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Martin Luther
Psalm 46: 1 – 11
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Martin Luther was not a calm monk. He had squashed his father’s dreams of having a lawyer in the family at the age of 22 when, in the midst of a thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning struck him to the ground and he was overcome with emotion as he cried out, “Saint Anne, help, I will be a monk.” And so, two weeks later, with nary a word to his family, he entered the Augustinian monastery. The Augustinians were not, shall we say, a light order. Perhaps Martin Luther thought, “If I will be a monk I will not be a light monk.” He took the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and throughout the day there were prayers to be said, not just at 6:00 and 9:00, midday, nuns, vespers and complines, but also one you had to wake up for in the middle of the night. If you got behind on prayers you could try to make them up later, which meant that Martin Luther was at times saving up his prayers for the whole week, trying to get them done in 24 hours without eating or sleeping. Being a monk was not good for his health.
Martin began as a novice, with much menial labor. They wore the same cassock all year round, so it was hot in summer and terribly cold in winter. Fasting and prayer consumed his life, even as he continued his studies, but even with all of these physical burdens making his body as miserable as possible, for some reason his soul was still not at peace. The monks, like all medieval Catholics, knew grace through sacraments, especially the sacrament of confession. He and his fellow monks would go to their confessors, confess their sins and receive penance and the promise that their sins were forgiven. But Luther, when he confessed he confessed for hours detailing every minute sin that had crossed his day; pity his poor confessor who no sooner had they finished confessing was flagged down once more for a sin that might have been forgotten along the way.
Martin Luther was consumed with fear that he would forget a sin, something he would do wrong and then lay in judgment. As one biographer put it, “Luther seems to have almost luxuriated in feelings of guilt as if driving them to their extreme he could experience a heightened devotional state of self hatred that would bring him as close as possible to God.” At one point the confessor sent him away saying, “If Luther expected Christ to forgive him he should come back when he had something that really needed to be forgiven, like murder or adultery.” And yet, this didn’t sit well with him; his conscience afflicted him. He was not a monk at ease in the world and with his God.
At the same time his soul was in these turmoils, something wasn’t quite right with the
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By First Congregational Church, BellevuePsalm 46: 1 – 11
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Martin Luther was not a calm monk. He had squashed his father’s dreams of having a lawyer in the family at the age of 22 when, in the midst of a thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning struck him to the ground and he was overcome with emotion as he cried out, “Saint Anne, help, I will be a monk.” And so, two weeks later, with nary a word to his family, he entered the Augustinian monastery. The Augustinians were not, shall we say, a light order. Perhaps Martin Luther thought, “If I will be a monk I will not be a light monk.” He took the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and throughout the day there were prayers to be said, not just at 6:00 and 9:00, midday, nuns, vespers and complines, but also one you had to wake up for in the middle of the night. If you got behind on prayers you could try to make them up later, which meant that Martin Luther was at times saving up his prayers for the whole week, trying to get them done in 24 hours without eating or sleeping. Being a monk was not good for his health.
Martin began as a novice, with much menial labor. They wore the same cassock all year round, so it was hot in summer and terribly cold in winter. Fasting and prayer consumed his life, even as he continued his studies, but even with all of these physical burdens making his body as miserable as possible, for some reason his soul was still not at peace. The monks, like all medieval Catholics, knew grace through sacraments, especially the sacrament of confession. He and his fellow monks would go to their confessors, confess their sins and receive penance and the promise that their sins were forgiven. But Luther, when he confessed he confessed for hours detailing every minute sin that had crossed his day; pity his poor confessor who no sooner had they finished confessing was flagged down once more for a sin that might have been forgotten along the way.
Martin Luther was consumed with fear that he would forget a sin, something he would do wrong and then lay in judgment. As one biographer put it, “Luther seems to have almost luxuriated in feelings of guilt as if driving them to their extreme he could experience a heightened devotional state of self hatred that would bring him as close as possible to God.” At one point the confessor sent him away saying, “If Luther expected Christ to forgive him he should come back when he had something that really needed to be forgiven, like murder or adultery.” And yet, this didn’t sit well with him; his conscience afflicted him. He was not a monk at ease in the world and with his God.
At the same time his soul was in these turmoils, something wasn’t quite right with the