1517 and the urgency of now

For the most part it feels as if our lives move at warp speed these days.

Everything is urgent, instant and measured out in Mbps, likes and strategic plans. Perhaps we’ve bought into the latest mindfulness trends (useful) – though mostly they’re considered techniques to better face the impending busyness of tomorrow. With precious little ability to pause in the presence of the present, our past is confined to minutes and old facebook memories.

Which makes it odd for the Church to spend time marking 500 years since Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation in October 1517 by nailing his 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. Can it mean anything of importance to us today?

We are heirs of this remarkable moment whether we know it or not. Though predominantly about the sale of indulgences and the corruption of the Medieval church; this moment is a snapshot of the Church remembering that it is by grace alone that we are saved and brought into communion with God. Not through the actions of any priest, or the authority of any Minister, not through our best progressive politics or justice campaigning. Not through the quality of our worship or the intensity of our prayers.

Sola gratis – by grace alone.

However broken we feel because our past;

However harried by the perceived urgency of now;

However numb we have become to deluge of news and information…

God’s grace is for us. Gently, persistently and faithfully turning our eyes towards Jesus – the Crucified and Risen One. And there we will find again and again and again, that God brings us to life; and that God has and will reconcile the whole Creation.

Every last Mb of it.