Saturday in Germany
It has truly been an amazing two days here in Berlin. So much has happened and I do not even know how to put it in words.
On Thursday I participated in the Church and Society discussion in preparation for legislation. There were several legislations on genocide and extrajudicial killings, but the discussion centered around the idea of giving Pastor's the right to perform same sex marriages in states and countries where it is legal for such things to happen. After a lively debate, the legislation was recommended for affirmation by the general legislative body.
I am a little concerned about the three legislations about gay and lesbian marriage. First I need to say that I struggle with the issue of Christianity and homosexuality. The Biblical witness is pretty clear on its stance that it is a sin. But there are many things in the Biblical witness that we have faithfully struggled with and decided through reason, experience and tradition that we would not follow the scripture literally. Is homosexuality like women in the church? It is the racism of our day? These are faithful questions we have to struggle with if we want to be followers of Christ. No one said it would be easy to be a follower of Christ.
I think, however that this legislation is not the step that is needed to change the stance of the Church. It gives the pastors the right/responsibility to perform weddings (among other things) for gay and lesbian couples. They have the option to choose whether or not to perform the weddings were they are legal. If this legislation passes it will put pastor's in the position of faithfully saying they don't agree with that lifestyle but possibly brought up on charges of sexual discrimination.
Just a thought. We will be struggling with this question for a long time. As of the time of writing this, the legislation failed to pass in our GYPC but it still may be brought up an General Conference 2012.
On Friday we began our excursions to different parts of Berlin. The unfortunate problem that I had was that I wanted to go on all of the different excursions! I chose aspects of historical Berlin because it seemed to take me to the most places that I wanted to see. We started out at the historical Berlin dome for an amazing multicultural and ecuminical worship gathering. It was amazing to share that experience with my brothers and sisters around the world! Of the experiences at the excursion that day, there were 2 that were the most poignant to me was an old Jewish graveyard and the Berlin Wall Memorial.
The graveyard was destroyed in WWII by the Nazi's. They they turned it into a mass grave for soldiers who died in the war. It was chilling to walk through this once holy place (I had to also cover my head) that had been desecrated. It was a strange feeling to say the least.
The Berlin Wall is beyond description. The fall of the wall was one of the most significant events of my life time and to walk through the area where is used to be impacted my life. I will remark more on this later.
I will also blog about my experience at the concentration camp.
God bless!
On Thursday I participated in the Church and Society discussion in preparation for legislation. There were several legislations on genocide and extrajudicial killings, but the discussion centered around the idea of giving Pastor's the right to perform same sex marriages in states and countries where it is legal for such things to happen. After a lively debate, the legislation was recommended for affirmation by the general legislative body.
I am a little concerned about the three legislations about gay and lesbian marriage. First I need to say that I struggle with the issue of Christianity and homosexuality. The Biblical witness is pretty clear on its stance that it is a sin. But there are many things in the Biblical witness that we have faithfully struggled with and decided through reason, experience and tradition that we would not follow the scripture literally. Is homosexuality like women in the church? It is the racism of our day? These are faithful questions we have to struggle with if we want to be followers of Christ. No one said it would be easy to be a follower of Christ.
I think, however that this legislation is not the step that is needed to change the stance of the Church. It gives the pastors the right/responsibility to perform weddings (among other things) for gay and lesbian couples. They have the option to choose whether or not to perform the weddings were they are legal. If this legislation passes it will put pastor's in the position of faithfully saying they don't agree with that lifestyle but possibly brought up on charges of sexual discrimination.
Just a thought. We will be struggling with this question for a long time. As of the time of writing this, the legislation failed to pass in our GYPC but it still may be brought up an General Conference 2012.
On Friday we began our excursions to different parts of Berlin. The unfortunate problem that I had was that I wanted to go on all of the different excursions! I chose aspects of historical Berlin because it seemed to take me to the most places that I wanted to see. We started out at the historical Berlin dome for an amazing multicultural and ecuminical worship gathering. It was amazing to share that experience with my brothers and sisters around the world! Of the experiences at the excursion that day, there were 2 that were the most poignant to me was an old Jewish graveyard and the Berlin Wall Memorial.
The graveyard was destroyed in WWII by the Nazi's. They they turned it into a mass grave for soldiers who died in the war. It was chilling to walk through this once holy place (I had to also cover my head) that had been desecrated. It was a strange feeling to say the least.
The Berlin Wall is beyond description. The fall of the wall was one of the most significant events of my life time and to walk through the area where is used to be impacted my life. I will remark more on this later.
I will also blog about my experience at the concentration camp.
God bless!
It is a humbling experience to be where such significant events in US history took place. I need to dig up the picture of me standing with slabs of the Berlin Wall in Koblenz Germany, it is something I am proud of. I also had the opportunity to visit a memorial in the small town of Andernach Germany where the names of all the Jews from that town were recorded, who had lost their lives under Hitler.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have gone to a concentration camp. I would regard it as a kind of pilgrimage. And I will one day.
I am proud of my German roots, and the German culture. Germans have contributed so much to humankind, but there is always the reality of the Holocaust. If you have had a chance to speak with any Germans about it, you would see there is an embarassment, and a desire to put it in the past. They won't however try to minimize the magnitude of these events.
I am glad you are having a rewarding experience. And I hope you appreciate how beautiful Germany is, and how rich the culture is. I need to go back.