Father in heaven, unto us this week is given a gift…
more days to know you, more days of welcome, we welcome you within – hmm more days of welcome, we are welcomed into your presence – hmm more days of welcome, as we welcome those around us.

more days of worship, as we worship you within the confines of self – hmm more days of worship, as we worship you in heavenly places – hmm more days of worship, as we worship you before the watching world of humans, angels, fallen angels, and the creatures you have made for your glory.

more days Father,

more days, and the only days we have lost are the ones we lived before we knew you – hmm and even those days have been transformed by your grace into memories healed.

If salvation is a river, then let it flow… If love is an ocean, let it roll… If time keeps moving, then let it be so, only let us live unto your glory where we are, in the places you have planted each of us — hmm to be ports of your living glory…

import, export, transport…

may our lives truly be a living port. – - – - – - – - – - – - – a recap: we have been calling this series of messages: “The Land of the Living Ports.” It has been a look at the lives of a few select people from history, in hopes that we might learn more about what it means to be a port of God’s love for our generation.

1. we looked at Saint Aiden of Holy Island Lindsifarne, who lived his life in a three part rhythm of drawing away to be alone with God, of going out to increase God’s fame among others, and to practice hospitality to all those who would come along.

2. we have considered the life of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who struggled with his twin hungers, the hunger for fulfillment in God and the hunger for the fulfillment of his desires for women, fame, and power. we saw what happened when the love of God began to flow into his life, from his life unto God, and out of his life into the world.

3. we have seen the life of amy carmichael, who found much of the world to be like, “a bolted door.” we saw how she found her way, by stepping past the voices of doubt that said, “the way is blocked.” as she stepped through each “bolted door” she entered into the deeper power of God’s love for her; the deeper conviction of God’s love; and the deeper love of giving herself for others.

4. this week we are considering the life of Katherine Von Bora.

5. next week we will close this little book on the Living Ports with a look at the life of Saint Francis of Assissi.

what we know what we know about Katherine Von Bora is that she never wrote a book, she is not the author of any sermons, she is not listed among histories most quoted. In many ways she is very different than any of the other lives we have considered in this series. She knew no fame, no great work, no celebrity among the people.

while she may be different than the other lives we have considered, she is in many ways like all of them — just a person. even more importantly, because we do know something about her life, we have the great opportunity to see how a life, much like our own, can truly be a port of God’s love for its time, for its world, for its generation.

the 3 year old nun? at age three Katherine’s mother died, and for reasons that are not completely clear, her father put her into a convent and committed the life of his daughter to that of a nun.

we do not know much about what the life of Katherine was like for the next 23 years. we only know that she grew up in the convent, and that she remained there even as an adult.

the great escape that is until the wildfire of reformation found its way past the walls of the convent. a troubled young monk and scholar, named Martin Luther, had discovered something while reading the book of Romans (in the Bible). Luther had discovered “grace.” He had discovered that God’s salvation was not something to be earned, but was a free gift offered to all, even priests and monks.

you have to understand, Luther did not want to leave the Catholic Church. He had believed that once the Pope had learned of the great injustices that were happening in Luther’s home land of Germany — that the Pope would act quickly and bring about change. The Pope acted quickly alright, and sought to shut up the young renegade German monk, have him tried and killed.

however, this particular German monk, who suffered his whole life with depression and a host of physical ailments had the protection of Germany’s king and the support of many in his world. He was not a man easily killed, and he was not a voice easily kept silent.

While change was making its way all through the world at that time, news of the reformation came to the convent where Katherine lived.

She, and 8 other women escaped the monastic life. 7 of them made their way to Wittenburg, home of Martin Luther. In time, all of these women entered into society, getting married and finding a life for themselves outside the walls of the convent. All of them found husbands, except for one — Katherine Von Bora.

love lines 16th century style Katherine did have her eyes set upon one man. He however, was a “confirmed bachelor” and rejected the love of Katherine. Another potential love came upon the scene — but he did not work out either.

Luther, and the leaders of the Reformation at Wittenburg sought to help and set up a marriage with a much older man — a man in his 60′s (Katherine was in her mid-twenties at the time). She strongly, and forcefully said, “no!” to the idea of marrying this older man.

She also said, “now, if Dr. Martin were to ask me to marry him, I would not turn him down.”

dr. martin Luther had never considered marriage as an option for himself. It also was one of the worst possible times to bring up the subject to this man who lived his life so largely in the public eye. There were death sentences and orders for his arrest and execution awaiting him should he be caught by those loyal to Rome. He was a workaholic, poor, and frankly, a slob (he had not changed his bed in a year — at least in a year). He was a man who traveled in disguises, lived his life on the run, and was the champion of a movement, which drew hundreds of people each week to sit and have time with the monk who challenged Rome, and lived to tell about it … so far.

but, Luther took up Katherine’s offer and soon they were married.

the black cloister this is the name of the old monastary where Luther lived, king Frederick had given it to Luther as a gift. The place was a mess and less than one third of it was even useful. The grounds were a shambles, the large buildings in disrepair, and to top it off many people considered this place to be their home. Even more interesting was the number of people who would come home with Luther in the evening, sometimes as many as 100.

Luther was clueless about money, management, homelife, or anything that had to do with caring for oneself.

a woman more precious than pearls Katherine threw herself into the old ruins of the black cloister and worked to not only make it a home, a retreat center, the think tank and conference center for the Reformation, but also a thriving business as well. She did all of this while having six children along the way.

she began the process of having the black cloister fixed up. she took an old and overgrown garden and turned it into a garden, to provide food for the family, guests, and strangers who made their way to Wittenburg. she was also well skilled in medicine, and grew herbs which she used for her ailing husband, and the people of the town. (her husband was known as dr. martin — she actually served as one of the towns doctors). she also sold her produce at the marketplace in town and supported the everyday needs of the family and the ministry. she bought a herd of pigs, and became a trader in the commerce of pig farming. she was a brewer, and made beer — considered by many to be the finest in Wittenburg and know throughout much of the surrounding area. she pushed her husband to invest in land, and to grow the family wealth (something he simply agreed to, and used his name for the purposes — she did the work). she prepared the meals and set the atmosphere for the many quests who would nightly come to the black cloister. she loved and cared for the celebrity monk, and took the time to know him as a man, not the super star or the heritic that the world around conisdered him to be. she fought alongside him with his constant depression, using her herbs, beer and tonic to try and help him through extreme bouts of depression and melancholy.

I could go on — the list of Katherine’s work is quite huge.

to know Martin Luther was to know a bear of a man. He was rough and course and violently opinionated… she loved him He was constantly fighting depression and darkness… she loved him He was a man who suffered extreme intestinal problems, and constant illnesses… she loved him He was a “center of the party” figure surrounded by people, some of which were simply drawn to his fame… she loved him He was known to bring home as many as 100 people at a time… she loved him His day would end with the men all moving into a large room to sit about the table and talk, Katherine was the only woman ever allowed to sit in on these talks… she loved him He was a man of study who spent hours alone with God, the Bible, in prayer, and locked away in his little office in the black cloister… she loved him He was a man who struggled with deep and irrational fears all of his life… she loved him [of the few reliable words that we can gleen from Katherine's life -- we do have her thoughts on Luther's fear. She concluded that he had never fully gotten free from the patterns of thought that had been planted in his mind as a boy -- the fear that God was out to kill you if you strayed into the wrong path, the wrong part of the woods, the wrong way.]

Other people knew the myth, the legend, the hero or scoundrel — Katherine knew the man — warts and all (literally) and she loved.

a port I have no neat little package of words to sum up the life of Katherine Von Bora. I have barely scratched the surface. Certainly, as a legacy — she was the one who made the famous book, “Table Talk” a reality. Together with her husband they set the standard and the model for hundreds of years of married life among protestants…

But, Katherine’s life sums up more about what I mean by saying, “Your life can be a port of God’s love for your generation.”

# it is more than the generosity which God showed to her in her life… # it is more than the generosity she offer to God as she lived her life in service for Him… # it is more than the generosity that she offered to all those around her…

certainly, that is the picture of a port: import — God’s love export — love to God transport — God’s love to those around you

but her life says so much more to us… let me try, though I fear I shall not fully capture the words:

Katherine shows us that we can be a port of God’s love where we are.

She took the circumstances of “everyday” and transformed them with her generosity.

When we contrast her life with the celeb of her husbands:

we see an ordianry life…

we see a daily, working, dealing with it, life…

we see a life that got behind the walls of celebrity, discovered a less than perfect world, and in such a place as that she cultivated love — from God, for God, and unto others.

where do you live? tommorrow morning you will wake up to the same world as you did last monday.

your “black cloister” may be a complete shambles of bills, dissorganisation, mental health issues, physical illnesses…

the people in your “black cloister” may be unbearable, or struggling with illness, poor social skills, or any number of issues…

the books in your “black cloister” may reflect the news, “you are broke” or “you are not wanted” or “you mean little in this world”…

only you know the typical and the everyday that awaits you…

but I am here to call you up…

we have looked at Katherine, Luther, Amy, Augustine, Aiden for a reason — because each one of these lives tells us a wonderful truth –

Christianity happens in the real world of everyday events…

When you wake up tommorrow, or at some point during the day, remember these words and the example of Katherin Von Bora, and say to yourself, to God, and to the watching world, “I choose to live my life here and now! I am a port: God loves me, I love Him, and I can love others. Not when I get better, not when God behaves the way I want Him to, not when things get better — but now!”

You are the light of the world, a city set upon a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, but instead they place it upon its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

Who is in your house?

here’s to life, pablo

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