Letter 05-2007. Ecumenism and ESG.

6^th May 2007

Dear friends,

I wrote last time that the ecumenical mood here would get some attention in this letter. I also wrote that evangelical is what we in Norway would call Lutheran. Now I have learnt a bit more, and I will try to correct a little.

I have earlier thought that the Church of Norway (DNK) can be a bit diverse and difficult. But the structure is quite easy compared with The Evangelical Church in Germany, Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD). I thought it was Lutheran, but it is not that easy. EKD is a federation of 23 Lutheran, Reformed and United (Lutheran-Reformed) Churches. One of these 23 churches is the Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Sachsens, which I „belong to“ now. A Landeskirche might be something like a diocese in Norway, as it has a bishop on top, but I think it is not that easy, as it is more independent. I still do not have the full picture. There are many links today, for those who are interested in reading more: http://www.ekd.de/index.html

I have already told that I live at an evangelical student house, and that I study at an evangelical facutly. Here it is not enough to say that I study theology, I study evangelical theology. I also participate in the Evangelical Student Congregation (ESG) (http://www.ekd.de/esg/ http://www.esg-leipzig.de/), which I would normally not call a congregation, but „SCM“, as they are members of the WSCF (World Student Christian Federation), which is often called the Student Christian Movement. There is also a Catholic Student Congregation (KSG) (http://www.ksg-leipzig.de/), and ESG and KSG are so ecumenical that they have a common leaflet and some common programmes during the semester. I have met some who participate both places, and it is not impossible that I can be seen at KSG some time. So far I have attended a few ESG evenings. The big ESG weekday is Thursday, but there is something almost every day for those who are interested. The first common event this semester was the semester opening service, which was when I was the leader of an Easter camp in Norway, so that service I missed. But the leaflet was easy to find, so I soon found that there were other events I wanted to attend.

1^st May ESG and KSG organised a tour to Wartburg at Eisenach. I have not been very clever in Luther history earlier, but these weeks have helped me well. This autumn I will go to the USA for exchange studies, and I will then study at Wartburg Theological Seminary. Then it is good to know where the school has its name from. Wartburg is an old fortress with a rich history. http://www.wartburg-eisenach.de/frame_st.htm Luther hid in the fortress in the worst months of 1521-1522, and he there translated the New Testament to German. Wartburg is then an important place for Lutherans, and others interested in German language. But the fortress has also had great Catholic residents. I might think that the story about St. Elizabeth was as exciting as that about Luther. Wartburg is situated in a nice nature area and we also had a good trip on foot.

Later this semester there will be more common events, but already this weekend ESG has had this semester's „Rüstzeit“. „Weekend“ might be the best translation. ESG has every semester „Rüstzeit“ at Schloss Mansfeld, an old castle in Sachsen-Anhalt. When we were out walking yesterday, I understood that Mansfeld also has a central place in the Luther history. http://www.mansfeld-lutherstadt.de/lutherhist.html Suddenly we were outside Luther's parents' house, and as suddenly we were on our way again.

The subject for this weekend was „Evangelical communities in Germany“, and that heading was an important reason that ESG from the beginning caught my interest. For those of you who are new on the Letter-list, and do not know my thoughts about the religious life, I will recommend some earlier letters, from 42 http://banglahanne.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html I have not got a deep knowledge of the convents here, but I have come to know the different types of communities existing; family communities, convents, deaconess communities, and tertiary sisterhoods and brotherhoods. In addition there were morning, midday and evening prayers, good food, nice people, beautiful nature, excellent weather, funny games and „Murder in the convent“ role play, all in all a good weekend.

Some pictures are posted at http://banglahanne.blogspot.com/

Ecumenical regards from Hanne.