What is left to protest?

October 31 marks the 493^rd anniversary of Martin Luther's disputation of the practice of selling indulgences and the symbolic (though hardly actual) beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Throughout the Lutheran and Reformed worlds, many churches will make at least some tacit acknowledgement of this day. In an era of increasing ecumenical dialogue and cooperation, why would we want to emphasize an era that tore the church apart? The Protestant churches are firmly independent of Rome, so what do we have left to protest?

The Protestant churches and denominations are like the rings of suburbs surrounding an urban center. While families may have started in the city, many wind up "moving out to the burbs." And over time, those suburbs begin to forget about the urban center that connects them all. They become discreet self-sufficient communities with their own city councils, fire departments, schools and even shopping malls. After a while, we forget that we were ever in the city to begin with. One of the lessons of the last two decades in urban planning is that the health of the suburbs and the health of the city are connected in many ways. The same is true for the church. However far we may seek to move from our historical center, we are still connected in Christ one with the other.

The metaphor is not perfect, but you get the point. We Protestants moved out to the ecclesiastical burbs nearly 5 centuries ago and now few of us ever go back to the city at all. We stand at a distance and proclaim what is wrong but you will never catch us moving back.

To be sure, there are still many doctrines and policies of the Roman Catholic faith with which I take issue. I agree with Luther and Calvin and other Protestant thinkers that the Catholic Church fundamentally misunderstands the grace of God. I disagree with their stance on the role of women in the church, the nature of the priesthood and the role of bishops. There are many things that I believe still need protest. However, I think that we contemporary Protest-ants can take a lesson from our Reformation era forebears. Martin Luther never intended to separate from the Roman Catholic Church. He intended to protest its practices not abandon it all together.

One lesson for us this Reformation Sunday is that while there is much to still protest about the historic practices of the church, we make our protest not from the outside looking in but from within the larger body of Christ. Our protests are not (or at least should not be) to change a church outside the body of Christ but to reform part of our shared community as the body of Christ.

After all, it is
Reformation Sunday and not Protestant
Sunday.