King of Kings pastor calls for Reformation at home

WASILLA — Pastor Robbin Robbert of King of Kings Lutheran Church in Wasilla is excited for this Sunday because he will be leading a special sermon centered on the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The movement began when Martin Luther pinned his famous 95 theses to a Wittenberg, Germany, castle church door on Oct. 31, 1517.

One point Robbert said wants to drive home is that like Luther’s focus then, Christians should point everything back to the Bible.

“God’s Word,” Robbert said.

He said all too often people get distracted and veer away from the Bible and complicate matters when it should be as simple as following scripture as it was written.

“My vertical relationship is always going to be more important than my horizontal relationship,” Robbert said.

This Sunday at 10:30 a.m., Robbert will use 15 pages for the service’s liturgy, or special program, where there will be “a lot of singing.” He said that one of the best things to come from the Reformation was the increase of hymns and people singing in church. There will also be a larger celebration with all of the Lutheran churches joining together at Faith Lutheran Church off Lake Otis Parkway in Anchorage. The group event will be at 4:30 p.m. and there will be dinner afterward. After all the seriousness, Robbin said that they will probably have a few beers and do the schnitzelbank afterward.

“Because we’re Lutheran, we drink beer. The use is a gift from God,” Robbert said.

Robbin said that 500 years after Luther challenged the corrupt churches to get back to the basics, the same should be done at home. He will tell his congregation to make a reformation in their own homes.

“We’re all dealing with sin from the outside and the sin in our hearts,” Robbert said.

He said it’s all too easy to get distracted by the humdrum of society and even the dogma and man-made practices and routines in certain Christian groups. To Robbert, the actual focus should be on Jesus Christ, the son of God. He noted the frailties in simple but vital vocabulary errors in people’s conversations. Saying things like, “I found Jesus” instead of “Jesus found me” are, to him, shifting the focus to the individual instead of the messiah.

“God’s calling for Reformations, starting at home,” Robbert said.

On Sunday, one of Robbert’s closing quotations will be from Luther: “Since our Lord is the author of this prayer, it is without a doubt the most sublime, the loftiest, and the most excellent.”

“My prayer is that there is another Reformation,” Robbert said.