The 31st of October is commemorated every year in many churches of the Lutheran tradition (and some of the Reformed tradition) as Reformation Day. Translated into Malay, this would be Hari Reformasi .. hehe .. interesting connotations eh? Interestingly, Reformation Day is a civic holiday in Slovenia despite the population of that country being primarily Roman Catholic - go figure :)
Scuttlebutt has it that on this day in 1517 (a mere half a decade after the establishment of the Johor-Riau Sultanate - which is today the Johor Sultanate and one of the successor states of the Malacca Sultanate), an Augustinian monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, the Rev'd Fr. Dr. Martin Luther, nailed a collection of points for debate.
This document was entitled the Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, popularly known as the 95 Theses on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg (church doors being traditionally used in those days as university bulletin boards .. somewhat like what Facebook has become nowadays). These points of debate accidentally sparked a major crisis in the Western Church of the day and became known as The Protestant Reformation - the impact of which, both positive and negative, are still being felt today.
So, in the grand spirit of the Reformation, I would like to present (HT: Old Lutheran), this carol of commemoration, sung to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer:
Reformation Carol
Lyrics: Anne & Tom Lipe
Music: Johnny Marks (Midi of melody here)There was a monk named Luther,
As devout as he could be.
You couldn't find a better
monk in all of Germany.All of the other friars
used to laugh and call him names.
They never dreamed that God would
lead him down the path to fame.Then one cold October morn
God's call came to him:
"Luther, I think you are right;
I want you to lead my fight."So then he wrote his theses;
tacked them up for all to see.
And now the Reformation
will go down in history...."
By the way, the picture used in this post is for illustration purposes only. I am pretty sure Martin Luther looked nothing like Joseph Fiennes.
If you liked this post, consider buying me some coffee. Suggested price is $1.00 for a cup and $10.00 for a 1 lbs bag (personally I am a big fan of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe).
Categories: Being Lutheran, Fun Stuff
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