Reformation Day!

It's Reformation Day here in Germany! And while there wasn't as much fanfare as one might expect (in fact, it's mostly forgotten in society), I got to sing "Ein Feste Burg" twice today, as well as other beloved Lutheran hymns.

Today marks the day that Martin Luther posted his "95 Theses" to the door of the Castle Church to start a scholarly discussion on the nature of grace, especially since the indulgences that John Tetzel was selling in the Pope's name. These Theses were shortly thereafter taken down and republished using the brand-new printing press, allowing Luther's challenges to be published in the surrounding countries, certainly something he was not expecting. While we might not agree with the 95 Theses themselves, we certainly recognize their impact on Luther and his subsequent writings, as he battled against the Pope and the Catholic doctrines that focused on salvation by works. We must also recognize that his was a moderate Reformation; he did not want to overthrow the Church, but only wanted to reform it, which ended up being impossible. So the Lutheran Church was started, eventually gaining political recognition with the subscription of many German princes to the Augsburg Confession in 1530, and freedom with the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. And so we confess with Luther that we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus.

Visiting the Land of My Fathers, Part 3

The next day Pastor and I drove to Dresden; he was scheduled to preach there, since Pastor Rehr was preaching in Klitten; I can't remember the particular details, but there was some reason for the switch. This church was very beautiful and very large. In fact, this congregation has the largest church building in the SELK; for the longest time they had been meeting in the smallest church building, a house, and when they started looking into building a church of their own, the state church offered this building for their use at no cost, provided they keep the name of the building. So now it's the "Trinity Congregation in the St. Peter Church." Kinda funny, but it works.

The inside was very beautiful; I didn't take many pictures, because people were already coming for church, and I didn't get much of a chance to take them afterwards. I feel awkward taking pictures of a church while people are coming to worship.

Pastor Walesch introduced me and asked me to talk with the congregation. If you can remember from St. Mary's in Zehlendorf, speaking German in public really isn't my think, but luckily he had told me that he was going to do that, so I had a few sentences ready, grammatically correct, which I could say without worrying too much. The congregation was very gracious in welcoming me afterward. Pastor returned to Klitten, and I stayed to eat at the parsonage, with Pastor Rehr and his family.

While we waited for Pastor Rehr to get back from Klitten, the two little girls, the boy, and I watched a short film- in English it's "The Princess and the Pea." I found that I could understand much of it, because children's literature has easier vocabulary. I'd read the story before and therefore was familiar with it, so I enjoyed watching the film adaption.

Pastor soon arrived, and the table was set and ready for dinner. The Rehr's had other guests eating with them; interestingly, one was a Iranian who had come to Germany for political asylum. He didn't know much German and was impressed at how much I could speak, having studied German for such a small amount of time, but Pastor explained to him that English was much more similar to German than Farsi, and that it was easier to switch between languages. The meal was very delicious and a very traditional German meal- wurst, sauerkraut, and potatoes with orange juice to drink. (Orange juice and apple juice here in Germany are seen as normal drinks for any meal, not just for breakfast as in America.)

After the meal, we loaded up my extremely heavy suitcase and backpack into the van, and Pastor and his wife took me on a short tour of Dresden; from there we were going to go to the Bahnhof for my trip to Frankfurt. We didn't have much time, but it was nonetheless very interesting walk around Dresden. I'll certainly have to come back and explore the museums and churches, etc. in the downtown area (especially the Frauenkirche), but at least I got some good pictures of a sunny late summer day. The next time I come back, it will probably be with my parents when they come in the dead of winter (February).

For any of you who study history, the bombing of Dresden is perhaps the worst chapter of the American invasion of Germany in World War II. Obviously there were worse things overall during the war, like the German death camps, but the bombing of Dresden by the Americans and British was absolutely unnecessary and driven purely by spite. Dresden had no manufacturing to speak of and was not important to the German war effort, but Churchhill wanted to get back at Germany for bombing London, so British and American bombers firebombed Dresden, reducing 16 square kilometers to absolute rubble, killing thousands of people. Much was lost and not restored for many years under the DDR, but when the DDR fell, the city breathed a new breath of life and rebuilt. Perhaps the most famous rebuilding is of the Frauenkirche; engineers sought to incorporate as many of the old stones as was structurally possible; the patchwork of new with old testifies to this. Much of Dresden has this patchwork throughout; the dark stones serve as remembrance scars in an otherwise magnificent city.

And here's a picture of me in front of the Frauenkirche, with my buddy Martin Luther!

I was quite disappointed that I was not able to actually go inside the Frauenkirche; a concert was about to begin, and tourists were prohibited from entry unless they bought a concert ticket. Since we didn't have time for that, I'm chalking that down as something to do when I return. When I do, I'll make sure it's open for visitors.

Here's a picture of the largest chunk of rock that was found in the rubble.

There were many other old and interesting facets of Dresden. I visited one area that had some fountains and a courtyard, surrounded by elaborate stonework and sculptures. One of these buildings were some bells; I can't exactly remember now why they were important.

The Altstadt of Dresden is on one side of the river, and the Neustadt on the other. Here are some beautiful pictures of the river and the opposite bank.

Finally, the Rehr's took me to the Bahnhof...only for me to find it full of soccer hooligans.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Never, ever, ever book a trip on the day of a major soccer game. Or even a minor one. There were so many people, chanting and yelling and causing a ruckus. The police were there in full force, guiding the fans to their train...which just happened to be on Track 2. My train was scheduled to leave from Track 1, on the same platform. I waited in the lobby until they were all loaded on, then lugged my luggage up the stairs to platform, with the police watching, and waited the 20 mins or so for my train. The travel itself went well; I switched trains only once, and I arrived safely into Frankfurt, switching again to the S-Bahn and arriving in Oberursel, where Alex Schwetschenko and another student were waiting for me with a car. It was about midnight by this time, and having arrived on campus, I promptly plopped my stuff down in my room, made my bed, and fell asleep.

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Visiting the Land of My Fathers, Part 2

So continuing from my previous blog post, Pastor Walesch and I spent about 30 minutes poring over the old church records, writing down notes and puzzling out the handwriting, which neither of us had much luck in. He didn't know Sorbish, which isn't a surprise, since as I've said before the language is falling into disuse, and in addition he was called to that congregation and not a native from the area, but it really didn't matter much, because not much was written in Sorbish.

By then it was about mid-morning, and Pastor Walesch told me that he had organized two city tours for me by members of his congregation! He of course was too busy to take me, but first I was going to visit Bautzen, and then Görlitz.

For our trip to Bautzen, there were four of us and a baby. We went in two cars; I rode with a young woman whom I had met at the party the night before, and in the other car was a couple with their baby boy. The husband had grown up in Bautzen and had been baptized at the EKD (state) church there; he was very knowledgeable of the city, and gave me a good tour. On the ride there, I had a good chat with the young woman; we mostly talked about her trip to America a few years ago, when a group from Klitten and the area traveled to Austin, TX to visit St. Paul's Serbin and the Wendish region. Most of the youth had been taught English in their school and so translated for their parents and grandparents, but I also learned that the pastor and some in the Texan area knew enough German to give presentations and talk with the group. Since Klitten had been in the DDR, it was also the first time that many of the people had been in the United States. No doubt when the Texans made their trip to Klitten, it was also their first time to visit Germany and the Sorbish country. As a side note and a reminder, Germans call the area "Sorbia" and the language "Sorbish," while in Texas it's the "Wendish" people; one remnant of the term "Sorb" is found in the city name, Serbin.

Back to the tour: we started by the river. There was a "Wasserturm" which was built in the Middle Ages to supply water from the river to the city up on a hill. Technology really hasn't changed much; it relied on pumping water up so the water could then follow gravity and flow down to the pumps throughout the city below through the network of pipes. You can see it there to the left- it's leaning a bit.

On our way there, we crossed a black, eerie looking house, apparently called "Hexenhause"- "Witch's House." It wasn't built squarely like a normal house- its walls were all at different angles, as you can see especially in the second picture. The husband told me that it had survived several city fires, leading to some suspicions by the townfolk. In the first picture, you can see two of my tour guides- the girl in whose car I rode, and the wife of my main tour guide- he was the one carrying the baby through our city tour.

We paid a small entrance fee to visit the Wasserturm; I found it interesting, but probably not as much as my tour guide, who was a mechanical engineer. I think I enjoyed more of the historical aspects of the tower, with its reliefs, coat of arms, and architecture; while he was looking at the old gears and belts and seeing how they got along with the materials they had.

It also served as a part of the city wall, and as such had a look-out post on the top for enemies, as well as grates in an overhang to pour boiling water or oil on advancing soldiers.

After that, we walked a bit through the city- Bautzen is probably the biggest Sorbish city- either that or Cottbus; I don't know the population of either. Nonetheless, I saw plenty of German and Sorbish signs throughout the city.

They took me to the Sorbian Museum which was built on the hill where the church, palace, and other important buildings were located. Honestly, after walking through hours and hours of museums in Berlin, this one looked tiny, but I enjoyed what little it had to offer. There was a special room just for emigrants; it talked a bit about Johann Kilian, as well as about the Australian emigrants, but it seemed to focus more on the economic push and pull rather than the religious. To be sure, there were more pressures for emigration than just the religious, but I was a bit disappointed when it wasn't given its due position in the exhibit.

Some of the unusual instruments that the Sorbish people would play.

The map of emigrants from Lusatia

Some books that I would really like to read- Principles of the Wendish Language and A Latin-Sorbish Vocabulary

Also on my reading list: a Psalter, Bible, and the Confessions, all in Sorbish.

In this picture, one can see the religious denominations of Sorbia. The lightest color shows the Catholics- Bautzen apparently is a Catholic Sorbish city. The rest of the colors show the Evangelical (Lutheran) areas. Klitten isn't on the map, but it's west of Niesky. You can see the three major Sorbish cities here: Cottbus, Bautzen, and Görlitz.

After that, we visited the city's cathedral. It was very large and quite impressive. Walking up to it, I noticed that it seemed to be missing a steeple, and in fact it was- the city had run out of money and so told the architects not to build the second matching steeple! You can see in the picture below where the other one should go- to the other side of the roof's peak.

That wasn't the only thing that was slightly skewed about the church- the whole inside was bent! Since it was built with both Catholics' and Lutherans' money, both wanted to use it to worship, but there was no way that the Catholics would let the Lutherans celebrate the sacrament on their altar, and the Lutherans certainly didn't want a Catholic preaching from their pulpit, so there was a compromise- the church was split into two and skewed slightly at that half-way point. So the church goes straight from the entrance through the Lutheran half, then turns slightly when it comes to the Catholic half. One can see this in the picture below.

The front half had the grand altar- it was very ornate and beautiful- while the back half had the prettier pulpit. I guess that just about summarizes the difference in emphasis between the two. Catholics emphasize the sacrifice of the mass which one must perform for forgiveness, while the Lutherans hear the Gospel preached from the pulpit. True, we also receive the gift of Christ's Body and Blood from the altar, but I wish the Lutheran altar was more than just the small table that it is. I was disappointed to see a band of some sort setting up their music stands and chairs in the Lutheran chancel; they didn't have much respect for that space.

We didn't see much more; by this time we needed to return, and I had seen the major sights of the city. And actually, one thing I didn't talk about was fortifications of the city. Here's a quick picture of one of the towers and its gate that we had to walk through:

You can see more pictures of Bautzen and the church on my facebook page; see the link here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151184741863788.478722.500163787&type=1&l=30461720ff

The second part of my travels that day was to Görlitz, called "The Most Beautiful City in Germany." As I came to find out, that's also what the citizens of Dresden think of their city, so I don't know who to believe. Really, it's not that hard- there can only be one "most beautiful city," so I propose a competition, and the winner gets to keep its title, while the loser must say it's the "second most beautiful city in Germany." Haha...not that that's going to happen, though. I must say, though, that Görlitz and Dresden are both very beautiful cities, and I really can't make up my mind which one is more beautiful; Görlitz has the Rococo style buildings because of Napoleon's visit, and Dresden has the Frauenkirche and many, many ornate buildings right on the river.

For the second city tour, I traveled with the father whose house I visited the night before; it was his daughter whose birthday we celebrated. He had taken a city tour himself a few years ago and related to me what he had learned. The history of Görlitz is very interesting; I certainly didn't expect to learn so much on a tour with someone from the area; his memory of his own tour was quite impressive. The city had been built in the Middle Ages on the intersection of two major trade routes. One went East/West from Warsaw, Poland to Dresden and further on in Europe, and the other went North/South from Berlin to Prague. Because so much trade traveled through this city, it was a law that every single wagon had to travel through the city and be weighed on their massive scale, then pay a tax based on that weight for passing through or staying to sell their goods. One could see how the city could become rich by doing this, and indeed the city displayed a brilliance with its manifold colors and architecture.

There were two major parts to the city: the Upper and Lower Markets. The Upper Market was indeed "upper"- at a slightly higher elevation. It was basically a very large "Platz" which would hold the merchants' wagons. They would then transport their materials down a fairly wide corridor to the Lower Market, where they could sell their wares. Throughout the whole cities various merchants had houses specially built to hold their wagons, so they could keep their wares there overnight or for temporary storage. More about these later.

The Upper Market (seen above), which held just wagons, hold cars now- it's basically a large parking lot. It was also where the herald from various cities would come and distribute news of various wars, kings, etc. There's a statue now where his podium had been. I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of it, but luckily I got a picture of its replica, just outside a local museum which I didn't visit. He carried a coat of arms, seen at his feet, which identified him as coming from a a particular kingdom, and his flag also carried the coat of arms, but also identified him as a herald- that flag usually gave him unhindered travel wherever he went. At his feet is a lion-looking dog with two tail; it has to do with the coat of arms of Görlitz, which I'll explain that later.

 

Moving on from the Upper Market, we passed through the corridor to the Lower Market. There were a few shops and restaurants here, but really nothing to boast of the previous glory and chaos it once held. Also down here was the courthouse and city hall (Rathaus), and at the other end of the Lower Market was the scale which everyone was required to use, as I mentioned before.

The passageway between the two markets

The fountain in the Lower Platz, which provided drinking water for all

(though I wouldn't drink from it nowadays)

Also in the Lower Platz was a building with some interesting murals depicting various calendars and the sunlight that one sees depending on which month it is. I took this to come back and translate the Latin.

The weigh station near the Lower Market- it's bricked off now, but one can see through the windows.

Above the entrance to the weigh station, one can see three figures representing the three major figures of the town, and unfortunately I can't remember much about them. The middle character is holding a weight, and he represents the weigh master, who is in charge of this building. The others are city officials, one with an trowel signifying the building of houses in the city, and the other man was in charge of collecting the taxes I think.

From here we visited two churches. The first was quite old and very, very dark. I didn't take pictures, because I didn't have a camera with flash, and I would've had to buy a photo pass to take pictures. I bought a postcard, however, of the altar, which I'll find a way to show here. The second, newer church was largely reconstructed from the rubble of WWII, incorporating as much of the original structure as possible. As with the Dresden Frauenkirche, the lighter material is new, and the older, scorched stones are what survived.

 

The inside was just as beautiful, and to take pictures I had to buy a picture pass (as I was taking pictures, a lady came up checking to see if I had boughten the pass...she thought that I hadn't and was a bit rude until I showed her- she's probably used to tourists taking pictures and not paying for the permission to take them.) Nonetheless, it was well worth it- the church is known for its beautiful organ; I wish I'd had the time to stay for a concert later that day, but oh well. It's called the "Sonnenorgel" for its golden sun in the middle of the main pipe set, as well as the golden radiance that surrounds the entire organ. This is probably the first (and only) time I'll show you pictures of the organ first before anything else, though you can also see the ornate pulpit in the first picture.

The rest of the church was just as radiant, the altar, pulpit, and baptismal font covered in gold leaf.

I especially liked the underside of the pulpit's "crown" (is that the right name for it?)- it had a painting that included Matt 28:19-20, the Great Commission. I couldn't get a very good picture of it, but I liked that it matched the Great Commission with the pulpit, because that illustrates the real meaning of the passage- making disciples of Jesus is done through the Word and Sacrament. It is done at the font, where one receives the Holy Spirit, and at the pulpit, where God's Word is preached and taught for repentance and forgiveness of sins. That is where the Great Commission happens, and that is how disciples are made; not through any subjective experiential worship that only points the new believer back to himself and his feelings as the basis of faith, as well as to his works as the reason he's a disciple of Christ, for when those fail, where is he left? Without the Word of God and without comfort. So let us always run to church to confess our sins, hear forgiveness spoken and preached, and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord.

Also in the church was the only full pane of stained glass that survived the bombing of the town. It's of the boy Jesus in the temple; unfortunately my camera isn't very good at anything with light in the background, especailly stained glas, and unlike most of my other tricks to avoid the sun, I can't really escape it here.

One other point of interest was in the back of the church; there were separate pews with a coat of arms above them. My tour guide was unsure of this, but I think that it was the special seat for the duke and his family. You can see a picture of the coat of arms below, and it was quite interesting. Here's where we'll come back to the lion-looking dog. This is the sigil of Bautzen- a lion and a two headed eagle. The lion symbolized strength and bravery, and the two headed eagle is the coat of arms for Russia and Serbia, which is fitting for the Slavic Sorbs. The aforementioned dog was made to look like a lion, and perhaps the two tails symbolized the two headed-part of the eagle, but I don't know. My guide mentioned the lion part, but was unsure about the two tails; my search on the internet came up with nothing either. The picture below isn't very clear, but you can hopefully see at least the lions in the upper right and lower left quadrants; the eagles are harder to make out.

Finally, there were some artifacts from the previous organ. First, you can see the old Sun, which was actually a group of pipes facing in all different directions. Second, the console, which was replaced in 1950, having served for 200 years. 200 years! I couldn't believe it when he told me, but indeed, it lasted that long of a time, with so many organists playing on it. It was finally irrepairably damaged in WWII. Can you imagine being an organist and getting to play on such an instrument? It's probably comparable to preaching in the pulpits of St. Paul's, Fort Wayne or St. John-Bingen, Decatur (the second of which, of course, I've had the immense priviledge of preaching in).

That just about ends my trip in Bautzen and Görlitz. Here's some pictures of the beautiful houses in the city. 

Having returned that afternoon to Pastor Walesch's house, I ate dinner with him and his wife, then helped him prepare for the church services at Klitten and Weigersdorf. We folded the monthly newletter, and then we delivered them to the church in Weigersdorf, where another pastor would be preaching. Then, as pastor was busy (it was a Saturday evening, when every pastor is tweaking, or in some cases writing, his sermon). I talked with his wife in their dining room for a little bit, talking about family, Germany, and small talk.

To be continued (again)...