“A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” sung in Martin Luther’s very church!
What could be a better experience than that for a Lutheran?
My husband, daughter and I inadvertently took a “Reformation History,” tour of Poland, the Czech Republic, and eastern Germany in spring 2018.
The highlight was a Saturday night service in St. Mary’s Church, “The Town Church, or Stadtkirche,” where Martin Luther preached for many years.
It’s the home church of his most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”
And since the three of us are choir members, we sang the hymn with gusto!
Martin Luther, himself
I’ve written several posts about Martin Luther here, here and here.
Not to mention, October 31, 1517, Reformation Day.
But I’ve not written about him as a hymnologist.
Luther wrote many hymns. Here’s a list.
“Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” is the most famous, written in the late 1520’s.
Often referred to as the “Battle Hymn of the Reformation,” it encouraged those who chose to follow Luther’s move away from the Catholic Church.
John Julian records four theories of its origin:
Heinrich Heine: “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” was sung by Luther and his companions as they entered Worms on 16 April 1521 for the Diet.
K. F. T. Schneider: it was a tribute to Luther’s friend Leonhard Kaiser, who was executed on 16 August 1527.
Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigné: it was sung by the German Lutheran princes as they entered Augsburg for the Diet in 1530, at which the Augsburg Confession was presented.
It was composed in connection with the 1529 Diet of Speyer, at which the German Lutheran princes lodged their protest to Holy Roman Emperor Emperor Charles V, who wanted to enforce his 1521 Edict of Worms.
From Wikipedia
Regardless, singing it in Luther’s home church thrilled us.
Stadtkirche, home of “A Mighty Fortress”
The town church was Martin Luther’s home church for most of his life.
He married, baptized his children, and preached from the pulpit some 2000 times, according to Rick Steves. (In his guide to Germany)
Steves suggested we arrive in Wittenberg on Saturday so we could attend the English service held at the church.
We’re so glad we did!
(For more information, check out Wittenberg English Ministry. Services led by Lutheran pastors from Canada, USA and Australia run from May to Reformation Day).
We arrived early to tour the church, stopping to admire the paintings and the very pulpit where Luther preached.
I ran my hands along the smooth baptismal font and tried to imagine the great Reformer baptizing his squalling children.
I laughed at the painting sporting his son’s illicit signature.
The church is far simpler than grand St. Peter’s in Rome, but then, so was the man in comparison to any pope!
A simple service
The simple service matched the setting.
We sat facing the baptismal font, three rows back as is our custom!
About 100 people joined us that Saturday night, most in tourist garb.
The big pipe organ in the choir loft played familiar hymns–perhaps all by Luther, I’m not sure.
An American pastor led us in the worship service and preached a straight-forward sermon welcoming us to the church.
Several volunteers read the appointed lesson in different English accents!
We just felt happy to be there.
A Mighty Fortress from a mighty organ
The service fittingly ended with “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”
As I sang with a big grin, I couldn’t help wondering how many times that church had heard that song.
Would the pulpit ever scream, “enough!”
Of course, we sang four verses! Here’s the second:
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth is his name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
Honestly, I felt like marching when it was over!
Wittenberg itself?
We called it Lutherland and are glad we visited.
But the highlight really was singing in Martin Luther’s church.
Tweetables
The joy of singing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” in its birthplace. Click to Tweet
Singing Martin Luther’s hymns in their home church. Click to Tweet
Happy Reformation Day with A Mighty Fortress! Click to Tweet
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