The Latin School has been dedicated in Wittenberg as we get ready for the 550th anniversary of the Reformation. Those who gathered also are participating in a conference on Confessional Leadership. I was privileged to be at the first conference held in 2012 and found it inspiring and this one sounds wonderful too. Here is a description found on the Witness, Mercy, and Life Together blog written by Dr. Al Colver
The theme of the second International Conference on Confessional Leadership in the 21st Century. The conference comes on the tails of the dedication of the Old Latin School in Wittenberg, Germany. The first ICCL conference was held in November 2012 when more than 120 Lutheran leaders gathered around the world. The theme for the second conference looks towards the celebration of the 550th anniversary of the Reformation. The theme of the conference (described more in a future post) is titled, “Celebrating the Reformation Rightly: Remembrance, Repentance, Rejoicing,” which comes from a sermon by Matthias Hoe von Hoenegg, the Electoral Saxony Court preacher in Dresden. In his sermon he described how to celebrate a Reformation celebration:
“First as a ‘remembrance festival,’ at which we remember a great historical event; second, as a ‘praise and thanksgiving festival,’ third, as a ‘miracle festival’ concerning God’s miracles; fourth, a ‘prayer festival’ at which we ‘desire to pray for the preservation of the divine Word” and fifth, as a ‘festival of repentance,’ at which we pray for the forgiveness of our sins in the despising of the Word of God,’ and that we should begin and strive for a new life with greater zeal for and devotion to his preached Word as doers of the same.’ Then the festival becomes a ‘festival of rejoicing and jubilation in heaven.’” (Luke 15:10)
