Semper Reformandawhata?
Semper Reformanda – it’s a latin phrase that gets thrown around a lot in the reformed community of churches. It’s origins are debatable, but largely held to be from the 1600′s, at the height of the Protestant Reformation. The phrase translates to “always reforming” or “always reformed.” But what does it mean? And what’s a simple, practical application of it in our lives as disciples?
In as few words as possible, it means conform to a standard; going a little deeper, it means to get (or to be put) in your proper place, presumably by something or someone. In the case of the Church, and us disciples, that something or someone is what A.W. Tozer often referred to as a “fixed point” or God. Tozer on more than one occasion remarked that “everyone and everything else measures from a fixed point” (God). This is what it means to be reformed; to be measured from and held to the standards of that fixed point. “I am that I am. I change not” says God.
Sadly semper reformanda is often used, out of context, as a one-liner to back-up errant philosophies or new methods for doing ministry that are downright scandalous and contradicting Scripture. Reshaping Scripture to fit their philosophies and methods, rather than the other way around. “Reformed, always reforming” they will say, as if to say God has changed and they have inside knowledge that nearly two-thousand years worth of scholarship somehow missed. The problem with this is God hasn’t changed, and the phrase is an abbreviation. When taken out of it’s full context, the translation can be incredibly harmful because we lose sight of the standard intended, the Word of God, and we become vulnerable towards reshaping God to fit in our philosophies and methods.
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them (Isaiah 11:16, ESV)
The unabbreviated version of the Latin is Ecclesia reformata et semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei (“The Church Reformed and always reforming according to the Word of God.”)
According to my friend and colleague John Stuart, reform is a military term/command that literally means re-form the ranks back into a basic unit in the midst of battle, which brings me to the simple and practical application of today’s lesson; we’re in the midst of a battle. A spiritual battle. And we’ve been given a fixed point – God. Our faith will be tested and measured against that fixed point, and the standards from which we are taught – the Word of God. Authentic reformation occurs as we align our beliefs, our behavior, and our worship with the Word of God. We can’t do that if we don’t read it. So the simple, practical application is this: read the Word of God on a regular basis, and God will take care of the rest.
Blessings,
Dan
An Earthy-Good Friday
Written by: William P. Brown & Stanley P. Saunders
By a rare coincidence Earth Day falls on Good Friday this year, the first time ever. (The next time is in 2095.) “Good Friday” is the day Christians commemorate Christ’s crucifixion. Earth Day calls attention to the continuing crucifixion of our planet. While some may consider this chronological convergence a rude distraction from the Holy Week of Christ’s Passion, we believe the coincidence is providential. Both Good Friday and Earth Day draw our attention to suffering, death, and the hope of redemption.
How strange it seems to call “good” a day that commemorates crucifixion. The historical reason is that “good” meant “holy” back in the time of Shakespeare and the King James Bible. But now that meaning is lost. The Swedes offer an alternative: “Long Friday” (Långfredagen). Crucifixion was not quick and easy. It was meant to assert Rome’s control over subject peoples by means of a prolonged, public display of suffering.
Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin and a Methodist, who called for an environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. It was his response to the Santa Barbara oil spill of the previous year—a spill that involved a relatively miniscule amount of oil compared to the recent one off the Gulf coast. Earth Day invites us to remember not just particular crises, however, but the prolonged public suffering the earth is experiencing at human hands.
James Howard Kunstler refers to “the long emergency” that is now upon us, a time of converging economic and ecological crises. The evidence is chilling. On the economic front, today’s global markets seem ever vulnerable to collapse as they continue to operate under the grand but deadly illusion of growth at any cost, both human and environmental.
Alarmed at the rapid rate of disappearing species, biologists in a recent issue of Nature warn that the earth is on the brink of a sixth massive extinction, comparable to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But what makes this one unique is its cause, namely, human activity: habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, and competition for resources.
Extinction and crucifixion share much in common. In our hands, the earth continues to suffer its own via dolorosa. Call it “The Passion of the Creation.” The apostle Paul described creation as “groaning” and “subjected to futility” (Romans 8:18-23). He was also clear that the fate of humankind is bound up with the fate of creation. We live in a good and groaning world, a world created good, according to Genesis, and now groaning under the crushing weight of our carbon footprint.
With Earth Day converging on Good Friday this year, a lesson is to be learned. It begins with the dawning awareness of a connection that has long been forgotten, namely, the indissoluble bond between Christ and creation. Christ, the Word made flesh, dwelt in a world made of flesh. Christians call this the incarnation: when God saw fit to become a part of creation. Faith in the incarnation takes seriously God’s creation.
While it is tempting on Good Friday to look away from the cross toward Easter’s empty tomb, we must remember that Christ’s resurrected body still bears the scars of his crucifixion (John 20:27). Our planet, too, bears lasting scars. During this time of Lent, may we reflect on the magnitude of our sin against God and God’s creation. As we tremble at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, may we tremble also at the cross the earth now bears on account of our greed, consumptive habits, and toxic policies. May we hear the groans of our bruised and battered world echoed in the cries of Jesus on the cross.
To tremble at the cross and repent is what makes this day “good.”
William P. Brown and Stanley P. Saunders are founding members of Earth Covenant Ministry (www.earthcovenantministry.org) and teach at Columbia Theological Seminary.
Utterly Different Things
“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
- Tim Keller
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