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Launching the Luther Decade
Abstract: 500 years later Luther lands on the banks of the Elbe again, starts decade.
Lutherans like to ground the Reformation in an event that is fixed in time and space: Luther's posting of 95 theses on the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. Preparations for the 500th anniversary of that event have long been underway.
Of course, there is more to the reformation than Lutheranism, and in 2009 the Reformed Church will observe Calvin09, the 500th anniversary of Jean Calvin's birth.
Not content to let the Reformed Church scoop the Reformation's half-millennium celebration, on the weekend of September 19-21 the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) launched its Luther Decade. The beginning of the Luther Decade commemorates Luther's move from Erfurt to Wittenberg in 1508.
The festivities began with a reenactment of Luther's arrival on the banks of the Elbe. A bicycle tour from St Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt to Wittenberg featured Tour de France participant Ralf Grabsch, who was born near Wittenberg, and two other cyclists. Bishop Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) preached at the opening worship service on September 21 at the Schlosskirche. It is not known if the worship included a rite of foot washing.
