Sunday, April 13, 2008
Bio Craze
And then there are a lot of things that drive me just a little bit crazy: like always having to wait for the traffic light men in order to not kill the children, how every single piece of documentation needs to have an "official" stamp on it, how there is an authority for "order" (don't ask), and that we never, ever go against tradition (seriously).
So when I came to understand that the Germans are incredibly ecologically friendly, it fell somewhere in between for me. I like the environment, I care about it, but have never been overly conscientious of my own actions. But, every German has about 4 trash cans in their apartment: one for plastics/packaging, one for paper, one for biodegradable materials, and one for normal trash. So ok, we'll go with that. That's not too difficult and it helps the environment...
But then today I heard something so perfectly German that it made my head spin. People keep asking me what Germany is like, what defines it, etc. Well, here it is. I have no clearer picture than this. My friend was complaining to me this morning that her car was dirty. I made the mistake of asking if Germany had "student" car washes...no, they don't. But it's not simply that it hasn't caught on over here or something. It's actually against the law to have them. Why? It's not that they block off massive portions of usable space in parking lots or that the students might harass people with the water hoses. It's because the soap is bad for the environment. And how is it bad, you might ask? Well, the soap gets mixed with the water, which then flows either down the drain and/or into the earth. The soap goes into the earth and contaminates it. Theoretically, one could use biodegradable soap. But that's too difficult to monitor, because one could buy biodegradable soap once and then refill the bottle with regular soap and then we would be stuck with the same problem that we started with.
Therefore, we won't worry about how soap, exactly, is bad for the environment, how we use regular soap in our bathrooms, or how our children will pay for their summer trips. We will simply abide by the law, and not hold any car washes. :)
Thursday, February 7, 2008
You Are Dust, And To Dust You Shall Return
But for those of you who think that pastors, worship leaders, etc. simply have all their materials at-hand, or for those of you who have struggled with putting things together yourself, here is some insight into worship preparations and going-ons. There is a tradition (that I love) where on Ash Wednesday, we receive the mark of the cross - made with ashes - on our foreheads with the words "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". It's a reminder of our humanity but also of being marked with the cross of Christ. But little did I know, there is a whole lot more to be uncovered about this tradition:
- Normally, ashes are meant for the fireplace or ashtrays. On this day, we transport them to peoples' foreheads. But beware of gray ashes as opposed to black ones. Gray ashes were probably taken from the fireplace or the ashtray. This would be a scandal to rock the church and we would not want that, of course.
- Actual, Ash Wednesday ashes can be acquired in one of two ways. Either you go to Augsburg Fortress' catalog and order them, or you keep a jar of palm branch pieces from last year's Palm Sunday service in a jar on your shelf in your office. That way, when people come in and see a bunch of dried leaves amongst your theological books, you actually have something to talk about. But theoretically, you are really keeping them for the following Ash Wednesday when you burn them to create said ashes.
- Once you have the black ashes that these leaves create, you must mix them with olive oil. This is trickier than it would first appear. First, one must realize that ashes are not automatically infinitely small pieces of matter. They can be rather "large" and look more like tiny twigs. Since this is rather rough on the penitents' foreheads, they must be ground smaller. Secondly, the balance between oil and ash is very delicate. Too little oil and you will be etching crosses in their foreheads in order to get the ashes to stay instead of lightly caressing them. And we obviously don't want them to get any ideas about the cross being a harsh reality. But too much oil, and not only will the cross not show up well because the oil is keeping the ash particles away from themselves (i.e. the ashes don't stick together well enough to create a dark impression), but you then have the "cross" dripping down your forehead and nose and you now have one oily, drippy mess with a few black specks thrown in for good measure.
- Use your thumb and not two fingers. This is difficult for people who are used to standing in front and making the sign of the cross in front of the congregation for a blessing. The traditional stance is to have two fingers up. So the normal, cross-making hand position would suggest to use these fingers. But that results in a double cross, or simply a "cross" that makes people wonder if they're looking at you cross-eyed. And when people are contemplating whether their eyes are seeing correctly or not instead of contemplating the cross, then we have done a disservice, of course.
- When giving the imposition of the ashes at the same time as communion, beware of which fingers you are using when. Combining imposition of the ashes and communion is wonderful; the we come forward for the ashes, being reminded of our humanity, and with the next step we are given literal, tangible forgiveness and grace. It's excellent. However, the people serving communion and giving the ashes must also receive these blessings as well. In my situation last night, the pastor was giving the ashes and I was serving the bread. We both needed to receive both. Here is how you do it: one person holds the ashes while the other takes their THUMB (as previously indicated) and dips it into the ashes and marks the sign of the cross on the other. Wipe it completely dry on the paper towel also being held by the person holding the ashes. But be careful not to get your other fingers on it because they will then be oily and full of ash as well. Take your third and fourth fingers and pick up a piece of bread so that no oil or ash gets on it and give it to the other. Direct them to the person holding the wine. Repeat for the other person.
- And finally, save that now-empty jar for a few weeks until we hit Palm Sunday again. We wouldn't want to miss out on the experience the next year!
And now you, too, can prepare for Ash Wednesday. Have a blessed Lent!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Dezember/Januar
I have a friend here who is German and whose family lives in
Over New Year’s I went to
Yes, I do actually live in
For life currently, I’m beginning to know the congregation members better and have conversations longer than just the receiving line at the end of service. I’ve finished teaching the 3-5 year olds and am now teaching adults (which I love). I’ve started my “intern project”, which is a study on prayer – and if anyone wants to help me with that, let me know… - and that has been very well-received in the church. I continue to work with the youth and young adults here, along with all the other ongoing projects we have. I’m even almost through my German language course and am starting to make friends outside the congregation. So while the work seems overwhelming and daunting some of the time, and there are certainly days when I wonder if this is really what I want/need to be doing, I do enjoy it a great deal, and it’s generally a surreal feeling to be here. So now you have been caught up on my life. I hope all of yours are going well.
November
I took a week of vacation at the end of November and went to
Oktober
When I arrived in
Notre Dame
For Reformation, I went to
Schloss Charlottenburg:
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Luther Kirche
From the nearby U-Bahn station
Front of the church; the missing top of the right tower is because of bombing in WWII.
There are also alcoves on the right and left sides near the nave. This makes the sanctuary in a cross form.
Currently up in the church: truly a congregational project! For the retreat, I came up with the design, drew lines on these 64 sheets of paper, and color-coded them. Then the retreat-goers colored them (mainly the adults!), and the 9th grade confirmation class pinned them to this board.
The office building. We, along with the pastor's apartment, occupy the 4th floor.
I hope you've enjoyed the many pictures. If you're interested in others, let me know. I hope your lives are going well; let me know how you are! Guten Abend, meine Freundin.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Numbers
68. There are 68 steps from the front door of the "SpenerHaus" - the building that the church office is in - to the door of the actual office. There is no elevator, so I am coming to love these maroon-carpeted blocks of cement.
41. Similarly, there are 41 steps up to my apartment. Unfortunately, there is no fun carpeting. There is, however, an elevator that stops in-between floors. So I can stop at "floor" 1+2, 2+3, 3+4, etc.
32+ ([TCelsius] x 9/5) - the conversion of degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit.
30 - 45. The number of minutes it takes for me to get to the church office. It all depends on how well I time the buses. I walk to the first stop, take the bus to the U-Bahn and ride that for awhile, take another bus, and then maybe walk some more. So depending on which bus comes when, and whether I decide to walk more rather than less...
20. Days on the job.
16. The average temperature (Celsius) that it's been here for the past 3 weeks. Apparently, this is abnormally cold for this time of year. See conversion rate above for those of you who are non-literate in the measurements of the rest of the world.
15. Minutes it does take to walk from the church office to the church building. This is my favorite walk - complete with 2 bridges, a children's playground, and a mainly Islamic market-place on Saturdays and Wednesdays.
13. The approximate number of rows I knitted together to form a hoop instead of a scarf. I have needles that are connected...I didn't turn them over when I finished a row and just kept going. The result was a fully connected circle. I thought this was odd, but that it was ok...the prayer shawl group laughed "with" me, of course...and got me straigtened out. Literally.
7. Hours of time difference between Berlin and Central Standard Time. I have two clocks in my living room. One is my time, the other is CST (see in the picture below).
4 +1. Number of rooms in my apartment. Plus a balcony. For now I will show you the Wohnzimmer, or the living room:
(I do, however, have a "real" washer. 2 hours for a "normal" cycle.)
0.621371192. Number of miles that equal 1 kilometer. Again, this is for those of you who live in the only country in the world who has their own system of measurements. It shall remain nameless.
Schönes Wochenende.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Am Anfang - In the Beginning
That being said, this year is my third year of seminary in preparation for being a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It's a year of internship, and since mine is an international one, I am technically considered mission personnel for the ELCA. For more information on the ELCA or Global Mission click on those words, or on the links in the sidebar.
ACB is a church that is made up of people from more than 30 different countries and 20 different denominations. It's an English-speaking church, but I would guess that about 1/3 of the members speak German much better than English, if they speak English at all. They were located in a building that was in the heart of Berlin, but it was destroyed in the bombings during WWII. They moved to another church, but 5 years ago they moved again to their current church, which is again in the middle of Berlin. It's a beautiful building, but it houses only the sanctuary, a small kitchen, and a sacristy. So the church offices are in a completely different building 10 minutes away, and even Sunday school is held across the street.
The church has provided me with an amazing apartment about half an hour away. It came fully furnished; complete with a plethora of plants that are unknowingly on their way to death. So far I haven't had anyone over, but the young adult group generally comes twice a month for a potluck dinner of fellowship and Bible study (yay for a young adult group; who has ever really seen one of those?!?!).
In just a week and a half there is already so much to tell, but here's a short rundown:
The church is part of a city-wide program called Laib und Seele (body/bread and soul). They provide fresh fruit/vegetables and bread for people in the area who are unemployed. This happens every Friday and is COMPLETELY run by the laity. The pastors show up for the actual distribution, but there are many, many people who show up at 8:00AM to get ready to give out food at 5:00PM.
I am now part of the church's collection of women who knit prayer shawls. I haven't knitted anything in many years, and what I have done has accumulated only to piles of half-finished projects. But maybe this will keep me on track. Plus, it's fun to just be with this rather diverse group of women - as far as age, heritage, profession, etc.
Every Thursday night there is a group of us who go to watch a movie. There's an English-language theater that plays a sneak preview on Thursdays. So they show a movie that will come out soon, but they never tell you what it is ahead of time. And, for those of you movie-goers in the States - you are missing out. They sell beer and ice cream at the theaters here. :)
Prayer and Praise happens on Saturday mornings. There is a semi-continuous group of people who meet to read and reflect on the lectionary texts for the next day. There are always some fascinating thoughts that come up, and it's also a great way to come to know where the people in the congregation are in terms of their faith and theology and life understanding.
Well, I suppose this is more than enough for you for now. Bis dann.