95theses

Martin Luther and the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation
at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Decatur, IL on October 29, 2017

What to do for Reformation Sunday, 2017? My first thought was to research Luther links on the internet. I found pictures of Luther's birthplace in Eisleben, the places where he grew up, and, of course, the Schlosskirche (All Saints' Church) in Wittenberg. There were images of the Diet of Worms, his parents Hans and Margarethe Luder, and lots of pictures of Wartburg Castle. But there were also images of the Luther Rose and several of paintings of Luther's nailing of the 95 Theses to the doors of the church. I was intrigued by the Luther Rose, his seal, as a mosaic in Lego, and the actual event of the nailing of the document to the church doors for public view.


My first project was creation of a small mockup of a minifig Luther at the old doors of the Schlosskirche. It was quite popular.	I then turned my attention to the Rose seal. It is certainly well known to all Christians.	I pixilated the image and blocked it out on graph paper as a 48 x 48 stud Lego mosaic. But I thought it awfully sterile...


I quickly located a picture of Luther's original seal on a Wisconsin Synod webpage...	and soon a pixelated version was born.	The final mosaic arrived at First Lutheran in early October, as you'll see below.

My creative efforts then turned to the challenge of the nailing of the 95 Theses. The Schlosskirche was almost destroyed during the Seven Years War, and all the wooden doors were incinerated in the fire. When the church was rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century, King Frederick William IV ordered commemorative bronze doors to be hung on the jambs of the original wooden ones. The 2200 pound doors bear the 95 Theses in their original Latin form (see right). It's a gorgeous pair of doors, but hardly easy to pound a nail into in 1517! At the same time I had to create a larger figure of Martin Luther, and I quickly decided that the size of the Luther figure would dictate the size of the doors and frame. I could not find lifelike Lego figures on the internet and set about creating my own.


I began by looking at all the available paintings of Luther nailing the Theses to the doors...	And mulling over images of Luther himself.	What began to emerge was a brown-robed figure wearing a large crucifix... until I started adding black hair (to contrast the robe.)	My wife Judy said "Luther didn't have black hair. He's German." So I started over -- black robe and brown hair.


I then began looking at a variety of wooden doors...	...some new, but mostly old and double, to fit in their original frame.	I drew my 14½ inch tall Martin in a sheet of graph paper...	...And having decided on a 20" [64 stud] width, proceeded to draw a pair of doors.


Doubting concrete steps were in vogue in 1517, a cobblestone stoop was built.	A copy of Luther's 95 Theses in Latin was shrunk to fit the door...	...which was over 25" tall in its final form.	Here's the Playmobil Luther with my prototype and the final model.

Our local newspaper saw fit to feature a Reformation story, using our church: Milt Scott, First's Director of Music, and a dear friend, had been collecting old family Bibles, not only from church members, but other sources as well, for display leading up to Reformation Sunday. We placed the Luther Rose and the model of Martin Luther with the Wittenberg doors among the collection. The Herald & Review newspaper thought this was a fitting display for their story on the 500th Anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. I was, of course, very honored to be included. You can email any comments to Valerie Wells at the Herald & Review.


Milt and I were interviewed by Valerie Wells, who was accompanied by Jim, an H&R photographer.	Jim posed us behind to tables of old family Bibles in English, German, Welsh and Estonian, along with my creations.	The next Tuesday, apparently a very slow news day, we were featured on the middle of the front page...	...with a bulk of the story on page 2. I decided to donate the Luther Rose mosaic to First Lutheran, since the seal is a timeless Lutheran piece.