While in Wittenberg, we visited the church that Luther nailed the 95 theses to and began the reformation. This was a very different city from the ones that we had visited before. One thing that many of us noted was that it seemed that Wittenberg was a town that was working hard at becoming a major tourist attraction. This was especially true with the 500th anniversary of the reformation just a few short months away. This seemed very weird to a lot of us because the only really monumental part of Wittenberg was the Church. Other than that, Wittenberg is really just a small town in Germany.
Don’t misunderstand me, it was really cool to see the church that was the beginning of the reformation, but the atmosphere of the whole town just seemed rather… fake. The people of the town have taken something that is full of Christian importance, and they have turned it into a way to make money.
This bring up another topic that I noticed in most of the churches we visited (and we visited a LOT of churches). What I noticed was that most of the churches had some sort of fee to see the church, if not the sanctuary then the tower. As Christians should we be charging people to see inside? I don’t think we should. I think the church should not be locked from people who want to see it’s beauty. In the last post I wrote I made a point of how cathedrals were built to show God’s glory and magnificence. God does not hold people at arms length and demand an entrance fee, why should the church. I understand that many churches struggle financially, but this seems like crossing a line to me.
The Church should have one goal, and that is showing all who are willing the listen the love, and grace, and glory of God, not tourism.