Reformation Sunday

[HappyChicken]

This coming Sunday will be the fourth Sunday my family has attended this Lutheran church in town... I hear its Reformation Sunday coming up, and everyone is excited about it. What can we expect?

 

[Zoness]

Whats reformation sunday?

 

[HappyChicken]

I dont know, I'm knew to this Lutheran stuff.

 

[Edial]

This coming Sunday will be the fourth Sunday my family has attended this Lutheran church in town... I hear its Reformation Sunday coming up, and everyone is excited about it. What can we expect?

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Reformation Sunday is THIS coming Sunday?
I missed church last week.

This Thursday night we are practicing a skit for this Sunday. I have no idea what the skit will be about ... but I am told I am Elmer Fudd ...

Ed

 

[HappyChicken]

Yes, its this coming Sunday....the last Sunday in October.

 

[Studeclunker]

Whats reformation sunday?

Google and Wikipedia are your friends:

Reformation Day

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Door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) to which Luther is said to have nailed his 95 Theses, sparking the Reformation.


Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31 in remembrance of the Reformation, particularly by Lutheran and some Reformed church communities. It is a civic holiday in Slovenia (since the Reformation contributed to its cultural development profoundly, although Slovenians are mainly Roman Catholics) and in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.

[edit] History

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Also, the theses were written in Latin, the language of the church, and not in the vernacular. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. When Luther and his supporters were excommunicated in 1520, the Lutheran tradition was born. This in turn would later ease the creation of the Reformed and Anabaptist traditions as well.

[edit] Lutheran church

Within the Lutheran church, Reformation Day is considered a lesser festival, and is officially referred to as The Festival of the Reformation. Until the 20th Century, most Lutheran churches celebrated Reformation Day on October 31st, regardless of which day of the week it occurred. Today, most Lutheran churches transfer the festival, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31st and transfer All Saints' Day to the Sunday on or after November 1st.
The liturgical color of the day is red, which represents the Holy Spirit and the Martyrs of the Christian Church. Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God is traditionally sung on this day. Lutherans customarily stand during the hymn, in memory of its use in the religious wars of the Sixteenth Century. It is also traditional in some Lutheran schools for schoolchildren to hold Reformation Day plays or pageants that re-enact scenes from the life of Martin Luther. The fact that Reformation Day coincides with Halloween may not be mere coincidence. Halloween, being the Eve of All Saints' Day might have been an entirely appropriate day for Luther to post his 95 Theses against indulgences since the castle church would be open on All Saints' Day specifically for people to view a large collection of relics. The viewing of these relics was said to promise a reduction in time in purgatory similar to that of the purchase of an indulgence. Dr. Luther may have been shrewd in his choice of that day to post his theses.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_Day"

 

[ctay]

The LCMS churches in this circuit always got together to do something to celebrate Reformation sunday, they aren't doing it this year. I've always enjoyed it.

 

[Tofferer]

We've got a special potluck planned for Reformation Sunday and I guess there will also be a special guest speaker coming too.

 

[dinkime]

we are having ours on november 2nd -- we do an area wide service & dinner our church is hosting it this year, but our pastor is in china, so one of the other pastors will be preaching

 

[WildStrawberry]

I'm tellin' y'all. You need to come to Cincinnati and gang up on Kieschinik with me!!! He's "preaching" at the area wide service here in my neck 'o the woods.



Kae

 

[Studeclunker]

I'm tellin' y'all. You need to come to Cincinnati and gang up on Kieschinik with me!!! He's "preaching" at the area wide service here in my neck 'o the woods.



Kae

Only if I'm allowed to bring a dozen eggs...

 

[Kalevalatar]

Um, this is odd. Reformation Sunday comes the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost; this year it fell on October 12. Read: Reformation Sunday went already. Coming up next is All Saints' Day.

Lutheran church

Within the Lutheran church, Reformation Day is considered a lesser festival, and is officially referred to as The Festival of the Reformation. Until the 20th Century, most Lutheran churches celebrated Reformation Day on October 31st, regardless of which day of the week it occurred. Today, most Lutheran churches transfer the festival, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31st and transfer All Saints' Day to the Sunday on or after November 1st.

The liturgical color of the day is red, which represents the Holy Spirit and the Martyrs of the Christian Church...

Nope. The liturgical color of Reformation Sunday is green. Red is used on All Saints' Day.

Maybe this wikipedia article was written by a non-Lutheran who couldn't tell Reformation Sunday and All Saints' Day apart?

 

[Willy]

No, the color for Reformation Sunday is red. It is always celebrated on the last Sunday of October, as close as possible to Oct 31 when Luther posted the 95 theses.

 

[WildStrawberry]

Only if I'm allowed to bring a dozen eggs...

heh heh heh...

I have an extra dozen here...



Kae

 

[Kalevalatar]

No, the color for Reformation Sunday is red. It is always celebrated on the last Sunday of October, as close as possible to Oct 31 when Luther posted the 95 theses.

Apparently not always.

Here in my periphery, we do celebrate it on the 22. Sunday after Pentecost, this year on October 12. And our liturgical color of Reformation Sunday is green, for the reason that Sundays after Pentecost are green up until All Saints' and Advent.

Uskonpuhdistuksen muistopäivä (transl. Reformation Sunday)

Liturginen väri (Liturgical color): Vihreä (green)

This is the "bottom line" for our congregations.





Hmm, could be our "rule" -- twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost -- has something to do with our own "local" reformation dates.

 

[DaRev]

Reformation Sunday is traditionally, but not strictly, Red. All Saint's Sunday is White.

 

[Kalevalatar]

Reformation Sunday is traditionally, but not strictly, Red. All Saint's Sunday is White.

Interesting.

In our liturgical color "scheme", WHITE is the color of glory, innocence, purity: First Sunday in Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension Day, Michaelmas and Midsummer (Saint John's), sometimes also All Saints, especially toward the evening.

RED is the color of the Holy Spirit, fire, blood and witness: Pentecost, All Saints Day, apostols and martyrs (Stefanus, Henrik).

PURPLE (or BLUE) is the color of expectation, preparation, and penitence: the liturgical color on the First Sunday in Advent is white, thereafter purple (or blue), Lent, Holy Week, Maundy Thursday.

GREEN is the color of growth and vigor: between Pentecost and Advent, the general color is green, hence also Reformation Sunday.

BLACK is the color of grief for death: Good Friday, Holy Saturday.


Just curious, are there notable differences here?

 

[WildStrawberry]

The way I've had it explained to me is that Red is used for Reformation Sunday because of the Holy Spirit's leading the Church out of the darkness that it had fallen into with the corruption of the RCC.

We also use Red for Ordination services.

Kae

 

[LilLamb219]

We have RED for our services for Reformation weekend!!

Tomorrow we're doing a special event. We called in a lady to come in (not during the service but in the afternoon) for a Katie Luther program. She dresses up like Katie Luther and goes through her life! It's wonderful...I saw her at a LWML convention once! Afterward of course is dinner!

 

[latebloomer]

We have RED for our services for Reformation weekend!!

Tomorrow we're doing a special event. We called in a lady to come in (not during the service but in the afternoon) for a Katie Luther program. She dresses up like Katie Luther and goes through her life! It's wonderful...I saw her at a LWML convention once! Afterward of course is dinner!

Katie's busy at LilLamb's. Martin is coming to our church. He'll be visiting the Sunday School kids.