Arrival

Stand in the back of the church by the window and look at the dates and remember.

In so many towns across the States there are monuments to The Great War...only to find that there was another even more devastating war twenty years later to be called WWII. But here at Christ Church in Unna-Messen, the church has a memorial in the back of the sanctuary with this window. It acknowledges the existence and futility of wars as it honors the memory of those whose lives were lost.

I had just finished the morning with pastors from this area in Germany along with pastors from Namibia and Tanzania. The lingua Franca was English, if it can be put that way, and we spent time talking about the Reformation...which celebrates its 500th Anniverary in 2017. That's big deal here in the German church, as well it should be.

                                                                   

Take note that the Baptismal Fount on the right weighs several hundred pounds. The church where we met had recently re-decorated and yours truly was sufficiently delighted with good, strong German coffee which helped overcome jet lag.

One of the questions for the morning discussion was "What comes to your mind on the subject of the Reformation. I happened to mention Phillip Melanchthon, one of my favorites,  who was Luther's right hand man. I was quickly informed by the local pastor that the very room in which we were meeting was called the Phillip Melanchthon Room.

Knowing that most of you can't get enough Phillip Melanchthon pictures in your day...I have excluded one from the meeting room. Between jet lag, copious amounts of coffee, new friends and 500 year old German Theologians, my time in Unna, Germany was off to a good start. In large part thanks to my friend Andreas.

Into the car and down the road to Bausenhagen.

Andreas wanted me to see the village church in Bausenhagen. And you can see why.

                                   

This church has been around since way before the actual Reformation. It was Roman Catholic and got caught up in the events of five hundred years ago and became Protestant. It's one of the most impressive churches that I have visited. I asked Andreas the name of this village church and he informed me that it was Village Church.

                                                              

I guess with all the events of the Reformation, they were too exhasausted to try on catchy church names and since this village church was THE church of the village for centuries, the name Village Church carries a sense of German practicality.

The preacher's pulpit is guaranteed to allow the pastor to look over the masses during mass.

                                                                       

And there is even a new pipe organ in the balcony. I was impressed. But look at the stained glass windows which are along the sides of the sanctuary.

There is a story behind each window...which coordinates to a scriptural passage from the Gospels.

                                                            

And if you tire of the sermon, or gazing at the magnificent stained glass windows you might lean back far in the pews and gaze towards the ceiling.

The church underwent some renovations in 1956 and they discovered that a fresco of Jesus had been plastered and painted over back in the Reformation Era when all-things-Roman Catholic were being purged from the church. But this fresco of Jesus from the 12th Century was discovered and uncovered and so recovered... and remains of the oldest of its kind north of the Alps today.

                                                                

I'd say that the entire Village Church of Bausenhagen is one of a kind...here...                    north of the Alps 

Peace, Bob