In Luther’s land

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church: Thirtyfour travelers from the North Wales church, led by their German native pastor Andreas Wagner, visited the historic sites of Protestant reformer Martin Luther in Erfurt, Eisenach and Wittenberg. From northern Germany the group traveled south to Bavaria and northern Italy, before a final stint in the Alsace region in eastern France and a night in the German city of Heidelberg. The 13day trip included concerts, joint worship services, guided tours, wine tastings and singing. Traveling with the group was choral specialist Kirsten Olson, who worked with a group of 17 singers. St. Peters’ travel choir participated in a joint concert and worship appearances with the singers of the Lutheran Castle Church in Wittenberg. They also sang at Eglise St. Thomas (St. Thomas Lutheran Church) in Strasbourg, France, and during a closing service at the Church of the Holy Spirit (Heilig-Geist Kirche) in Heidelberg, Germany. Olson selected various American spirituals and church songs for this tour. During the Sunday service on June 24 the group presented a painting of Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. to their Wittenberg hosts. The painting was made by North Wales artist Renee Erwin-Williams, one of the participants of the tour. The painting was a product of an art project undertaken by members of St. Peter’s in 2017, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. During three days in Italy, the group visited Venice and Verona, including a wine tasting at an ancient winery in the Valpolicella region. In the town of Turckheim in eastern France, they observed one of the last night watchmen on his night walk through town at precisely 10 p.m., complete with blessings in Alsatian dialect, and jokes in French. They visited the Albert Schweitzer Museum in Kaysersberg. At Cloister Ettal in Bavaria, the group enjoyed the abbey, as well as Bavarian beer.