Bishops Academy Tour of Germany -- Day Five – Eisleben, where it REALLY all began... So I was wrong yesterday. Wittenberg wasn’t where the Reformation began. I suppose it could be said that it truly began in a little town called Eisleben, about 70 km away, where Martin Luther was born on November 10 and baptized on November 11, 1483. Our tour today took us to Eisleben, where in the space of a few hours, we visited the house where Luther was born, the church where he was baptized the following day, the church where he preached his last sermon, and the house where he died on February 18, 1546. The houses of his birth and death are now museums which try to depict life (and death) as it was during Luther’s time. The Churches are also well preserved, though the Church of St. Andrew, where he preached his last sermons, is somewhat in disrepair. By contrast, the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, where he was baptized, has been beautifully restored and somewhat modernized. It is an active congregation to this day, while the Church of St. Andrew is used only for special occasions and services. Debbi and I both remarked that visiting these churches and museums is somewhat like visiting the Missions of California. They are rich and deep with history and stories and artifacts that are a window to what life was like several hundred years ago. The pictures and captions will speak for themselves – I hope they give you a small vision of what it is like to visit this place. We have been very impressed with the care and regard of the people who have worked to preserve these places, and with our guides who have invited us into the stories of these places in very helpful and enlightening ways. Today’s guide was a woman named Dorothy, whose passion for and interest in her work were much in evidence. On our drive on the Autobahn to Eisleben, we noticed hundreds of windmills, reminiscent of the Altamont Pass and other places in California where wind energy is being harnessed. There is a great deal of energy (pun intended) behind a goal of making green energy the main source of meeting the power needs of Germany in the next few years. This stands in stark contrast to the unbounded use of coal and oil resources during the time of the communist industrial era in the former East Germany. It is truly a remarkable turnaround, and is continuing. Near the end of the day, we made our way to Erfurt, the site of the monastery Luther entered in 1505. Luther, an aspiring lawyer at the time, is said to have been knocked off of his horse in a thunderstorm. He cried out “St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk!” Three weeks later, over the protests of his father, Hans, Luther entered the Augustinian monastery, and the rest, as they say, is history. I’m wondering if they’ll have that horse stuffed somewhere. You know, like Trigger… More tomorrow. Blessings and Peace as we celebrate The Epiphany of our Lord.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:07:01 +0000