October 31

While I’ve carved pumpkins, purchased candy and helped prepare my children for Halloween, I have been most interested with thoughts of the 500th anniversary of the great reformation that will no doubt be celebrated on Halloween day just 8 years from now.

October 31, 1517 was the day that monk, professor and reformer Martin Luther addressed evils in the church. He presented his position in a document that has come to be know as the 95 thesis’. While the reformation is a movement that had been set into motion a hundred or more years earlier, it is October 31st that will generally be associated with its advent. In this document, Luther advocated for ‘sola fide’, that justification is by faith alone. He urged the church to stop preaching an practicing a belief that our right standing before God is achieved by our actions. Since this is at the core of what we believe, halloween provides something of greater significance to consider.

Ulrich Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli is considered to be the father of the Baptist tradition. During the 16th century reformation, people like Luther and Zwingli were correcting the errors that had crept into the church. They didn't all agree, in fact a disagreement between Luther and Zwingli over one of their 15 points caused Luther to say Zwingli was 'of the devil and nothing more than a wormy nut', and Zwingli to resent Luther for treating him 'like an ass'. While today Lutherans and Baptists have nicer things to say to each other, we will discuss what being baptist is all about. Here are some of Zwingli's key points and distinguishable characteristics. While not all of these are true across the board today, nor are they all 'essential' baptist belief, they should cause us to consider how we worship and what we believe about key issues.

Priests should be able to marry - Zwingli always struggled with the church doctrine that priests had to remain celibate. As a young priest he had an affair, he secretly married at 38, making it public two years later.

Fasting is not crucial - periods of fasting were prescribed by the church in Zwingli's day. He opposed the church having such involvement. He wrote against fasting and made a statement by eating a sausage in public during Lent.

Images - Zwingli worked to rid the church of images of Jesus, Mary and the saints believing that the Bible should have priority.

Communion - taking bread and wine was not to be seen as literally taking the body and blood of Jesus, nor was Jesus any more present during this time, rather it was a symbolic memorial.

Military - Zwingli was involved in the Swiss military and ended up dying in battle fighting for his country. However, he also worked to change the swiss economy away from being militant to engaging in more agriculture and trade.

Music - Zwingli was musically gifted, played six instruments, however in the church service he did away with the organ so people could 'give ear to the word of God alone'. As a result, baptists preach longer and place less value in music.

*note: Zwingli did not support believer's baptism ironically, this came about from an offshoot of his supporters who thought he didn't go far enough. This is called the 'Radical Reformation' and is a part of baptist heritage as well.

Some questions to consider
'If you were to give the church sanctuary a makeover, what would you like to see?'
'Should a Christian be in the military?'
'Should the pastor have the authority to ask the whole church to fast, give to a cause, volunteer for something, etc?'
'How is music meaningful at church, and how is it a distraction from the word of God?'
'How is the pastor any different than you? Does he have a higher standard? Should he have a higher standard?'
'Do you own any 'crosses/crucifixes' - why or why not?'

"For God's sake, do not put yourself at odds with the Word of God. For truly it will persist as surely as the Rhine follows its course. One can perhaps dam it up for awhile, but it is impossible to stop it." - Ulrich Zwingli