Our Sacred Roots: The Priesthood of All Believers

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T he S eason after P entecost

act would become the touchstone of sweeping changes in the life of the Church.

Luther’s nailing his letter to the door of the Schlosskirche (known as the Castle Church) in Wittenberg has been marked as the initial spark that ignited the movement known as the Reformation. Even a contemporary of Luther, Philip Melanchthon, would write in 1546 that Luther’s writing and posting of his arguments against indulgence was a seminal event in the Reformation’s start. While this has been debated in some scholarly circles, it is clear that The 95 Theses would go on to be published from Latin into German, and copied much throughout Europe, aided remarkably by the dawning of the printing press. It would set in motion a series of events which would effect the Church’s faith and practice, even to the present day. We at TUMI recognize this festival, even though it is not broadly celebrated as the other feast days in the Christian calendar. We are unashamedly Protestant in that, while we affirm the unity of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, we recognize the significance and authority of the prophetic and apostolic testimony of the Scriptures, and reference to the Word of God as ultimate authority in all matters of Christian faith and practice. The church must ever be open to the Holy Spirit-inspired Scriptures, mani festing a willingness to be corrected, directed, and reformed (“ ecclesia semper reformands, semper reformanda ”: “the church is always reformed, always reforming”). To be open to Christ is to be ever open to responding to his leadership among us, as Head and Lord of the church. Bruce Epperly succinctly summarizes the heart of the Reformer’s desire for a faith anchored in Scripture, faith, grace, and Christ, all for the glory of God alone. “As they sought to articulate their reforming faith, the Reformers affirmed ‘five solas’ – sola scriptura, sola fides, sola gratia,