Reformation Sunday Psalm Festival
When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the university Church in Wittenberg over 500 years ago, he was not being intentionally recalcitrant. He was requesting debate over matters that he hoped would reinvigorate and reform the spiritual life of a church that was resplendent, but as such had grown proud, foppish, and repressive. His hope, as was the hope of all the Reformers, was to bring about a renewal and restoration of godly, Christ-centered worship. In reaction to some rather reprehensible worship practices, the Reformers all agreed that at the heart of authentic, biblical worship was the principle of simplicity.
Martin Bucer, though not as recognizable today as Luther, Calvin, Knox, or Zwingli, was nonetheless a central figure in thoughtful and bold re-examination that reinvigorated the church of Jesus Christ in the early 16th century. And though Bucer vehemently adhered to the principle of the centrality of the Word in worship, singing was not relegated to a lesser prominence. Bucer’s worship service in Strasbourg in the formative years of the Protestant Reformation was renowned for its vibrant congregational singing, a right response to the restoration of the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Can you imagine how refreshing it must have been for oppressed believers to have men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli, and Bucer not only repudiating the sins of the church, but actually addressing them directly, instituting practical measures to repel the roaming wolves that sought to devour faithful believers, and point these faithful souls to their true shepherd, Jesus Christ? Bucer was a true brother and shepherd to John Calvin, following Calvin’s removal from Geneva. Bucer was also a restorative, reconciling voice among wrangling Reformers. Is it any wonder that vibrant praise became a hallmark of the Reformation, with Bucer’s church setting the example for others to follow!
On Reformation Sunday evening, October 31, we, too, will celebrate the event, using Bucer’s 1539 Order of Worship as an historical point of reference, singing resounding congregational psalms to remember the courage and faithfulness of men like Bucer, who renounced all for the cause of Christ and the purity of Christ’s church on earth. May we also not resign ourselves to anything less.
Daniel Cole
Director of Music Ministry
