“I will also speak of your decrees before kings, and shall not be put to shame” (Psalm 119:46).
The Augsburg Confession was presented on this date in 1530, trivia not as irrelevant as it may seem. War was threatening Germany and religious leaders were squabbling, we’re 13 years after the start of the Reformation. “Most serene, most mighty, invincible Emperor, most gracious Lord. A short time ago, Your Imperial Majesty graciously summoned an imperial diet to convene here in Augsburg. The summons indicated an earnest desire, first, to deliberate concerning matters pertaining to ‘the Turks, that hereditary foe of ours and the Christian name…’ and second, to deliberate ‘and diligently to consider how we may act concerning the dissension in the holy faith and Christian religion….”
Back then, the lands that make up modern Germany were Roman Catholic, but the Reformation blew that apart. In1555 it was decided that the citizens in a state would be of the same religion as the head of their state. Our American system is totally different. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (First Amendment). The government is not to legislate matters of personal conscience and practice in faith and religion. When some think the line has been crossed, the courts decide, but the separation is part of our American DNA.
What does it mean for us to “speak of your decrees before kings”? The Federalist Papers were written by three Founders as a commentary on the Constitution. Instead of top-down unity of religious practice from the government, the Founders purposely provided for lower-level competition between religious groups. “A religious sect may degenerate into a religious faction in a part of the confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it, must secure the national councils against any danger from that source” (Federalist 10). Which means, I think, that we shouldn’t look to the government to do the work of the church. The “kings” to whom we confess today are one another, in congregation and in community, flourishing congregations serving and witnessing to fellow citizens.
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