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REFORMATION SUNDAY
According to the church’s almanac this day 19th November,- 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, is called as REFORMATION SUNDAY.
The theme of today’s meditation is therefore Reformation, highlighting the basics of Martin Luther’s (1483 – 1546) approach and finally bringing into focus that aspect of music, namely the congregational singing, which became the foundation of the Reformatory movement.
Generally by “Reformation” is meant that turning of the tide of human thought and practice, which is multi-dimensional. Multi-dimensional means being religious, social, political, economical, cultural etc, at the same time.
Reformation has taken place in different periods of history, in different countries all over the world.
The church has given us the opportunity to remember or recall the series of events in the history of the church called the PROTESTANT REFORMATION.
It is absolutely necessary for us to look back and ponder over the events that have given us the legacy of our faith in its present form.
Taking such a look into the past, I believe, will surely make our faith with its beliefs and practices more meaningful and relevant.
First of all what does Reformation mean to us. What is it to us? To us who call ourselves Christians, for the beliefs that we hold and for having opted to be present in this Chapel, involving ourselves in a process of worship, Reformation should mean something important in relation to our religious life. In short, we owe our religious heritage very much to the evangelical Reformatory movement coinciding with the European Renaissance period.
In other words we owe a lot to that series events called Reformation for much of what we are, and what we believe and what we do.
It is our duty to remember the men who risked their lives to put Christian beliefs and practices back on the pedestal from which they had fallen off. This, putting back on the pedestal is what Reformation was and is. Perhaps a better word would be ‘Restoration’ or ‘Revival’. -to ‘restore’ something we have lost. It is a revival of what had become inactive, dead, fallen into disuse. The Protestant Reformation did just that. It restored, it revived what was thought to be the original beliefs and practices of the followers of Christ of the first century.
Take a look at this worship service. Its ingredients, the prayers, creed, sermon, the order of worship, hymns, rituals, symbols. We owe all this to the great men who were the pioneers of the historic evangelical restorative movement - John Wycliffe, John Hus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and many, many others.
Not only the order of worship, even the parts of the church itself. The choir, the pulpit, the Lectern, the Alter etc. We have simply inherited almost all of these things. They have come to us from the Roman Catholic Church through the sieve of Reformation
Those movements of restoration and the reformation continue to speak to us through this entire religious heritage.
Perhaps, what I am going to say are things that we already know. But knowledge in itself is of no use or consequence if we don’t put that knowledge in its context. Connect it to other things that we know. Track it to its historical source. Allow it to change our environment and us.
Now let us turn our attention to Martin Luther, the man who brought about a complete U turn in Christianity towards the close of the Middle Ages. Middle Ages mean the period from 500 AD to 1400 AD. This period is also called as the ‘Dark Ages’ as we all know.
What did Martin Luther do?
He opposed the Roman Catholic Church. But what was it that he opposed? Most of the clergy were ignorant and corrupt, but he did not attack the private life of the clergy or the pope. His attack was more fundamental. His attack was aimed at the practices of the church, as it existed in those days. His attack was aimed at the doctrines of the church. He protested against the views of the leaders of the church. He challenged the authority of the church leaders.
Let us take a look at the three basic tenets of Luther’s protest.
The First tenet - the re-establishment of the Scriptures as the sole and ultimate authority and basis for all the doctrines and practices of the Church.
The Church of his days felt that it was above everything, including the Scriptures. The church also considered itself to be infallible. The Church thought that it could propound doctrines independent of the Scriptures. Many of its doctrines were alien to the Word of God. For example, Belief in Purgatory and the belief in the power of the church to grant freedom from punishment for sins – the sale of indulgences. Luther concluded that it was the clergy’s understanding and the interpretation of the Scriptures that was at fault. Ignorance of the Word of God was the root-cause of the problem with the Church.
Luther made the Word of God, the Scriptures, the sole authority for all beliefs and practices. The Church as an institution comes only next to the Scriptures. Therefore lay people were encouraged to read and study the Bible for themselves in their own language.
The Second tenet – Clarifying the means of salvation. Luther taught that salvation was a gift of God as stated in the Bible. A person is made right with God through a personal response of faith to Christ’s finished work. This he based on Romans 1:17.
This is what is called as justification by faith and not by works or through the sacraments of the church.
Romans chapter 5 the first verse says: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans chapter 6 verse 23 says: “ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”
The third tenet is the restoration of congregational singing. This is our focus. I consider it my duty to speak to you a little more on this matter than on anything else.
In our churches we sing a lot. To whom do we owe this? We owe this to Martin Luther. You may wonder why? History says so.
In addition to learning from the scriptures, a second necessary aspect of any serious religious study is surveying history.
Let us concentrate on just two periods of time:
1. The middle Ages – The period from 500 A.D. to 1400A.D.
2. The Renaissance and Protestant Reformation period - 1400 A.D. to 1600 A.D.
With regard to the musical practices of the Church, these two periods are very significant.
Let us see how?
During the middle Ages the church’s song – i.e., Congregational singing – was silenced. And during the Reformation period the church’s song was restored along with the Bible being rediscovered.
How and why was the congregation silenced?
Up to about 300 A.D. Christ’s followers were a small band of persecuted men and women. To them spiritual songs were a free, spontaneous expression of their faith in Christ, their messiah. In the Epistles we find a lot of references to singing of psalms and hymns.
From about 381 .A. D. Christianity became the official state religion of Rome. From then onwards the Roman Church became a powerful dominant influence in Western civilization for more than a millennium. But this brought about changes in the Church’s worship, doctrines and practices. Most notable was the sacerdotal role of the clergy at the expense of lay involvement. The Bible became the possession of the clergy alone, who taught that only they could understand and interpret its meaning.
Congregational singing was almost eliminated in the Roman Churches after the fourth century Laodicean Council’s decree: “ If laymen are forbidden to preach and interpret the Scriptures, much more are they forbidden to sing publicly in church.”
The singing of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” by the people was replaced by the chanting of the clergy and later by professional choirs singing in Latin. Thus congregational singing was stilled.
This does not mean that music was absent or neglected in the church. Many of the familiar hymns that we now sing were written during this period by devout Roman Catholic monks. This period also witnessed the development of music from unison singing to harmony and also the development of the system of modern notations. Only the people were not allowed to sing as a congregation.
Next we turn to the Renaissance - Reformation period.
The Reformation occurred simultaneously with the Renaissance, and extended from 1400 A.D. to 1600 A.D. The word “Renaissance” literally means “rebirth”.
This period marked a great revival of interest in intellectual activity and in the arts. In the religious scene, the Reformation, caught fire with Martin Luther making his way to the doors of the Cathedral of Wittenberg, in Germany, to post his famous 95 Theses (complaints) against the teachings and practices of the medieval Roman Church.
The protestant movement was revolutionary both theologically and musically to all its followers. Theologically once again the barrier of an intermediary priesthood between the believer and his God was broken down. Luther stressed the belief in the priesthood of the believer, which is more biblical than the practice of the church in having priests.
The first Epistle of Peter, chapter 2 verses 5 and 9 call us ‘A royal priesthood’ and a ‘Holy priesthood’
Much of that same joy known by the early Christians during the apostolic period was again experienced by the Christians of the Reformation as they realized anew the truths of a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Next, in terms of musical significance it was perfectly natural for the people to express their adoration and praise through song and that too in their own mother-tongue, instead of in Latin. People were encouraged to sing.
Luther’s enemies often lamented that the German people were singing themselves into Luther’s terrible doctrines and that his hymns destroyed more souls than all of his writings and sermons.
A Spanish monk, Thomas a Jesu, noted, “ It is surprising how those hymns spread Lutheranism. Written in German, they literally flew out of Luther’s study, landing in homes, in places of work, and were sung in the markets, in the streets, and on the field.”
The song was restored. Who did it? Martin Luther. The Church leaders had decreed that if laymen were not to interpret the scriptures for themselves, then they also were not to sing the songs of the church. Martin Luther responded forcefully, “ Let God speak directly to His people through the scriptures, and let His people respond with grateful songs of praise.” Thus the praises of the lay people became the musical foundation for Protestant worship. And so we now have the hymn-books in our hands and sing in every service.
. Luther’s greatness is also borne by the fact that he was not against the church, but was only against the errors of the church leaders. Luther encouraged congregational singing and followed the Roman Catholic tradition of using the choir in the church services. His intention was not to break the church but to reform the church. Unfortunately he was excommunicated and that led to the division. Luther loved God; loved His church too. He borrowed all that he considered to be good from the Roman church, particularly, its music, which was till then deliberately kept away from the lay people.
Luther had high regard for the ministry of music. He wrote:
“ Next to the preaching of the scriptures, I afford music the highest place in the Church. I want the word of God to dwell in the hearts of believers by means of songs.
There is a root-like unity of music and theology. Music is wrapped and locked in Theology.
I would allow no man to preach or teach God’s people who did not realize the power and use of sacred music.
He has also said that music was one of the finest and noblest gift of God in the world and that young men should not be ordained as preachers unless they had also been trained in music.
For Luther music was central in worship. Writing about the centrality of music in the worship of God in a letter dated October 4, 1530, he said: “ I really believe, nor am I shamed to assert, that next to theology there is no art equal to music.”
And still again, “ Experience proves that next to the word of God only music deserves to be extolled as the mistress and governess of the feelings of the human heart.”
Luther himself played the Lute and the Flute, often singing at the table and composing hymns for the Church.
Luther’s thrust in worship was to make it appealing to the simple common folk. Luther’s songs consisted of commonplace expressions that the common unsophisticated German could easily comprehend. The models for his lyrics were the popular Ballads of his
day. Some of the tunes used for his hymns were borrowed from the German folk songs, the music of the masses.
Luther marveled that in secular art there were “so many beautiful songs“. He concluded, “The devil has no need for all the good tunes for himself”, and proceeded to release these tunes from their secular or unbiblical words and unite them with words consistent with evangelical faith. The wedding of popular styles with understandable, evangelical lyrics proved to be a healthy marriage. In this service we have inserted one such lyric, which we will sing before the prayers of the Breaking of the Bread. It is a lyric of simple understandable sentences set to a Jamaican folk tune with a lively Calypso rhythm. The choir will sing it and the congregation members may join if they want to.
For his contribution to the cause of Protestant church music, Martin Luther is given the title - Father Of Evangelical Hymnody. It was through the efforts of this great Reformer that the lost art of congregational singing was restored and the Christian hymn again was given a place in public worship.
At this point I would like to add a few words about the hymns that we have chosen for this service. Each hymn has some significance historically, with the Reformation.
The opening Doxology was a general hymn of praise to God reminding us of how the early Christians would have raised their voices in an exuberant crescendo praising God.
The hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” was written by Luther himself. It is based on Psalm 46. ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear…’ This hymn was the primary vehicle for popularizing the Reformation. Luther also composed the tune for this hymn. The hymn has been translated and sung in practically every known language around the world.
Upon hearing the closing hymn “Now thank we all our God”, one would never realize that this song of praise was forged during times of tragic experiences. From some of the most severe human hardships imaginable during the thirty years’ war (1618 – 1648) came this stately hymn, often called the national “Te Deum” of Germany because it has been sung on many occasions of their national rejoicing.
Martin Rinkart (1586 – 1549), the author of this beautiful hymn, was a pastor who lived in Germany during the plague of 1637, ministering to the afflicted victims. At its height Rinkart was the only minister, often conducting as many as forty to fifty funeral services daily. No hymn, with the exception of Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, has been used more widely in German churches than has this hymn.
This message of mine to you this evening comes to a close, it has to. But our singing of the hymns as a congregation will go on. We should not only thank God for the hymns but also for the Reformation, for -it is our Endless Song. AMEN