A commemoration service marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation will be held Sunday at 4:30 p.m., with co-celebrants Rev. Jeremy Winter of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church and Rev. Chris Reising of St. Patrick Catholic Church officiating the collaborative worship service.
The service will begin at 4:30 p.m. at St. Pat’s, 1312 Third St., with a potluck dinner to follow at Mt. Olivet, 920 15th St.
“It is our way of recognizing that 500 years ago, circumstance drove us apart,” said Winter. “Yet 500 years later, we can come together to celebrate the things that unite us. Namely our faith in Jesus Christ.”
Commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the reformation began last year in Malmo, Sweden, in an ecumenical event led by Pope Francis, Bishop Munib Younan, president of the Lutheran World Federation and the Rev. Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.
Christians all over the world have been commemorating this special event in different ways this year, with a major part of the commemoration seeing Lutherans and Catholics coming together in worship.
Doctrinal differences among Christians have left a sorrowful legacy in the Christian church’s history of violence and bloodshed, reaching a climax in the 30 Years War of the seventeenth century. More recent efforts toward ecumenical reconciliation are bearing fruit that everyone is invited to enjoy Sunday evening in Perry.
