Holy Trouble, Holy Change

[Jesus taught them, saying:] “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.” – Matthew 5:14 (NRSV) 

The church loves its saints once they’re safely dead. We put their names on buildings, hang portraits of them, quote their words, and occasionally forget that many of them were deeply inconvenient while they were alive. 

There have always been people in the church who looked at what everyone else called tradition and asked, “But is this actually faithful?” 

Some were theologians. Some were abolitionists. Some were women preaching when they were told they couldn’t. Some were queer people refusing to disappear. Some challenged racism, patriarchy, colonialism, or the comfortable arrangements of religious institutions. 

They were not always right. They were not always kind. They were not always successful. 

But they were willing to risk the holy discomfort of asking whether the tradition they inherited was still capable of carrying the gospel. 

As we celebrate Reformation Day tomorrow (October 31), maybe this is what reformation means: Not destroying everything that came before us. Not worshiping the past. But loving something enough to tell the truth about it, because sometimes the most faithful thing we can say to a beloved institution is, “We can do better.” The church is not finished. 

The church does not need another generation committed to preserving its image. It needs people willing to keep asking: 

What needs to change? Who is still missing? Whose experience have we refused to believe? What have we called sacred simply because we have always done it? 

And perhaps most importantly: What must change so that love can live here? 

Tonight, we remember the saints who carried the light. Tomorrow, we become part of the answer. 

Prayer
God of reformers and holy troublemakers, give us courage to love our traditions without becoming imprisoned by them. Help us remember those who made room for us and become the ancestors someone else will need someday. Make us brave enough to ask what love requires next. Amen.

About the Author
Sam Houser centers their ministry on the sacred work of repair and reconciliation with wounded systems. They are the author of No Longer Keeping the Peace and other works.