The early morning stillness was disturbed, gently, by the shuffle of feet on the stone steps of the church. A man, clothed in the drab robes of a monk, unrolled a parchment and glanced over it again, though he had every word of it by heart. A puff of his smoky breath drifted away in the frigid air, but he seemed scarcely to feel the chill. The parchment rustled as he pinned it against the chapel door with one hand while he groped in a pocket of his ample gown with the other. He found what he sought - a small iron nail - and transferred it to the fingers on the corner of the parchment. He lifted a hammer.
The silence of the sleeping town was abruptly broken by the sharp, determined ring of the hammer against the nail. One nail sank through the parchment, into the wood, and he placed a second against another corner of the document. That one also was driven home, awaking uncertain echoes from the sharp-pointed roofs of the houses in the street behind, and the walls of the castle beyond. The monk began driving in another nail.
A shutter creaked behind and above him and a man thrust his head out. His hair was tousled, his eyes bleary, and his face flushed with sleep. He blinked. The sight of a monk nailing parchments to the door of the Schlosskirche was not terribly unusual, but it was annoying to be awakened so early in the morning. He stifled a yawn as the monk turned around and looked up, after hammering the fourth and last nail.
"I give thee good morning, father," he said, as respectfully as he could manage so early in the morning. "Thou art up early to begin thy learned disputes. What is so important that it must needs be brought to light so early?"
"Good morning," the priest said gravely, pocketing the hammer. "Canst thou read?"
"Aye, but -"
"Then come and read what is here written, and thou wilt understand that it is not early, but late. These doctrines ought to have been discussed in long ages past, for mankind has been in woeful darkness for many years and Mother Church must needs bestir herself if they are to have light."
A bolt rattled inside the chapel door and the monk in the street turned and walked swiftly away. The man at the window stared after him for a few seconds, then hastily withdrew his head and closed the shutter.
In a wonderfully short space of time - for a man as phlegmatic as a German shopkeeper - he joined the priest who had unbolted the chapel door. "What is it, father?" he asked, after a brief greeting, which the priest had not heard.
He looked up from perusing the document, which was written in good Latin, defeating the shopkeeper's attempt to read it. There was a dazed expression in his eyes. "It is either hidden truth," he said slowly, as if speaking to himself, "or deepest heresy."
The shopkeeper fell back a step from him. "Truth - or heresy!" he gasped.
The priest nodded and went on, as if still speaking to himself. "These questions will cause great commotion, questioning, war, perhaps - and yet... I have had some doubts myself, and if these theses be right, they mark the dawn of a brighter day than the Church has known."
The sun rose higher, turning the silvery light of early morning to the golden glow of full day. A chill blast of wind accompanied the light, but it quickly passed away and the temperature rose. The priest went back into the chapel and shut the door, leaving the shopkeeper staring at the iron-bound oak. The parchment was still spread on the wooden door before him. Gently, he touched it with one finger, wishing he could read Latin. The words of the two priests had awakened something within him; something that had stirred often before when the chapel priest chanted the mass in Latin. He could not have named what he longed for - he only knew that he, and many others across Germany and the Christian world, hungered and thirsted for a change, a purification. The longing had become an undefined prayer, rising spontaneously from those who were kept in darkness by the few who had the light of learning and wealth.
He sighed and walked back to his shop. At the door he paused and looked back. He could still see the parchment, a frail rectangle of light against the dark oak doors of the church. A shaft of the morning sun lit it up with golden brilliance and he smiled. Somehow, he knew that another light was dawning. He stepped into his shop and closed the door, content to await God's timing.
The monk who nailed the parchment to the door of the Schlosskirche of Wittenberg was Martin Luther.
The parchment contained 95 theses, or questions, based on the Bible instead of the teachings of the Catholic church.
The date was October 31st, 1517 - the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Isaiah 9:2
Celebrate the great blessing of the Reformation! Thank God for the brave, faithful men and women who have gone before us. They endured - and many still endure - great tribulation for the sake of Jesus and the full Gospel.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote the great Reformation Symphony (Symphony no. 5) to celebrate the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, and the Reformation. It is well worth hearing, as he recounts, in music, the longing of oppressed people for the full truth of God's word, the dawning of the Reformation, and the struggle through the ages of persecution, ending with the triumphant declaration that God truly is a mighty fortress for His people, and that His truth will - and does - prevail.
(If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, at least listen to the finale.)
On a different note:
Lamplighter Publishing is giving away MP3 downloads of their audio drama, The Haunted Room. (I wrote a review of the book, The Haunted Room, some time ago.) This is an excellent story, although parts of the drama are - well - very dramatic. I don't recommend it for younger listeners and, as always, parents should be aware of what their children are taking in, and preferably, check it out themselves first.
If you want to download The Haunted Room, visit this page: http://www.lamplighter.net/haunted
Simply fill out the form and they will send you an email with the information to download. Enjoy!
