Techincally speaking, “so unbelievably awesome” should not qualify as a theological category. But then, some experiences are category-busters, and this was one of them.
I’ve been visiting Lutherstadt Wittenberg (as it’s officially known) since 1999 or 2000, when I came for the first time to assist my dad in a college-level May term he was teaching. After I started working at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, my colleague Theodor Dieter and I developed our two-week intensive course in Luther’s theology, which we led in partnership with the LWF Center in Wittenberg. I’ve taught it every year since 2009, to by now hundreds of Lutheran pastors from all over the world: Greenland to Myanmar, Suriname to Senegal, Taiwan to Estonia. Oh yeah, and the US and Canada, too!
Unsurprisingly, the last three years were conducted remotely, so now in 2023 we are back in person for the first time since 2019. And what a delight it has been to return in person—and not only for easy access to German bakeries, cheap Ritter Sport marzipan chocolate, and more potatoes than you can shake a sausage at.
But this year’s visit breaks all previous records in the so unbelievably awesome category, because this year I was invited to give the Sunday sermon at the Schlosskirche! That is, the very church upon whose door Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses.
Well, technically, I preached in the church that was built in the same place and for the same purpose as the 95 Theses church, since that original one burnt down during the Seven Years’ War in 1760. Which also means the door is not the door. To compensate, however, the new door is engraved with every last one of the 95 Theses! And although we fondly nickname the building the Castle Church, it’s technically called All Saints’ Church… kind of like how the technical name of the 1968 album is The Beatles but everybody calls it The White Album.
Back to the main point: for all my long history with Wittenberg, even delivering a public talk on October 31, 2017, I never have participated in a worship service as a leader, much less preached. And it honestly never even occurred to me to aspire to that. It just so happens that this year the LWF Center was responsible for the service on November 12, and so the staff asked if I would like to preach. That is an offer you don’t need to think about twice!
I have to admit, once I accepted, the prospect of preaching approximately 12 feet above Luther’s mortal remains was just a tad bit intimidating. Also, the text was Romans 8:18–25, which also falls in the so unbelievably awesome category where Scripture is concerned… a tad bit intimidating, too. Then add the fact that after my colleagues translated into German I’d need to deliver it in German. Thanks be to God, I got outstanding guidance from one of them in correcting some pronunciation quirks and developing a more natural cadence. And then I practiced a ton of times.
The congregation was not huge. This is former East Germany, after all; church attendance remains extremely low. But serving as a pastor in Japan, it felt quite homey and normal to me. A number of the local parishioners talked to me on the way out, and I could understand well enough that they were commenting on the sermon though not exactly what they said. (But it seemed positive overall.) My German colleagues said it was perfectly easy to understand, and my remaining accent added charm. Whew.
To be honest, I can enjoy it now that it’s over! It was a bit too tremendous to enjoy in the moment. But it will certainly remain in my memory and my heart as a blessing and a grace, and I’m grateful to have had the chance to proclaim the gospel in the very place where Luther once did—Luther to whom I owe such a debt for my own faith.
Here’s a brief video excerpt from the beginning of the sermon. Thanks to the participants of the seminar who took pictures and videos and sent them along! The ones here are both credited with thanks to Pastor Angela Freeman-Riley.
And here’s the complete audio of the sermon. But no text. If I had to preach it in German, then you have to listen to it in German. Fair’s fair.