In the last post, the system of feudalism was explained. This week we want to look at the role of the church in feudalism.

To review: Feudalism was a system created to provide land, resources(food), and service(military) to those who needed it. But how did the church relate to this system.

Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 391AD. With this protection, the church grew in numbers and influence and became the most powerful institution in the Europe.

The church was organized in much the same way the feudal system was with the pope on top, then bishops and abbots, then priests and superiors of convents and monasteries, then friars, monks, and nuns. Do you see something missing in the diagram to the left? Where are the believers, the average Christians? In many ways, they were considered so unimportant that they did not need to be on the chart.

The church leaders were the most educated individuals in society. They were called upon to help the secular leaders as advisors on political, financial, judicial, and military issues in addition to spiritual matters.

Most important the church with its structure helped to legitimize the feudal system structure. The church taught that God appointed the pope and kings (divine right of kings). This meant that each person was born into their divinely determined position in society. If you were a king, you and your descendants would always be kings. If you were a peasant, you and your descendants would always be peasants. God wanted it that way!

Land was given to the church by Nobles as indulgences(to buy their way into heaven). By the end of the Medieval period, the church was largest landowner in the Europe owning one-third of the land. With that much land, the church became very powerful and with power comes the abuse of power.

In order to understand the context of the Reformation, it is important to understand the how society was structure. The structure was called feudalism.

The King owned the land. He would give land to subordinates in exchange for resources like food and soldiers. The king gave land to Nobles in return for money and knights. The Nobles gave land to Knights in return for protection and military service. The Knights gave land to the peasants in exchange for food and services.

This system helped to provide what was needed to those who needed it. This worked fine until something happened to unbalance the system . . . like a drought or famine. In a just system, the king, nobles, and knights would not demand their portion during those hard times. However, the system was seldom just. The peasants would starve, so that the higher ups could have their portion. This created a volatile climate of suffering for the poor and indulgence for the rich in which the Reformation began its revolution of the church and society.

The first Advent wreaths began to appear in the 16th Century in Germany. This is not a direct result of the Reformation, but it could be argued that as Roman Catholic faith practices were being eliminated from the lives of believers that other practices entered into the vacuum. The original Advent wreath had candles for each day of Advent — 28 — and the candles were white and red. The wreath was set up on a wagon wheel.

The Advent wreaths we know today have purple and pink candles (symbolizing  repentance) or blue candles (symbolizing hope). Regardless of the color or number of the candles, the purpose of the wreath remains the same, counting down to the celebration of  the birth of the Christ child.

Martin Luther famously had a problem with indulgences. He wrote his 95 Theses about what he saw as abuses of the church concerning indulgences. So what is an indulgence?

An indulgence is a way to make up for your sins by purchasing, with money, and indulgence that would get you into heaven sooner. We have to understand some parts of medieval Christian theology to get at Luther’s problem with indulgences.

The church taught that humans were so sinful that there was no way they could be allowed into heaven until their sin was removed somehow. The concept of “purgatory” was developed in order for Christians to spend time in this uncomfortable place while they paid the price of their sins. This could take centuries if you were bad enough. Understand this Lutherans don’t do purgatory. The church developed ways for individuals to take off some of their years in purgatory through prayers, pilgrimages, and indulgences.

The church figured out selling indulgences was a great way to raise money. In Luther’s time, the Pope Leo X wanted to raise funds to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Johann Tetzel was a great sales person, scaring the poor people of Wittenberg into buy indulgences with his famous words: “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.” Luther was having none of it, thus the 95 Theses.

Luther was a biblical scholar and professor at Wittenberg University. He understood through God’s word that as human beings we were unable to ever earn God’s love and forgiveness. Forgiveness was and is total gift from God. Therefore, indulgences were an offense to the gift of God that is freely given.

Luther’s 95 Theses were broadly published and soon became the bane of Pope Leo X existence, but that is a story for another day.

It is important to understand how the Reformation began and what the original intent of the reformers was, as we look back on the history of the Reformation. When Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses, his intention was not to create a new church, but to re-form the one and only church — the Roman church. As history unfolded, this is not what happened. The resistance to change in the church (an eternal problem) was much stronger than Luther had anticipated.

As we look back on 500 years of re-forming the church, it is important to understand that reformation is to be the ongoing practice of the church. All churches, including the one and only church (in 1517) the Roman church has changed throughout the centuries. New technology (like the printing press in Luther’s day and cell phones today), changes in culture (the inclusion of people of color and women in the leadership of the church), and new interpretations of theology (the theology of the cross had new and powerful meaning in light of the Holocaust), have made their impact on the church. These changes have created the church universal we know today. But the church we see today is not the church we will see in the years to come. Why? Because re-formation is an ongoing process.

“Re” means “again.” “Form” means, according to Merriam Webster, “to create or develop (something) over a period of time.” In the church, we are called to create or develop the church again and again over a period of time. We do this not simply for the sake of change but in order for the church to be faithful to its mission to share the good news of Jesus Christ to all the ends of the earth. Our great-grandparents would not recognize most churches today. But our children and grandchildren would not recognize the church of our great-grandparents. If we are to continue in our mission, we must re-form regularly with humility and with compassion for those whom change is painful.

Re-Form-ation: It is never ending!