Wittenberg was very different than I thought. Growing up in CRC church, I had heard about Wittenberg and its importance to the church many times. However, when I told the man sitting next to me on the train I was getting off Wittenberg he pulled a face and said it was an “interesting place to get off.” This seemed strange as I assumed people would know the significance Wittenberg had.
The city seemed very sleepy. There were very few cars and very few people on the streets the entire walk from the train station to town. Part of this was due to the area of town we were in and that it was a Sunday morning, but I still expected more activity. Even in church, there were very few people. Our group made up more than half of the congregation at Martin Luther’s historical church.
The church itself was very impressive, and going to the Luther house was an enjoyable experience. There were a lot of cool artifacts at the house, and many stories about Luther that I had not heard before. The museum at the Luther house did a very good job explaining the important actions that Luther took in order to spur the Reformation, but it also talked about how he as a person was not perfect and some of his controversial stances are overlooked today.
The trip to Wittenberg was very interesting and I learned a lot, but it was slightly disheartening. It was evident that many people do not prioritize going to church or such an important landmark as Luther’s church. There were many impressive aspects to the trip but it was also humbling.