CMR Fall Youth Retreat

“Here I Stand”

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your Sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Imagine for a moment that you’re walking through the woods, not a house or a business anywhere within a few miles. Imagine you’re taking a journey that’s 33 miles, and you have no choice but to walk it. Now imagine that, in the middle of this 11-hour walk, in the blackness of night, and a lightning bolt strikes the ground right near you.

This is precisely what happened to Martin Luther. He writes “in his ‘Table Talks’ that on July 2, 1505, returning from Eisenach to Erfurt, on the occasion of a visit with his parents, he was surprised by an electrical storm, and, terrified of dying, he cried: ‘Help me, St. Anne, and I will become a monk.’ Much has been written about this experience. Some suggest that Luther was already worried about his spiritual situation or by his sinful condition as a mortal man, and for this reason he entered the Augustinian cloister in Erfurt that same month. It is known that he entered the monastery without much enthusiasm. There he professed as a monk in 1506, and the following year he was ordained a priest.” [Alberto L. García, “Luther, Martin (1483–1546),” ed. Justo L. González, trans. Suzanne E. Hoeferkamp Segovia, The Westminster Dictionary of Theologians (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 226.]

Have you ever been afraid for your life? Young Martin certainly was. A bolt of lightning by itself is a frightening thing indeed. It’s an absolute display of raw natural power, and if you ever see it up close, you’ll know exactly what that means. “One lightning bolt alone can discharge up to one billion volts of electrical energy. To put this in practical terms, this is enough to power a 100-watt light bulb for three months.”

Now as scary as that is, that’s not the scariest thing Martin Luther faced. As he studied and learned more about the Word of God, and the truth of Holy Scripture, he started to see things happening in the Church that weren’t biblical. Selling indulgences (you might call them get out of purgatory free cards) was one of the biggest. And so he started to speak out against these things. And the Church was not about to just ignore him.

Eventually, Luther had to face some of the most powerful people in the world - the Roman Empire and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. And here he was, this insignificant little German monk going up against the richest and most powerful political and religious authorities on the planet. They could have him executed with the stroke of a pen. Even more frightening - they could excommunicate him. For Christians of his day, it was taught that you could not be saved outside of the church. To be excommunicated was to be condemned to the fires of hell for all eternity.

And yet, this insignificant little monk knew that he was standing on the truth of Holy Scripture. He had God’s Word as his inspiration. He was not seeking power or fame. He simply wanted the Church to be about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not power or wealth or anything else. The Emperor called him to appear before a court (Diet) and confronted him with multiple books and articles - writings that criticized Rome and challenged the Church’s authority. They gave him the option to either stand by his writings “or recant. If he chose to recant and repent of the works, he could be welcomed back into the Church; if he refused, he would be branded a heretic and could be burned at the stake.” [https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1900/luthers-speech-at-the-diet-of-worms/]

Knowing that he was following the Word of God, Martin made this statement: “I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the council, because it is clear that they have fallen into error and even into inconsistency with themselves. If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”

Luther put his trust in God’s Word. He did what St. Paul encouraged the church in Ephesus to do: “11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. [Eph 6:11–18, ESV].

Let us pray:

Almighty God, you have sent the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all truth. Rule our lives by your power that we may be truthful thought and word and deed. May no fear or hope ever make us false in act or speech; cast out from us anything that would make us dishonest or lead us to lie. Bring us all into the perfect freedom of your truth. All of this we pray in the name of the Living Word, your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.