Celebrating the Reformation’s 500th across the Synod

Nicole Mueth (right) helps Taylor Maack dress up as a peasant-laborer of the 1500s. Taylor is a student at Holy Cross Lutheran School in Collinsville, Ill., where members of the student body portrayed lords, ladies, knights, court musicians, town minstrels and peasants for a Renaissance-themed spring concert May 4 — just one of many events throughout the Synod celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation this year. (LCMS/Frank Kohn)

A Renaissance festival, numerous Octoberfests, service projects, dramatic performances, choral concerts and festival worship services are among the growing list of events planned by LCMS congregations, districts, seminaries, and colleges and universities to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation this year. Lecture series and exhibits also will run throughout the remainder of the year on many of our college and seminary campuses.

We’ve highlighted some of these events below, but a full and ever-expanding list of events and information about them is available at lutheranreformation.org/get-involved/.

June 25 — Famed Carnegie Hall in New York City will resound with Lutheran voices and tunes as Concordia College—New York hosts The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation Hymn Festival, featuring Bach’s cantata “Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott” (“A Mighty Fortress is our God”).

Sept 23-Oct. 8 — St. John’s Lutheran Church in Marysville, Ohio, will transform its grounds into a Reformation Renaissance Faire.

Sept. 30 — 500 years of life issues will be explored at a conference hosted by Northern Virginia Lutherans For Life (LFL) at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield, Va. Scheduled speakers include former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III; Congressman John Shimkus; Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, senior editor for The Federalist, and LFL Executive Director Rev. Michael Salemink.

Oct. 27 — “Destination 500” provides a weekend for high-school juniors and seniors and their families on the campus of Concordia University, St. Paul, Minn., to explore church vocations.

Oct. 29 — The Northwest Reformation 500 Celebration, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, Wash., will feature exhibits for all ages, fellowship and a 4:30 p.m. worship service. According to organizers, more than 60 congregations plan to attend the event at Overlake, which has seating for 5,000.

Oct. 30 — LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison will join a panel of Christian leaders on the River Forest, Ill., campus of Concordia University Chicago, as they discuss denominational divergence and convergence at this historic mile marker and engage in a principled conversation about the historic and theological divisions emerging from the Reformation controversies. They also will address points of shared concern and common cause among Christian churches.

Oct. 31 (the actual 500th-anniversary date) — Hundreds will gather at an evening Reformation service in Kramer Chapel on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind., where President Harrison will be the preacher.

Nov. 5 — Service to neighbors will be emphasized when Raleigh, N.C., congregations host a worship service and day of events for families at Dorton Arena on the state fairgrounds there. For more information, visit www.trianglefaith.org .

Posted May 25, 2017 / Updated May 26, 2017, adding an event on Oct. 29, and May 30, 2017