A Cross, the Methodists and a Quartet

Today was my second Saturday of preaching in the Stadtkirche, so I spent most of the day polishing my sermon and doing some reading in my room. It started out sunny and beautiful today, but turned to thunderstorms tonight. The birds outside my window have been serenading me all day! The cross above is the one my dad wore for his ordination (1968). I also wore it for my ordination (June 30, 2013), and now I wore it to preach in the Stadtkirche St. Marien's in Wittenberg, Germany. It brings me a lot of peace to wear it! Tonight, we were missing our organist, but we had the beautiful voices of the Methodists who were here to plant a tree in the Luther Garden. The garden will eventually contain 500 trees from churches around the world. Below is a picture of the garden from the air. Check out their website to learn more!

Yesterday, I wandered around the Luther House Museum again. As I was going to the museum, I had the opportunity to peek into the Augusteum as they are doing the renovations. They were in the process of removing some scaffolding and doing some cleaning.

Two of the books I found in the museum have great significance for my time here in Wittenberg. Every English service ends with us singing "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." It was written in 1527, and the hymn was probably first sung in the Stadtkirche St. Marien's. Knowing all that makes the hymn even more fun to sing! The hymnbook below is a second edition of the first known publication containing the hymn. This is Joseph Klug's hymnbook published in 1533.

My second wonderful find yesterday was this:  the first complete copy of the Luther's bible translated into high German. The date is 1534. The book was published by Hans Lufft.

The Friday night concert at the Stadtkirche was in honor of the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. The quartet performed Messaien's "Quartet for the End of Time." Messaien was composer serving as a French soldier during World War II. He was captured and held prisoner in Stalag VIII-A. The quartet consists of a clarinet, a violin, a cello and a piano because those were the instruments/performers available. The quartet was first performed in the rain on January 15, 1941. The music is haunting, grating, beautiful, and painful. Here is an online version if you want to check it out:  Quartet for the End of Time.

I am off to Berlin and Magdeburg Sunday and Monday. I will spend Mother's Day visiting the mother of our former foreign exchange student who lives in Berlin. You will hear about my Magdeburg mission if I am successful! Peace!