November 4, 2010

CHICAGO – Two Lutherans completed a unique 70-day journey on Oct. 29 retracing on foot Martin Luther's historic trip from Erfurt, Germany, to Rome.

Luther, an Augustinian friar, began a trip to Rome in 1510 with another member of the order. Later in life, Luther created controversy with his 95 Theses, raising questions about indulgences in the Western Church. What followed was the period known as the Protestant Reformation.

The Rev. Dr. Sarah Hinlicky Wilson and her husband, Dr. Andrews Lars Wilson, left Germany for Rome Aug. 22 on their ecumenical pilgrimage, "Here I Walk." They walked 1,001.7 miles, using the journey to call attention to Luther and the importance of ecumenism. They posted daily devotions, updates about their journey and photographs on their Web site for the journey, http://www.hereiwalk.org.

Sarah Wilson is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), research professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France, and editor of Lutheran Forum. Andrew Wilson is a post-doctoral fellow at the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue, Geneva, and an ELCA member.

The Wilsons discussed ecumenism with people they met along their journey, particularly relationships between Roman Catholics and Lutherans. Many people they talked to stressed the importance of ecumenism in their daily lives.

"We never felt a moment's hostility nor contempt from Italian Catholics or German Catholics we encountered," said Sarah Wilson in an interview via Skype. Web followers' comments also seemed to reflect "a tremendous amount of goodwill about ecumenism, about theology and about Luther," she said.

"There is a real unity according to most people you meet among Christian churches," said Andrew Wilson. "The divisions that are part of ecclesiastical discourses don't play a large part in the lives of the people we talked to."

A significant part of the journey was the walking itself, Andrew Wilson said. Walking is not a primary form of transportation today, but in Luther's time, it was, he said, adding that they were seeing the world on foot as Luther did. He said that neither he nor Sarah suffered any serious injuries during the trip, experiencing only the normal aches and pains from hiking.

"In Luther's day, news traveled only as fast as the human body could travel," Sarah Wilson said. "The people back home in Erfurt and Nuremberg waited six months to hear their answer."

In a Web posting on the journey's final day, the Wilsons invited Catholics to retrace Luther's return trip from Rome to Erfurt. "In a sense, this pilgrimage remains incomplete," they wrote. "We've only gone halfway, Lutherans following Luther's path from a traditionally Lutheran land into the heart of Catholicism. That's why we'd like to extend an invitation to our Catholic friends and fellow travelers out there to take the return journey."

"We thought as we went along, this should have another life," said Sarah Wilson. "We Lutherans walked from our spiritual homeland to the Catholic homeland. We thought it might be inspiring. We've been praying for someone's heart to be prepared to take up this invitation."

The histories of Lutherans and Catholics are related, she said. "Christ forgives us for all our sins and ecumenism invites us to tell the truth about each other and our histories," she added.

The Wilsons arrived in Rome Oct. 29, and visited St. Peter's Basilica and the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, the burial places of St. Peter and St. Paul, respectively. Despite their disagreements, Peter and Paul both gave their lives as martyrs for Christ in the city of Rome, Sarah Wilson said. "As symbols of the Catholic and Lutheran churches respectively, they inspire Catholics and Lutherans today to their own common witness, martyria in Greek," she said.

The Wilsons celebrated Reformation Day Oct. 31 by attending worship at Rome's Lutheran congregation, the Lutheran Church of Christ. The Lutheran pastor and a Catholic prelate read portions of the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," signed by representatives of The Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church on Oct. 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany.

A regular follower of "Here I Walk" was the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, ELCA executive for ecumenical and inter-religious relations. "For me, to participate in their journey has been very helpful and renewing," he said. "I subscribed to the daily devotions. I have learned from this and gained an appreciation for Luther's approach of 500 years ago."

When they return to Germany this week, the Wilsons will be lecturing in Wittenberg about their journey. They also plan to visit three ELCA colleges and universities in the United States to speak about their journey, including Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Nov. 10-11, for the college's Founders' Day lectures; Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, N.C., Nov. 14-17 as Theologians in Residence; and visit Roanoke (Va.) College's Center for Religion and Society on Nov. 18.

ELCA News Service