Day 09 - Geneva

It’s Tuesday, and we have spent the day in Geneva and are preparing to depart tomorrow morning. 

It was an early morning in a packed hotel. We got our breakfast and hit the road, where Dan led us through Galatians and Paul’s admonition to stand in our freedom and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The text ended with the famous “Fruits of the Spirit,” against which there is no law. 

The final “idea of the day” was “Confessionalization”—the status of post-Reformation Europe with confessional states (Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed) that paved the way for the eventual religious pluralism that would become a standard in the West. 

If you are keeping track of our “Ideas of the Day,” they were:

Ideas Have Consequences

The Freedom of the Christian

Authority and the 5 “Solas”

Imputation

Law and Gospel

Vocation (or, our ‘regular’ callings)

Primitivism

Adiaphora (Ah-Dee-Ah-For-Ah)

Two Kingdoms

Confessionalization

Our “Reformation Pilgrimage” has been a once-in-a-lifetime event (except for Dan, he’s doing this again in 10 days). We’ve seen the birthplace of the Reformation in Wittenberg and did part of the “Luther Trail” through all the “E” cities (Erfurt, Eisenach, Eisleben), seen numerous castles, an Anabaptist hideout, Balthasar Hubmaier’s Waldshut, Zwingli’s Zurich, and now Calvin’s Geneva. We went to he museum of the Reformation and Geneva’s famous “Reformation Wall” with its statues of the Reformers and the motto “Post Tenebras Lux” (after Darkness, Light). 

Dan taught on Calvin's life and the history of the Geneva Reformation from inside St. Peter’s Church, where Calvin preached most of his sermons. In the last session, we had an opportunity to reflect on the trip and share “what we learned.” We ended the night with a Swiss Fondue dinner and said our goodbyes. We may meet again on this, or the other side of Paradise, but we will forever remember this trip for the historical sites, theological reflections, and time spent together.