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I’m sorry to not send candid photos.  I am fighting my way through a summer cold, combined with no air conditioning and 102 heat yesterday.  So I am lagging behind.  I’ll try to get an additional email of candids later today.  The temp is only supposed to be 88 today, so that will be a relief!

Thursday, July 21, 2022: Rhine Cruise, Worms, Heidelberg

 We begin our day with a Rhine river cruise, sailing past magnificent castles and the famous Lorelei rock to St. Goar.  The Rhine River valley is beautiful, with stunning views around every bend.

After our leisurely morning, we drive to Worms, site of the famous 1521 Diet of Worms. 

 

A bit of history

Worms began as a Celtic city in ancient times, being conquered by a Germanic tribe in 14 BC.  The bishopric of Worms existed by at least 614, having authority over the city and its territory.  Approximately 100 Imperial “diets” (general assemblies) were held in Worms.  The most famous of which being in 1521, where Luther appeared before Emperor Charles V, who demanded that he recant his teachings.

Leading up to Worms

The years between October 1517 (when the 95 theses were posted) to early 1521 were prolific years for Luther, both in writing and in formal debate with Catholic leadership.  In 1518, he defended his writings on indulgences at the Heidelberg disputation in 1518 and appeared before Cardinal Cajetan,  In a debate in Leipzig with Johannes Eck in 1519, he publicly challenged the primacy of the Pope, established the principle of “Sola Scripture” which stated that the scriptures take precedence over the teachings of the church, and challenged the doctrine of purgatory.  During this period, Luther wrote 3 major works entitled “To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation”, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,”, and “The Freedom of a Christian.”  These writings, along with his increasingly heated correspondence with the Roman authorities prompted Pope Leo X’s papal bull “Excurge Domine”, giving Luther 60 days to answer to accusations of heresy.  When those 60 days expired, Luther was officially excommunicated by Leo X.  What was Luther’s response?  He burned the papal bull and other Catholic writings – spurring greater enthusiasm from the crowds in Wittenberg.

Metaxes reflects on this period of Luther’s witness: “Part of Luther’s appeal came from his escalating outspokenness.  Just when he said one thing that everyone insisted no one must ever say, he said another and then another.  . . The reason for this was that as Luther’s sense of his own danger increased, so did his boldness.  He thought, what do I have to lose?  I am speaking the truth and therefore my life is in danger; so I might as well say what I can while I have breath in me.  His willingness to go further and further, wherever he felt the truth led him, became breathtaking.”

This perspective greatly influenced his response at the Diet of Worms in April 1521.

The Diet of Worms

Emperor Charles V called the Diet (a formal deliberative assembly) and promised Luther safe passage to attend.  Even though he had been summoned to renounce or reaffirm his views, Luther arrived in Worms with a wagon full of books, ready to debate his positions.

On his first day at the Diet, Luther was asked to confirm that the books laid on a table before him were his writings – which he did.  The authorities were not interested in debating him.  So they tried to force a yes or no answer.  “Do you recant from these writings?’  Luther requested time to think, which he was given until late in the next day.

On this second day at the Diet (April 18, 1521), he replied to the emperor’s spokesperson, saying: that he divided his writings into three categories: (1) Works which were well received even by his enemies: those he would not reject.  (2) Books which attacked the abuses, lies and desolation of the Christian world and the papacy: those, Luther believed, could not safely be rejected without encouraging abuses to continue.  To retract them would be to open the door to further oppression.  “If I now recant these, then, I would be doing nothing but strengthening tyranny”.  And (3) Attacks on individuals: for which he apologized for the harsh tone of these writings but did not reject the substance of what he taught in them. 

Then Luther spoke the words for which he is most famous.  “Since then your serene majesties and your lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, plain and unvarnished: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the scriptures or clear reason, for I do not trust in the Pope or in the councils alone, since it is well known that they often err and contradict themselves, I am bound to the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.  I cannot do otherwise.  Here I stand.  God help me.  Amen.”

Most history books move quickly from Luther’s stance in Worms to his “kidnapping” in the woods on his way back to Wittenberg.  There was a period, however, when history might have gone in a different direction.  The morning after Luther’s refusal to recant, the emperor Charles wrote his opinion, stating that “I am resolved that I will never again hear him talk. . . and to act and proceed against him as against a notorious heretic.”  That night, numerous placards and signs were placed around Worms, stating that the peasants (who viewed Luther as their champion), would rise up against the emperor if Luther was convicted.  The princes and nobility understood that this threat was part of a larger movement against the tyranny and abuses of Rome, so they took them seriously, requesting the emperor for 3 days to seek resolution with Luther.

Metaxas writes: “In these three days with the representatives of the German estates, Luther finally did get something far closer to the hearing he had always longed for.  The desperation of the German nobles to avoid a bloody social uprising had brought them to this place where they hoped to reason and forge some kind of compromise with the wild monk from Wittenberg.”  While this consultation did not result in a compromise, it gave Luther a private, uninterrupted audience with 10 noblemen, bishops and priests when he laid out his doctrinal concerns.  His efforts would come to fruition in the Peace of Augsburg, some 34 years later.

The Edict of Worms

Before Luther left Worms to return to Wittenberg, an edict was signed making him an enemy of the empire.  It stated: “Luther is to be regarded as a convicted heretic.  When the time is up, (21 days after the edict was signed), no one is to harbor him.  His followers also are to be condemned.  His books are to be eradicated from the memory of man.”  It also stated that everyone within the empire was: “not to take the aforementioned Martin Luther into your houses, not to receive him at court, to give him neither food nor drink, not to hide him, to afford him no help, following, support, or encouragement, either clandestinely or publicly, through words or works. where you can get him, seize him and overpower him, you should capture him and send him to us under tightest security.”

It was as a wanted man that Luther set out on his return trip to Wittenberg, only to be kidnapped by Prince Frederick’s men and taken into protective custody at Wartburg Castle, which we toured on Tuesday.

Reflection verses                                                                                                                    Daniel 3:16-28

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter.  If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

 Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted.  He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.  So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.  Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.  Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?”  They answered the king, “True, O king.”  He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.” 

Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!  Come here!”  So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.

 Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him.  They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Reflection questions

Wow!  When Luther took his stance before the Emperor, he did so in the firm knowledge that he would likely die.  Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, like Martin Luther King Jr., they knew that their proclamation of the love and justice of our ONE GOD for ALL people would set them in complete opposition with the powers that be.  Yet risking (and giving) their lives, they not only held-fast to their faith, but they shared it with others.

For Luther, staying silent was not an option.  He himself had experienced “the gates of hell” when he was so desperately trying to save himself, but the grace of God brought him to “the golden gates of heaven.”  As long as he had breath in him, he would keep preaching, writing, and standing up for the unmerited love of God.  It was his life’s work and personal passion.

The word “evangelical” has gotten a particularly bad reputation over the past few decades – becoming associated with more judgmental, condemning, even “self-righteous” points of view.  Yet the word itself is a direct call to be God’s messengers, the word “angel” is right in the middle.

How do you share the message of God’s love with others?  What inhibits your proclamation of God’s good news?  Who in your life longs for a word of hope right now?  How can you take inspiration from the faithful who have gone before us to empower your proclamation, to carry the faith to the next generation?

Hymn of the day (yes, it’s a repeat, but we’re in Worms!)                                    A Mighty Fortress (page 26)

Where we’re staying ~ Hotel Holländer Hof, Heidelberg

A look ahead

Tomorrow gives us a day to explore Heidelberg and Rothenburg.  Even though it does not relate to our location, we will pick up Luther’s story after his stay at Wartburg Castle.