Worshipping Where Luther Was Born

We got to sleep in an extra hour on Sunday, the day of rest. But let’s not get carried away. This was a day to visit Eisleben, the city of Luther’s birth and death. Yes, he was born on November 10, 1483 and baptized the next day in this small German town’s St. Andrews Church.

The practice of baptism was done as close as possible to birth to avoid possession by the devil. With only 2/3 of children surviving the first year, parents tried to have them baptized quickly to avoid the cost of original sin. After reading about what was entailed in baptism, it was amazing any even survived being baptized. Even in the cold of winter the baptism started outside of the church with the priest doing a type of exorcism, blowing three times on the babe’s eyes, makes the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead and breast, placed consecrated salt on his tongue and a combination of saliva and dirt up his noise and ears. Once in the church the child was fully immersed in water. I get the feeling by now they would be thinking that being born was not such a great idea. We are glad Luther survived.

It was clear that Luther who valued the authority of the Scripture defended the tradition of infant baptism though it is not mentioned in Scripture. He did get rid of some of the more bizarre aspects of sacrament that had crept into practice. There were touching references to his father and respect for a man who had been a strict but religious father. Luther later acknowledged that his father had been right about the value of monks, and that he had wished he had reconciled with him sooner. It was clear that Luther expressed strong support for the family and parents.

The Luther birth house on the Langen Gasse (Long Alley) is one of the world’s oldest museums. It has been recently renovated as they prepare for the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. There are family trees, town artifacts, and displays on the silver mines where Luther’s father worked.

The highlight of the day was having the opportunity to have a worship service for our group in St. Andrews Church. We sat almost immediately under the pulpit Luther had used just three days before he had died in the city. We were able to have a picture with Luther standing in the elevated pulpit. We would have liked to hear him preach. But there was no match for the opportunity to sing “Amazing Grace” and “A Mighty Fortress” supported by the church organ. The acoustics in the room were exceptional, and it made us sound like a great choir. It was also nice to have Lynn Bulock have the opportunity to do a reading from the Ephesians 2 as part of the service.

There was time for walking or eating. We chose eating, but many took the time to enjoy the city streets.

But now it was on to Erfort and the University of Erfurt, where Luther received his bachelors and masters degree.  He was a student there from 1501 to 1511 and a monk in the monastery there from 1505-1511. It was in coming back here from visiting his family that his near-death encounter with lightening caused him to promise to become a monk. This is also the same city that both Goethe and Bach had walked.

We walked the city of Erfurt, saw the stone dorms where the students stayed, and the Augustinian Monastery Chapel where Luther was ordained. We learned that the first ten minutes of the most recent movie of Luther was shot in Erfurt. The wife of our guide was actually an extra in the movie.

It was the stained glass of the rose from the monastery chapel here that inspired the Lutheran symbol Luther later created. As a monk, they would get one meal a day and be forced to attend seven services. It was suggested that the monks would endure the services by meditating on the glass images. Later he would remember one of his favorite images—the rose.

It was also noted that the place in the chapel where Luther lay prostrate as part of his ordination was the burial place of the priest professor that had been instrumental in attacking the “heresy” of Hus who had been burned at the stake 100 years before Luther. Hus had said that they could burn the goose but in years to come a man greater than he, a much bigger swan, would come that Rome could not stop. Later, Luther was seen as the swan that Hus had predicted, and Luther embraced the name as one of the more positive labels given him.

There was less on the Reformation today and more on the early upbringing and study that made the man. Luther would return to Erfurt many times to preach as part of his ministry. The chapel today is part of a protestant cloistered nunnery. We didn’t know we had any, but if you have a sense of calling, you could come here join in.

We had a fright at the end of the tour. When dropped back at the hotel, Lorie’s carry-on was not there for us to pick up. Apparently, it had been unloaded with the bigger luggage. We were making plans on how to proceed, when her luggage and our larger one were both delivered to our room. We thanked God for this special blessing….and my goose was not cooked!

The stores are all closed on Sundays in Germany by law. We would have had to wait until Monday to purchase what was needed. There however is a wine festival going on today just five minutes from the hotel. Many of us plan to take part after dinner. Now, we can celebrate our good fortune. Enough for today.