Thank God

 

No, I’m not swearing. With Thanksgiving coming up, I decided to take a traditional approach to this week’s blog post and thank God for His many blessings: a loving husband, three wonderful children (including my son-in-law), great friends, good health (for my age), my writing, plenty of activities to keep me busy, a church where I can grow in my knowledge of and relationship with Christ, and, of course, Christ’s death on the cross to save me from my sins.

But most of this post will be taken from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Here is his explanation to the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer.

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

So thank God this week and always.

__________

The photo shows Martin Luther’s study at Wartburg Castle where he translated the New Testament into German. I took it during a Reformation tour in 2016.

A Prolific Author

 

Many churches celebrate October 31 (or the Sunday before) as Reformation Day—the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 93 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The church door was the town bulletin board, so he probably chose that spot for practical reasons rather than as an act of defiance.

Although October 31 is the day chosen to commemorate the start of the Protestant Reformation, that was just one day. Like most movements, the Reformation began gradually and gained momentum as it went along. And part of that momentum came through Luther’s writing.

Luther was a prolific author who wrote hundreds of books and articles during his lifetime, many of which are still in print. He also translated the Bible into German to make it accessible to the less-educated populace. You can read more about that in my June 27, 2016 post. 

And to repeat the ending from that post, Luther wouldn’t have taken any credit for his writings. He would have said, “Ad Dei gloiam” (Latin) or “Zu Gott die Ehre” (German).

To God be the glory.

__________

The photo shows the study at Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. I took the photo during a 2016 trip to Germany.

Reformation Poem

Five hundred years ago tomorrow, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, shown in the picture. I wrote a modest poem to celebrate this momentous event. There are a few inaccuracies (yes, I know that the catechism and the 95 theses are not the same) and some near rhymes, but that’s the beauty of poetic license. If you call me a heretic, I’m in good company. Isn’t that so, Martin?

In fifteen thousand and seventeen,

Luther crossed the village green.

He had no thought of vandalism

As he nailed up his catechism.

The 95 theses attached to a door

Were statements the Pope was bound to abhor.

Who was this upstart who fought with tradition

Using the Word as his only weapon?

As Luther preached salvation by grace,

He was put on trial to plead his case.

But though he sought to reform with reason,

The Pope and the Emperor both cried “Treason.”

Martin Luther’s plight looked grim

When the Pope excommunicated him.

And to Luther’s firm words, “Here I stand,”

The Emperor responded, “Banned!”

Five hundred years have come and gone

And Luther’s writings still live on.

So as we celebrate Reformation

Remember his message of salvation.

Saved by grace.

__________

The poem is © 2017 by Kathryn Page Camp, and the photo is © 2016 by Kathryn Page Camp.

No Ordinary Bible Translator

Roland and I recently returned from a Reformation Tour. We had a German tour guide who didn’t believe in free time or lunch, but we were with a fun group of people, so overall it was a good trip. We also learned a lot about Martin Luther and the Reformation.

The picture shows the study at Wartburg Castle where Luther translated the New Testament into German in just eleven weeks.. He translated the Old Testament as well, but he did that at a more leisurely pace while in his own home.

I always thought that Luther was the first to translate the Bible into German. That would have been a big accomplishment, but there are many skilled translators around today, and there probably were then, too. Still, it would have taken courage to stand up to a church hierarchy that didn’t want laypeople to know what the Bible actually said, and Luther had plenty of courage. So maybe that was what made him stand out. That was my thinking before this trip.

It turns out that Luther was not the first to translate the Bible into German after all. He was the first to translate it directly from the Hebrew and the Greek rather than from the Latin, which increased the accuracy of the translation. But that wasn’t what made his translation so awesome.

Germany was not unified at the time. Each region had its own dialect, and people from different regions had trouble understanding each other, so the earlier German translations were of little use outside their own regions. Luther’s primary contribution was to study the different dialects and figure out how to standardize them into a universal German language. In other words, he wasn’t the first to translate the Bible into German, but he was the first to translate it into a form that all German-speaking people could understand. Not read, of course, since most people couldn’t read, but that they could understand when it was read to them.

I call that genius, but Luther wouldn’t have agreed. He would have said, “Ad Dei gloriam” (Latin),” or “Zu Gott die Ehre“ (German).

To God be the glory.

Give the Devil His Due

I haven't dressed up for Halloween in years--not until Saturday, when my writers' group read at the Lake County Library. None of my writings fit the theme, so I volunteered to get Edgar Allan Poe to emcee the event.

On the way to the library, I tuned into Christian radio station WMBI and listened to the host and his guest discuss whether Christians should participate in Halloween. Nobody asked that question when the guest was a child or when I was growing up. My brothers and I always dressed up and went trick-or-treating on Halloween, and my minister father never called it a pagan holiday or worried about its effect on our young minds. It just wasn't an issue in those days.

I admit it. I let my children dress up and go trick-or-treating when they were young, and I hand out candy every year. For me, it's still a non-issue.

In his preface to The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis said, "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." So yes, we do need to give the devil his due. But what is his due?

My edition of The Screwtape Letters includes quotes by Martin Luther and Sir Thomas More. According to Luther, "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." And to shorten the Thomas More quote, "The devil . . . cannot endure to be mocked."

Are we really showing an unhealthy interest in the devil when we let our children go trick-or-treating on Halloween? Or even when we dress them in red suits with horns and a tail and give them a pitchfork to carry? If it has any meaning at all (and for most people it doesn't), isn't it closer to scorn and mockery?

Yes, Satan is a force to be reckoned with, and both Christians and non-Christians should be on guard against him. But his influence is more subtle than what occurs on Halloween.

Christians give the devil too much due when we forget that there are three things he is not. He is not omnipresent (God allows Satan to walk this earth but he cannot enter heaven without God's permission); he is not omniscient, or he would have known better than to enter Judas and bring about his own defeat; and he is not omnipotent. God, and only God, is in control. When we view Halloween as a threat, we take Satan too seriously.

So give the devil his due--but no more.