Deaconesses serve with dedication

(from Wednesday, April 25)

We visited the diaconal community of Dresden on another beautiful spring day. Sisters Esther and Sylvia welcomed us into the chapel on the extensive grounds and gave us a sketch of the history of the community.

In 1844, not long after the foundation of the first deaconess community in 1839 not far away in Dusseldorf, four Dresden noblewomen opened a house where they would live, pray, and work together, serving the sick in their own home. In 1846, these women moved to a larger property, and here they remain.

During World War II, Dresden was bombed and the deaconesses' chapel and hospital were not spared. In 1961, the chapel was reopened. Sister Esther told us that the chapel is the spiritual home of the community and that diaconal service is not possible without Word and Communion. The sisters welcome neighbors and visitors to join them in worship daily. Their chapel houses a fine organ and choir, often heard in concerts and cantata services.

On the front of the lectern in the chapel is a Coventry cross, formed of large nails. The cathedral of Conventry in England was also heavily damaged in World War II; it has been at the forefront of movements for peace and reconciliation ever since (see www.crossofnails.org). In 1965, the Coventry movement sent a group of young Englishmen to help rebuild the deaconesses' hospital. The deaconesses have never forgotten this. Every Friday at noon, the community gathers in the chapel to pray for peace and reconciliation using the Coventry prayer: Father forgive.

Now the deaconesses' hospital is a 250-bed general hospital, the first in the city to be certified by a nationally known independent agency. At least 1000 babies are born here each year, a point of friendly rivalry among the three hospitals in Dresden.

The deaconesses also care for the elderly and handicapped with a wide range of services. Youth is also served here, with a kindergarten for the very young and a vocational high school that prepares young adults for work in health care. The deaconesses also sponsor a respected nursing school, whose 170 students follow a three-year program.

The deaconesses operate another industry: the Hostenbackerei, near the hospital. In one small room, more than a million wafers of communion bread are made each year.

As Sisters Esther and Sylvia led us around the beautiful grounds, we were all impressed by the hum of dedicated activity all around us. But the deaconesses aren't just efficient workers with a hospital, school, and nursing home to run. They have dedicated their lives to Christ, living a common life of apostolic poverty and prayer. And what amazing fruit that dedication to Christ has brought forth in the world: healing, reconciliation, and beauty.

You can see their website at www.diako-dresden.de.

You never know whom you will meet in Germany!

by the Rev. Joanne Fitzgerald
of Elmwood Park, Illinois
(in black and white in photo at left)

It had been a very long day in Dresden for the bold women of the ELCA trekking, by bus of course, the countryside of eastern Germany. When we returned to Leipzig, we immediate went to dinner, in haste to be at a concert at the Bach Museum. But we weren't quick and were too late to enter in. You must be "punctlich" here — no entrance after the concert starts.

As we went back down three flights of stairs to the entrance, a man entering through the doorway caught my eye. He looked familiar. I called out, "Mark!" and he looked back and we connected. It was Mark Sundberg, a pastor from Lake Zurich, Illinois, USA. He and I had graduated from LSTC in 1994. Two of the people I was with returned and two others (Gayle and David from Spokane) stayed behind while we stayed together to talk. It was one of those aha! moments! He had been asking, well, praying, for someone to talk with and we were his answer. What an awesome God we have! Never would I have guessed or even thought that I would have seen someone I knew from so far away. And so what a wonderful day it was!

(Joanne asked me to enter this into the blog for her — ed.)

The Sisters of the Augustinerkloster

(from Friday, April 26)

In the city of Erfurt stands the Augustinian monastery where Martin Luther lived as a monk from 1505 to 1508. After Luther's Reformation swept Germany, the monastic life faded away--the last monk of the order Luther knew here died in 1556. And for centuries after, the buildings housed schools, libraries, government offices, museums, and other secular concerns.

Now, after nearly five hundred years, the monastic life is flourishing again at the Augustinerkloster. Six Lutheran women, one of whom is an ordained pastor, live in community according to the ancient Benedictine rule. They are part of a twentieth-century renewal of religious life in Germany--the Castellar Ring of which they are a part was founded in 1950. The sisters have been here at the Augustinerkloster since 1996.

We joined the sisters at midday prayer, which they sing together in the Augustinerkirche where Martin Luther prayed so many years ago, and then enjoyed lunch in the refectory.

How do Lutheran monastic sisters live today? We talked with one of the sisters later that afternoon. She told us that the goal of their common life is to seek God in all things and prefer nothing to Christ. The sisters take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, owning nothing individually and sharing all things in common. Paychecks and pension checks go into the common chest. Most of the sisters have jobs outside the cloister; the sister we spoke to is a physical therapist. The sisters work not only to support the community, but in order to share the condition of their neighbors.

The sisters pray together four times a day in the Augustinerkirche: 7 am, noon, 6 pm, and 7:30 pm; and celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday at 9:30 (with kirchekaffee afterward in the klosterstube!). They wear habits (long loose gray gowns, not very different from albs) only for the liturgy; the rest of the time they wear ordinary clothes and a cross pendant. There are now about 20 groups of Lutheran sisters in Germany. The sisters elect a prioress for a term and meet together in chapter every few weeks to talk over matters of concern. Every sister has a voice in the chapter.

An important part of their mission is to be engaged with the world outside the monastery. They are active in ecumenical conferences as well as with other religious communities and monasteries. And they maintain neighborhood and family ties.

The community maintains a guest house and conference center (several of our travelers stayed there), and of course, the klosterstube or café, a popular place among neighborhood students and retired people.


The Benedictine way of life emphasizes hospitality, welcoming the guest as one would welcome Christ. The bold and faithful sisters of the Augustinerkloster truly welcomed us in that spirit.

From Thursday, April 26th

Nimbschen and Grimma (not names from a fairy tale!)
After leaving Leipzig, we road-tripped to a pastoral grove in which stood the ruins of the Nimbschen monastery where Katharina von Bora had lived as a nun until 1523, when she and eight other nuns escaped the convent because of the writings of Dr. Martin Luther.

We sat in the sun under the quietly quivering trees and ate lunch remembering Katharina, who had come to live in Marienthron (Mary's Throne), the Cistercian convent of Nimbschen, at age 8. She had two aunts there with her: One of them, her maternal aunt, Margarete von Haubitz, was the mother superior. At age 16, on October 8, 1515, Katharina took her vows as a nun. Her time at the convent, though austere, was a blessing to her and other women of their day, as by entering the convent they gained the ability to learn reading, writing, and some Latin.

But as Katharina and others caught wind of the growing reform movement, they grew dissatisfied with life at the convent, eventually conspiring to flee from it. Leaving a convent was difficult — leaving religious life was an offense punishable by death. The women secretly contacted Luther, begging for his assistance.

On Easter eve 1523, Luther helped Katharina and the others escape in the dark of night. Legend has them being pursued by armed guards from the monastery, climbing a wall, Katharina losing a shoe, and all nine nuns making their getaway in fish barrels carted by Luther’s friend, Leonhard Köppe, a city councilman of Torgau and a merchant who regularly delivered herring to the convent.

Under the bright sun, it was hard to contemplate both the dangerous escape and the fact that the area had experienced record floods in 2002 that devastated local towns such as Grimma. The convent sits on the banks of the Muhlde River, which reached 20 feet above flood stage and cut a wide swath in the small valley. The quiet town is working to make a comeback, thanks to the creative work of town planners, managers, and leaders.

The Lord Mayor of Grimma gave us a hearty welcome and the picnic lunch. The young Mayor of Grimma, Matthias Berger, gave us an overview of his town and how they recovered after the flooding. We gave the town a lot of business and a story to tell for months to come about the horde of Lutheran women who flooded the town one bright April day in 2007. (Picture is of the Grimma City Hall.)
Following our meeting with Mayor Berger and our buying frenzy (for some just another beer stop), we continued to Erfurt, the spiritual home of Martin Luther. It was in 1501–1505 in Erfurt that Luther studied theology and, according to his father’s desires, law. Here Luther went into the Augustinian monastery and later became a priest and preached in numerous churches.

Our evening came to a delightful close with an authentic German brats, sauerkraut, and beer hall dinner. We sang our grace and recalled Luther writing hymns to the popular beer hall songs of his day.

The different faces of Erfurt

Since Luther's day, the eastern German town of Erfurt has been not only an affluent town along a trading route but also the place in Europe for higher education and theological studies. Famours also for exporting its rare blue dye, Erfurt was a popular destination for students and an economic center. Today, the Universtiy of Erfurt, closed in 1817 and reopened in 1994, draws many young people and students from around Europe. Not only is the town rich in history, today it is a vibrant European city.

In the morning: Evangelische Augustinerkloster zu Erfurt
Our tour began in the Augustinerkloster (Augustinian monastery). After graduating from the University of Erfurt, Luther became a monk here. He even said his first Mass here.

Next to the monastery is the Church of St. Augustine, dating back to 1276. The original church windows are still intact and date from the 14th century (they were saved from the destruction that the chapel suffered during an English bombing raid during World War II). The church went through a major renovation, completed in 1993, that repaired the damage from the war. The windows are red and feature distinct circular designs that tell the story of St. Augustine.

Another remarkable element of this church is its wooden ceiling — not unusual in the churches in the area, we were told. We joined the sisters of the Casteller Ring Community, a Protestant religious order in the Benedictine tradition that lives in the monastery today, for prayer at noon. During the service, two mocking birds jumped from rafter to rafter and sang a cheerful song.

Our guide then led us to the winter chapel. We learned that many of these mammoth, old stone churches do not have heat, and so “winter churches,” with their smaller spaces that could be heated, were and still are used several months of the year. As we walked the corridor from the main church to the winter chapel, our guide told us that Luther would have walked this corridor in silence. This building is also featured in the movie, “Luther.”

Our guide told us of Luther’s work at the monastery and how he translated the Bible from Greek to Latin. The translated versions were large and had leather covers and painted letters.

The monastery’s museum opened in 2002 and features replicas of where Luther slept and worked, and a sample of the robe that he and the other monks would have worn. There is also a library housing around 60,000 books.

Luther’s time at the monastery did not sound very appealing to me. He ate once or, on rare occasions, twice a day. He slept in the unheated halls outside of his personal cell and woke at 3 a.m. every day. Every three hours he was called to the church to pray.

Erfurt in the afternoon
Next we investigated the bustling city. I stumbled upon one of the two major shopping complexes located in the heart of the city. It was a sunny day and the temperature was 73 degrees — a perfect opportunity to join the locals in eating ice cream at the closest Eis Café. My cone featured papaya and mango over a strawberry concoction.

I later found a front row seat at a bakery counter that was serving freshly baked bread — a perfect vantage point for taking in the local color and people-watching. This mall differed somewhat from what I am used to in the States. Amidst the other stores that carried American and European perfumes and cosmetics, there was a bakery in the food court as well as a fruit market. There was also a store dedicated to selling tea.

Erfurt at night
Some members of another group we ran into told us that Faustus’ was the place to be on Friday night. The outside tables were crowded, and it looked like all of the other outside restaurants in the area were crowded too.
The winding cobblestone streets feature quaint and colorful outdoor cafes though, located next to an older building that was painted yellow, I saw a super modern building made of iron and glass that towered over it. Construction sites in this city also start out as archaeological digs — no wonder, given the age of the city.

After a moonlit stroll down the winding cobblestone streets, I and my fellow dining companions arrived at the monastery. Half of our group actually stayed in the monastery during our visit; the monastery rents rooms (and there is a conference center). The rooms are modern, yet modest — no phones, TVs, or clock radios in these cozy rooms, and quiet hours are posted and expected to be observed.

Although there were some modern elements and shopping complexes that mirrored those in my own neighborhood in Chicago, I knew that I was somewhere very different and special.

Die Gemütlichkeit

The tour officially ended Saturday evening, April 28th. My flight home was not until Sunday afternoon, so I very much wanted to attend a church in Darmstadt, a suburb of Frankfurt where we had finished the tour.

Well, easier said than done. I asked at the hotel front desk about nearby churches and service times. The young woman at the desk put a lot of effort into helping me: The map she gave me had the symbols of churches on it, but not their names and the service times. She checked the phone book, and it didn't even have churches listed. The local newspaper had a listing of church names and service times, but not the addresses for those churches.

Not to be deterred, however (after all, I am a bold woman of the 21st century), I thanked her and decided that I would walk to what appeared on the map to be the closest church and see what time they had services. During my two weeks in Germany I had gathered that 10 a.m. was a pretty standard service time. The church on the map looked to be not more than a half hour walk from the hotel, so I set out about 9:30 a.m.

Before I reached the point on my map where there appeared to be a church, I heard church bells nearby. So, being the bold and intrepid woman that I am (being a bit of a stubborn German American doesn't hurt either), I simply followed the sound of the bells, which led me to Evangelische Friedensgemeinde Darmstadt (Peace Lutheran Church Darmstadt).

The service began at 10 a.m. with a familiar hymn, "Sing to the Lord of Harvest," in German,of course. I took some German in college, but unfortunately, most of that learning had flown out of my head in the ensuing 19 years of not using it. During the two-week trip, some of the German I had learned had come back to me, but I certainly wouldn't claim to be able to speak German.

An amazing thing happened,as the congregation stood to sing the hymn: I bounded out of the pew and began singing the hymn with gusto in German. I was so totally in the moment of being there in Germany with Germans and praising God that I absolutely forgot that German was not my native language.

The experience, 'tho brief, almost brought me to tears of joy, though, as I realized that, if even for a brief moment, I became like a child, as Jesus asks of us. What I mean is that for a moment, I checked my rational, adult mind at the door of the church (the rational mind that would remind me that I don't know how to pronounce certain words in German, or that German is not my native language, and I really don't know or understand it) and opened up my heart and soul to praise God in whatever forms that would take.

Through my becoming like a child, the Holy Spirit began to work and allowed that time of singing to be such a time of pure awe and adoration of God that I think it defies explanation in any language.

The Holy Spirit is so ready and willing to work in us, if we would just find the eyes of children so that we could recognize the Holy Spirit and take hold and become absorbed in the moments of our lives.

Connections to Germany

Out of the 82 participants on the tour, there were some like me who had never traveled overseas before; others had been born in Germany, lived there during part of World War II, or had been stationed there with a military spouse.

What drew us to visit Germany? Responses differed somewhat from individual to individual; however, the common thread that came through was the Lutheran/Christian heritage and history of Germany. Many of us have ancestral ties to Germany, but the desire to relate to Lutheran/Christian history was something that all of us could share.

The chance to see where Martin Luther hung his 95 theses, and hence where the Protestant Reformation was born, compelled many of us first-timers to take the plunge into overseas travel, and solidified the desires of those who had lived in Germany to return for a visit.

To step on the cobblestones that Martin and Katharina Luther walked, to worship in the church where Martin Luther was baptized, to see the city where Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the St. Matthew Passion, and to learn about the mystic women of Germany, such as Gertrude of Helfta — how could you pass that up?

To think, too, that just less than 20 years ago, the trip would have been nearly impossible because of the Communist rule of East Germany boggles the mind. I think that all of us sensed the incredible honor we had of visiting places that had felt the weight of Communism for over 40 years of the 20th century!

In Christ,
Laura

Test Your Knowledge

The participants of the Bold Women of the Reformation Tour took two quizzes to test their knowledge of bold women of faith. Would you like to try your hand at either or both?

Answers will be provided later, so stay tuned. The first person to blog back with the most correct answers for each quiz will receive a Lucinda pin.

Bold Women of the Reformation Quiz
1. Ignited by the fervor of the Reformation, this woman (also known as "the German Joan of Arc") helped organize peasants in their rebellion.
2. This woman fueled the business of selling indulgences, which caused Martin Luther and other activists to bring about the Protestant Reformation.
3. When someone called her a "disturber of the peace of the church," this woman of the Reformation said, "I have never mounted the pulpit, but I have done more than any minister in visiting those in misery. Is this disturbing the peace of the church?"
4. When this woman of the Reformation died, her husband said, "I shall not be long in joining her."
5. This bold woman of the Reformation is quoted as saying, "I'm distressed that our princes take the Word of God no more seriously than a cow does a game of chess."
6. As she was dying, this Reformation woman said that she wanted to "cling to Christ like a burr to a dress."
7. This Reformation woman wrote the hymn, "The Only Son from Heaven."
8. She was married to three different reformers during her life.
9. She sneaked Luther's works into her cloister.
10. She tried to convert all of Germany to Lutheranism.

Bold Women of the Bible Quiz
1. Who was the woman who said that she had seen God and lived?
2. Who were the two midwives credited with saving Moses' life?
3. Which widow went to live with her mother-in-law in her mother-in-law's land?
4. Who were the five young women who went to Moses to request that they inherit from their father?
5. Who is the former prostitute who appealed to Joshua to save herself and her family from death, and who then accepted the Jewish faith?
6. What are the names of the two queens who were the wives of King Ahasuerus?
7. Name the female judge mentioned in the Bible.
8. Name the mother of Samuel.
9. This woman was the first woman (other than Mary) to see Jesus as a baby and recognize him as the Messiah.
10. She is referred to as a deacon in the early church.

Good luck!

The Perfect Ending

On Saturday we woke up in Erfurt, which is on the River Gera. It was a nice, summer-like day, so I began my day by dipping my feet in the River Gera. Then, it was on to Wartburg Castle, on the edge of the town of Eisenach.

For those of us who hiked up to the castle (rather than taking the shuttle) and then walked throughout the massive castle, we could understand why it was a good hiding place for Martin Luther.

The Wartburg was founded in 1067 by Ludwig der Springer (the Jumper). (There's an interesting story behind the Jumper, but I'm not going to tell you; I'm going to let you look up that one. :)

From 1211-1228 St. Elizabeth of Hungary lived in the castle, and in 1777 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the castle for five weeks. However, for Lutherans, the crowning event of the castle's history is that Martin Luther hid out there for 10 months (from May of 1521 to March of 1522). While there he was able to translate the New Testament from the original Greek to the German language of the 1500's. By the way, Luther accomplished this in 10 weeks! (It might take some of us 10 weeks just to read and ponder the whole New Testament in English!) This monumental achievement paved the way for the Bible to be translated into thousands of different languages today.

After the castle we went into the town of Eisenach where some of us visited the Luther House, where Martin Luther likely lived during his schooling in Eisenach (from 1498-1501). This charming house had a number of interesting exhibits that gave us a glimpse into what Martin's life as a teenager might have been like. We learned that Martin Luther served as a "kurrende singer" while he was at school in Eisenach, which meant that he literally had to sing for his supper on occasion.

Next was a visit to the Bachhaus in Eisenach, a museum to Johann Sebastian Bach on the land where his childhood home had been. (Bach attended the same school, St. George's School in Eisenach, that Luther had attened 200 years earlier.)

The museum showcased many instruments from the time of Bach. (Bach lived from 1685-1750.) In addition, many original musical scores were on display, and the highlight was a mini-concert on period keyboard instruments, such as a clavichord, harpsichord, and two different styles of organ. We were whisked back into the early 18th century, and through the sheer beauty of Bach's music, were given an appetizer for the main course we'll receive in heaven.

The day ended in Darmstadt, a suburb of Frankfurt, where we celebrated Holy Communion together and said our goodbyes. Or maybe just our so-long's for now. While it is unlikely that all 86 of us (82 Women of the ELCA participants, 2 bus drivers, and 2 tour guides) will ever be in the same room again on earth, we all await heaven, where we will see Martin and Katharina Luther, Johann Sebastian and Anna Barbara and Anna Magdalena Bach, and all the other wonderful, bold people from Lutheran and Christian history!

Amen