To Plant a Tree in the Luther Garden (Wittenberg, Germany) -- 17-member delegation

Why Martin Luther matters to United Methodists

 

By Heather Hahn (reporter)
June 17, 2015 | WITTENBERG, Germany (UMNS)

They each had their faith shaken in a powerful storm. During a dark night of the soul, they both found assurance of God’s grace in a reading of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.
Those are just two similarities in the life stories of John Wesley, Methodism’s founder, and Martin Luther, arguably the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation.
Without Luther, it’s quite possible no Wesleyan movement would have arisen two centuries later.
In fact, hearing Luther’s preface to Romans helped spur Wesley’s spiritual awakening on the night of May 24, 1738.
“About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed,” Wesley wrote in his diary in 1738. “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation … .”
A group of 17 United Methodists visited Luther’s home of Wittenberg to further explore the connections between Luther and Wesley and celebrate the ecumenical ties among today’s Lutherans and Wesleyans.
The United Methodist group included six bishops from Germany, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and the United States, as well as four staff members from the bishops’ Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Religious Relationships, the denomination’s ecumenical arm.
At the invitation of the Lutheran World Federation, the United Methodists also helped plant a tree in the new Luther Garden — part of the preparations for the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in October 2017.
“We are convinced we have one root, and Martin Luther brought this to the attention of the Christians in his time,” Germany Area Bishop Rosemarie Wenner preached during the tree-planting service. “That one root is Jesus Christ the Lord.”