Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/93

Contributor - Jonathan Gerstner

Title - Thank God, It's Reformation Day

Topic - Finally Beloved, Reformation Day

We Canadians are blessed by having two special holidays come together in the same month: Thanksgiving Day and Reformation Day. As most of us in the Reformed tradition, I take special joy in holidays of faith which have been spared the pomp and circumstance of high church liturgies. Somehow "the third Sunday after Reformation" just does not seem to fit into the pattern of those who like to create a "church year".

But like all annual celebrations, these two special days risk two -fold danger. First, God's holy day, the Lord's Day can be bumped on the calendar as the biblical centre of public and family worship. Secondly, these holidays can easily be trivialized into an annual remembrance which clouds the calling of these events on the whole fife of the Christian. We are called to be ever thankful. The church is called to be ever reforming.

Reformation and Thanksgiving are deeply intertwined. 'ne good news of being saved by faith alone, resurrected by God's Spirit during the Great Reformation of the sixteenth century, is the only ground through which any can have peace with God and experience truly thankful hearts. On the other hand, how can we be thankful to God for this salvation and not ever work to bring all things in His church and in our lives closer to the unchanging standards of His Word?

If we are thankful for the Reformation, is the Word of God the centre of our lives, our congregational worship, our church assemblies? We cannot claim to be thankful and ignore its ramifications. If we have experienced the gospel proclaimed anew in the Reformation, is thankfulness the centre of our entire life, our congregational worship, our church assemblies? We cannot claim the Reformation and ignore its call to thankfulness to God.

One other theme ties Thanksgiving and Reformation Day together. Neither thankfulness nor reformation can remain stagnant. If one is not thankful, one is not neutral, but ungrateful. If one is not giving praise to God, one is not neutral, but claiming that God has not made us, but we ourselves. Similarly, if we are not reforming, we are not neutral, we are deforming. As individuals we are either being daily remade closer and closer to the image of God's Son, or we are daily losing more and more of the vestiges of the natural image of God that remain in us. Our church is either becoming closer and closer to the biblical model of the church, or it is becoming more and more an assembly with a name that is alive, but is dead. The Reformed Church, as a family of churches, is either becoming closer and closer to the biblical model of a family of congregations, or we are becoming more and more a false church in whom God snuffs out the light of the Gospel.

Neutrality is impossible with regard to thankfulness or reformation. We can see God's providence in linking the two together at this splendid time of year. Thank God for the continuing living truths of the- Reformation, and may we continue to strive to live out its whole ramifications of being renewed by His Word. May God reform our thanksgiving Day to be more and more testimonies of praise of Who He is and the marvellous things He has done. May Thanksgiving and Reformation Day be part of every day we live for Him.

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