Leipzig and Wittenberg

Street art in Leipzig. Another town with pedestrianised central area and the mixture of old and modern. Not much sign in town  of the former East Germany.

Yet another beer to add to the collection. The Indian
restaurant provided Jogi beer.

This is St Thomas's and here is Bach.

The Bach Museum gave us such an education!  Early this new century the call went out to German archives to dig deep and many treasures were found, manuscripts and even copies not seen for centuries.

Met 2 enthusiastic Cypriot girls and a quiet Serbian visiting the Museum. They are on a 6 month German language school.

A short train trip brought us to Wittenberg, which overtook Leipzig for personal impact.
Here is Neil meeting Luther. He seems to have been a strong presence.







Two views down one of the two streets to the Castle Church which was Luther's main preaching place. After fires and the  passing of time, it was remodelled to include this splendid tower with gold lettering of "A mighty fortress......."




The original side doors went in the fire and were replaced by these bronze panels inscribed with the 95 theses.  They were back in 1517.  The Pope had a strangle-hold on forgiveness.  You only got it by "Indulgencies", namely you paid for your own sins and all those of your forebears as they may be in Purgatory, and therefore depending on you to get them out of it.  Totally man-made and devoid of the Spirit of Grace.  Our Lord died and rose again and thereby redeems us from our sins.  What more has the Pope to do with it ?   That was what Luther exposed in the Theses.  Scripture alone, faith alone.

Now preserved as Luther's house, this was originally the monastery where he started all that thinking.  After the Reformation, it was given to Luther, by the two local Lords who believed he was right (& who protected him from the Pope's army). There he kept a kind of open house. The evening meal conversations were written down and published by friends, and Bach had a copy, on display along with his Bibles in Leipzig.

Here I am with Katerina, the escaped nun whom Luther later married.





Neil will tell you the next bit.

Luther preached a sermon to his own local folks in this small Chapel church, beside the University Town's larger Church (seen on the right).  In it he challenged the Pope to try him, Luther, for heresy.  His words went all the way to Rome, & with the Theses, led to the start the Reformation.   


Each week during the Summer, there are several worship services in English in the afternoons for half an hour.  So we went along & met the US Pastor from California who was over for 2 weeks.  He was very welcoming, together with others.  It's a normal liturgy, but I was tremendously honoured when he asked me to read the lesson.  Such a simple thing, but in that place, with that history, and the drama that has gone on since... I am still awe-struck that I was afforded that privilege.  Very moving it still is, when I think about it.

Just maybe this is where papers were put on a bonfire including the letter the Pope sent to threaten Luther. Just maybe an oak was planted next day. Certainly in the 1800s this oak was planted to mark the idea.

This is one of many plaques about town. Napoleon was here too.
Galle discovered Neptune. Did Isaac translate the last line?