GREAT  ideas transcend time and space. In the Lutheran calendar October 31 is designated Reformation Day.  As part of its activities to celebrate the achievements of Reformation a group of Lutherans met under the shade of a Silk Cotton Tree [between the King of Glory Church and the Lutheran Community Centre] to talk about the Reformation and the influence it continues to exhort in our world today. The gathering itself reflects the notion of equality before God which was one of the key ideas that was generated by the Protestant Reform Movement of 16th Century Europe.
Dr. Tony Carr, a University of Cambridge trained scientist, now residing in Canada, chaired the discussion. Rev. Richard Young is an American trained medical doctor and his ancestors are from Eastern Europe. Sister Chirs Kafts is visiting from Florida but she can trace her history back to Germany and Canadian Dr. John O’Connor, can trace his roots to St. Martin in the Caribbean. The Guyanese participants were mainly Lutherans but they reflected the rich cultural mix of our Guyanese society.
Errol Ramdhany gave an overview of the Reformation movement. He identified actors like Dr. Martin Luther [Germany], John Calvin [France] and Huldreich Zwingli [Switzerland] and the role they played in combating misguided ideas and practices of the Catholic Church of that period.
Rev. Young offered three main ideas that Luther contributed to the discourse. Firstly, Luther criticized the Catholic Church for selling the idea that people could buy their salvation by purchasing indulgences which the Catholic Church was selling at the time. Luther’s theology extended beyond the phenomenon of indulgences to say that we cannot earn our salvation.  Rather, salvation is a gift from God and it is received through faith not by works. Scriptural support for his argument is written in Romans chapter 1 verse 17 which reads in part ‘…the just shall live by faith.’
Secondly, Luther also stressed that Scripture is the sole authority and he encouraged that everyone should read the Bible. This was very radical for his time because the Bible was in very short supply and in the hands of the clergy. The Bible was inaccessible to the common people. The clergy read the Bible in a foreign language and interpreted the Bible for the common people.
Thirdly, Luther introduced the notion of the priesthood of all believers. While he recognized the need for special offices in the church yet he stressed that the Pope, the Bishops and other high ranging officials of the church had no monopoly on God, God’s Word and on God’s Salvation. All believers are equal and that all believers shared a responsibility of spreading the good news. Moreover all believers are guided and led by God. They have equal access to God’s Grace. Their spiritual enlightenment is a gift from God and not from man.
Dr. O’ Connor credited the Reformation movement with making information available as far and wide as possible. Luther himself translated the Bible into German to make the Bible more accessible to the people in Germany. The printing press emerged around this time. That made it possible for mass publication and distribution. It could be argued that the roots of today’s mass media and rapid and massive information flow are embedded in the Reformation Movement.
He also showed how the Reformation contributed to democratic thinking and democratic action. When people realized that the Pope is not infallible they soon began to reason that neither are the monarchs. Further, if everyone is equal before God then everyone is entitled to participate in decision making that affect their lives. Moreover, all are also entitled to a greater share of the resources produced by the society. Pastor John concluded that the freedoms and the justice we now enjoy can be traced to the struggles of the 16th Century Reformers.
It is of great interest to note that something that happened five hundred years ago in Europe could be so real in the lives of the participants in a tropical third world country. Surely, the visionary aspirations of the Reformation will continue to inspire action and changes that will further enhance the life styles and life chances of the poor and powerless in the Guyanese Society.