30 October 2009

Luther - the film

Last night we showed the film "Luther" at CMFMC.
A very light crowd.
The film helps us imagine the events, costs and gains of Luther's Reformation. It also lets us reflect upon the current discussions many in our world are having today and the way in which faith, politics, a thirst for power and freedom mix to create a multi-layered milieu in which we live, move and seek to express God and our thirst for Him.
When the character of John Tetzel came on the screen with his sermons seeking indulgences a comment was made by a viewer - he sounds like current TV evangelists.
There are a number of wonderful lines in the film, that reflect the wit of Luther. Two lines I'd share. Luther speaking to his students in the university: "they've made me a doctor in the church and I could hold the notion that I've got something to say, but I'm reminded that the Lord used an ass to speak to a man before, and he may even now."
When Luther is wrestling with his temptations and the devil, his Augustinian spiritual father gives to him a cross and says, "Cry out to Christ, say, 'I am yours, save me."

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