Former Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to step into the role of a guest preacher. On March 4 she will give a Lent sermon in the monastery church at Maria Laach, as the Benedictine abbey announced on Friday.
Instead of a political address, the talk is described as a “spiritual impulse drawn from Christian tradition” supported by the monks’ prayers and framed by organ music. The announcement portrays Merkel as a guest speaker whose long public career was built on responsibility: weighing decisions, serving the common good, and keeping a realistic perspective on what can be achieved-all from a stance that treats values as measures. In the context of Lent, the message may spark a reminder of the practice of restraint-perceive, reflect, organize-and inspire the next step forward.
Merkel’s familiarity with preaching runs deep; at this senior age she echoes her father’s path, who once served as an evangelical pastor in former East Germany.
