On Grace...

Yesterday, we attended the morning service at the American Church Berlin. This is the same place where half of our group served on Friday at the food distribution ministry they have there.

I don't know if I had mentioned this in my earlier post, but one of the reasons why I want to go back there on a fairly regular basis on Fridays is because of the people they reach out to. One of the things that the pastor said in his sermon yesterday that really impressed me was that they had a huge building project underway to start some of the restoration work in the building that they were using. But the building was not the priority. The ministries and the people came first.

How often have we theologized about that in the US, and how often have we actually lived that out? And perhaps I shouldn't be allowed to speak of the US as an insider, but in this case, I'm claiming my own fault in doing more speaking than acting.

And the people, the church. It was almost a strange phenomenon walking into service and not being able to tell right away what ethnic group each person is from. But shouldn't that be what the church is about? Even growing up in Singapore, most of the people I go to church with are Chinese. And when there is an occasional "outsider" of a different ethnic group, we know them right away. I wonder if they've felt welcome. I wonder if they've felt enough love from the community to convince them to stay. I wonder...

On a related note, MaryAnn asked us yesterday to make a list of 5-7 things that really stuck out to us on this trip. So here's mine:
1) Hospitality - Doors that are open to people from all walks of life, from student groups to "lost boys"
2) History - So much of the way things are today is wrapped in the doings of yesterday. Until we even begin to try and understand the things of yesterday, it will be hard to try to figure out how to live cross-culturally here today.
3) Stories - We all have stories; something to share that unites us. When we're able to share those things together in sacred space, that's when we find true community between both followers of Christ and those who have not known.
4) Diversity - No place or person have the exact same story. And no single method of getting to know, or working alongside any place, person, or thing will work as effectively as it will with the next.
5) Mercy and Liberation - They can only be found in Christ. And the only way to fully experience what we've found in Christ is to let it permeate us till it overflows to the next person in Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

That's all for now, I think. My brain is still barely awake, but breakfast is in about 40 minutes. I'm hungry.

Love you all.

Luther and all that Jazz...

I figured I should at least write something here today since all my pictures from today got deleted. Granted I didn't take very many today, but I need to at least remember some pieces of what we did today.

I'm starting to be unsure about whether I like the big spread at breakfast every morning. Not because it's bad, but because it's so good that it starts my metabolism going and then I get hungry. Like I am right now. Oh well. If you know anything about my eating habits, you'll probably know that this is a good thing.

So after breakfast this morning, we hit the streets again. And again, things went by in a fuzz today so I'll just write what I can remember. We went to a street market-ish thing that's just in front of the building where JFK did his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. Lunch was at this restaurant called Jamarican which is a cross between Jamaican and American food. And of course, goat curry is amazing. I was telling some of the group that usually when I leave somewhere, I try to think of the foods that I will miss and eat them before I leave. But I knew coming to Berlin, I wouldn't have to worry about that. It will probably be leaving Berlin that I'll have to think about that again.

After lunch, we raced to the American Church Berlin where we helped in a food distribution project. I don't think I was prepared for the fact that the food we were going to be distributing was fresh produce rather than canned goods. And also, I was forced to practise my limited German, which was probably a good thing.

Rhonda told me that as we hit the different ministry sites over the next couple weeks while the rest of the group is here, if I find myself wanting to go back to one of the sites, to try and get connected with the people in charge while I'm there. The ACB is probably one of the places I would like to frequent, just because of the diversity of the people who come to that - not just ethnic diversity, but religious affiliations as well. And with all my fascination with people in transition, somehow that seems to make sense.

Again, so much to process but no time for it. Just quick ramblings and now it's time for bed again.

OH! We also saw the Luther film tonight in anticipation for Wittenberg tomorrow. I really don't have much of a theologically nerdy side, but what percentage of that that I have is getting really excited.

I'll try to write again tomorrow. And let's be praying my photos don't magically disappear into a Facebook unfriendly format so I can't post them.

Love you all.