Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda

When I was in my early 20s, finishing my undergraduate work at Coastal Carolina University  and pondering a call to ministry in the denomination of which I was a member at the time, the Presbyterian Church (USA), I often heard the phrase "A Reformed church always reforming." To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the phrase and actually was a bit prejudiced against it because it invariably seemed to be used by revisionists to justify their newest theological fad -- thus making the faith of the Church a nose of wax rather than something once for all delivered to the saints (see Jude 3). 

I was reminded of that recently when reading an open letter by Mrs. Penn Hagood, Senior Warden of St. Philip's Church in Charleston regarding a series of "open conversations" held by the Rt' Rev'd  Gladstone B. "Skip" Adams III, Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina. As an aside, while not the prime focus of this post, I strongly encourage you to read Mrs. Hagood's letter, especially if you have read the official reports of those meetings -- I believe her account is far more accurate.  In her letter she mentions a remark that I missed by the Very Rev'd Sam Candler, Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, Georgia, at the most recent General Convention of The Episcopal Church in regards to "expansive language" liturgies that will address God in new ways (namely avoiding the male imagery that has been traditionally [and Scripturally] used to refer to the Persons of the Godhead). Dean Candler remarked, "The church is always reforming. Our prayer is always reforming. I'm excited to be a part of that."

Well, I didn't like the slogan used by Presbyterian revisionists and I don't much care for it when used by Episcopal revisionists either.

But what a difference 25 or so years, seminary, and some reading makes. You see, the slogan has a long history and curiously it gets severely truncated most of the times it's used today. It first appears in a 1674 devotional by  Jodocus van Lodenstein, a Dutch Reformed pietist. The full quotation is 'The church is reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God." Far from being a nose of wax, what van Lodenstein was actually championing was a constant Berean spirit (see Acts 17:11-12) whereby the church is taken back to the Scriptures and those things out of accord with God's Word are reformed and brought into conformity therewith.

It's a good slogan and a great concept, one expressed well in the Prayer for The Church found in the Book of Common Prayer:
O GRACIOUS Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldst be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

By God's grace may the Church always reform itself under the guidance of the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit who inspired them, but if I never hear von Lodenstein's quote mangled again it won't be too soon.