‘What does it mean to be a Prod? explored in church event
Around 100 people attended a special evening at Willowfield Parish Church on Monday, 23 October, entitled ‘What does it mean to be a Prod?’ The event, which marked the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, featured music from the Pride of the Raven Flute Band and the singer Sarah Myles.
Guest speaker Philip Orr – a local historian, actor and playwright – took the audience on an historical journey, from the Roman Empire to the emergence of new ideas and the printing press on the eve of the Reformation. “The Great Reformers like Martin Luther believed it was important to get the Bible into everybody’s hands,” he remarked. Mr Orr also outlined how the Reformation came to the British Isles, through John Knox and King Henry VIII, and later influenced the development of Methodism and reform in the Roman Catholic Church. Mr Orr remarked that Protestantism involved an emphasis on the Bible being printed and sent out into society and a focus on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; he also spoke about the history of Protestants’ concern for justice.
Captain George Newell, a Church Army evangelist, spoke Martin Luther and linked it to personal salvation. Luther’s life, he said, was “messed up” and far away from God “and the only way he could get back to God was a faith – and faith in Christ alone.” Captain Newell added that God would ultimately not ask us about our denomination but instead: “What did you do about my Son? That’s the question that we all have to answer because that’s the only question that’s really important.”