Wednesday, September 20
Traveling alone, I set off for a visit to Lutherland. The purpose of the trip is to produce a documentary on the life of Martin Luther in the German reformation cities of Eisenach, Erfurt, Eisleben Coburg and Wittenberg. Martin Luther, of course, was the 16th century Augustinian monk who sparked the Protestant reformation by nailing his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church.
Several years ago, travel expert and public television host Rick Steves and I were working on a project in Los Angeles. Rick is known for his “Travels in Europe” guide books and TV show on PBS. Since Martin Luther is at the center of the Lutheran story and Rick is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) most famous travel expert, it seemed the two should go together. Rick agreed and three years later the project took off.
From the beginning, my basic idea was to create an entertaining education tool for Sunday school. Specifically, I dreamed up a suburban Lutheran congregation in Texas. My target audience was the husband of a 35 year old woman originally from Minnesota. Her husband is Texan and does not know much about the Lutheran church. Now that their two kids are out of diapers, the wife has persuaded her husband to come to church with her and the kids. Signing up for the new members class, the husband will learn why Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation changed the course of western civilization.
Typically, our United Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany was delayed an hour and a half to change a tire. I sat next to a German about my age. He spoke perfect English and we talked about business, politics and the differences between life in America and Germany. He was flying home after a software convention in Fargo, North Dakota. Further evidence of the new globalized economy.
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