On October 1, 1529, twelve years after the official date for the beginning of the Reformation, Martin Luther (head of the German reform movement) and Huldrych Zwingli (head of the Swiss reform movement) met in Marburg, Germany, to see if they could find a compromise in their views of the Lord's Supper.

Luther quoted the New Testament in Latin: hoc est corpus meun, hoc est corpus meum, which means "this is my body." Stubbornly, he said there was only one way to interpret Jesus' words: Christ was literally present in the sacrament of communion.

Zwingli, just as adamant, reminded Luther that Jesus did not speak Latin, that Latin was the language of the Roman Church. When Jesus instituted the sacrament, he spoke Aramaic which has no verb "to be." Jesus could not have said "this is my body" but only, "this--my body broken for you."

Luther wouldn't budge. Zwingli wouldn't budge. Presbyterians and Lutherans never got together...five hundred years after their argument, we still live apart.

The followers of Jesus have bridges to build and cross.