Luther's Wittenberg ~ the end of our Sabbatical Journey tracing the history of Christianity in Western Civilizations

We've wandered a long and winding road from the roads Paul walked and the amphitheater in Ephesus where Paul preached, to the room at Wartburg Castle (Eisennach) where Luther translated the New Testament into German, and the house where Luther lived and worked in Wittenberg, Germany.

We've been in at least one mosque, cathedral, chapel, or church every day for the last 28 days. I've swum outside (in Asian Turkey) and walked through the snow (in northern Germany); tasted delicious cultures and cuisines, drunk excellent coffee in every country visited and sampled fine wines in the cellar of treasured friends in Belgium.

We've visited castles, palaces, museums, parks, battle sites, forts and abbeys; we've flown five different airlines, stayed in 11 overnight locations, tried to speak a bit of three different languages (not counting English and unable to get a word out in Turkish), and ridden in taxis, trains, trams, rental cars, Bosphorous cruise boats, buses, the Paris Metro, the Roman underground rail, transport vans, and one funicular. We've been blessed with safe travel, the company of dear friends, the incredible kindness of strangers, and innumerable moments of insight and unexpected joy.

Tomorrow we journey home to Minnesota so today is our last full day of this sabbatical journey and we are sad to feel the adventure winding down. Wittenberg is our last stop before turning around to travel home.

Today we saw the church in Wittenberg where Martin Luther preached many times, and another church famous for Luther's having nailed the 95 Theses on the door there, the house where he and his Katarina (a former nun married to this former monk) lived and raised their family. The latter building houses a very fine Luther museum where we spent a couple hours browsing the artifacts and seeing Luther's study.

Katarina is a woman I can admire. She was strong, independent-minded, industrious and capable by all accounts. You see me pictured with a cut-out figure of her below.

The first thing I learned in my college German class at Saint Olaf was how to sing "A Mighty Fortress is our God" (Ein Feste Burg ist unsere Gott) in the original words Luther authored. You see below a hymnal open to this hymn (not 500 years old, however) in the church where Martin Luther preached hundreds of sermons (the pictured church with the two spires).

The story of Luther's life, learning and thinking, and courage when accused of heresy is compelling. The Wittenberg Luther House museum thoroughly presents his life story and the artifacts of his life here in the former monastery that was gifted to him and Katarina.

Snow is falling lightly in Wittenberg as we pull the curtains in our hotel room for the evening, as we pull the curtains closed on this marvelous journey.