A couple years ago for Christmas my spouse worked with my mom to put together a cookbook made up of all my favorite family comfort recipes. Things like Easy Chicken Divan, Beef Stroganoff, and “The Hamburger Noodle dish”. Since then, anytime I’ve needed an idea for dinner I reach for my trusty cookbook. Some of these recipes go back a couple generations and would have been made for my parent and grandparents when they were young too the same way they were made for me. Now that I’m making them for myself and Maddie, I find myself tweaking the recipes to our tastes. Maybe some extra seasoning here or adding some extra veggies there. The recipes hold onto the past while also becoming something new for us today.
This Sunday many, if not all, Lutheran Churches (and a few not Lutheran ones) will celebrate the Reformation started by Martin Luther in 1517. They’ll sing a Mighty Fortress, hear about Theses and Justification, and celebrate all that was new when splitting from the Catholic Church. It celebrates the way of thinking and being faith that has been passed down by generation and generation of those who would call ourselves “Lutheran” (even if Martin would have hated it).
As I gear up for this year’s Reformation Sunday, I find myself thinking about my family cookbook and how in many ways it’s also both old and new. I think about how pastors and professors from my past have said that the Lutheran Church is “always reforming”. Always changing and adapting what is old so it might breathe new life into a world that still needs its message. Much like my “old” recipes adjusted and adapted bring comfort and fullness when I need it. I wonder what ways our old faith and witness might need to change for today, and how we can still keep the parts that honor the past as well.
My question this week is what is old in your life that might benefit from some reformation? What parts of your faith might enjoy some new life?
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