We left the hotel in a cold rain with not-so-great umbrellas and arrived about 5-10 minutes after services started (as is our custom), like a couple of drenched rats (not so much our custom). So we snuck in the back and sat. The congregation present was very small (maybe 40). The pastor was a slight, 60-to-70-ish woman.
Neither Judy nor I remember much of the little German we learned in high school and our first year of college. We are actually pretty pathetic. I am more likely to try because I'll do anything to get a laugh. Even a derisive one.
But the church was liturgical and we got enough to follow along with the liturgy. Same in Italy and Mexico. It is something about liturgical churches that I hadn't appreciated before these experiences. There is something remarkable, and comforting, and inspiring, about being able to share a common understanding among believers, across such disparate languages.
So liturgy, we did OK. We got lost in the sermon. I did get pretty happy at one point when the pastor mentioned something about a "kinderbuch," which I knew meant "children's book." I hoped maybe I could keep up with something aimed at pre-schoolers. No such luck. I did figure out that it was a story about sheep because the pastor started bleating like one. And it made sense, because we'd figured out the Gospel reading as the text about "I know my sheep, and my sheep know me." But that's about as far as I got.
I liked how they did communion, particularly for such a small fellowship. They all came forward and formed a circle. The Pastor passed the bread and cup to the next person, and they presented it to the person after them, and so on. We stayed out, not knowing if they would view our participation as appropriate or not. But I thought it was really nice. I don't know if that makes me "Synodically-correct" or not, but I'll bet it was pretty close to what Jesus had in mind. Just my opinion.
As we left, the Pastor said something to us in German, which I didn't understand. Mustering my truly pathetic command of the language, I stammered, "Wir sind Americaner. Wir sprechen kein Deutsch." Before I finished the second sentence, she interrupted and said -- in perfect English -- "so, would you like to get some coffee?"
This has been typical of my experience in both Germany and Austria. I feel completely illiterate. And deservedly so. My German is so bad that I can't get 2 words out before the person I'm talking to figures, "this guy is hopeless... I'd better help the poor schmuck out before he really embarrasses himself."
We got some brunch and returned to the room, where I caught up on blogging until the clouds lifted during the late afternoon. Judy got online and we live-streamed the King of Glory church service from Williamsburg, where Pastor Tom Zehnder was preaching. Tom was in town for the ordination of Larry McReynolds, our longtime Music Ministry guy who has been working toward ordination basically since coming to Williamsburg. My one regret being here (offset by many Woo Hoos!!) is missing that. It is a great accomplishment that Larry has been working toward for a long time, and I'm sure that we were probably the only people who missed it. Larry is much-loved by everyone at King of Glory.
Afterwards, we basically roamed around town, picked up some groceries, and got some dinner. We discovered the biggest grocery store we've seen so far in the basement of the Haupt Bahnhoff -- the main train station. And we ran into Kurt and Ruth Matzler there. I squinted at Ruth and said, "hey, don't I know you?" That got me a laugh and a hug. (If that doesn't make any sense, read the blog from 2 days ago).
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