Reformation Tour: Who? The Reformation and those less well known

  1. Our Reformation Tour lands in Berlin
  2. Reformation Tour: Bridging the Divide
  3. Reformation Tour: Music & Luther
  4. Reformation Tour: Luther the disrupter
  5. Reformation Tour: Appreciating Luther’s convictions
  6. Reformation Tour: Who? The Reformation and those less well known
  7. Reformation Tour: Geneva, our final stop

BY SARAH CRAVEN

If you asked the average person who John Calvin or Martin Luther were, they could probably tell you they were involved in the Reformation and that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on a door. We’re taught from a young age in history class these two names. Now if you asked most who Zwingli is (top photo) I think you’d only have a few people outside seminarians tell you he was another important leader of the Reformation. But what about Bullinger or Froschau? We’d probably hear crickets.

While their names aren’t as infamous as Luther or Calvin or Zwingli, the Reformation wouldn’t have been as successful without them. These two men along with many others supported the Reformation and spread its message to many. Froschau printed many things for Zwingli and stood alongside him as he questioned practices in the church, and Bullinger carried on the message after Zwingli died.

Grossmünster Cathedral where Zwingli preached (Tricia Vesely).

 

Zwingli’s study (Tricia Vesely)

It’s exciting (and dangerous) being a trailblazer. You’re forging new paths and exploring new ideas, and others want to engage with you. But the trail keepers or maintainers are just as important. While they might not be remembered as much, they keep defining the path and clearing the way, so those of us in the future may follow. Each person and role within the church is important — without each person’s contributions, we wouldn’t be the same church.

I’m reminded of how this rings true today — 500 years later while studying the Reformation. Yesterday we met with Phillip Lasater, who is a 2011 Union alum and is teaching and researching at the seminary in Zurich. We started seminary together, but we have very different roles in the church. While he continues studying and teaching the Old Testament and fulfilling his call in academics in Zurich, I find myself caring for the children and youth of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We live and work in very different worlds, but seeing him halfway across the world reminds me of our connection through Christ and the church.

With Union alumnus Phillip Lasater(Tricia Vesely).

I’ve also had the privilege of traveling with a few trail keepers who have come before me, like my new friend Martha. She’s a Presbyterian School of Christian Education graduate from the 1960s and worked in the church for many years. Hearing her stories and forming a new friendship has been priceless.

So I’d like to thank all the trailblazers but more specifically today the trail keepers who have come before me. Thank you to those who have carried on the faith, continued to question and discuss and clear the way for those of us today, so that we might know God’s word and become trail keepers ourselves. I don’t know all of your names, but I’m thankful for how you’ve lived out your faith and supported the church for many generations. Hopefully, we can continue to remember our unity and work together to hear how God is calling the church today, so that few generations may know God’s love and words of hope and truth.

Alumna Sarah Craven (M.Div./ M.A.C.E.’12) is an associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Cherry Hill, NJ. She has always had a deep interest in the intersection of culture and faith, so you’ll find her on many a travel seminar.