Address at the St John’s Day reception of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) on 22 June 2017 in Berlin

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is almost an irony of history that the message of a church of the word was mainly put across by pictures, of disputable historical origin, what’s more! Martin Luther with a big hammer, nailing his 95 theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Martin Luther facing up to the emperor and empire at the Diet of Worms and proclaiming „Here I stand, I can do no other“. But another example is the success of a small-scale plastic Luther figure. With one million sold to date, this is the most popular Playmobil figure of all time.

Martin Luther would presumably not have appreciated this personal hype at all. Regarding the powerful effect of images, however, he would have advised a more relaxed approach. It was clear to Luther that they could also help spread the Word of God. Destroying images was the wrong approach in his view – the right one was to build schools, so that people could learn how to understand them.

Each of us will have our own personal pictures in mind if we close our eyes at half-time in the Reformation anniversary year to see what has taken place, perhaps experienced personally. For example, the Healing-of-Memories service in St Michael’s Church, Hildesheim, at which the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches pledged to continue dismantling the barriers between them. Or the Kirchentag in Berlin, at which over a hundred thousand people joined in peaceful worship, celebration and discussion. Or the Night of Lights and the Festive Service on the Elbe meadows in Wittenberg, from which many - particularly young people - went home with new energy.

This year, of course, other pictures come to mind as well. Etched in our memories are the photos of attacks on innocent people in this country and worldwide. With horror we have witnessed how the Oriental Churches, at the original sites of Christianity, are facing violence and persecution. It is even to be feared that they will be driven out completely or may die out.

It moved me all the more to read what Coptic Bishop Damian said in his Easter message: „We must counter hate and terror with steadfast faith, love and hope. … We are profoundly dismayed and shattered but not without hope!“ And Bishop Damian speaks of the message of Jesus on the Cross: „In his apparent weakness he gave us strength. Through his death he conquered death and gave us salvation and eternal life.“

We have to counter pictures of horror with pictures of hope. Pictures of peace and reconciliation, but first of all the message of resurrection that conquered death. Luther put it neatly: We have to „use our hearing to see the resurrection“.

As Christians our view is guided by three words chosen by the Apostle Paul and which have especially stood for Christianity ever since: faith, hope and love. They are the key words for our meditation today. So please join me in a reflection on these three concepts: faith, hope and love.

Faith

„We are justified not by works but by faith alone.“ Perhaps it is hard to imagine today that this rather strange-sounding phrase was able to set the whole world in motion. But it did. Martin Luther’s rediscovery of this basic insight of Paul put paid to a wrong understanding of Christian faith as high-performance sport. Luther dismantled the system of pious works and the consequent sacramental mediation of grace. Instead of pious exercises and paying money – he urged – we should place our trust in Christ. On the way through the Cross and resurrection, Christ opened the way to heaven to all who „hang“ on him. Luther put it vividly in a letter:

I hang myself round the neck or at the foot of Christ…. Then he says to the Father: this appendage also has to come through. True, he did not keep any promises and transgressed all your laws. But Father, he is hanging on me. What can I do! I died for him. Let him slip through…

„Let him slip through…“ – this phrase is certainly an unusual way of putting the content of the word „grace“. But it expresses something that is still of central, even revolutionary importance, not only for our Christian faith but for our community as a whole. It points to the radical distinction between persons and their deeds, which is ultimately the basis of what we call human dignity. God’s love of people is stronger than the action contrary to God’s good commandments with which we separate ourselves from God. In the eyes of God, every person is so precious that God overcomes this separation and stays in relationship with them. We call that „God’s grace“, available to us through faith in Christ.

What Luther expresses with dense theological ideas is spelled out in non-religious, Enlightenment thought – e.g. in the content of the term human dignity. In view of the lasting fascination for inhuman ideologies, and increasing fundamentalism in religions, we are committed to the achievements of the Enlightenment and are also allied with all those who, whether Christian or not, stand up for humanist values. It would be wrong, however, to conclude from today’s religious and non-confessional pluralism that Christian symbols must be banned from the public eye wherever possible. That would deprive us of the signs of remembrance we need in order to prevent talk of „human dignity“ from degenerating into a routine phrase used in solemn speeches, and to fill it with life again.

Hence, in view of the current discussion, I say that there is no reason to do without the cross on the dome of the reconstructed Berlin City Castle. Anyone who still sees the cross as a symbol of the alliance between throne and altar is not looking beyond the 19th century.

My own religious socialization took place at a time in which the violent history of Christianity was evoked and dealt with on almost every official occasion. Critical engagement with this history is in my religious DNA and has become a natural part of a critically thought-through Christian faith. And I am grateful for that.

For many who have a similar background, the cross has become an expression of God’s siding with the poor and marginalized. God who has become human dies as a torture victim on the cross – with a cry that God has forsaken him. That is the cross of Jesus Christ! It is indeed an offence. It holds a mirror up to society, that all too often overlooks the suffering people whom Jesus called „the least of his brothers and sisters“. But that is exactly what „by grace alone“ expresses today. And that is exactly how this faith can inspire the general public, going far beyond the bounds of churches. I hope that this redefinition of the cross as a Christian symbol can finally be noticed and understood – also by the critics of Christianity. It is not new and we should be able to expect people to update their perception of Christianity at least to that extent!

Hope

„If I knew that the world would end tomorrow I would still plant an apple tree today.“ This hopeful statement was attributed to Martin Luther probably after his death. But it best expresses why the rediscovery of faith in the Reformation was also a rediscovery of Christian hope. The Reformers rediscovered the world as a place in which God is at work. And where God is at work, there is hope – that is quite clear. Today, in many places in the world, this hope is a hope against all appearances.

And sometimes it is the hopes of others that demonstrate to us just how much we have been given. Europe, the continent in which we are privileged to live, is a place of hope. Every day we are reminded of this by so many people who put their lives at risk to flee here from war and hunger.

Hope should not be based on appearances and that is particularly relevant where there are setbacks. Such a setback for global climate protection is the announcement of the US administration that it intends to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. But perhaps this may lead to an all-the-more resolute action by the international community. Before the Hamburg G20 summit it is paramount to do our utmost to keep climate protection top of the international agenda. We now need courageous steps forward. To all those who are striving for this I would like to extend our full support this evening.

The more so as this initially environmental issue is linked to a massive justice issue, with which we as churches are confronted every day in our worldwide ecumenical networks. When we meet people in our partner churches, e.g. in Africa, we address them as „sisters and brothers“. These very sisters and brothers are already feeling the massive effects of climate change, to which they themselves contributed the least and we the most. How could we look them in the eyes if we as churches did not firmly stand up for climate action to oppose this massive injustice?

International commitment to combating climate change is a testimony to active Christian hope. It is also a field in which we as different churches are particularly strong when we act together, ecumenically. The encyclical Laudato sí by Pope Francis and the commitment to Creation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church, whom we received here in Germany recently, are impressive expressions of the fact that we as Christian churches are working for the same goals.

The fact that we are celebrating the Reformation anniversary together as a Christusfest (festival of Christ) has proved to be a great source of hope for new steps towards church unity. We know that we are far from being at the end of the road. Being able to celebrate together at the Lord’s Table is a hope and a longing that will never dry up until one day Jesus’ prayer will be heard that they „all may be one“ (John 17:21). 

Love

There is something that does not separate us as Christian churches but unites us – and that is the renewed discovery by the Reformers of Christ as the personified love of God. They inseparably merged love of God and love of human beings. Luther was able to exclaim: Look, from faith flows love and desire for God and from love flows the desire to lead a free, willing, happy life and to freely serve the neighbour.[1] And in a statement on reorganising care for the poor he says: There is no Christian worship other than Christian love that helps and serves the needy.[2]

Every day we witness a living comment on this in our own country.

Love is expressed in the work of millions of volunteers, in our church congregations, and in associations and initiatives. What they do to receive refugees, look after children and young people, care for the sick, accompany older people, provide care for neighbours, console the grieving and despairing – all this is the most powerful witness to love that you could think of. And in so doing – in a way that defies our understanding – we are linked with all people who act like that, be they Christians, members of other religions or of no religion. 

We are called to carry love into the world. It is a radical love – and that is the only way in which we Christians want to be “radikal” (German: extremist) – a radical love because it is fully devoted to people on the pattern of Jesus. Each one can try to follow this path of devotion: each in our own place, in our occupations, with the gifts God has given us.

What Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 will perhaps find approval beyond the bounds of Christian faith: “And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” I think he is right.

And perhaps those who are shy of praying can at least sing. Both are closer than we may think. Martin Luther once said: Whoever sings prays twice. Let us now try that out!

Thank you for your attention.

[1] The Freedom of a Christian.

[2] Ordinance for a Common Box, 1523, WA 12, 13,26f