Interested in pilgrimage? Interested in meeting some modern pilgrims? Then the upcoming “Here I Walk” presentations are for you.

Andrew and Sarah Wilson will present “Here I Walk: With Luther from Erfurt to Rome” at the Augsburg College Founders Day Reformation Lectures, November 10 and 11 in the Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center.

The Wilsons’ route to Augsburg College has been anything but easy or ordinary. On the morning of August 22, 2010, the couple left the Augustinian priory in Erfurt, Germany, taking the first steps of a thousand-mile pilgrimage to Rome. The Wilsons followed roughly the same path that a 27-year old friar named Martin Luther trod 500 years earlier.

The purpose of Luther’s 1510 trek was to represent his Augustinian brothers at a meeting in Rome. The purpose of the Wilsons’ follow-up trek was to bring attention to modern-day Christian dialog and to help heal divides between Christian churches.

To get to Rome from Erfurt, the couple completed a carefully planned hike that took them through Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and, finally, Italy. They arrived at Vatican City on Saturday, October 30, and spent “Reformation Day” (October 31) visiting holy sites including St. Peter’s tomb.

Augsburg religion professor, Hans Wiersma, walked with the Wilsons during the first week of their journey. “It really is remarkable what Sarah and Andrew have done,” Wiersma said. “You have to be very committed, very organized, very fit, and a little crazy to do something like this.”

So why do something like this? “We noticed that it had been 500 years since Luther took his one and only trip to Rome,” said Andrew Wilson, “and thought it would be great to commemorate it by retracing Luther’s own steps. But what’s the right way to do that in an ecumenical age?”

Sarah Wilson had an answer. “Incredible progress has been made on the scholarly level between divided churches,” she explained. “But this progress has hardly made its way to the people in the pews at all. It’s as if fifty years of dialogue never happened.”

The couple wondered how they could let people know about these amazing developments and get them even to care. This walk was a way to do that.

As they began to plan their pilgrimage, Andrew Wilson realized the possibility of leveraging social media to spread the word on a grassroots level. “People are busy and won’t take time to read stiff academic studies or listen to impenetrable church statements. But they’ll read a hiking blog. They’ll ‘like’ things on Facebook. They’ll follow Tweets.” So the Wilsons used these media to share the news about their trip and to educate about the inter-Christian dialogue.

Check out the Wilsons’ website for day-by-day accounts, a photo-stream, daily scripture readings, and maps that trace the path of their trek in great detail. Read “A Statistical Review of Here I Walk” on the pilgrimage blog

Sarah Wilson holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in Systematic Theology and is an ordained Lutheran pastor. She is a member of the research faculty at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France. Andrew Wilson, also a pastor, holds a doctorate in Church History from Princeton Theological Seminary and is a Fellow at the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue in Geneva, Switzerland. The Wilsons live in Strasbourg with their five-year old son, Zeke.

Story by Hans Wiersma.

The 2010 Founders Day Reformation Lectures

“Here I Walk: With Luther from Erfurt to Rome” at Augsburg College, Hoversten Chapel

November 10, 7 p.m. “Pomegranates, Passes, and Popes: A Kinetic Perspective on Luther’s Trip to Rome” (with slide show) by Andrew Wilson

November 11, 10 a.m. “What Has Erfurt to Do with Rome? Ecumenism as Pilgrimage” by Sarah Wilson (followed by a slideshow during the 11:20 chapel service)

Lectures are open to the public; admission is free. Find more information on the Founders Day website. www.augsburg.edu/foundersday.

If you would like to make a reservation for the welcome reception on Wednesday evening, November 10, or the luncheon on Thursday, November 11, please contact Hans Wiersma (612-330-1205 or wiersma@augsburg.edu).

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On the morning of August 22, 2010, Andrew and Sarah Wilson will depart from the Augustinian priory in Erfurt, Germany, taking the first steps of their thousand-mile pilgrimage to Rome. The Wilsons will follow roughly the same path Augustinian friar Martin Luther trod 500 years ago in 1510.

Augsburg religion professor, Hans Wiersma, will be among those sending the Wilsons off from Erfurt. Wiersma will walk with the couple as far as Coburg, Germany. After the close of their journey on October 31, the Wilsons will travel to Augsburg College to speak at the school’s annual Founders Day celebration in November.

The hike will take 70 days and will pass through southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Italy, before arriving in Rome in the last days of October.

Luther came to Rome with high expectations but was ultimately disappointed. Only seven years after his trip to Rome, he posted the Ninety-Five Theses, commonly regarded as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Only three years after that, in 1520, he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

But reliving old quarrels is not the Wilsons’ intent.

“We noticed this significant anniversary coming up,” said Andrew Wilson, who holds a doctorate in Church History from Princeton Theological Seminary and is a Fellow at the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue, “and thought it would be great to commemorate it by retracing Luther’s own steps. But what’s the right way to do that in an ecumenical age?”

The answer came to Sarah Wilson, who holds a doctorate from Princeton Seminary in Systematic Theology and is an ordained Lutheran pastor, after she joined the staff of the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France. Dedicated to understanding the issues that divide Lutherans from other churches around the globe, the Institute for Ecumenical Research also seeks to work through such divisions and create broader cooperation in global Christianity.

“Incredible progress has been made on the scholarly level between divided churches,” she explained. “But this progress has hardly made its way to the people in the pews at all. It’s as if fifty years of dialogue never happened. How could we let people know about these amazing developments? How could we get them even to care?”

It was Andrew Wilson who realized the possibility of leveraging social media to spread the word on a grassroots level. “People are busy and won’t take time to read stiff academic studies or listen to impenetrable church statements. But they’ll read a hiking blog. They’ll ‘like’ things on Facebook. They’ll follow Tweets. So we’re using these media to share the news about our trip, educate about the Reformation, and highlight the amazing rapprochement that has already occurred between two churches that fought physical as well as theological wars for centuries.”

“The Reformation was a communication revolution where mass-produced polemical pamphlets spread fresh insights into Christianity across Europe,” he mused, “but also hardened a divided and dividing church. Perhaps our current communication revolution will reunite it in unforeseen ways.”

The Wilsons’ blog is called www.hereiwalk.org, a pun on the famous words “Here I stand” that Luther uttered during his trial in Worms, Germany.

Interest in pilgrimages has exploded among Protestants in recent years. Many European churches are setting up offices for pilgrimage and establishing routes for pilgrims to follow.

“Even non-believers can get into ‘pilgrimages,'” added Andrew Wilson, an experienced hiker and mountaineer. “It’s like hiking, but with the added layer of connecting to the past. I’m excited about crossing the Alps, but walking along Roman roads, slowly nearing towering steeples, wandering through silent abbeys, and imagining travel in an era before cars and planes that’s what sets this trip apart.”

“Actually walking the huge distance from Erfurt to Rome is essential to our goal,” commented Sarah Wilson. “The Reformation ended up severing the connection between Lutherans and Roman Catholics. We are trying to heal that broken link, reconnecting divided places with our own footsteps. We hope others will join us in spirit and in prayer, even if they can’t walk with us in person, on our quest.”

What lies at the end of the journey?

“Our final destination will be the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul,” responded Sarah Wilson. “Symbolically St. Peter stands for the Catholic church and St. Paul for the Lutheran church. Peter and Paul had their quarrels, but they had the same faith in Christ and both were martyred in Rome. The apostles’ witness invites Lutherans and Catholics today to reconcile on the basis of their shared faith.”

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