Preparing Worship for Reformation Sunday
Preparing Worship for Reformation Sunday
Dear Friends,
It is thought that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on 31st October 1517. A custom has evolved to commemorate the Reformation on a Sunday near that date. This year the World Communion of Reformed Churches suggests Sunday 25th October and has produced some free resources to help your congregation mark this day. You can find them here.
The suggested opening prayer might be one you wish to use in person or in public:
God of wind and fire,
Breath moving over chaos,
Voice that still echoes through locked doors and fearful hearts,
You keep calling your people forward to a costly discipleship
when fear tells us to remain still.
You awaken your Church through prophets, poets, reformers,
and ordinary disciples who dare to strike the walls of silence
with truth, compassion, and hope.
Today we gather from many places, many languages,
many struggles and memories, yet held together by your grace.
As the hammer once echoed upon the wooden door,
may your Spirit echo among us now.
Strike against our indifference.
Strike against the fear that keeps us quiet.
Strike against every wall that divides your people,
wounds creation,
protects injustice,
or silences the vulnerable.
Reform us again, O God.
Reform our worship when it becomes performance instead of prayer,
or mere repetition without soul.
Reform our churches when comfort matters more than courage.
Reform our theology when it forgets the poor, the excluded, and the wounded.
Reform our lives until grace becomes flesh among us.
When we are perplexed, teach us not to surrender to despair.
When hope feels fragile, teach us again the stubborn hope of the Gospel.
Move us beyond nostalgia into courageous and costly discipleship.
Move us beyond institutional survival into communities where justice can breathe and communion can flourish.
And today, as we prepare to name what still needs reform in our churches, our nations, and our world,
give us humble hearts, prophetic imagination, and the perseverance to pursue truth with compassion,
to seek not only justice but reparation, and to keep knocking on the doors of history.
May this worship become living witness: bread shared, truth spoken, dignity defended,
creation cherished, and love embodied.
In the name of the Creator, the Living Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
With every good wish
Andy
The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship