Back again

No more promises from me about when I'll post the next time. :)

So, finally, here's what's been happening in my life of late (Warning! This is a bit long.):

ETM ended the last weekend in May. Sergej, Liesel, and I went to Chemnitz for the "northern" regional meeting and arrived Friday afternoon and had some time to have ice cream and do some sightseeing with 4 of the 5 ETMers from Chemnitz, as well as Larry and Pam Sullivan (Larry had led the Intensive Week back in March). It was my first trip to the former East Germany (besides East Berlin), and both the number of changes that have been made in the past 18 years as well as the remaining reminders of the days of Communism were striking to me.

Most of Saturday was spent in separate meetings of men and women discussing the projects we had worked on in the 7 weeks since the Intensive Week and then making presentations based on the book Ordering Your Private World (Ordne dein Leben in German) by Gordon MacDonald. Of all the things I had to do for ETM, that presentation was the one that I dreaded the most and got the most worked up over, but it was also the one that helped me to examine my life and to grow personally more than any of the others. Isn't that the way things usually go? I'll have to share more about the presentation sometime later.

Other exciting happenings during our weekend in Chemnitz:
1) While we were waiting to change trains in Leipzig, a Deutsche Bahn employee had to remove a dead pigeon from the back of our train so another car could be added on. And yes, we were all standing right there on the platform watching. Ewww.
2) In the middle of Ellen's presentation on Saturday, two birds flew through the open door and into the room. After a good five minutes of trying to corral the obviously terrified creatures and finally shooing them out the window, Ellen tried to recover her train of thought. Liesel and I couldn't help but wonder what the next odd bird incident would be.
3) On our way to visit a nearby castle that evening, we got caught in the worst hailstorm I have ever experienced. The hailstones were at least an inch in diameter, and when the first one hit the car windshield it made such a loud noise that we thought it was a rock. Thankfully, we found a place to stop the cars and wait it out. The castle tour, though, will have to wait for the next visit.

Overall it was a really good weekend filled with fellowship and sharing about the many benefits of the ETM program. Elsa was in Switzerland at the same time for the "southern" meeting, and things there seemed to go just as well.

After ETM there were still two weeks left of the campaign. There were several people who continued to come regularly for Bible studies and others who were more interested in hanging out and speaking in English than in talking about the Bible. Altogether I believe there were 16 people who met with the students and did varying amounts of Bible studies, as well as at least 4 others who came only to activities. This was a much smaller number than in previous years, but considering the congregation had not had a campaign group since 2004 and all that's happened in the past 9 months or so and with new people trying to do what Jim and Elsa had done on their own in past years, we all agreed the campaign went over rather well.

After the last of the campaigners left, I came home and crashed. The end of the campaign basically signaled the end of 3 months of continuous projects for me, and I needed the rest and the time to get back to a normal daily routine. I looked around my apartment and thought, hmmm, I probably need to do some cleaning. So, I pretty much spent several days just trying to get caught up on sleep and everything else that I'd been neglecting. Elsa and I needed to plan out a strategy for doing the campaign follow-up work, but we both agreed that we needed a couple days to recuperate.

After some R&R, we discussed options for campaign follow-up. Only a handful or so had said they'd like to continue studying, and since they all speak English very well, we decided to form an English group to meet once a week. We also wanted to maintain contact with those who aren't currently interested in Bible study, so we determined to offer Movie Nights and other English activities on a regular basis to hopefully keep in touch with everyone.

And that more or less brings me to the "present."

Last Friday we had an "English Movie Night." We had a good turnout of 23 in all, including 7 who either studied with the campaigners or came to campaign activities. There was a good discussion of the movie afterward about the decisions made by various characters and if we would have made the same decisions in our own lives. Stefanie and I also had a rather interesting conversation with Melitta (one of the readers from the campaign) about whether or not the Bible is the Word of God or was written solely by men. The discussion took a few odd turns to get to that point and neither Stefanie and I were prepared for such a topic, but it was what it was and Melitta didn't seem to be scared away. We'll see what happens.

Then Saturday we had a Straβenfest (block party) with the neighbors of the church building. We did this last summer, too, after finishing the remodeling, in an effort to introduce ourselves to the neighbors. This time even more of the neighbors came, and everyone brought something with them to contribute to the festivities. We shared cake and coffee in the afternoon, had games for the kids and "hammer-a-nail-into-a-board" races for the men (and one woman), and then had salads and grilled sausages and steaks for dinner. I left at about 9:45 that evening, but I heard that Florian and his family were there with most of the neighbors until almost 1 AM. It was a looooong but rewarding day, one that was wonderful for building relationships with the neighbors. It looks like it's going to turn into an annual event.

Then on Sunday I taught the 3- and 4-year old Bible class again. Katerina and I had been alternating months teaching, but from now on I'll be the only teacher. Katerina is pregnant, so she's needing a break and will need to have time to take care of the baby after it comes next month. This week was a little strenuous for the kids since Saturday was so busy and they got to bed late, but I enjoy teaching this age and like coming up with lessons and crafts for them to do. In June Katerina finished teaching about the life of Christ, so I've decided to head back to the beginning and talk about creation for the next couple weeks. We're making counting books that tell the story of creation, and the kids seem to like them so far.

After services in Bremen on Sunday, Mark, Karen, Stefanie, and I took the train to Braunschweig for worship with the congregation there. Jim and Elsa did this on the first Sunday of each month for a number of years, and a few others and I often accompanied them over the past couple of years. Since Jim's death, we've felt it is important to continue doing this. It always makes for a really long day, but it's worth it. The Braunschweig congregation only has 9 members (and 6 of them are related), and they simply need the encouragement and time for fellowship. The really exciting thing is that Willy and Yek Len have said they'd like to go with us in August, and Michael has said he will come along to preach in September. It's exciting to see Jim's good work continuing.

Monday evening was the English Bible study group. Last week only Thomas and Rainer came, but this week Kai joined us as well. Since they all speak English very well, the conversation flows nicely and we can discuss issues of substance that we might not be able to address with someone who did not speak as well. We're currently reading and discussing passages from Ecclesiastes and will move on to the Gospel of John. The Ecclesiastes passages are the first ones read during the campaign studies. While Kai had already read all 4 of the passages, Thomas had only come once and read and discussed the first passage, and Rainer called about the ad too late to meet with the students and therefore had not yet started. So far we've had lively discussions, and I look forward to next week's meeting. They all want to continue coming, so that's a good sign. Please pray for Rainer, Thomas, and Kai as they're reading and discussing Scripture.

Tuesday was the ladies' Bible study. For the past several months, Elsa's been taking us through a study of the church, what it is and how we are to fulfill God's purpose for it. We've discussed four different images assigned to the church in the New Testament: the church is 1) the bride of Christ; 2) the body of Christ; 3) the family of God; and 4) the kingdom of God. When we talked about that last one back in May, Elsa began leading us through a study of how we as God's people worship our King. She then asked some of us to prepare studies to share with the group: Stefanie and Katerina were given the topic of singing and Michaela, Ingrid, and I were assigned the subject of the Lord's Supper. Two weeks ago, Stefanie led us in a study of singing as a part of worship, so this week (the evening ladies' class only meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays in the month) was our turn to teach.

We began back in early June doing some research and quickly came to the conclusion that we could write a book on all there is to study about the Lord's Supper, as I know many people have already done. We were able to narrow our focus a bit and had to constantly remind ourselves that we're supposed to discuss the Supper's role in worship and not just all there is to know about the topic. Nevertheless, we thought it was important to share some background information (like the historical significance of the Passover feast) in order for the group to really understand what it is we celebrate during the Lord's Supper. We decided there was no way to get all of the information into one study session, so this week I gave an introduction to our study "series" and talked about the Passover and it's place in Jewish history, and next time we'll make the connection between the Passover and the meal Jesus instituted shortly before His death. We may have to use a third session to finish up the study.

It's been a challenging study for Michaela, Ingrid, and myself, but I'm so glad Elsa gave us this topic. It's one of those things I've accepted and thought I understood over the years, but I've never really delved into all the details in Scripture. There's so much you have to understand in the Old Testament to really get the full picture of what Jesus started at the Last Supper. This also has been a big reminder that the Bible is GOD's Word, not just another book written by men. As Ingrid said in one of our recent "planning" meetings, "there's no way this was written by humans alone." The whole story fits together so well and there are so many details from the Old Testament that pave the way for the story of the New Testament that it would have been impossible for men to have come up with it on their own over the span of several thousand years.

Yesterday and today I worked more on Jim's library, which I've neglected since about mid-May. I've got about 20 more books to sort into broad categories, and then Elsa and I will figure out what the next step should be. I think as the months have gone by she's formulated a clearer idea of what she wants to do with the books and how she might be able to use at least some of them in her work here. Several people from church have borrowed books, and I took a Hebrew Bible and lexicon to Larry when I went to Chemnitz. I'm thrilled that at least some of the books are being put to use. Others will probably eventually end up at the church building so that more people can make use of them. I know that Elsa does not want to continue to house the rest of the books and not all of them will be useful or of interest to anyone we know. While we have recycled a number of books, there are quite a few that we do not want to keep but that could still be useful to someone out there. We already know that the public library does NOT take donations. So, with Elsa's blessing, today I went to three used bookstores and asked about the types of books they buy and plan to visit a few more tomorrow. We shall see.

I'm sure I've missed something, but that basically sums up (a rather long summary!) my life over the past 6 weeks or so. As you can see, it's been pretty busy. While I would have preferred for all of the activity over the past few months to have been spread out a little more, I wouldn't have given up any of it because it's brought opportunities for growth and learning for me personally, as well as the congregation. Besides, I'd rather be busy, knowing that I'm working toward accomplishing something, than to be sitting around twiddling my thumbs and looking for something to do.

Hopefully, hopefully, there will be more writing of blog posts in my near future since life has settled down some and I'm finding some semblance of a routine again. Please continue to pray for me and for the congregation here as we continue the work for the Lord in Bremen. Also, please let me know if there's something I can pray about for you. Gott mit Euch, und bis demnächst....