Wittenberg

 This week we have had the opportunity to stay in Wittenberg, Germany. This city was the home of the famous reformer Martin Luther, who effectively set into motion the Protestant Reformation. Luther was a monk who seriously struggled with the Catholic Church’s view of salvation. Although he labored tirelessly in the church, he couldn’t help to shake his feeling of extreme guilt before a Holy God. The Catholic Church essentially owned the right to issue salvation, and Luther knew that the Church couldn’t change his sinful heart. I will have more time to get into Luther’s theology in a later post, but it is necessary to understand that Luther grew more and more resistant to the Catholic Church’s apparent authority for salvation. Nothing angered Luther more than the Pope Leo’s selling of indulgences to fund the artwork in St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. In 1517 Luther posted his famous 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. These Theses were a rebuttal against the Catholic Church for the selling of indulgences. This act is seen as the start of the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century, because it started a firestorm of reform of the church in Germany. The original wooden doors of the church have been replaced with bronze doors with the 95 Theses in scripted on them.

This is a picture from the main street. Our hostile is located just on the left, which is literally a 10 second walk from the Castle Church. Around the steeple of the church is written the title of Luther’s famous hymn, “A Might Fortress is Our God” in German.

We also had the opportunity to visit the town Church St. Mary’s, which is where Luther would have preached most frequently. The artwork in the church was fascinating. The foundational art piece in the church depicts Luther preaching with Christ on the Cross in between him and his congregation. It is indicative of what Luther believed to be most important in the church: the preaching of the cross of Christ from God’s Word.

Probably the most interesting thing that we were able to see in Wittenberg was Luther’s house. This house was given to Luther by Frederick the Wise as a wedding present in 1525. What is ironic about the house is that it was formerly the monastery in which Luther spent over 10 years of his life.

What is little known about Luther’s life is his marriage to the escaped nun Katherine Von Bora. The house reveals how much work that this woman invested into Luther’s family. Without his wife, Luther’s life would have fallen apart. She raised the family, cooked, cleaned, gardened, kept the books for all of Luther’s endeavors, and raised their 10 children. She was a powerhouse. Reminds me of my mom. She also was gifted in making beer.

   

  This living room depicts the place where Luther would retire with his guests in the evenings to have theological discussions into the night. Fortunately for us, many of these conversations have been recorded in his work Table Talks.

The house was an excellent snapshot into Luther’s life. I will have an opportunity to share a little about Luther’s theology later, but he was definitely an extraordinary man. It has been incredible to find myself learning from this man’s life, a man who shook the course of the history of the church.

I also had the opportunity to have some good morning walks in the park just across from the Castle Church. It was stunning.

Being in this place has been especially moving. As I have studied Luther’s life, I have been humbled by this man’s bravery. This was a man who asked questions of himself and of God that were deeply honest. He paid the consequences of clinging to a precious salvation that only Christ could offer. These are the men who we need amongst us, who are willing to take the chance of being honest with God’s Word.

At the conclusion of perhaps his most famous work, On the Bondage of the Will, Luther writes, “We are beggars. That is true.”