Jesus is risen indeed!

Thanks for your prayers! We had an amazing Seder celebration commemorating the Passover that Jesus celebrated with his friends on the day before he was crucified.

About 55 people were there (with serving help from students!). It lasted from 6:00 to 10:00pm!

New believers, old believers and not-quite-yet believers sat around 5 tables eating the traditional vegetables and a lamb roast. The meal prepartation was led and supervised by one of the student helpers, Jonas. Although Jonas is now on the university, he did a two year training as a cook at one of the finest retaurants in Berlin (he still earns money on the side that way). He sees his work as a help to “Haus Nazareth” and we certainly do too.

Yesterday (Easter Saturday) we had a short “Easter meditation” to prepare for today, Easter Sunday.

Abraham in the Suon

Our thoughts centered on the calling and faith of Abraham… how he obeyed God to leave his homeland and go on a completely wild adventure with the Lord… and how he looked forward to his great son who would redeem mankind. A wood carving of Abraham holding out his arms in prayer provided the center piece of our meditation; when the evening sun caught the framework of the window the light cast a perfect cross behind him!

As the old silent movies used to announce: “The plot thickens!”

But, first, a word on Ann’s passport: the lost has been found! Thanks for your prayers. It was in the bottom of a suitcase. She’s rebooked her flight for June 2nd. I can hardly wait to see her!

Regarding the bank:

I truly hope that this is the last time I’ll need to ask you to pray for the bank decision on our mortgage application! Here goes:

First of all, we have no idea why this has taken so long (other than the spiritual benefit of stretching our faith and nerves to the outer limit!).

German banks are very powerful, very official, very secretive and, frankly, not too “service oriented”. Be that as it may, we have received word indirectly that our application is being smiled upon, but a FINAL decision will be made today (Thursday) or tomorrow by the Board of Directors and we should get the official word on Monday (May 29 – Memorial Day in the U.S.)

So: please continue to EARNESTLY pray!

Meanwhile, we haven’t been sitting on our hands! I spent last week moving out, with the help of an unemployed TV repairman and two high school boys, the furniture that we will keep for student rooms and other needs. Then Davin and Charissa arrived and I got some serious extra support. (I’ve rediscovered muscles that I’d forgotten I have!) Finally, on Monday, a professional removal crew came in and tackled the rest. The boss of the work gang said casually, “Oh, we’ll have this done in two days!” Serious underestimate! After three full days of work and two containers more to haul away than they figured on, he now estimates they’ll need at least one more full day to finish up.

So far, the timing has actually been perfect: the real work on walls can only begin when we get a green light from the bank regarding the mortgage application, but the preliminary removal work isn’t finished yet anyway.

Please also pray for sufficient funds to come in for this first phase of the renovation.

Today is an official holiday in Germany: Ascension Day. It is a powerful reminder that Our Lord is not puzzled or confused by the twists and turns of mortgage applications or history or by the perversity of sin and cosmic rebellion. He “sits at the right hand of the Father, from where He will come to judge the living and the dead” and all power is His. Hallelujah!

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!

A blessed Christmas day to you and yours!

While celebrating with the Wehrenfennigs after the midnight church service, it occurred to me that most Americans don’t realize that Germans still use real candles on their Christmas tree. Contrary to expectations, it doesn’t seem to result in very many fires. There are probably a couple of reasons for this: the “Tannenbaum” is not normally put up until Christmas Eve; most homes have a bucket of water near the tree; someone is always in the room with the tree.

This year Chanukkah and Christmas overlap. Chanukkah is the only feast in the Jewish year that doesn’t have roots directly in the Old Testament; it celebrates the cleansing of the temple under the Maccabees, when there was not enough consecrated oil to keep the Holy Place lighted until fresh oil could be prepared. A miracle happened and the menorah kept burning until it could be refilled. Jesus celebrated this feast, as recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 8. Connecting the image of light to Himself, He said, “I am the light of the world.”

Let’s pray together that this Christmas-Chanukkah season the light of His love and character will shine brightly through us, His people - out to a needy and dark world.

There is a wonderful story of the German “Christmas Markets” in the Munich newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung. (It’s in English.) Enjoy!

Christmas Eve is a BIG DEAL in Germany - not just the kind of shopping circus that we know from the States (that’s here too), but also a deeper, more traditional sense of “Christmas-tide” in the air: special “Christmas Markets” with stands like those at county fairs. (Brr… great thankfulness that God did not call me to sell candles outside in the winter in Berlin!)

We said “Goodbye!” to Sister Ursula and Sister Juliana this morning, took the metro to the train station and boarded the Inter-City train for Hannover - along with hundreds of other people. Everyone in Germany is headed, it seems, like Joseph and Mary, to the “place where they were born”. I was very thankful to Seanne and Daniel that they went to the trouble of standing a half hour in a long line three days ago and managed to get 3 of what were probably the last seat reservations in the entire country. We were spared wandering through the train with our luggage looking for single seats for at least a stretch of the trip. Now I’m comfortable and cozy at the Wehrenfennigs in Wetzlar (north of Frankfurt if you’re a map-searcher).

Breakfast tomorrow at 9:00am. (It’s almost 1:00 in the morning); then last minute shopping (Germans aren’t that different!); traditional church service at 5:00 in the afternoon; dinner and present opening; midnight Christmas-eve service; then, friends gathering at the Wehrenfennig’s for Doris’ birthday party (Daniel’s Mom is a “Christmas kid”), then into bed for Christmas day.

Update on “House Nazareth”: Matthias and I met with the “Notar” (German semi-judge/lawyer) yesterday to discuss the final details of the contract to be signed next Tuesday. It again became clear to us that this would not be happening if God had not built such a bridge of love and appreciation in Christ between the sisters and Philosophia. Please pray for these dear women as they quietly prepare to turn over their life-time home and work to us and go into retirement as they wait for the Lord’s call. Sister Juliane (91 years young) underwent a very serious operation on her face and still carries the marks of it. She told us a couple of days ago, “I’m glad to carry this if by doing so I can help one more person go to heaven!” That’s what I call an eternal perspective.