The reality is that when one trusts in Christ as their Savior, they become new creations and members of a new family, His family. This includes our children. Those below are truly the daughters of the King.
All Photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
In my last post, I mentioned that I had a purpose in bringing my camera to the Reformation Day celebration. The purpose was Revere. When I met him in church, and saw his eyes, my first thought was that I needed to get my camera. Reformation Day provided the excuse. He has the biggest eyes of any baby I think I have ever seen. His mother informed me that it runs in the family. Revere’s grandfather had the same big eyes.
I wasn’t sure how to get the best pictures of him, since he was either being held by his father or mother or someone else. As we were beginning to eat, I noticed that Revere was crawling around the couch, so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. It wasn’t working, so I sat down on the couch to put my camera back in the camera bag. Revere immediately pulled himself up next to the couch and started moving toward me.
“Now’s my chance.” I started taking pictures, and he kept crawling my way, then up my legs, and into my lap. Apparently, he wanted to pull on someone’s beard.
Andy, my son, took the pictures of me with Revere.
Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
When I heard about the Reformation Day gathering, I immediately thought of taking my camera because I wanted to take pictures of one particular child (blog post to follow) who has rather large eyes.
I love taking pictures of toddlers and young children who don’t know me, because they are really suspicious of who I am, and they give some of the best facial expressions. See Penny, Cyrus, and Peter below:
All photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
One cannot have a Reformation Day without singing Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. For most of us who are Reformed, once we hear the title, the rest of verse 1 pops into our heads and we are ready to belt it out as Luther intended it to be sung.
I love they hymn, because it is the only one you can count on most men singing. We also sang another hymn, that I don’t remember the title to. It’s what we were actually singing when I took the pictures.
I love this picture because my son, Joey, just came around the corner when I snapped the picture. He wasn’t trying to pull a photo bomb, but did nonetheless.
All photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
Reformation Day is a small celebration among Protestants in the area of Christianity known as Reformed. Most of these Protestants follow the Biblical truths put forth by John Calvin, a contemporary of Martin Luther, and leader of the Reformation in Geneva. His main thesis, in what is called Calvinism, is the sovereignty of God in all things. This sovereignty emphasizes man’s inability to save himself, and God’s overwhelming grace in saving a people to Himself, through Jesus Christ. To the Calvinist, as it was for Paul, no one seeks God… there is none who does good (Romans 3:11-12). This emphasizes that those who are saved, are saved by God’s grace alone, in Christ alone.
These truths was part of what Martin Luther declared when he posted his theses on the Wittenberg Door on October 31, 1517. The actual 95 Theses was over the abuses of the Roman Catholic church and its popes. But his driving issue, and posted on the door prior to the 95 Theses, was over justification by faith alone in Christ alone. That doctrine is the heart of the gospel, and at the heart of those of us who are called Reformed.
All that Luther and Calvin worked for, was a reformation of the church. The Roman Catholic church of the day, taught that man could earn his salvation by doing good works and earning enough merit to work their way out of purgatory into heaven. But Paul showed this not to be the case (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are saved by faith in Christ, not our works. Amen and amen. For if our works are tainted with the least bit of sin, they are rejected by God. We need the works of another, one who was perfect: Jesus Christ.
It is for this reason we remember October 31, 1517 and call it Reformation Day. Our celebration is not a mandate of God, but something we do with thanksgiving that God worked through men like Luther and Calvin for the purity of the gospel.
The following pictures were taking at our Reformation gathering and feature Arthur, also known as “Bear.” More pics to follow in the coming days.
All photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
