East Liberty Lutheran Church

06/18/2026

06/18/2026

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06/18/2026

06/17/2026

Eleven years ago today, nine Black worshipers went to Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church and never came home. They were shot and killed by a white supremacist who never should have been able to access a gun. One other person was injured and an entire community was irrevocably changed.

Today, my heart is in Charleston and with the victims, survivors, and their families. They deserved better, and I’ll always work to honor them with action.

06/17/2026

June 17, 1525: Martin Luther writes to Leonhard Koppe. It is Koppe who hid Katie and her friends in his wagon and drove them first to Torgau and then Wittenberg when they escaped from the convent two years earlier. Now Luther has received another request for help from another group of nuns. Luther is forwarding the letter to Koppe to see if he is able to help them. He also invites Koppe and his wife Audi to the wedding celebration he and Katie are planning.

“Grace and peace in Christ! This letter of complaint and poor writing I am letting you read, worthy Father Prior, whether or not you might know someone who could help; for I am concerned it is too high and too much for your person. But if you do not know anyone, then send the letter back to me, so that I can seek help and counsel elsewhere; for I feel bad for the poor children.

“You know also what happened to me, that I was braided in my “strumpet’s” pig-tails. God wanted to astonish me and the whole world as fools and apes. Greet your Audi for me, and consent , when I give the [wedding] lunch, that you help give good testimony to my bride about what Kind of man I am. Herewith I commend you to God.

“At Wittenberg, Saturday after Trinity 1525.
“Martinus Luther, D.” (Translation by Mark DeGarmeaux)

The drawing of a medieval nun is by Paul Mercuri from 1861

Rebecca DeGarmeaux for Katie Luther

06/17/2026

06/17/2026

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

06/17/2026

06/17/2026

The Allegheny County Summer Concert Series presents free concerts all beginning at 7:30 pm unless otherwise noted. Local food trucks, Black Dog Winery and Hop Farm Brewing Company will be on-site at all concerts starting at 6:00 pm. Performances will take place rain or shine...

06/17/2026

One surprising omission from the guest list to Martin and Katie Luther’s wedding was Philipp Melanchthon. Melanchthon and Luther were close friends as well as colleagues but perhaps Luther foresaw his friend’s objection. Writing just four days after the wedding, on June 17, 1525, Melanchthon wrote to his friend Joachim Camerarius:

“Unexpectedly Luther has married Bora, without even informing at least one of his friends beforehand of his intentions …. you are probably surprised that in such serious times, when good people everywhere suffer so much, that he does not share others’ suffering, but even more, so it seems, indulges himself and compromises his good reputation, at a time when Germany right now especially needs his spirit and his authority … the man can be easily misled, and the nuns who in every way lay wait for him, have ensnared him, although he is a noble and stout-hearted man, have papered him and caused the fires of passion to blaze up in him … At this point one must not take amiss what has happened and find fault. For, as I see correctly, he was subject to a natural compulsion to marry. Even though this way of life - marriage - is also lowly, it is nevertheless holy and more pleasing to God than the unmarried state. In addition, I hope that the married state will make him more dignified, and because of that he will give up the tomfoolery, with which we have often found fault,…. Through the many missteps of the holy ones in the first times God has shown us, that we should use his word as the touchstone and not guide ourselves according to the reputation and the person of a human being, but solely according to his word. ‘Whoever condemns the teaching because of a misstep of the teacher, one can on the other hand say, is totally ungodly.’” (Translation from the book “Katherine von Bora: Luther’s Wife” by Martin Treu pp. 31-32)

Was Melanchthon’s frustration true concern for his friend or disappointment over not being invited to the wedding? We can’t tell for certain but it’s possible that it could be some of each. He soon came around and continued to be the most frequent visitor to the Luther house.

Gustav Spangenberg’s famous painting “Luther Making Music in the Circle of his Family” is just one of several that includes Philipp Melanchthon in a painting of the Luther family. It is from about 1875 and in the public domain.

Rebecca DeGarmeaux for Katie Luther