German churches mark the 500th anniversary of the Diet of Worms
In April 1521, Emperor Charles V summoned Martin Luther to the Diet in the city of Worms. There, Luther refused to recant his teaching and was later declared an outlaw. In a new brochure marking the 500th anniversary of the Diet of Worms, General Secretary Dr. Martin Junge speaks about this event. The past cannot be changed, Junge adds. “But we ask: what does it mean for us today?”
The thematic booklet, published by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) to mark this event, is titled “Free the conscience. Take a stand. Trust in God.” (Gewissen befreien. Haltung zeigen. Gott vertrauen). In his article, General Secretary Junge notes that the period 500 years ago was marked by “theological creativity and deep tension”. Yet today’s perspective should be “not one of division, but of unity”. To take one’s baptism seriously “means to live as branches on a single vine – Jesus Christ, in order to embody this powerful, prophetic message of healing and unity in our wounded world,” he added.
Junge points to the talks between the LWF and the Roman Catholic Church, more than 500 years of ecumenical dialogue. “We are on the way from conflict to communion.” This shared journey has a special significance in the context of 2030, Junge writes. That year will mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the Augsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana), which is a cornerstone of Lutheranism. The joint Lutheran and Catholic commemoration of the Reformation in 2016 in Lund already “pointed more than anything to the new dynamic of relations between the LWF as a global Lutheran communion of churches and the Roman Catholic Church.”
Five hundred years after the Diet of Worms, Lutherans and Catholics remember and at the same time are “open to a future shaped by the many achievements of ecumenical dialogue, and have retained an interest in God’s ongoing work,” Junge affirms. God, he writes, continues to call the church to bear witness to reconciliation in Jesus Christ. “We want to remember and be witnesses together.”
Worms, Germany/GENEVA
| 16/4/2021
Photo: LWF/A. Weyermüller
Source: Lutheran World Federation news