The Accidental Pastor's Wife

Even though Caroline over at living in a fishbowl (see the link in my blog roll-remember how weird my browser is about hyperlinks) thinks I'm a closet Lutheran (Missouri Synod-anyway), as a Baptist I have lots of reasons to remember what all those brave men and women endured so that I could worship freely and have an English Bible in my hands!

So while I'm most definitely not a theologian like my husband, I'll briefly give you some reasons why we should celebrate the Reformation, which started on October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany:

1. Martin Luther's passion to be reconciled to God and his boldness in proclaiming the TRUE GOSPEL of justification by faith alone has yielded fruit for centuries. Thanks, Martin!
2. Just like the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, there are men and women who have been tortured and killed for the name of Christ and OUR faith is strengthened when we remember their example.
3. We are passing along our Christian heritage to our children.
4. It gives us a greater understanding of our own faith and what it means to suffer for the name of Christ.
5. It's a fascinating period of history.
6. It's fun to dress up!
7. It can be its own homeschool unit study.
8. It's a fantastic excuse to throw a party that has a purpose behind it.

That's all I can think of for now...

So where to begin?

You can check out a resource that I love from www.doorposts.net called A Night of Reformation. It's designed to be used in a church or homeschool group setting that requires a bit of manpower and planning, but there are still ideas you can implement at home.

Doing a quick google search can direct you to a number of historical sites that explain what happened. Once you feel like you have a basic understanding of the history and purpose, then begin to search out ideas for medieval foods and costumes.

I've made a kind of honey nut candy before. We've had cider and dark bread. A beef barley stew. Some fruit, maybe grapes. Some cheese cubes. Once, I made these fig thingies (I don't even remember what they're called!) they were gooey and weird, anyway, no one liked them but it was fun to try. I found it on some food from the middle ages website.

As for costumes, the first year we did it my boys were little and we just read the story of Martin Luther and watched the scene in the old black and white movie about him where he says his famous line, "I cannot. I will not recant." The next year, I made them knight costumes. I tried a pattern from doorposts. net but I AM NOT A SEAMSTRESS and it was very stressful. Looking back I would have started sooner and not followed a pattern! I would have bought the metallic material and glued it to some batting and just left the edges unfinished. I found some knight helmets at the mormon thrift store (sorry-it was my only choice : ). We made and painted wooden swords and tied thick cord around their shins like boots or high laced shoes. You can also purchase the full of armor of God sets at www.christianbook.com. I got my boys these for Christmas last year and they still play with them.

The second year, I talked my mom and grandma into making them dragon costumes from a McCalls pattern. I felt terrible that it was so involved and took them FOREVER. Sorry...but boy did they look cute!

This year, my mom made them some monk costumes, we'll use a rope belt and some sandals. They made some cross necklaces out of clay and maybe I'll make them take a vow of silence for the day! HA!

So maybe that will get you thinking. The internet is a WEALTH of information. We did more than this at our celebrations, but that will just have to wait for next Saturday!