Companions for the Journey

“Well begun is half done,” as the expres­sion goes (and is par­tic­u­larly com­fort­ing when con­tem­plat­ing a thousand-mile jour­ney on foot). And we are look­ing for­ward to a mar­velous begin­ning of our pilgrimage.

Sat­ur­day we’ll be trav­el­ing to Erfurt and spend­ing the night at the Augus­tin­ian pri­ory where Luther him­self spent his years as a brother in Erfurt—and, in an unex­pected and fas­ci­nat­ing turn, it’s now occu­pied by Lutheran nuns!

The next morn­ing, Sun­day, we’ll get a pilgrim’s bless­ing at church—more details on that soon to follow—before set­ting off for our first day’s trek to Arnstadt.

And we are par­tic­u­larly happy to report that two fel­low pil­grims will keep us com­pany at the out­set of this trip.

Hans Wiersma is a pro­fes­sor of Ref­or­ma­tion his­tory at Augs­burg Col­lege and a fel­low Lutheran. His inter­est in our pil­grim­age is, well, understandable!

Our other com­pan­ion is Anne-Sylvie Bois­liveau, a Catholic scholar of the Koran. We are thrilled that our trip toward Rome in the hopes of Lutheran-Catholic rec­on­cil­i­a­tion begins with the com­pany of a Catholic fel­low believer in Christ.

Donald McCoid says:
August 17, 2010 at 3:34 pm
We will be walk­ing with you. The ELCA ecu­meni­cal web­page has the infor­ma­tion and we are pub­li­ciz­ing the trip so oth­ers may par­tic­i­pate in this jour­ney and oppor­tu­nity. Thanks for “Here I Walk.”
Rev. Don­ald McCoid
Exec­u­tive for Ecu­meni­cal and Inter-Religious Rela­tions
Evan­gel­i­cal Lutheran Church in America
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Michael Plekon says:
August 17, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Will be in prayers all through your jour­ney, with hopes for rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Lutheran-Catholic-Orthodox. Par­tic­u­larly right you begin from the Augus­tin­ian pri­ory at Erfurt again occu­pied by sis­ters. May all the angels who accom­pa­nied travellers–Mary, Joseph & the Child, the Magi, Tobias, the apos­tles and mis­sion­ar­ies and the Mother of God pro­tect you with her veil.
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John Bateson says:
August 17, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Good hik­ing to all. However,Arnstadt, your first stop on the way is the place where, in 1703, a young Johann Sebas­t­ian Bach got his first real job as organ­ist of the Boni­facekirche. No doubt he played well, but he got in a fight with another gen­tle­man of the town, and after his visit to Bux­te­hude in Lubeck, he was upbraided by the town coun­cil for the “strange har­monies com­ing from the organ loft,and the sound of a female voice in the organ loft as well.” So after a while he left, but while it was a rough start, it was enough to send him on his way. So may you also be sent wth the Holy Spirit with you each and every step.
Kind regards
John Bateson
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