Bishop Nick will lead Radio 4’s Sunday Worship from Wittenberg on 29 October (8.10am) to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg (left, behind Bishop Nick). It was the spark that lit the Reformation and led to the transformation of Europe. It led to revolutions in theology, politics, education, language and music. It also led to bitter divisions in church and society and to wounds which have yet to heal.
In Radio 4's Sunday Worship, Bishop Nick is joined by the well known German actor and singer Julian Sengelmann who is seeking to engage young people in discussion about what Reformation might mean today, and by journalist Silke Roemhild and theologian Julia Winnebeck.
Leaders of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches offer their perspectives and the sermon is preached by former Lutheran Bishop Special Envoy of the Evangelical Church in Germany for the Reformation, Margot Kaessman.
Music includes Luther's plaintiff setting of Psalm 130, Out of the depths I cry to thee O Lord and his most famous and confident hymn Ein fest Burg ist unser Gott. (A Mighty Stronghold is Our God.)