The first Sunday in Germany I went along to the big evangelical church in Sonthofen. I sat in the pew, vaguely following what was going on, and then at the end everyone stood up en masse. "Hmmm," thought I "They must all be going for coffee." But I was wrong, in the true spirit of German efficiency, everyone left promptly, with some chatting outside. As I didn't know anyone, and wasn't confident enough in my german ability to strike up conversation, I left having met a grand total of no-one, sad times.
The next week I went along to a smaller church efg Sonthofen, figuring that being a smaller church they would notice a newbie. As I searched for the door to this church, I was greeted by a couple who had arrived at the same time. I have no idea what they said, but they did show me how to get into the church and where to go. At the end of the service, people stayed talking! I still didn't know anyone though, so stood looking a bit lost. Then a friendly man called Boris asked me if it was my first time there, success, conversation had begun! Having established I was an au pair from England (apparently my german accent does not immediately give away my anglo-origins) and was living in Altstaedten, I was introduced to an Ehepaar (say that quickly and it's very hard to decipher, this word took about 5 goes for me to understand) who lived in Altstaedten. The wife had been an au pair in England for 15 months too. It didn't take too long for me to be invited to a house group, and that is where I found myself this evening.
For those confused, a house group is small group of people, in this case 12, who meet together regularly to chat, pray, read and study the bible, eat, laugh etc etc. Exactly what it involves differs from church to church, group to group, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Try telling a 7yo that you're going with someone to somewhere unknown to do something but you're not quite sure what! Anyway, the first thing that struck me was how similar the church is across the world, even if the language is different. I was welcomed unconditionally (except for shoes off of course, this is Germany!) into essentially a strangers house and fed a wonderful meal (eritrean food no less). There was a wide variety of personalities, and political opinions, but all united by God's love. There was even the classic Christian conversation staple of talking about the musical worship songs, and of course biblical banter (German's can joke!)
There was a discussion about a bible passage (one from Jeremiah about God knitting us together is our mother's womb, or something along those lines. We are all unique and God has a plan for each one of us etc) but I have to admit I was pretty tired by this point, and most of it went over my head! Although one person had prepared some thoughts on the passage, the other people butted in and there was some brilliant respectful, encouraging conversation (or at least that's what it seemed to me!) for example someone pointing out the flip side dangers of being too focused on one's self.
I know the church isn't perfect, it is made up of sinful people. However when people who love and follow Christ (i.e. the church in biblical terms) come together with a sincere desire to grow in their knowledge of God, and encourage one another through this life, the result is beautiful, and surprisingly similar throughout the world.
I've waffled because I'm tired, but hey I never said this Blog would contain good quality writing! I hope I haven't wasted too much of your internet surfing time!
Interesting observations:
- To me, all strong german accents sound the same. One guy at the house group had a swabisch accent (from near Stuttgart) but I only know that because someone told me, I would have placed him in Bayern. It's still a nightmare to decipher!
-Oh my goodness, house shoes! I turned up at the house group and noticed that the couple that gave me a lift had actually brought house shoes with them! I don't understand what's wrong with just socks.
- I thoroughly confused 2yo by talking about Haus-schuhe when I meant to be talking about Hand-schuhe (gloves) oops! Why are words so similar. However when talking to afore-mentioned ex-au pair she got mixed up between Humiliating and Humbling, so clearly H-words are tricky to distinguish whatever language you're talking. (think about it, it's logical....)
-A normal hello round these parts is 'Grussdi' which sounds remarkably like Christy, I've lost counts of how many times I've responded with 'Huh? Ich heisse Rebecca'
Good night, Pferdi! (That is the goodbye version of Grussdi if I were to spell it how I think it sounds)
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