It was about midday when my train arrived in Trier from Luxembourg. It was snowing. I read the instructions on the e-mail I printed out once again to check the bus number I’m supposed to take. Saw the bus stop for it, but it seems to be going the other direction. Gulp. Time to put my German at work. Asked a bus driver, who told me to get on the bus stop two blocks down the road. Oh-oh-kay.
After fifteen minutes of waiting, the bus arrived, I jumped in and decided to get off at the alternative bus stop mentioned in the list. I would never know whether the first bus stop would’ve been a better option, but there I was at the bus stop when I realized that the German word “aufwärts” actually meant having to go uphill.
So, picture this: snow. wind. 10kg backpack + 2kg handbag. going uphill to find the seminary where the event is located. I felt like I could make a good photo of myself for the competition held by the diocese of Trier as part of their upcoming pilgrimage event. The competition calls for, you’ve probably guessed it, photos of pilgrims.
What’s this whole business of pilgrimage, you ask? Well, apparently, the holy robe (aka the seamless robe or the holy tunic — as in the one that was lotteried between the Roman soldiers at the crucifixion of Jesus) is kept at the Trier Cathedral. The robe was first displayed for public in 1512, and last in 1996, where thousands of people came to do a pilgrimage to see it. Now, this year, the robe will be displayed for public again in the event of the 500th anniversary of it’s first appearance, and the diocese is preparing a whole set of events for this holy robe pilgrimage. This includes inviting the Protestant churches to attend as well.
I’m going to assume that you know your church history well enough to know that relics are one of Protestantism’s pet peeves, to put it VERY mildly.
However, the leader of the EKD (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland aka German Evangelical Church, which speaks for 22 Lutheran, Reformed, and United Land Churches) has accepted this invitation with great pleasure, noting however that the pilgrimage should not be seen as a visit to see the robe but rather a Christ pilgrimage, a moment to come together in remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ.
It is therefore in the spirit of this Christ Pilgrimage that the Ecumenical Forum is held. Furthermore, the robe itself, as described in John 19:23, “was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” thus making it a great image for ecumenism, but I’ll get back to that later.
After climbing the hill and making a round trip around the building (due to not knowing where the front entrance was — thereby completing my pilgrimage route), I was at the Robert-Schuman House, where the Ecumenical Forum will take place. Since it is located on a hill, I have a wonderful view of the city from my room.
The event, however, opened with an ecumenical service at the Trier Cathedral. I couldn’t quite follow the service because I haven’t received the order of service booklet yet and I was still trying to get used to listening to all that German, but being in a massive cathedral, surrounded by hundreds of people and seeing leaders of different denominations standing in front evokes all sorts of wonderful feelings of God’s presence.
photo credit: IEF website
After the service, we were to take the bus back to Robert-Schuman-Haus, but we had to walk through the snow in order to get to the bus. I was angry at myself for leaving my umbrella behind when an older guy offered to share his umbrella with me. He was in fact a retired (Catholic) priest who was heavily involved in the ecumenical movement during his office. It was interesting how he told me how much the ecumenical movement has actually progressed in the last 40 years or so — and I thought we were pretty stagnant!
Coming up next… welcome messages and weaving ecumenism, literally!
