No, Stefan Ark Nitsche was not in Nuremberg for the German Evangelical Church Congress in 1979, he was still working as an assistant director at the Burgtheater in Vienna. At the time, he said, standing on the eve of the 38th Kirchentag on the Burgberg in Nuremberg, he was as far away from the church as possible, mentally. On the other hand, he experienced the Church Congress of 1993 very well and has concrete memories of it. No wonder: the festival of faith in Munich had a not inconsiderable impact on his personal history. And his visit has even gone down in church history, at least a little bit.
Exaggerated? Rather not. At the time, Elisabeth Hann von Weyhern was employed as a personal assistant at the head of the Protestant church administration, and the Munich Faith Festival was seen as a challenge. Is it possible to fill the Marienplatz with lively people in the state capital, which is not intrusively dominated by Protestants? Just like FC Bayern, at least in theory. During the preparation, she remembered a young vicar that Hann von Weyhern had saved under the heading “Brandauer-Typ von Graefelfing”. As a talented theatrical performer. He agreed for Munich. And created beautiful pictures: On the ecumenical Kirchentagweg, believers were tied together with colorful cloth, a good symbol. A few years later, both – Nitsche and Hann von Weyhern – took over the office of regional bishop in Nuremberg. In 2006 it was considered the first episcopate in the world to be shared, so to speak, by a couple.
That’s how it is at the Kirchentag, says regional bishop Stefan Ark Nitsche, who – unlike his wife – now bears the title of “emeritus”: “At the Kirchentag, the people on the street are important, not primarily what is said on the podium .” Well, of course that too. His wife is still in office and therefore on duty on the Nuremberg Kirchentag podiums. In terms of marital hygiene, it would not be an advantage to claim the opposite.
What is he hoping for? “Meet other young people”
On the other hand, Nitsche’s observation seems to coincide with the expectations of visitors and church day helpers. Malte Andersen, 17, just took the wrong subway exit in the center of Nuremberg, but of course you help each other out in the group, people from Baden stick together. He spent the night as one of almost 15,000 guests in a school that is located on an arterial road to Bayreuth, but within sight of a castle-like sacred building with the evocative name “Reformation Memorial Church”. Castle-like, Reformation, memory, could have been hit harder than a contemporary Protestant at the Church Congress. What is he hoping for? “Meet other young people.” The people of Baden gathered at the wrong subway station nodded vigorously.
The follow-up question as to whether the sleeping mats were okay for the first night in Nuremberg is still popular. The second, whether the breakfast was adequately balanced, probably not. “Was there sausage there?” Asks Andersen, who isn’t on the radar at all. A previously influential debate in Franconia was apparently ignored in Heidelberg and Freiburg. The alleged “partly veggie, partly organic-heavy specifications of the event” were targeted by the local butchers’ guild in Nuremberg. ” But then everything is not eaten so hot: In the center of Nuremberg, undoubtedly one of the outstanding sausage communities in the republic, there are no supply bottlenecks for exclusive meat eaters, at least on the first day of the event.
And of course, even if the people on the streets of the Kirchentag are the most important thing, up to 100,000 are expected over the five days up to Sunday – the podiums are not irrelevant either. Especially since the opening does not take place in the stadium, halfway outside – but in Nuremberg’s parlor, the main market, the place that is occasionally occupied by the Christ Child. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier raves there on Wednesday evening in view of a fully filled piazza of “a wonderful sight”, especially after the years with Corona. The square, which is dominated by the Kirchentag colors of green and white, even had to be closed shortly before the opening service due to overcrowding.
Steinmeier addresses the war in Ukraine
In his speech, Steinmeier reflects on the Church Congress slogan “Now is the time,” a verse from the Bible. In the face of war, Christians face existential questions that they cannot avoid: “Yes, this war puts us in a deep dilemma as Christians.” Chancellor Olaf Scholz – who is also expected at the Church Congress at the weekend – described the days after the start of the war as a “turning point”. In Nuremberg, Steinmeier speaks of an “epoch break”. That Germans and Europeans support Ukraine: “Now is the time for that.”
When Steinmeier adds, “It’s also time for guns,” there was some opposition from the audience. But it is limited.
Steinmeier also relates the phrase about the break in the epoch to the consequences of climate change: “To preserve creation – that is also what our faith commands.” Now is the time “for concrete steps, for strenuous work, for economic restructuring.” Steinmeier calls for a debate on the main market, he is of course hopeful: “I know that I don’t have to ask you to discuss it for a long time.” In the end a lot of encouragement.
Even if Bishop Emeritus Nitsche was not present in Nuremberg in 1979, he has heard so much about it that he can get an idea. As a decidedly socio-political festival, this church day went down in the history of the Protestant Church: it was about rearmament plans in East and West, nuclear threats, war and peace, environmental protection. 44 years later, says Nitsche, this is exactly what is going on in Nuremberg.