I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
_____________________________________________________________
*
The word "catholic" refers not to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Source: http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.html
reformatrix hominumreformer of men (latin)
About 3 years ago, I as listening intently (AKA "about to doze off") in my music survey class. In order to stay awake, I started flipping through the textbook for the course and found a series of Gregorian chants.
The Gregorian chants were used in the church back in the middle ages, as part of their worship services. Gregory was a Pope who later organized all these chants, I think. Anyway, this phrase,
reformatrix hominum, was in a chant called
Haec Deis, and I don't remember what that meant. The chants were in latin, with transations were out to the side, and
reformatrix hominum meant (I guess it still does) "reformer of men."
So, how did this blog and subsequently this part of my life come to be called Reformatrix? That's a good question. At the time, I thought that my finding that page in the textbook was happenstance, but maybe my fingers were pushed along by the very hand of God. That remains to be seen, I suppose, but thinking of Jesus as the reformer of men (and women, too, of course), has become significant to me.
Jesus was a revolutionary figure. His teachings and very lifestyle convicted the people around him - prostitutes, tax collectors, even the religious elite. The weight of who he was pushed them. They were pushed to stop selling themselves, drop their fishing nets, or conspire to kill him. He also influenced 12 regular guys and showed them how to live as children of the king and warriors of the kingdom of God, and they, in turn, changed the world... in Jesus name. They were the founders of the church - God's kingdom.
Over the decades, however, the church turned from it's King. In the 1500s, priests were selling indulgences - basically, people would pay them to wipe away their sins. A man named Martin Luther rediscovered Jesus and started a movement. "Justification is by faith" was the reformer's war cry. Salvation does not come at the hands of greedy men, but from faith in Jesus Christ. Luther's teachings sparked what we call the Reformation.
In the 1700s, a man named John Wesley began to think about what we in the church call sanctification and Christian perfection. Perfection, Wesley said, is not being
flawless, but doing and being that which God created and called you to be. Wesley took the idea of church at the time (everyone went to church in England), and started calling people to a deeper walk in God and each other. He started what he called "bands" and "holy clubs." These were groups of people intent on seeing one another grow in and with God and in love for Christ and one another. Wesley's faith was not a nice and neat little part of himself. He called out for Christians to live faithfully.
And now here we are in the 2000s, in the middle of a cultural shift: postmodernity. We are a people oriented more in movies and television instead of books and lectures. Everything is instant. If we need directions from New York City to Miami, all we need to do is visit MapQuest, and we can get details down to the very street we need to turn on, and where every resturaunt is along the way. Life changes fast. The church, however, seems to be lagging behind. Not just in the way we present our message, but our very lives.
