Today was our last full day of the tour, and we visited the large Martin Lutherhaus and Philipp Melanchthon museum where I was most interested in hearing about the family life of these two giants of the Reformation. Luther was 42 years old when he married Katharina von Bora, an escaped nun who had lived… Read More From the sleepy town of Wittenberg …
Even though we have been having a wonderful, carefree time in Germany, we are mindful of what has happened across the pond —the awful church shooting that happened in Charleston, South Carolina. The pastor who died was a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in the South, and one of our tour participants is a sorority sister of one… Read More Martin Luther’s town: Wittenberg
We are now settled in to our rooms at the Colleg Wittenberg, having visited Martin Luther’s birthplace and death place at Eisleben and Georg Frideric Handel’s birthplace, Halle. Unfortunately I lost today’s pictures when I lost my phone somewhere between the Francke Foundation museum in Halle and here in Wittenberg. There is a slight… Read More Eisleben and Halle
The weather has been absolutely spectacular here in Erfurt where we have spent the last three nights. We’ve come here because Martin Luther lived here as an Augustinian monk from 1505 to 1511. We walked here from our hotel, the Radisson Blu, to the old part of the city, and visited the monastery church with its… Read More Luther in Erfurt
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Well, what else would you expect a bunch of Lutherans to sing after visiting the Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther spent translating the Bible into German? Our tour leader, Dr. Michael Krentz, argued that this beloved hymn could have been a song of comfort, rather… Read More A mighty fortress
I remember a few years ago when the pastor, during the children’s sermon, asked the children if they knew who Martin Luther was. Understandably, the children confused the great reformer, Martin Luther, with the civil rights activist whose birthday we celebrated this week, Martin Luther King. Some of you probably saw my Facebook posting about… Read More Martin Luther and Martin Luther King
It’s less than 40 days away to my Bach Great Eighteen concerts on August 18 and 25. I am in “full court press” mode, a term I know from basketball but also an expression meaning “an all-out effort or offensive.” Since returning home from “vacation” I have had three practice sessions, and since I am on… Read More The countdown begins!
Today is Reformation Day and I wanted to share with you the visit of Martin Luther (aka John Bickel) to the Iolani School campus this week. John, a history teacher and long-time LCH member, recreates characters from the past such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Napoleon Bonaparte, etc. and makes them come alive… Read More Speaking of Martin Luther
There was an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe last week titled, “Save the church! kill the organs” and it naturally elicited a lot of response from organists and parishioners alike. The author, Jennifer Graham, associated music coming out of an organ to that of a horror movie, and had the nerve to blame organ… Read More Don’t blame the organ!
This Sunday is Reformation, one of my favorite Lutheran festivals in the whole church year because it’s a day that I inevitably play Bach. I’ll be playing Bach’s Prelude in E minor, BWV 548a for the prelude and the Prelude and Fugue in E minor (“Cathedral”) BWV 533 for the postlude. During communion, I’ll be… Read More Bach to basics for Reformation