Below are some worship resources which you are welcome to use at no charge. Please just use a copyright acknowledgment "Copyright Lisa Frenz. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission."
A REVOLUTION IN FAITH
A Reformation Dialog for Two Voices
Lisa A. Frenz
copyright 1985
(Perhaps the second voice could come from the balcony or elsewhere within the congregation.)
There is a revolutionary sitting among us, a person who is working to upset the status quo, change the face of society, throw out the old way of doing things, strip away everything that is comfortable and reliable, everything that is us, who we are.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a person s foes will be those of his own household."
Incendiary, isn t it? Everything changes, doesn t it?, when we hear those words. Our family is no longer to be the focal point of our life. Our family is no longer part of who we are. Our family is no longer the source of order and serenity in our life. The rules are broken, and the foundation of our life isn t as solid as we thought it was.
"Those who love father or mother more than me are not worthy of me; and those who love son or daughter more than me are not worthy of me; and those who do not take-their cross and follow me are not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
Follow him. That is the call of a revolutionary. Follow him where? Follow him out of the bounds that society has said are correct. Follow him into no man s land. Follow him into a world where you ve never been, into a world inhabited by strangers and outcasts—the homeless, the mentally ill, the prostitutes and pimps, the thieves, the dishonest, the immigrants, the elderly, the people with AIDS. In other words, the people who smell funny, talk strangely, live badly, look ugly, who may be dangerous—the people you would never, ever take out to dinner, much less invite into your home. That s where this revolutionary leads. That is where Jesus is taking us.
When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying. "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean."
Touch the untouchables, reach out for the impossible, welcome the unthinkable. All of this leads to changes in our thinking, changes in our lives, changes in society. The great reformation of our spirits and hearts and minds is what this revolutionary is calling for. Changes—reflecting the Kingdom of God to bring in the Kingdom of God.
The Pharisees said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when Jesus heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.'"
"I desire mercy, not sacrifice." I desire action, not ceremony. I desire risk, not safety. Reformation is all about risk and changes, about going where Jesus leads, not knowing where it will end, knowing only that Jesus requires that we reform our lives, our families, our society, our very selves.
"God knows, I, Martin Luther, never thought of going as far as I did. I intended only to attack indulgences. If anybody had told me, a celibate priest, when I was at the Diet of Worms, ‘In a few years you ll have a wife and your own household, I wouldn t have believed it."
There is a revolutionary sitting among us, a person who is working to shake up the establishment, reform the rules we live by, challenge our faith, lift us out of our rut, revise the way we think, and change the focus of our world. This is the day the universe changes, because this revolutionary is our Lord, Jesus the Christ.