church that were spurred on by Luther beginning a debate about the sale of indulgences. And Reformation Day is, among other things, the remembrance of the changes brought about by the early reformers – although to be fair, many of those changes were, in fact, about going back to earlier practices…
But even so, this day is about the fact that a change happened. And that changes have continued to happen. And that changes will come in the future.
All of our biblical readings this morning also talk about change. Jeremiah writes that the covenant with God is going to change. The days are surely coming when the law (really, the “revelation”) of God won’t simply be written on stone or on paper, but on the hearts of the people.
Paul writes that through the death and Resurrection of Jesus, God has brought about a change in the way people should understand their relationship with God. That is, that our relationship with God is based on faith – trust in God’s promises, and not on whether we’ve worked hard enough at doing what we feel God wants us to do.
And Jesus promises that the truth will set us free. And that apparently disturbed people who thought they were free enough already, and didn’t need or want Jesus bringing any changes that would mess with their system.
Change. It’s happened before. It’s happening now. And it will happen again soon. Honestly, you don’t need me to tell you that. You don’t need Jeremiah, Paul or even Jesus to tell you that. Change is just the way life is.
And yet, what’s different in these biblical texts is God’s promise in the midst of the change. What’s different is the promise that God walks with us through our changes. It’s the promise that God will work changes in our lives that turn out to be good for us, even when those changes are unsettling. And indeed, it’s finally the promise through Jesus that God will even change our own death into eternal life.
Today, as part of our celebration of Reformation change, four of our young people will be confirmed. And as part of their preparation, we always ask them to write faith statements. Those are statements that often describe changes in their faith as they’ve grown and matured. Two of them will read their statements shortly, but all of them have written about how people and places and events in their lives have helped them to grow in faith, to change how they understand God in their lives and to set them on a course for the changes to come.
Growing, of course, is itself a change. And it’s fun (and sometimes scary) to see how fast those changes happen in our kids. But change and growth are things we all continue to do, whether we plan them or not. And like each of our confirmands, the change and the growth that Jesus calls us to are never over, no matter how old we get.
But no matter what changes we face, the promise of God’s reformation in our lives is the same. It’s the promise that Jesus will be walking with you, no matter what changes you face. It’s the promise that God will always be working for good in your life, even when you face bad changes. And it’s finally the promise of Jesus’ Resurrection, which changes even death into life.
Amen.