And We're Off! (Reformation Blog #3)

Well...we are about to board an airplane.  Within a few hours, an entire ocean will be between me and my children.....for more than a few days.  Saying goodbye to little Liam was pitiful already. We are thankful that he has an older brother and sister, a good church family and aunts and uncles who will help to make him feel secure.

It has not been easy to leave.  It has required a lot of planning and preparation.  All along we had assumed my mother-in-law would stay with the children but then she suddenly died in June.  We almost backed out but our friend Lori stepped in and said that we should go.  It's a once in a lifetime trip.  It's not every year that the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation happens.  So, she offered to move into our house for ten days and look after all things "home". We are so grateful.

One person can have a dream but for that dream to become a reality, it often requires many other people to come alongside the dreamer. 

I think it's wild how one thought can become all of this and that brings me back to Martin Luther....the very reason for this trip.

When he nailed his 95 theses to the chapel door at Castle Church in Wittenberg 500 years ago this weekend, he had a dream.  He was, of course, dreaming of church happening differently. So, he nailed those 95 theses to the door  - hoping that it would be a way to at least get some conversation going.  That's not what happened. Instead, within weeks, his 95 theses was spreading all over the region.  Someone had put it onto the printing press and it was being distributed before he even knew it.  His destiny had hit a launching point but it all began with a single thought.  

It probably took a great deal of courage for Martin Luther to nail those 95 theses to that door.  He knew that he was standing up against the entire system of corrupt, enmeshed church politics that had gone horribly off-course. He realized that the church was connected to the government and that either of them could and would easily silence or kill him for it if they wanted to.  I'm sure he knew that there would be strong dissenters.  Certainly, he knew that what he was proposing would seem so outlandish to a good number of status quo people who would never look at him the same again.  As he walked away from that door, I wonder if he knew that he might not ever fit in or feel welcomed by this crowd or that crowd again. Oh well.  Something more powerful than the desire to be liked and accepted propelled him forward to that door and it all began with a thought in his mind....a flutter of stirring in his heart that he chose to give ear to.

I am trying to figure out what exactly has been fluttering around in my heart lately, too.