Exploring religious connections in Berlin

We pushed off in two red coaches (that would be Reformation red, no doubt) and explored Berlin today.

We began by visiting the Holocaust Mahnmal (Holocaust Memorial), a five-acre memorial consisting of 2,700 concrete pillars of differing heights. While Americans might liken the memorial to a cemetery, that was not the intent of the Jewish German-American architect, Peter Eisenman. With the differing height pillars and walkways that undulate up and down, the visitor can easily become disoriented.

This memorial is near the Reichstag, the home of the German Parliament seen with the waving flags in the background of the Holocaust Mahnmal and the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenberg Gate), the eighteenth century structure that was incorporated into the Berlin Wall following WWII.

Our coaches drove the perimeter of the wall for some distance, and we visited a portion that is still standing as a stark reminder of what was. After a brief stop at Checkpoint Charlie (later in the day we would drive past the lesser known Checkpoint Bravo), we headed to the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) for a noon prayer service. Those who understand German heard the pastor reflect on Thomas's unbelief over word of the risen Christ and his need to see Jesus' hands and side. Others marveled at the mosaics in the dome that depict the beatitudes, each mosaic consisting of approximately 500,000 glass stones!

After a brief lunch break at the post-reunification restored Potsdamer Platz, we ended our time in Berlin with a stop at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church), a church first built as a memorial to the Emperor Wilhelm I. Having been badly damaged in WWII, its ruins stand as a reminder of the horrors of war. A new church building was built in the late 1950s-early 1960s that incorporates the shattered tower of the original church. The new building includes 20,000 blue glass windows made in Chartres.

Then we were off to Wittenberg, enjoying a nice ride through the German countryside.