Visiting the Gerhardts in Herford

Last year when I was considering coming to Oberursel, I found out that a good friend from Concordia University Wisconsin was also planning to study in Germany. I had met Matt Gerhardt when he transferred from St. Olaf's College in Minnesota to CUW, and we got to be friends as we helped in the prayer offices there and would talk about theology and church and university politics. He is a very talented organist and is studying at the Evangelical State Church Music Academy ("Hochschule") in Herford, Germany. It's fairly well known for its church music program, and he was accepted to study there this year. This past summer I attended his wedding to Rachel Karsten, and a few weeks later I flew to Berlin; they came in October, a few weeks before his classes began. We stayed in contact in October, and it worked out that I could visit at the end of October.

So I bought my train ticket, which would take me along the River Rhine before heading east through Cologne and Bielefeld to Herford. It was a bit slower and less expensive, but I had the time on Friday. I took some very beautiful pictures on my way; unfortunately some of them aren't in focus as much as I would like, no doubt due to the fact that I took them from a moving train.

Cool! A castle! (Can you see it?)

The River Rhine was very beautiful.

I got in mid-afternoon, and we talked a bit and caught up on how things are going. That evening, Matt asked if I would be interested in a presentation at his Hochschule about the theological implications of church music, given by a professor from the University of Tübingen. He was basically trying to say that it is only the Word of God that edifies the soul, in that it creates faith, so we should be concerned about which songs and hymns are played in church, but the musicians didn't receive it very well. A few were arguing that they wanted to sing the "Ave Maria" in their churches, even though it was blatantly Catholic, since for them the music is more important than what the words say. Others were pushing the notion that music edifies the soul by connecting one with God, but I didn't hear a very strong answer by the professor. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see and led to some discussions with Matt afterward.

The next morning I slept in a bit, since Matt needed to go into the Hochschule to practice organ, but we did a bit of sightseeing that afternoon. I took a nice picture of a river that we crossed.

There are three churches in Herford, and all have very beautiful organs. The first we visited was the closest, St. John's Church. It was pretty dark outside, but while we were inside, the rain started, and with it came some hail! So we just waited it out before continuing.

And finally, what you've been waiting for: a picture of me! with Matt! Yes, I know, I don't take many pictures of myself (or of my friends at Oberursel), but it's hard for me to give my iPad to a stranger just to take a picture of me. Furthermore, the reverse camera on the iPad is only good for close-up Skype calls, and not suited to catch backgrounds very well, otherwise I'd be taking more pics of myself. It was a bit cold, due to the storm that dumped hail on the city.

Next, we walked to the largest church in the middle of Herford, called the Münsterkirche. This is where Matt has his weekly organ lessons. We couldn't spend much time here, because they were preparing for a performance of some kind, but we snuck in when the practice ended.

I don't known why these double altars are popular, but I've seen them a lot in Germany.

From there we looked around the city center a bit and ended up at the train station. We said our good-byes, and I took a faster train back to Frankfurt, because it was already the evening. I got into Frankfurt at about 11, and made it back to Oberursel by midnight.

Hopefully we can see each other again soon; I know that Rachel is wanting to hear an English sermon, and both need communion, so hopefully they can make it to Oberursel sometime.

Finally, I made it to Mainz and Castle Frankenstein. There's really not much of a story with either, except that I missed the bus on my way down from Castle Frankenstein, and the next one wasn't going to leave for another 2 hours, so I walked 10 km to where the bus was going to be headed; it only took me 1 1/2 hrs (yes, it was a pretty brisk pace). That with the climbing up and down the hill meant that I was sore for a few days...

Oberursel Altstadt, Herford, and Mainz pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151245149848788.488729.500163787&type=1&l=a9cbc7b148

Castle Frankenstein pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151256754993788.490494.500163787&type=1&l=4f8b64e124

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