Zurich

After our trip to Bodensee, we decided to take a spontaneous trip into Switzerland to visit Zurich.  This wasn't an original part of our sabbatical plans, but we were only 1.5 hrs away and it's Zurich... why wouldn't we go?

So on Tuesday April 7th we cleared out of our vacation home in Bodensee, Dave and Rebekka and their kids drove back to Bammental, but we loaded into our VW Passat for a day in Switzerland.


I'm glad we did.  Zurich was amazing.  One of, if not the, most beautiful city I've ever been in.  We had a wonderful day too; it was a bit cool, but not cold, and very sunny.  I wish we would have had more than 4-5 hours there.

Walking around a city is not Roslyn's favorite thing to do.  In fact, she hates it.  We knew this going into it.  But still.  It was worth dealing with her tantrums and fits for the opportunity.

Zurich is also an important city in Reformation/Anabaptist history.  To the left is a picture of the Grossmunster, the cathedral where Ulrich Zwingli began his reforms in Switzerland.  Zwingli was an influential leader and peer to Martin Luther during the Reformation.  He also was the teacher of Felix Manz and Conrad Grebel, students of his who would go in a more radical direction and become leaders in of the Anabaptist Movement.  Several debates between Zwingli and the Anabaptist ensued.  Eventually, the Anabaptist broke with Zwingli and his reforms.  The Anabaptists wanted a free church that was separate from state influence/control, rejected the use of the sword as a tool of the church, and advocated baptism for adults upon an open confession of faith.

Sitting outside the Grossmunster, I imagined what it would be like 500 years ago when these men worshiped, studied, debated, and argued together in this very place.

Just beind the Grossmunster, on a small street called Neustadtgasse, was the location of the first adult re-baptisms ever recorded.  On January 21, 1525, on the street pictured to the left, Conrad Grebel baptized George Balurock in the home of Felix Manz's mother.  After Blaurock was baptized, he then baptized the others present.  This was a powerful rejection of the state-sanctioned baptism of the Catholic and Reformation churches of the day.  It also marked a significant moment in the development of the Anabaptist movement. And it all took place on this little alley right in the shadow of the Grossmunster itself.




The Anabaptist leaders were ordered to stop their baptizing, teaching, and evangelism or leave Zurich.  When they refused, they were further threatened with imprisonment, fines, and even death.  Still, the Anabaptists refused and remained true to their convictions.

In particular, Felix Manz continued to preach and baptize and give leadership to the Anabaptist movement.  He was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and put on trial.  In the picture to the left, the two towers are cathedral spires of the Grossmunster, the bridge is the place where Manz was sentenced to death, and the place where I took the picture is the place where he was drowned in the Limmat river on January 5, 1527.  For all it's beauty, there is a tragic history that took place here.

But it's not without hope.  When I was in the Grossmunster, after admiring the architectural beauty I went to the book table.  On the table I saw the book pictured to the right, which I bought. It is true that steps toward reconciliation have happened.  The Reformed church has made official confession of their persecution of Anabaptists, and Anabaptists have also expressed a commitment to walking together in peace.

I had a brief conversation with the man at the book table in the Grossmunster.  Through a combination of his broken English and my limited German he made sure I had the directions to the Shipfe, the location where Manz was drowned.  It was a moment in which I felt like we both owned our common history together and are striving to learn and grow from it.

Frohe Ostern!

On Easter Sunday we attended worship service at Dave and Rebekka's church.  We got really good at saying "frohe ostern" which is German for "Happy Easter."

Like any pastor, Dave and Rebekka were busy during Holy Week.  But once Easter Sunday was over, their schedules freed up.  To celebrate we all took a road trip to the very south of Germany to Lake Constance.  The Germans call it Bodensee, which literally means "bottom see" because you can see the bottom through the crystal clear water.




Bodensee isn't internationally know, but it's a place where Germans go to vacation.  I would compare it to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Northern Michigan (only substitute the sand dunes for medieval towns and castles).  Rebekka's mother works at managing vacation condos, so she hooked us up with a last minute deal for all of us to go down for two nights.

When you look south across the lake, you are looking at Switzerland to the SW and Austria to the SE.  You can also see the snow-caped Alps in the background.  The view was much more magnificent than what my Sony Cyber-Shot 10x zoom could capture.

We met Rebekka's parents and sister at their home, and the kids had an Easter egg hunt.

Rebekka's mom served us Kaffee and Kuchen at 4:00.  It consisted of rolls, danishes, and "bee-sting cake," which is a delicious honey cake as the name implies.

I thought this would be our supper for the day, so I ate a lot.










But I was wrong.  Because at around 6:00 they served us a full-on Aben Brot, which means "evening bread."  This is the typical German supper that consists of fresh bread, sliced meats and cheeses, lots of butter, fruits and veggies, and other sides such as olives, pickles, etc.





The next day we were able to work off some of the food from the night before by walking around Bodensee and the town of Meersburg where we toured a castle.

Back in Toledo

We've arrived safely back to Toledo.  Our 9-hour return flight from Frankfurt to Detroit went smoothly, mostly because Roslyn watch TV for six of those nine hours.  We landed yesterday at 3:00 Eastern Time, which is 9:00 Germany time.  The girls both fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport, and that helped us stretch to 7:30 before going to bed.  Then the girls got up a little before 5:00 am this morning, but that wasn't even so bad.  

What an amazing trip!  It's hard to even describe it at this point.  In total, we spent 50 days abroad in five different countries speaking three different languages.  We had four flights, two train rides, one long-distance bus ride, a boat ride, dozens of hours in cars, and numerous trips on subways, trams, and buses.  We slept in 8 different locations, and I lost count of how many homes and restaurants we ate in.  We saw amazing beauty in very different climates, and of course we interacted with amazing friends all over the world.  Such and adventure!

I've fallen behind on some posts, so even though our travels are over now I still plan to write a post about our trip to Zurich and a post about some other events in Germany.  

Since our girls were up early, and we had no food in the fridge, we went out for breakfast at Uncle John's Pancake house in Toledo.  Emiley and I were craving biscuits and gravy.




Then we went to the Toledo Farmers Market to buy some food for the week.  It was fun to see the vendors we've come to know at the market.  Now it's 10:30 and I'm not sure what we'll do for the rest of the day ahead.

Anabaptist History: Augsburg

On Wednesday April 1st, Dave and I took a trip to Augsburg with Wolfgang Krauss, who is the regional expert on Anabaptist History.  Dave has known Wolfgang since Dave's parents were missionaries in Germany when he was just a boy.  Dave has also been a colleague of Wolfgang's since Dave did an international service assignment at the Mennonite Peace Committee office here in Bammental.

So thanks to Dave for arranging a private tour of Augsburg with the leading Anabaptist expert in Germany.  Much of what we saw I had already learned about in Anabaptist history courses, but of course it was nice to see for my self.   Here are some of the sights we saw.

This street is the location where Hans Denck baptized Hans Hut, and is located next to the old city gate.  It is known to be the sencond adult re-baptism upon confession of faith that took place in Augsburg because of the records of Hans Hut's arrest and trial.  Scholars still wonder who was the first Anabaptist in Augsburg, with the leading theory being Hans Denck himself.  But since no records exist, it is merely speculation.  

The two pictures above are of a house in Augsburg at the corner of Hinterer Lech and Schleifergasschen.  It was the house of Susanna Daucher who hosted Anabaptist gatherings.  Eventually, her and the house were discovered by the ecclesial authorities and many people were arrested and imprisoned.  Susanna herself was then banished from Augsburg.  Wolfgang was instrumental in getting this memorial plaque placed on the house, and it is the first officially-recognized commemoration of the Anabaptists in the city of Augsburg.  

This intersection is where the old horse market was located.  It is significant because city records indicated that a meeting of 60 leading Anabaptists took place in a "house near the horse market."  It was at this meeting that some core convictions were agreed upon by Anabaptists in Switzerland and Southern Germany, and from this meeting the participants were sent out two-by-two to do evangelism across the region.   This meeting of Anabaptists became known as the Martyrs' Synod because eventuall 58 of the 60 participants were tracked down, arrested, and martyred.  You can read more about it by clicking here and here, and here.  

These two photos are of the meeting place of the modern-day Augsburg Mennonite Church.  They meet in a cafe/club called the Neruda, named after the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda because he's the owner's favorite poet.  The Neruda is a cafe throughout the week, and closed on Sundays.  Wolfgang got to know the owner and came up with an arrangement where the church can use the space once a month on Sunday morning.  They start their gathering with a potluck meal, then sing a few songs, have conversation around a scripture passage, share communion, and then close with a prayer and benediction.  We went into the Neruda on this particular night and it was packed with people listening to live music.

Berlin to Bammental

We said goodbye to the Whites and left Berlin on Saturday, March 28.  Roslyn was sad to say goodbye to her new friend Ariella, and we of course were also bummed to say goodbye to Ryan and Alethia.  It had been about three years since we had last seen them, and who knows how long it will be until we see each other again.





We had a good train ride from Berlin all the way to Bammental.  It involved two transfers, one in Frankfurt, and one in Heidelberg.  Both transfers went smoothly and we've found we really enjoy train travel.  Train travel is the way to go; less stressed and cramped then air travel, and more leisurely than car travel.

Our train out of Berlin left at around 11:30, so we were soon ready for lunch after departure.  We decided to go to the dining car, and we had a really good and pleasant meal.  Also, Roslyn made a new friend (which has become a theme of our travels).  You can see the little girl in the background, and her name was Johanna.  She and her mom even invited Roslyn to go with them to their car and play for awhile after lunch.  Which was great for us because we took Liz back to our car for a nap and then Emiley and I had some adult time to ourselves.


After about a 6-hour trip we arrived in Bammental.  Bammental is a village of about 6,000 people in the hills of southern Germany about 20 minutes from Heidelberg and one hour from Frankfurt.

To the left is a picture of our little apartment where we are staying in the Hausgemeinschaft.




We are visiting our friends Dave and Rebekka Stutzman who are in Bammental through a partnership with Mennonite Mission Network, Virginia Mennonite Missions, and the Mennonite Conference here in Germany.  They are working as part-time pastors with an intentional community while also doing some networking among Anabaptist-minded young adults.  When their term ends later this year, they will be starting a new church planting project. In my mind, Dave and Rebekka will make excellent church planters, and it's been exciting to catch up with them about their ministry, talk theology, and dream big dreams.

Thus far we've been worshiping with the community for Holy Week as well as taking some time to visit the surrounding areas.  I'll post more about our adventures later, but let me just say, Southern Germany is gorgeous.  It is quintessential Germany in my mind.  The weather has been cool and rainy, but even so, that hasn't stopped us from getting off on the right foot here in Bammental.