Today is a special day for all Lutherans, and all of us agree on that! (Regular readers will remember that I am a Lutheran pastor. Officially I am retired, and am rosters with the South Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.)
Next year will be the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg, Germany's Castle Church. They were an attempt to correct some abuses, but in the climate of the times, began the process of his excommunication and the split in the Western Church. The Eastern Church had already been separated five hundred years previously, which some people forget or do not realize.
Among other things, the process included Luther's reformation of the German language and the use of the vernacular in worship. As a result, the stirring music of Bach and many others came into being.
After so long the hope is for reconciliation among believers in a secularized world, whatever form that may take. There are no preconditions. Today Pope Francis is in Sweden to take part in official celebrations. Too bad there was not pope like him around in 1517!
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