Reforming Lives Reform the World

This October we will mark the 500th anniversary of the day Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, an
Augustinian Monk, University Professor of Old Testament, and Preacher at the Wittenberg Church, nailed 95 Theses (or arguments) against the selling of indulgences (or get out of purgatory cards). This action, which Rev. Dr. Luther did to spur a conversation in his community, was the match to the tinder of an explosive revolution.

These theses walked through an argument that can be summed up in this way: If God offers forgiveness freely, how can the church make people pay for it?

We do this a lot, you know. We take things that God gives freely and we market it as if we own it and have every right to profit from it. Take water for example. What more readily available resource is there in the world, besides dirt? In 2016 U.S. bottled water sales reached $16 billion.  To put it another way, the average cost per gallon of water is $1.22.  That is 300 times the cost of water from your faucet. More than half of all bottled water is tap water.

We humans can figure out a way to wrestle beautiful gifts from God and turn them into ugly profits with very little effort. It is almost a superpower.

Our good Brother Luther understands our sinful nature. He is very clear about who we humans are to each other and the earth. But, he also knows how full of love our God is and how God desires to heal the entire universe, freely. And God chooses to do so through water and the word of forgiveness. Jesus transforms wine and bread through the Word to nourish us in our walk of faith.

This radical notion that God gives freely grates against everything that this world desires, to profit off of another's misery. But we are called to speak truth to this power. To teach better ways of being in the this world and being God's hands in the healing of it. We are called to lead lives that infect this world with love of the other and love for this planet.

So, the next time you need a drink of water, remember your baptism and the freely given promise of God to forgive you and to love you forever, and get your water from the tap as a radical act to change the world.