Many Protestant churches celebrate Reformation Day in honor of the occasion when Martin Luther ushered in the Reformation by posting his 95 theses on the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 15l7. In a few more years they will celebrate the 500^th anniversary of that epochal event. It is arguable that the Protestant Reformation – next to the resurrection of Christ – is the most significant event in the history of the world. Those of us who are "free in Christ" – including many Roman Catholics – owe an incalculable debt to Martin Luther.

  While I have always been a "Lutheran" to some degree – as every Protestant should be – my interest in him has increased in recent months. I was asked to write a chapter for a Festschrift in honor of a Churches of Christ leader (still a surprise to him). I suggested to the editor that I might write on "Martin Luther and Alexander Campbell: A Comparative Study of Reformation and Restoration." He liked the idea.

  As I told the editor, I have noticed in my extensive study of Campbell how often he made reference to Luther, and in some rather novel ways. I thought it would be interesting to ascertain Luther’s influence on Campbell, and to see how their views compared, particularly in reference to the reformation/restoration motif.

  I have finished the chapter. The study gave me occasion to walk with Luther more closely. I better understand his tormented soul– such as his agonizing struggle with his own sins and his life-threatening crucible with the papacy. I also have greater appreciation for his crowning contribution to the church -- that every believer is a priest and has access to God apart from any ecclesiastical intermediary. While we take it for granted, it was a revolutionary concept in its time – even heretical.

  Both Luther and Campbell believed that the common man can read and understand the Bible for himself, and both translated the Bible into the vernacular of the people – Campbell the New Testament only, Luther the entire Bible. As Campbell said of Luther: "He made the Bible speak German!"

  It is only once in seven years that October 31 falls on Sunday. Reformation Day is otherwise celebrated on the Sunday nearest to October 31. Since Our Savior Lutheran Church in Denton was celebrating "Reformation Sunday" on October 31, and since we had an invitation from the pastor herself (our neighbor, who read my paper on Luther/Campbell), Ouida and I were pleased to be part of the congregation for the occasion.

  We first attended the early service of our own Church of Christ. Among my wayward thoughts was whether even one of our churches anywhere would make the slightest reference to Reformation Sunday – to the debt we owe, such as, "We would not even be here except for what a lowly monk did on this day back in 15l7." But – I had to remind myself -- we in Churches of Christ are "neither Catholic nor Protestant." History doesn’t matter, except the first century! The good news is that our historyless mindset is dissipating. (I am, by the way, both Protestant and Catholic – or catholic, if you like – as was Alexander Campbell!)

  I had been to Our Savior’s before – last Easter when Ouida was recovering from surgery for a broken kneecap. I had told Ouida about their new pastor – one of the best preachers in town in my view, and I have heard many of them. A woman, and our new neighbor! While discoursing she stands near the people – away from the pulpit and without notes or even a Bible – and ministers the Word in a well-prepared, sincere, enthusiastic, and eminently Christian manner. And she is a good storyteller, as all effective preachers are.

  The story she told on Reformation Sunday was Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We have something of both Jekyll (good) and Hyde (bad) in all of us, and if we are not careful we will lose control, as did Dr. Jekyll, and allow sin to destroy us. This is what Paul, Augustine, and Luther warned against. The Holy Spirit is our helper in the inner struggle between the forces of good and evil.

  It was appropriate that we sang together Luther’s great hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, which he composed in 1529. The Reformation was but twelve years old, and he was suffering the trials of a reformer. In 1518 he had been condemned in Rome as a heretic. In 1520 the pope issued a "papal bull" threatening excommunication, which Luther burned in a bonfire, along with the Church of Rome’s ecclesiastical law – joined by students of Wittenberg University. It was his way of expressing what was now clear to him, that Rome had led the church into a Babylonian captivity. As he put it in reference to that occasion, "The Last Days had begun."

  In 1521 he had faced trial at the Diet of Worms. When asked by the pope’s legate if he would renounce what he had written in the books placed before him, he gave his renowned reply that has echoed down through the centuries – "My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen!" That took uncommon courage, for he knew it might cost him his life.

  Following the trial at Worms, Luther was kidnapped by his own people and hidden away in the Wartburg castle for his own protection. There he began his translation of the Bible, and he wrote pamphlets that helped to ignite the Reformation over much of Europe. After upwards of a year he returned to Wittenberg and continued his work as a reformer, now protected by the lords of Germany.

  By 1829 he was ready in heart and mind to compose a hymn that has lived on through the centuries as one of the church’s greatest. It is uplifting to hear a congregation sing it, one that believes it. I find the third verse especially poignant, reflective of Luther’s theology at that dreadful time in his life. It is noteworthy that the reformer borrowed the tunes for his hymns from the barrooms of Germany.

  So, we in Churches of Christ and other newer churches may one day not only observe "Reformation Sunday" but "All-Saints Day" as well. If we like we can name our own saints – heroes of the past, sung and unsung, who stood in the gap and blazed the trail for us – as well as some of those honored by the church at large. "Honor to whom honor is due," the Bible urges us. We could have a great time naming our hero and telling why. Ouida would name her adopted sister in the faith, Elisa Davies, missionary teacher to Australia 150 years ago, a "saint" if there ever was one, Ouida insists.

  I might name Sir Thomas More, a contemporary of Luther, but unlike Luther he always remained a faithful Catholic, though also a reformer. His name rarely appears on an honor roll. I especially appreciate More because, like me, he was a writer who sought to change things, and, like me, he dreamed of a reformed church and a renewed society. In his Utopia he dreamed of equality, justice, peace, wealth of nations – and a six-hour work day so as to allow more time for intellectual and spiritual pursuits.

  But when King Henry VIII broke with the pope and started his own church (while murdering his wives!), More, who had previously stood with the king in some of his quarrels with Luther, stood by his convictions and opposed the king. He met the same fate as the king’s wives. But those who were beheaded for their faith – and they are many – have a special place in heaven, according to the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine.

  So, prepare your list of saints. One day we will celebrate All-Saints Day in Churches of Christ. But Reformation Sunday first! I will at least be there in spirit.

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