October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a document on the door of the church in Wittenberg to protest the excesses of the church. His immediate concern at that time was the selling of indulgences to finance St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Michelangelo’s genius didn’t come cheap.
He simply wanted a theological discussion; what he got was the rocking of the political and ecclesiastical structures of Europe, the splitting of the church, and history’s epic moving forward from medieval times to modern times.
The story of the Reformation shows us the power of God’s providence in the history of the world. While we go about our everyday lives doing business as usual, making decisions for the day, God could be swinging the hinges of history forward. Who would have thought that posting church-related concerns on a church door would go on to shake the seats of power in Europe? Who would have thought that the agenda intended for discussion among priests would propel the world out of the Dark Ages?
Our ordinary days matter. In the hands of the Almighty God, our seemingly boring jobs could be world-changing.
Jojo Agot 