Reformationsgottesdienst

On October 31, the Reformation Day is celebrated by Protestant Christians in remembrance of the Reformation of the Church by Martin Luther. The posting of the 95 Theses in 1517 on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

Reformation Day commemorates a young man named Martin Luther. He expressed all his dissatisfaction with the high church institution in writing. He actually wanted to provoke a discussion by nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. What resulted was a long-overdue reformation!

This call echoed long before Reformation Day throughout the Middle Ages. Bishops and priests were supposed to tell Christians about God's love and convey a good life under God's protection. However, this did not happen. Instead, they spread fear and terror of purgatory and hell. The common people were to serve one another in everyday life, as Jesus and his disciples had exemplified. However, they could not. They were made to feel like nothing, and that their path led to nothingness.
Then came that October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses. He was tired of being filled with fear and dread, of having to be afraid of God and of people.
He claimed: All people have free access to God in prayer. No church, no priest may come between them. And he said: No person is like God. Therefore, no one has the right to boast before God or to flaunt their great deeds. Or, if they have nothing to show for it, to buy God's attention with a lot of money. All nonsense.
We humans will never be like God. God knows this. And yet He loves us in all our shortcomings. We just have to believe that. And then everything is okay. Then we are free, free to care about the problems of our world. It’s best if we start today.
Some problems from 1517 no longer exist. Hardly anyone fears hell and purgatory anymore. But many people today experience hell on earth in their daily lives.
The world is as in need of reform today as it was in 1517.
But that is the freedom of a Christian, said Martin Luther. And since this is still needed today, reformation is still called for.

Experience a 360° panoramic tour through the Gosau Valley…