Deep Peace of the Running Wave

The concert started right on time, but I would expect nothing less than punctuality from my German hosts and the Festival Concert.

It was a church gathering of say, 8,000 people and a say, 750 member chorus from various churches and the Northwest Germany Philharmonic Orchestra. Other than that, it was your average church festival.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I have been invited here to be a part of the German Church's Wider Outlook Works Festival....as part of the Reformation Worldwide. In other words...those churches worldwide who are a part of the Reformed movement. The UCC is a part of the Reformed churches. And since I am now a part of the Young Ambassadors Program (I hasten to add that I am a leader and advisor...definitely not a YOUNG Ambassador.) But these three German Students ARE and they will be three of the ten German students coming to Dublin and Ohio in July.

Lisa, Carolin and Elli

Lisa was a part of the Festival Choir on Saturday night, hence the distinctive rainbow scarf. I shared lunch and discussions with Carolin and Elii and their parents the other day and today as we sat outside on the Festival Grounds.

Before the evening concert with symphony and chorus I watched the modern dance of Handel's "The Messiah" with the MessiaSASAmbura - Ecumenical community dance project. It was great.

In the morning there were Forums on Refugees in Europe and Climate Justice. It was all a part of what the German church is involved in, in today's world. Interspersed with discussions and debates was the Stellenbosch Libertas Choir from South Africa. This choir was a rainbow of mixed "races" when such things were still frowned upon in that nation. They are now a favorite of mine.

So, between forums and music, there was time to enjoy a bratwurst and French fries and I even added the preferred Mayo to them rather than the American way of ketchup. (I am such a culture maven.) And like all German Festivals...church or city or whatever...there was the beer tent. Once again, I dipped into my German cultural roots for a sip. But I was told to NOT throw away the plastic cup in which it was served. That had a deposit of 1 Euro...about $1.25. These Germans take their commitment to re-cycling and saving planet earth pretty seriously. Good for them!

(Having an outdoor lunch with Carolin and Elli ....and their families at the Festival)

On Thurday, I was able to meet with all ten of the German Young Ambassadors and all their parents and siblings as Rev. Andreas and I explained the Young Ambassadors program and what they would be experiencing in Ohio in July.

It was good to finally meet them and many of them have been in regular communication with their Ohio partners from Dublin Community Church. Here is a photo from Thursday.

I met the Young Ambassadors at an outdoor worship service on the grounds of a moated castle. (I met the Earl.) We worshipped in the courtyard. But I thought it an auspicious beginning...because framing the worship area were several huge Buckeye trees. Seeing as how they are coming to Ohio this summer...the meeting of our German Young Ambassadors in front of the Buckeye trees seemed fitting. And then last evening before the concert I met with the German organizers of the churches' Young Ambassador Program. They are please that I and Sharon Pace will lead the group and they send their greetings to Amy Ladu who is involved in a major way with planning for the Ohio Portion of the trip this summer. And they send greetings to Pastor Lisa.

(Rev Daniel Jung seemed to know the featured musical artist Judy Bailey...at least enough to get a selfie with us. She was wonderful...an artist who was born in Barbados and lived in London and now in Germany)

International church work is not easy. There are distances. There are costs. There are language barriers. The German Church within the larger German society is working hard to relocate refugees and call for grace and mercy on all who seek asylum. That is a difficult thing to do. It's much more difficult than ignoring the problem; much more difficult than using slogans to whip up suspicion of the foreigners in their midst. Jesus never called upon us to be successful but to always be faithful. Perhaps the later may usher in the former.

Peace,  Bob