John Calvin and Martin Luther

Today is Reformation day. The day that the protestant reformation is celebrated. I'm sure there are many who do not look forward to this day. When I was a kid I had to go to church on Oct 31st. I didn't like it. Maybe there are other's who don't like it for what it stands for, I don't know.

Most bloggers are commenting on Halloween today. But one blog that I read gave good overview of what today means for many of us reformed Christ followers. Darryl wrote a good post on rediscovering the gospel He writes:

On this day 490 years ago, Martin Luther sent out his 95 Theses to some church leaders. It's also reported that he also posted his proposal at the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, which served as the university bulletin board. continue here.

Also, you can read some great info from Tim Challies where he hosts a Reformation Day Symposium. Follow the links there and you'll get some other's perspective.

For the tribe of people I am a part of, the Christian Reformed Church, John Calvin is held with a sense of awe. He is one of the early reformers. Aside from the usual stuff that a famous person gets remembered (name of a college, bobblehead, etc.) he wrote the Institutes, which is his most popular work. My Dad still reads the Institutes for devotions. I can't say that I have it on my bed side table, but Calvin's piety is legendary. I have written before about reformed theololgy while I was taking a class at Calvin seminary. Because the reformation was confrontational in nature, some of the theology that comes out of that era is confrontational. Which doesn't help us much today as we seek to be follower of Christ in this time and place. But I can see the stakes heating up with respect to what is foundational for the church and what are modern constructs. The problem surfaces when we mix up the two. Maybe there will be another reformation of sorts down the road.