For four weeks this summer, July 5-26, St. Paul pastors and staff will lead a lunch-time series about the four doors of the reformation, doors of the places that offered key backdrops to the life of Luther. They include his monastery, University of Wittenberg, Wartburg Castle Church, and his home.
Today is Monastery, with Peter Marty and Karen Holden – What does it mean to listen to God’s call? How does God speak to us?: Luther became an Augustinian monk in July of 1505. As a monk, his life was immersed in prayer and Bible reading. He prayed often – rising at 3 a.m. to do so; he prayed together with fellow monks at least seven times per day; praying all 150 psalms of the Old Testament at least every week. When Luther entered the Augustinian monastery, he was given a personal copy of the Bible and read it diligently, memorizing whole portions of it. “Sometimes, one important statement occupied my thoughts for a whole day.”