November 9th is a fateful day in German history: on November 9th, 1918, following the conclusion of the “Great War”, the ill-fated Weimar Republic was born; on November 9th, 1923, Adolf Hitler tried to carry out his putsch in Munich - in spite of its failure, it ominously catapulted him to national prominence; on November 9th, 1938, the Nazi SA and SS stormtroopers ransacked and destroyed Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues in a violent pogrom - the prelude to the Nazi’s “final solution” that would end the lives of 6,000,000 Jewish people in the gas chambers of the death camps and the execution trenches on the military front. Finally, on November 9th, 1989, the Berlin wall fell and the East-German communist regime ended up on the trash pile of history.
Last Saturday evening, there was a commemoration of the tragic events of 1938 here at Haus Nazareth. It was part of a memorial march that began at the site where the local synagogue had been and ended in a service at the Baptist church.

Memorial service on the steps of Haus Nazareth

From the steps of the Haus, a saxophone player wailed out a “Kletzmer” melody mourning the loss of the Jewish villages in Eastern Europe and a speaker reviewed briefly the life and death of one of the former residents, a blind Jewish poet.
Appropriately, talking about the Shoah is serious business here in Germany. Nothing touching the subject is taken lightly. I remember a discussion by a panel of “experts” following the showing of the American mini-series “Holocaust” on German T.V. in the late 1970s. On the final evening, the group was discussing, “How can we prevent something like this ever happening again?” One of them, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, is the most influential literary critic in post-war Germany and himself Jewish. After several minutes of discussion, he slammed his hand on the table and said: “I’ll tell you how you can prevent this every happening again! You Christians need to take your religion more seriously. If Christians had taken their religion seriously, the Holocaust would never have happened!” Amen.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Berlin for 3 weeks… it was like jumping into a flowing river from the moment Sieglinde met us at the airport and we packed our luggage into her car (we then took the bus and metro); that was a HUGE help, since we were carrying more than we usually would, of course.
This past week, a team of workers came from a small church northwest of Frankfurt (the village is called Gusternhain; you won’t find it on a map very easily). They were all skilled in the building trade and put in the paving stones for the back of “Haus Nazareth”. What a neat group of people… we’re so thankful for their help.

The team in action!

The finished pavement

We’ve been meeting with the students in the Haus… and trying to get settled: unpacking, fixing up the little place we’re staying in.
This morning we continued our planning time with Matthias and Sieglinde, trying together to get an overview of all that is involved in Haus Nazareth’s role as an outreach and mission center. We’ve defined 7 major areas of responsibility: student work, seminars & outreach, guests, house management, remodeling coordination, ministry finances and “Philosophia Europa”.
We’re so grateful for your continued prayers.

Over the past couple of years, God has been speaking to me more and more directly on the subject of forgiveness.
Up until now, I have not felt ready to speak publicly about my own journey and discoveries; but I was invited to speak at the Boise Church of Christ last Sunday and as I thought about what I should speak on, my heart was moved to finally begin talking about this topic.
The sermon was both audio- and videotaped and is on the website of the church if you’d like to join me and hear a bit more about my journey. In particular, I try to make clear from the Scripture what “forgiveness” is and isn’t and the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation (restoration of a relationship).
Here’s the link to the church’s sermon page if you’re interested. (Please pardon the music in the background; it was not intentional and is due to a technical glitch in the recording system. I did not speak the entire time with music repeating itself in the background!

This is Paul’s third reflection on the film Amazing Grace:

I fight “the truth about myself” [and the world] all the time. It is not nice or fun, usually, to give in to the truth - our utter need of God’s love, grace, and mercy. Catholic and Orthodox theology even fight ideas like “total depravity” - usually misunderstanding them. That doctrine, properly understood, does not say, I think, that we are as bad as we can be, but that badness is everywhere. Like the tares among the wheat, it is in amongst every goodness and that goodness is never “pure”, but always tempted. Good is really good when it acknowledges that proximity of evil and fights it. I do believe Catholics and Orthodox are at times better at noting “goodness” here and there than Protestants (Evangelicals), - but this also carries with it the weakness of unwillingness to face “self-deceptions”, and unwillingness to really face the depth of the evil virus inside of us all - including collective societal diseases, like the one’s challenging now our Wilberforce idealisms.

Thank you for praying for Daniel’s exam. It went very well! Your prayers were really needed, though. One of the professors was unable to get there because of car trouble, but at the last minute a speaker phone was rigged up so things could go ahead as planned. Now, he and Seanne are starting a very intensive summer that will take them to Israel/Palestine and Malawi (it’s in east Africa; I wasn’t completely sure, either). When your children are called to those kind of places, it can really intensify one’s prayer life! I’ll tell you a bit more about their mission in a future blog!

For most of the world… this is a football.
(Click here to find out why goalies are having troubles with the new ball, though!)

I mentioned in my last blog that Germany is going a little crazy about the soccer world championship. That really took off last night as we joined the whole nation (at least via TV) in celebrating the victory of the German team over Poland. The win almost insures that the team will go through to the next round.

Last night in Berlin, a crowd of 500,000 people gathered from the Brandenburg Gate down the “Fan Mile” along the famous shopping street Unter den Linden to watch the game with Poland on a huge projection screen set up in front of the Gate.

Germany has, understandably, a fairly cautious attitude toward “patriotism”. But football (as the rest of the world outside the U.S. calls it) presents the opportunity to express pride and spirit in being German.

Significantly, God’s plan for humanity explicitly recognizes national and ethnic roots.

The Apostle Paul, in his address to the Greek philosophers in Athens explained that God:

made every nation of people… and He determined the times set for them and the exact places they should live. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’” Acts 17:26-27

Just as significantly, Jesus’ Great Commission to His followers aims directly at the nations or peoples: “Go and make disciples (= “learners; students”) of all nations (= “ethne”; the root Greek word of our term “ethnic”)” (Matthew 28:19).

It’s refreshing to see the German people express this side of life in such a positive way. Please pray that God will use this help many reconsider who they are, where they come from and, as the Apostle put it, “seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him.”

You’ve been much in my thoughts. I’ve not been able to get on to the internet since I left Boise for Germany. (I’ve been trying for three days!) I arrived in Berlin on Friday, April 28th. (Ann will be joining me with Charissa as soon as the spring semester at the University of Idaho is finished.)

House Nazareth in the May sunshine

Matthias and Sieglinde Ploner have been living in “House Nazareth” since last week - in faith that God will provide the rest of the funds necessary for the purchase to go through! It was a VERY unusual feeling to walk through the door and realize: “This is the place that God has chosen for you and the work of Philosophia in Berlin!” The sisters moved out two days ago - also in faith that God would provide the necessary funds to Philosophia! And God has blessed: He has given the financing to move ahead with the purchase!

This is the “Reader’s Digest” summary:

May 1st was supposed to be the closing date. We needed to have the down payment together by then. This date has now been extended because the bank has said it needs more time to give final approval to the mortgage that we have applied for. We hope that the final signing will take place early next week! Please pray that this will go smoothly and that God will continue to be glorified. We cannot really start any renovation work until the papers are signed. Please also pray that the Enemy will have not have any room to throw monkey-wrenches in the works as this process nears completion. We feel like the children of Israel actually walking through the Red Sea - water on both sides, with the troops of Pharaoh still a potential threat until we come up on the other shore! The good thing about the extension of the signing date is that every bit of cash donated before final closing counts! We are grateful for all your gifts, large and small. God has multiplied them like a mustard seed.

One other prayer request: the Philosophia team spent eight detailed hours on Saturday walking through everything with the architect who has been advising us on the necessary renovation of the building for future ministry. “House Nazareth” is in good condition, but for professional medical offices to move into the ground floor, there are some important changes that need to be made. The upper floors also need some renovation for the use of the Philosophia team and students. Please pray that God will give us His wisdom as we analyze and prioritize these needs. Some will have to be done by putting it out for bids (such as major wall changes); much can be done with the help of short-term workers and others.

One final thought about the Israelites in the wilderness: after the deliverance at the Red Sea, God began providing manna each day to feed them. They were commanded to gather only enough each morning to meet their needs for that day. Just enough… just in time! That is God’s pattern in providing for His people. It always has been and that is certainly the case with the “House Nazareth” project. As He told the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Early on this Good Friday, as we fast and pray, my thoughts turn to one of my favorite scenes from both the book and the film of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers:

“Sam: By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened.”

[Aragorn and Èowyn embrace as Rohan is victorious at Helm's Deep.]

“Sam: But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

[The sun shines on Isengard, as Merry, Pippin, and the Ents celebrate victory.]

“Sam: Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.”

“Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?”

“Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

Amen! The darkness of Good Friday will be followed by the dawn of the Resurrection morning. Evil will not triumph! Nothing that is truly good will be lost, because God remembers it; and the good that God remembers He will make real again at the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).

May you have a blessed Easter!

“Triangulation” is a navigational technique based upon the use of fixed points and a known distance to determine the exact position of a ship in relation to the shore. The operative words are: fixed points and known distance.

As the leadership team of “Philosophia” met on Sunday afternoon for prayer and planning, we decided to pray and fast on Good Friday this week to remember the Lord’s death and specifically call upon Him to open the path for the purchase of “House Nazareth” in Berlin. To pray for this project on Good Friday is consistent with His will that many hear the Gospel and come to Christ.

A key question then came up: “Why is prayer and fasting so important? Doesn’t God know everything already? Isn’t it kind of like pestering Him?” The answer, as I see it, is that these disciplines are like spiritual “fixed points” that we can use for “spiritual triangulation” to determine the exact position our own heart is in and reorient it toward God. Prayer and fasting are for OUR sake; definitely NOT God’s. We in no way change His love and concern for us by prayer and fasting; what changes is our receptivity to His leading and direction and our openness for His miracles.

Would you please join with us in fasting and prayer on this coming Good Friday? (Drinking liquid or juice is OK!) It would be a great encouragement if we can pray together that God will provide the remaining funds needed and that “House Nazareth” will become a lighthouse for the Gospel in Berlin.

Thanks for your prayers: there was a positive outcome of the discussions in Germany with the court and Finanzamt (German IRS) on the incorporation and tax-deductible status of Philosophia in Germany (something we already have in the U.S.). Please pray that the final documents will be finished this week. God’s timing is perfect. Which reminds me of another thought Ihad a couple of days ago.

In the 1980’s there was a lot of talk in management circles about “just-in-time” production. Instead of having parts and components stocked up in inventory (which costs space and was inefficient), top companies worked toward a “just-in-time” production schedule in which the parts and components arrived right at the moment needed and not before.

We’re getting closer to the deadline for the “3rd miracle” of House Nazareth: on April 25th the funds for the down payment need to be transferred to the German bank. By that date $960,000 in donations or interest-free loans need to be available to see the purchase go through.

As I’ve looked at the calendar (sometimes even stared at it a little), I imagine how Moses must have felt at the Red Sea. The half-thought, half-prayer rises in my heart: “Uh… Lord… You know we’ll only survive if You part the waters. Don’t You think You want to start things moving a little faster? Like, maybe, a little ‘wind’ picking up or something?”

But then I realize, God is a “just-in-time” God. He is never too early and never too late.

The prophet Habakkuk received a clear answer from the Lord when he worried that the prophecies he saw were not coming about:

“The revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV)

While I’m not a prophet and “House Nazareth” is not a vision of the end times, the principle holds: God’s timing is always perfect. Which isn’t always comfortable for us waiting for His miracles. But it sure strengthens your prayer life.

Our good friend, Debby Topliff, wrote some thoughts recently that I’d like to share with you (with her permission). She has been meditating and painting her reflections on the book of Revelation (more on that in a moment).

“Dear Clark and Ann,
We are excited with you - sitting on the edge of our seats so to speak-as we wait and watch to see God’s dramatic move in your lives. (Revelation intrigues me because it shows us the end of the story so we don’t have to be afraid.)

You may know I’ve had a foot problem - a metal joint in my big toe, a broken toe, and a badly sprained ankle after being thrown off a horse. Finally, after 3 years I am able to resume prayer walks with John and explorations in the woods and on the lakeshore. Praise God. But this bruising of the foot has made me think of the seed of Adam and Eve who would be bruised in the foot. I take this as a sign of humiliation… the enemy trying to stop us in our tracks, prevent us from moving forward.

Yet the promised one will smite the enemy in its head - the place of thinking, reasoning, deceiving. That’s why our battle is with the sword of the spirit, the Word of God. We fight against false ideas - we hold up the truth.

There is a marked contrast in the armor of God between the enemy’s flaming arrows shot from afar - and from a hiding place - and the sword of God us in direct, face to face and person to person contact. That’s why the Lord sends us into all nations - to take the truth face to face. And if they see our faces, the glory of God beginning to be revealed, if they see the truth spoken in love… then there is hope.

Blessings!

Debby

PS: After I wrote you I was thinking about the posture of humility - being forced to your knees - as the only way to victory over the enemy. Like Jesus, we must be faithful witnesses to the truth. We don’t have to defend ourselves. We may appear defeated, but we know the secret ending of the story.”

As I mentioned, Debby has been painting the images of the book of Revelation. You can view her talking about some of her work here.

(To view the clip, you’ll need “Windows Media Player”, which can be downloaded for free at Microsoft.)