Much has changed in the 500 years since the start of the Reformation

    It’s impossible to say just how much the writings and actions of Martin Luther 500 years ago have impacted Christianity, but certainly his influence has been worldwide.
    On Sunday, Oct. 29, Zion Lutheran Church in Holyoke will have a special service at 10 a.m. to recognize the occasion. Congregations from St. Paul’s in Amherst and Venango, Nebraska, as well as Holyoke’s Ministerio Hispano, will join together for the bilingual service with lots of music. Afterward, they will share in a German meal.
    Pastor Gary Rahe said, “Anyone in the community is welcome to come and celebrate with us.”
    The namesake of the Lutheran Church is credited with starting the Protestant Reformation in 1517. It has been said that on Oct. 31 Luther nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 Theses were complaints against the Roman Catholic Church.
    In short, Luther disagreed with the practice of selling indulgences to pay for St. Peter’s Basilica, did not believe the pope has power over purgatory, and thought that buying indulgences endangered people’s salvation by giving them a false sense of security.
    In the years that followed, Luther was called a “heretic” and was excommunicated by Pope Leo. His writings were ordered to be burned, but the movement had already begun.
    Historically, the division between the Catholic and Lutheran churches has been one of the greatest in Christianity. More recently, however, the two have worked to reconcile. Beginning in the 1960s with the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), Lutherans and Catholics opened up to theological discourse with each other.
    In 1999, the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification was written by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
    After disagreeing for centuries, the two reached a “consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification.” The declaration “shows that the remaining differences in its explication are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations.”
    The last year has served as a commemoration of the Protestant Reformation, and in a show of unity, Pope Francis has been heavily involved. Of Luther, he said, “The church was not a role model, there was corruption, there was worldliness, there was greed and lust for power. He protested against this. And he was an intelligent man.”
    Though areas of division remain regarding papal primacy, the priesthood and the nature of the Eucharist or Holy Communion, the churches have found unity and work together on social issues such as caring for the poor and combating the persecution of Christians.