The Pride Part

I took a quick look at the blog I posted late last night and realized I only wrote half of what I originally intended to write.  I think I must have been a little weary after the long trip to Paris.

On the way to Paris we stopped at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg where over 5000 American soldiers are buried.  These mostly are the soldiers who died in Germany, France and Luxembourg in WWII, particularly during the Battle of the Bulge.  I couldn’t help but think of Jack Lay who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and had pretty horrific stories to tell about it!

Our guide told us his parents were living in Luxembourg when the Germans invaded for the second time.  The first time, at the beginning of the war, they annexed Luxembourg and conscripted all the young men to fight for Germany.  When they invaded the second time they created a bulge in the Allied lines as they attempted stop the Allied offensive.  They completely occupied Luxembourg at this time and our guide’s parents fled to Belgium.  The Allies prevailed, but lost 19,000 soldiers.  The Germans lost 23,000.

During and after the war many of the American soldiers who died were buried at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg.  General Patton is buried there.  His wife at one point asked to have his

grave transferred to the US but the queen of Luxembourg prevailed to have it remain.  Our Guide said the people of Luxembourg consider Patton a hero because he liberated Luxembourg from the Germans.

Our French guide said something similar on the way into Paris.  She said children in Paris all make a compulsorary visit to the American cemetery to make sure they understand the depth of sacrifice the Americans made to help secure France’s freedom.  She said that even thought the French sometimes appear standoffish, they remember what Americans did in the war and appreciate America.

Prayers and Pride

We finally have good internet again!  We have been on the River Cruise where internet is sketchy at best.  We have safely arrived in Paris tonight and the hotel has high speed internet.  I am ready to post about our adventures!

First, I wanted to tell you, I prayed for the Presbyterians in La Porte yesterday on Pentecost day in a church that was built in the early part of the 4th century - 313 to 329 to be exact.  According to Medieval tradition, Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine donated her house to the Trier Bishop Agnitius who converted it into a Bishop’s church, and as soon as the Edict of Tolerance guaranteed religious freedom to the Christians, he began constructing a Cathedral.  It was significantly enlarged by Bishop Maximinus (329 - 346) to include four Basilicas and a baptismal font the size of a swimming pool.  The footprint of these early church structures was enormous!  Today the original Cathedral has been damaged and altered many times as one might imagine.  One of the Cathedrals was replaced with a 12th century gothic cathedral right next to the first one.  The other two cathedrals and the swimming pool baptismal font are gone.  The picture is below.  It was an amazing experience to pray for you all in such an ancient church!

Interestingly this church also claims to have the seamless robe of Jesus.  Constantine’s mother was quite a mystic.  She made a trip to the Holy Land at one point and identified many of the significant sites of Jesus’ life including where the crucifixion took place and where the empty tomb were.  Now... she did this through spiritual insight rather than archeological evidence.  Amazingly, these are still the sites the church holds as “original.”  Helena also returned with many relics including the seamless robe of Jesus.  Before you get too excited, you need to know that there was no mention of this relic in writing until the 11th century.  However, when the alter was taken apart at one point, a robe was found.  It is kept in a holy place high above the high altar at the very front of the church.  I made my way up to the location and peered into the hole where the box was, but one really cannot see anything.  I was impressed by the people around me who were awestruck by standing so close to what they believed to be the seamless robe of Jesus.  I was more curious than anything.  Here’s what I saw!

You might also be interested to know that the people of Trier yesterday and the people of Luxembourg and France today were on holiday because it was Pentecost yesterday.  They take this Holy day seriously.  That is, they have serious fun.  Everyone had the day off, and yesterday there was a party with music and food outside of Trier Cathedral.  They were having a marvelous time even in the pouring rain!  So Happy Pentecost to you all!

Strasbourg, Worms, and Heidelberg

We have enjoyed a couple of long and amazing days.  Tuesday, May 15, we went to Strasbourg, France.  I really had no idea what to expect and so was incredibly surprised at what a lovely city is Strasbourg!  First of all, it’s French and it was fun to be back on French speaking soil - secondly, it’s old.  There are half timbered houses that date back to the  Middle Ages (1400s and 1500s).

The Cathedral of Notre Dame and the St. Thomas churches are both Romanesque - construction started in the early ninth century (roughly 1015 and 1020 respectively.  They were

stunning - both of them.  I preferred the style of St. Thomas which is Protestant, but the sheer size of the Cathedral of Notre Dame is overwhelming. The other joy of Strasbourg was the food!  We picked up the most amazing gingerbread, chocolate caramel eggs and macaroons in the afternoon.

Today, Wednesday, was the trip to Worms and Heidelberg.  Our guide figured out early on that several of us were interested in Reformation history and so walked us through the big event in Worms - Martin Luther’s refusal to recant his writings and teachings.  Luther had already been excommunicated by the Pope, but was called by the Emperor to give an accounting of himself at the Diet of Worms.  He was called to the Bishop’s quarters at the Cathedral in Worms and asked directly if he was willing to recount.  He actually asked for 24 hours to consider and then firmly refused.  At this point the Emperor removed all of Luther’s rights and Luther became fair game for anyone who wished to assassinate him.  Fortunately for Luther the Prince of Saxony, a supporter, had him kidnapped on the way home to hide him from enemies.  The Bishop's quarters were actually destroyed in the 17th century by the French but we got to see the place next to the Cathedral where they stood.  The picture below is of the Reformation Monument to Luther and other Reformers.  It’s built in the shape of a castle to call to mind Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

We also toured the city and our guide drove us up to the ruins of Heidelberg Castle which are quite stunning!

Monday (5/ 14) in our tour of Zurich’s old town, I was surprised to discover I was in the cradle of the Swiss Reformation.  After our “official” tour, Mike and I made our way back to two of the oldest churches in town: Grossmünster and Fraumünster.  Both of these churches were in the thick of the Prostestant Reformation in Switzerland in the early part of the 1500s and are still Reformed.  Being Presbyterian, I am quite familiar with John Calvin’s contribution to the Reformation, but Calvin was preaching and teaching in French speaking Geneva.  I was less familiar with the Swiss reformation which started a decade earlier in Zurich with Ulrich Zwingli and his successor Heinrich Bullinger.  Both Zwingli and Bullinger were pastors at the Grossmünster cathedral.

I found myself engrossed in their story when I first stepped into the Grossmünster church.  It was simple in decor as one might expect from a Reformed Church.  There were few ornaments, pictures or statues.  As Mike and I sat down in a pew to gaze at the sanctuary, Mike leaned over and asked me, “Where’s the table” meaning the communion table.  I looked to the center of the chancel where it should have been and found a large baptismal font.  I wandered the sanctuary for a while and finding no table I approached the information desk.  “Where’s the communion table?” I asked.  When the man behind the desk seemed confused, I assumed I was having a language problem and asked instead, “Where’s the altar?”   “OH, no, no, no!” He said with some alarm.  “There is no mass here.  This is a Reformed Church.”  Again, assuming I was having a language problem, I asked where the congregation celebrated communion.  He assured me they didn’t do that in Reformed churches.  What???  He had to be confused!  I gave up and we moved on to the Fraumünster Church built in 853 AD!

The Fraumünster church was also at the heart of the Swiss Reformation because the Abbess supported Zwingli in his reform efforts and asked him to preach at the Fraumünster church as well as at Grossmünster.  I was delighted to discover the Fraumünster church had a digital tour you could rent at the door that was very informative.  I quickly noticed the communion table was also missing in this church, and similarly to the Grossmünster church, had replaced the table with a large baptismal font. (See the picture above.  The flowers at the center bottom of the picture are sitting on top of the baptismal font!)  I was hoping to find some answers as to the missing table in the recorded information.  I learned that at the time of the Reformation in Zurich the 15 altars in the sanctuary of Fraumünster had all been removed along with the statuary and the organ.  (Zwingli thought the organ was too prominent in Catholic worship at the time.)  Likewise many of the ancient frescos had been painted over.  I also learned that Zwingli had quite a time fending off the Anabaptists who wanted to refuse infant baptism.  In reaction, Zwingli made baptism very prominent in the new Swiss Reformed churches.  That explained the baptism at the center of the church where the table usually was.

Things had changed since the 1500s and the Fraumünster church now boasts a beautiful pipe organ in the back balcony.  Some of the frescos have been uncovered and partially restored.  The most stunning feature of the church, however, is the set of beautiful Chagall windows that were added in the 1970s to the “choir” - the very front of the church which includes a very small, unimpressive “table” which holds a Bible and two small lamps to illuminate it.

Still wondering about the celebration of communion, I did a little research this morning into the early Swiss Reformation.  Did they indeed abolish communion? No, but they did make some pretty major changes!  Whereas the “Mass” was celebrated daily in the Catholic Church at the time of the reformation, the Swiss Reformers understood they were replacing Mass with Holy Communion.  Zwingli wrote a new liturgy for this new celebration.  They also greatly reduced it’s frequency so people would stop thinking of the sacrament as something magical.  It was primarily celebrated on the high holy days: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost.  The reformers intentionally shifted the focus away from the sacrament to the preaching of the word of God with a special focus on Jesus Christ.

So that’s your Swiss Reformed Theology lesson for today.  I find this really interesting!  Congratulations for having read through to the end!

We made it safely to Zurich!  We flew through the night last night and landed this morning at about10:00 AM Zurich time.  That’s about 3:00 AM in La Porte.  Mike and I were determined to reorient our body clocks quickly, so we have spent the day getting oriented to our new surroundings.  This evening we hopped the tram into the old city.  It’s remarkable - very old with quaint small streets no bigger than an alley.  Switzerland is known for cheese, so we had fondue for dinner tonight.  Then we took a walk along the river.

Suddenly at 7:00 PM one of the church towers began to strike.  I though it was striking the hour, but it kept going and another church bell tower joined in.  Soon all the church bell towers on either side of the river were ringing and kept ringing for 15 minutes.  It was such a remarkable sound I video taped a little of it (above).  I’m not sure why they were ringing but it was a stunning reminder of the historic presence of the church in this part of the world.

P.S. to the session:  Thank you for the thoughtful celebrative Champaign and chocolate you arranged for Mike and me as we boarded the plane last night.  What a wonderful way to begin the trip!

You Found It!

Hello friends!

You have found your way to Pastor Sally's sabbatical blog.  This is where I will be posting about my sabbatical journey from time to time this summer.  I like to write.  My husband, Mike, likes to take pictures.  So perhaps we will have both blog entries and a few pictures for color!

If you've never looked at a blog, here are a few things to help you get started.

1. On the right side of the blog you will see some helpful information.  The top box is about me, so you can know you've found the right blog!  Under that top box you will see a link for our itinerary this summer.  If you click on the orange link it will take you to our full itinerary.  Just click the "back" button at the top left of the screen to return to the blog.

2. You may wish to receive any blog updates in your email.  Below the itinerary link you will see the words, "Follow by Email."  Simply type in your email address and click submit to receive updates in your email inbox.  Alternatively, you can just bookmark this page and check back from time to time to see if I have a new post.

Thanks for finding your way to my blog.  Enjoy!

Sally