O God, our refuge and our strength, who didst raise up thy servant Martin Luther to reform and renew thy Church in the light of thy word: Defend and purify the Church in our own day and grant that, through faith, we may boldly proclaim the riches of thy grace, which thou hast made known in Jesus Christ our Savior, who, with thee and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.
I’m not a Lutheran, but I’m so very glad that TEC has added Luther to its calendar of saints. He fully deserves to be similarly honored by the ACNA, and I hope we do so officially.
Although Martin Luther had many flaws, including his tendency to indulge in extreme verbal abuse of his opponents (calling them all sorts of ugly names) and his violent anti-Semitism, the fact remains that he embodies the “heroic sanctity” that is the essence of sainthood. Whatever he lacked in terms of being a perfected soul, he made up for in terms of his boundless courage. Luther fully deserves to be recognized not only as a saint, but as one of the Doctors of the Church. A teacher of universal importance, not least for his rediscovery and emphasis on the Pauline gospel of justification by faith alone, apart from human works. T thank God for him.
Maybe I’ll have to go back and re-watch the classic 1953 black and white film, [b]Luther[/b]. I can’t recommend it too highly.
David Handy+