A Day in Berlin

An early start today with breakfast at 7-30 and on to the bus at 8-00.

We were given a warm welcome at the Schonfelde Baptist Church were we shared in a service with instantaneous translation that my set could not receive.  No matter, it was good to share in the spirit of worship.

Responsible for a network of hospitals since reunification, a home for elderly people, a sports hall and a great deal of social activity there was a wonderful moment when the pastor after the service was talking to our group.  He was asked what evangelism they did.  He responded by saying they were simply being ‘church and living the love of God in their community.

We then went on a three hour tour of Berlin by bus with a pastor working in a ministry bringing many churches together in the city.  He had a passion for the city and took us to many sights telling the story of Berlin.

Driving through some of its many different cultural quarters he told us of initiatives for prayer in the city that had impacted on the community, not least at times of tension and riot in demonstrfations that had taken place over the years.

We visited sites associated with the reformation, with the history of Germany and the German church in the nineteenth century.  We then saw a museum on the site of the wall and on the site of nazi interrogation cells called A Trajectory of Terror.

Most moving was to see the holocaust memorial.

We saw more stretches of the wall and heard of the work of reunification.

One of the Bulgarian friends from the Congregational churches of Bulgaria was remembering his last visit to Mary’s church back in 1972 – he spoke of those difficult times, of the records kept on himself from that period that he had seen, and of the issues faced by the churches in recent years as it became apparent that among their congregations were those who had been informants.

An architect he spoke of the way he had been visiting Berlin to see some of its architecture.  Next to Mary’s church was a TV tower that must have been of the same era as our Post Office Tower.

From a certain place in the heart of the city the sun created a cross – it was known as the President’s cross – maybe a sign of hope.

We stood in the spot he described … and there was the pattern of a cross as the sun shone on the globe.

From our guide, from our friends from Bulgaria it was moving to hear of the work of reconciliation and the importance of the churches in rebuilding.

A number from Eastern Europe spoke of the vacuum at the end of the communist years and the power of the atheism that is the consequence of those years.

Once again it has been the conversations that have made the day.  Someone reading a paper on the poetry of Genesis 1 going on to speak of translation and its impact on our understanding of the text.

Many things to mull over and to bring home with me.