After a 1.5 hour bus ride, we arrived in Eisleben - the birth, baptism, and death location of Luther. Because today is Sunday, we worshiped with the local congregation of Eisleben at St. Peter & Paul Church. We worshiped on the same location with the same community that was with Luther in the midst of his baptism and his death; eerie and awe-inspiring at the same time. While the service was in German, they were kind enough to accommodate 19 guests by providing printed English translations of the Old Testament texts and an English reader for hearing the Gospel. Two of the hymns provided English translations for us to sing along with, and we were also privileged to share in the meal of Holy Communion. This was truly a remarkable opportunity.
The interior of the building itself is "new", in the sense that it has been remodeled with breathtaking contemporary design while the exterior remains as it was from the 17th century (after Luther's time). The new design was intended to be simply a memorial to baptism and Luther, but after having seen how great the space is in it's redesign, the congregation chose to use it as their new worship space.
Located at the back of the main worship space is the only remaining structure and location known to be of the time of Luther.
From St. Peter & Paul Church, we toured the house in which Luther was born on November 10th, 1483. It was the following day, November 11th on the Festival Day of St. Martin, that little Luther was brought by his father Hans to be baptized. At this house we delved deeper into the history of Luther's very early years and family tree.
From Luther's birthplace, we moved to the center of town to St. Andrew's Church (second building of the same congregation of St. Peter & Paul), where Martin Luther preached his last 4 sermons. During his last sermon, he simply could not finish because of how ill he was, and succumbed to death 3 days later within a friends house down the street. Only within the past couple decades have historians realized that the current location of Luther's Death House is not the correct location, but where it truly is now stands as a hotel and restaurant.
From Eisleben we traveled to Halle. Our first stop was Market Church to see the original and first copies of Luther's death mask. It was common to take was and plaster casts of the face and hands of the deceased. Notice Luther's right hand, for it tells the story of the importance of Luther's writings in defense of abiding not by the doctrine and traditions of human institutions, but that of God's Word. Luther wrote and wrote and wrote about these up until his death. Here you will see some of the last words Luther wrote.
Our last stop in Halle was the the Francke Foundation. It was founded by August Hermann Francke about some 300 years ago. In seeing the needs of the Halle community, Francke first began his work in running an orphanage. That work continued to expand to be a reputable institution for great education. From the Francke Foundation, a missionary was sent to the United States, Rev. Frederick Muhlenberg, who was the first pastor to organize Lutherans in the US. Muhlenberg sent his 3 sons back to the Halle for their education, and then they returned to the US. One son served under General George Washington in the Revolutionary War, another son became the first Speaker of the House of Representatives, and another son became one of the founders of research science in the United States. Needless to say, the Francke Foundations and the Lutheran Church have played significant roles in shaping our US government. In addition to have a rich history with US connections, it continues as a place for study and research over its vast campus.
From Halle, we returned to Wittenberg to eat and relax, with some of us watching the Euro Championship game between France and Portugal.
Until tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment