The Unity of the Church

October 26, 2025 sermon at Ascension Lutheran Church, Montreal, QC by Rev. Charles St-Onge. The Reformation of the Church. 

Transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

There was a young man who attended Ascension Lutheran Church who a couple weeks ago said, "Pastor, I've got to talk to you about this upcoming festival called Reformation." And he said, "Reformation really troubles me." I said, "What troubles you about it?" He said, "It kind of feels like we are celebrating a divorce." And who on earth would celebrate a divorce? 

So, let's be clear. First of all, the reality is that while we would very much like to see with our eyes and hear with our ears one united church all around the globe throughout time as well, that has simply never been a reality.

From the very very beginning, Satan has worked as hard as he possibly could to separate Christians one from each other and to separate them together from Christ, to separate them from his gospel. Already in the very very very beginning of the church, the age of the apostles, Paul had to deal with trouble in Corinth. And in the 11th chapter of his first letter to that church, he says, 'When you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you already the beginnings of a divorce. And Paul said, I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 

Now, you think that this is not a big deal. these divisions, these factions. Paul goes on to say that when you gather together as a church, Corinthians, to take the Lord's supper, you're not actually taking the Lord's supper because you are so disunited in what you believe about what Christ has done for you at the cross and in his resurrection and at his ascension.

Jesus himself, our Lord, warned that false prophets would come, wolves in sheep's clothing that would try and draw people after themselves. Did you wonder ever that if there were false prophets, there would not also be followers after those false prophets, factions, divisions. 

So if we don't want to celebrate division today, then what should we be celebrating at Reformation? As I hinted at the beginning of the service, really reformation is in many ways a second chance to celebrate Pentecost. It's no accident reformation comes near the end of the Pentecost season. We began this season way back before summer really got into full swing by celebrating the gift of the Holy Spirit. that the same father who sent his son Jesus into the flesh of the Virgin Mary to take our sin into himself then breathed out the Holy Spirit into the world that we might be called together to confess our Lord, confess salvation, confess hope, confess forgiveness of sins and yes confess it together.

The unity of the church is not just a matter of us coming up with organizational charts or pension plans or structures or head offices. The unity of the church has always been and will always be the business of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is preoccupied which kind of works in French too. Preoccupy worried about bringing us together and keeping us together. 

Good Lutheran, you hopefully know or remember when you studied the small catechism. We were quizzed on it yesterday at our circuit forum. Paul Williams said, "Did you bring your small catechism?" And some people said, "No, we forgot it." And he's like, "No, you should always have it up here." 

In the third article of the creed where Luther explains what we mean when we confess the Holy Spirit and the Holy Catholic Church and the communion of saints, Luther reminds us that it is the Holy Spirit who has called me through the good news, who has enlightened me with his gifts, who has made me holy and kept me in the true faith. Just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. That's the Holy Spirit's work to build one church.

Jesus at the last supper told his disciples before his death that when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, Jesus says, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Where the church is being built on the foundation of the gospel, there you can be certain the Holy Spirit is at work. It is the spirit that creates the church's unity. Not us, not pastors, not people. 

Now, if it is the Holy Spirit that does this, what do you know about the Holy Spirit? What do you know about spirits in general? We're going to celebrate Halloween later this week. People are going to dress up as ghosts, and you will see them coming hopefully. But the whole thing with ghosts is you don't see them. Generally, you have to send paranormal investigators who try and look for ectoplasm and all sorts of other stuff to prove that there's a ghost there. But they're supposed to be invisible.

In fact, the scriptures use the same word for spirit that they use for breath, that they use for wind, none of which you can see. In John 3, Jesus is trying to explain to Nicodemus this whole idea of how the kingdom of God is going to be built up. He starts talking about the spirit who builds that kingdom. The wind blows or the spirit blows where it wishes. You hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. 

We don't see the spirit, but we do see his effects, just as we do not see the wind, but you can certainly feel its effects as my brothers and sisters and your brothers and sisters in Kingston, Jamaica are no doubt feeling them this morning at St. Andrew and Faith Lutheran Churches. We cannot then in the same way see the unity of the church the way we might want. We don't see the unity of the church the way we see a car or a house, a company building or a flag. But we can feel its effects, its power. We know that it's there.

In the same way that a tornado can take a pebble and turn it into a weapon, the spirit can take sinners and build them together into one body in Christ. Conform people like you and I who were enemies of God into saints. And that's the second Pentecost that reformation is really all about. that while sinners are always trying to pull away from Jesus and pull away from each other, the spirit whom we cannot see nonetheless draws us together and that we do see. We see where Christians come together to celebrate the gospel to receive together the sacraments. 

Deb and I did a lot of traveling this summer. We got to go to a lot of churches, some of them Lutheran, some of them weren't. We got to meet a lot ofpeople, some of them Lutheran, most of them not. And yet you knew when you were in the presence of a fellow believer in Christ. You couldn't really explain how it is that you knew that. And yet somehow the Holy Spirit made you realize that you two together from other sides of the planet shared together in a common confession of the name of Jesus, the one who has saved us.

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways you can observe." Nor will they say, "Look, here it is," or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. That's what we celebrate at Reformation. that no matter how much we or our churches or our pastors might fight against the goads of the gospel and the truth of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, the spirit is stronger and continues to call his people back to the truth on which we can build our lives in which we can serve our neighbors. the truth that Christ has redeemed us by his blood and for his sake God forgives us all our sins in the name of Jesus. Amen.