Composer and pianist Coleman has participated in numerous new music programs and festivals in the U.S., France, and Russia, premiering original piano works along with those by Merab Gagnidze, Jerry Sieg, and Sergei Zhukov. He has also written works for chamber ensembles, voice, and orchestra.
All this music for this occasion! What is the Reformation? Who was this guy, this Luther? Actually, he was a contemporary of Columbus, the one that discovered America! He's the one Martin Luther King was named for! But the only thing Martin Luther discovered was the Bible. The Bible had been hidden from people for at least a 1000 years, because the language of the people had changed. God used an academic monk, Dr. Martin Luther (1483-1546), to return God's Holy Word to everyday people. No wonder we call it the Reformation, because people got excited about God. God was no longer hidden in books and rituals that obscured the work of mankind's only Mediator in terms of spiritual things, Jesus Christ.
Lutherans and other Protestants celebrate Reformation Day on this 2007 Sunday just before October 31 in commemoration of Martin Luther's displaying 95 discussion points on the church "bulletin board" door in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, that was the beginning of the modern church looking to the Bible for direction, rather than looking to people interpreting the Bible for them. Protestant Christians look to that day as the day the church began returning to its roots, the Bible. Indeed, in many Lutheran countries all Christians celebrate a legal and school holiday on October 31 in commemoration.
That holiday proclaims the sacrifice of men and women who were persecuted or who died for the Scriptural principle that the Bible is God's Word for all people. Why the persecution? Certainly the reformers never had a goal of leaving the church, only to reform it from within. But the institutional church of the time, rejected the idea that people could read the Bible without a church official overseeing that reading. They were proclaimed heretics, were excommunicated, were forced to leave their churches, or were killed for wanting to read the Word of God for themselves. Please recognize that the teachings of Luther, Calvin, and other reformers were not new. They actually "retrieved" New Testament teachings. Their faith and understanding of salvation could not be lost again!
So, the result was the Reformation. It recovered lost doctrine, and it brought new vigor to worship as well. Christ was the focus, the "High Priest" and only Mediator to God, celebrated in services in the language of the people. "Liturgy," that scary word for some modern Protestants, was modified and non-Scriptural components were removed. Preaching was restored and people were engaged in the worship process. Why do you think that people sing in church today? Thank that monk of five centuries ago. "We at Zion Lutheran Church thank Dr. Michael Coleman for enriching our worship with four musical pieces connected to our Reformation celebration on October 28, 2007," a member of the Zion congregation opined.
Original work by composer and pianist Dr. Michael Coleman will be incorporated into Reformation Sunday worship at Silverhill's Zion Lutheran Church at 10 AM. Coleman, a professor at Pensacola Junior College and the University of West Florida, serves as organist and music director at Zion Lutheran Church in Silverhill, Alabama. He has participated in numerous new music programs and festivals in the U.S., France, and Russia. His Two Bagatelles were part of a recent CD release by pianist Jeri-Mae Astolfi through Capstone Records. He serves as organist and music director at Zion Lutheran Church in Silverhill, Alabama.
