German Church Services in Milwaukee

In the autumn of 2006, I had just moved to Milwaukee from a tiny rural community. I knew perhaps three people in the city, and so I eagerly tried to increase my circle of contacts, especially those who shared my interests. I had discovered the internet as a cutting-edge advantage to social networking--specifically Meetup.com. I found a local German Meetup group within two weeks of changing my residence and headed downtown to check it out. I met several nice people who spoke German in varying levels of proficiency, among whom was a man named Dan Sweeney from Wauwatosa. Without hesitation, he invited me to Ridgewood Baptist Church, which hosted a German church service. Intrigued, I found my way there on Sunday morning. The first person I met was a girl about my age, I thought, who introduced herself as Andrea, then Ed Maczolleck. They promptly invited me to lunch, then to Starbucks, then to Andrea's house. We had a fantastic time together, and I couldn't wait to come back the next week.

Andrea is now my roommate: we became close friends. Ed is like a father to both of us, and Dan Sweeney is still a very good friend. I so appreciate that this avenue was open to me upon my move to a strange city. Thank you, Ridgewood!

It goes without saying that I enjoyed the service very much. A dedicated (native speaker) German Baptist pastor, Reinhold Schulz, preached every sermon in the German language. It's inspiring to listen to this man who has long since passed the age of retirement, but refuses to stop serving God as long as he is needed. It's also very refreshing to sing in German with a group of people who love the language and who love the Lord. When I began coming, there was also a choir under the direction of Lothar which sang special music.

I wonder how many people know about this wonderful little oasis of German community in Milwaukee, the city of Gemuetlichkeit. If you live in the Milwaukee area and wish to exercise your German skills, Ridgewood Baptist Church is the place to do it. Sunday school starts at 9:00 a. m., and the service proper at 10:15 a. m. The people there will welcome you with open arms. Sometimes missionaries come through on their way to or from Germany, and we are able to minister to them--always a treat.

Another great resource under "Spiritual Development" is Benediction Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, which holds bi-monthly German services. The Weinacht service is very special, featuring local Teutonic performing groups.

Some of us are planning a big German Christmas sing-a-long in December. I'll be sure to advertise it widely--so check back for further details!

Personal Update from the Summer

I’d just like to step in here and update my readers on my recent adventures. In June, I terminated my employment with VCY America in order to look for new opportunities. As the prudent know, the economy has taken a hit or two over the last months, and so finding a job was not the quick and easy project I thought it would be, causing me some anxious moments. I spent the summer months doing custodial work for my church to bring in some extra cash while I applied for many different types of jobs.

At the end of August, I found half-time employment with Principal Financial Group, which gives me time to work on wedding plans and give piano and voice lessons at Milwaukee Lutheran School. I must say the variety of what I now do is very inspiring, and I have greatly enlarged my circle of contacts and opportunities. Having my routine upset again and again has been bad for my writing and blogging habits, and I apologize for not finding time to keep up. Special thanks to my Bryant for his incredible morale support during this difficult time of transition, and to Liz without whom I would still be floundering.

I’ve compiled a list of questions I’d like to discuss with other music aficionados. I’ve been thinking about the arguments often used against “contemporary” Christian music, and have decided that many of them are heavily colored with opinion rather than informed by Biblical principles. Here’s one to get us thinking:

Does it make sense to say that a composer may be creative with every element of music EXCEPT rhythm?

The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me?

1. Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near With His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God's Son For my own
To my faith hath given?

2. Though a heavy cross I'm bearing
And my heart Feels the smart,
Shall I be despairing?
God, my Helper, who doth send it,
Well doth know All my woe
And how best to end it.

3. God oft gives me days of gladness;
Shall I grieve If He give
Seasons, too, of sadness?
God is good and tempers ever
All my ill, And He will
Wholly leave me never.

5. Death cannot destroy forever;
From our fears, Cares, and tears
It will us deliver.
It will close life's mournful story,
Make a way That we may
Enter heavenly glory.

7. Lord, my Shepherd, take me to Thee.
Thou art mine; I was Thine,
Even e'er I knew Thee.
I am Thine, for Thou hast bought me;
Lost I stood, But Thy blood
Free salvation brought me.

Hymn #523 The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Ps. 73: 23
Author: Paul Gerhardt
Translated by: composite, based on John Kelly, 1867
Titled: Warum sollt' ich mich denn graemen
Composer: Johann G. Ebeling, 1666
Tune: Warum sollt' ich mich denn graemen

Four Preludes on the Playthings of the Wind

Here Sandburg gives us a somewhat uncomfortable perspective on reality. The language is nothing if not straightforward, and the meditation seems to come straight from Ecclesiastes: "Vanity, all is vanity." As Christians, our focus is to be "on things above, not on things of the earth"--items that become the "playthings of the wind." Christ Himself urges us to "lay up treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and thieves do not break through and steal." What are your treasures?

"The Past Is a Bucket of Ashes"
1
The woman named Tomorrow
sits with a hairpin in her teeth
and takes her time
and does her hair the way she wants it
and fastens at last the last braid and coil
and puts the hairpin where it belongs
and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?
My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.
What of it? Let the dead be dead.

2
The doors were cedar
and the panel strips of gold
and the girls were golden girls
and the panels read and the girls chanted:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us every was.
The doors are twisted on broken hinges.
Sheets of rain swish through on the wind
where golden girls ran and the panels read:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.

3
It has happened before.
Strong men put up a city and got
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women
to warble: We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.
And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened
and paid the singers well
and felt good about it all,
there were rats and lizards who listened
... and the only listeners left now
... are ... the rats .. and the lizards.
And there are black crows
crying, "Caw, caw,"
bringing mud and sticks
building a nest over the words carved
on the doors where the panels were cedar
and the strips on the panels were gold
and the golden girls came singing:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
The only singers now are crows crying, "Caw, caw,"
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
And the only listeners now are
... the rats ... and the lizards.

4
The feet of the rats
scribble on the doorsills;
the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints
chatter the pedigrees of the rats
and babble of the blood
and gabble of the breed
of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers
of the rats.
And the wind shifts
and the dust on a doorsill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled:
Nothing like us ever was.

Carl August Sandburg (1878 – 1967)

Faith Trends

This just in from the Patriot Post:

A new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life came up with
some interesting figures when asking whether people believe in God. The sad fact
is, the number among Christians was not 100 percent, but was anywhere from 99
percent for evangelical and black churches to 97 percent for Catholic and
Mainline Protestant churches. The numbers for other monotheistic religions were
even lower—83 percent of Jews believe in God compared to 92 percent of Muslims.

That left us wondering, isn’t the whole point of these religions that there
is a God? But even that’s not what left us completely puzzled. Among
self-described atheists, an astounding 21 percent actually believe there is a
God. Twelve percent believe in heaven and 10 percent pray at least once a week.
So, are these folks really atheists? Apparently, the next step is to set up a
church for God-believing atheists to gather for fellowship. Of course, if they
did that, other people might start to question their atheist, um, faith.

Morning Glories

Not even Solomon . . .

Common morning glory? What is common about this?

Nothing hails the summer dawn like those blue trumpets subtly wafting a wonderful, barely-there fragrance. When you’re lucky enough to discover the short-lived bloom and inhale its small vial of sweetness, the day is so much better. The morning is truly glorious when you see an entire fence draped with the marvelous things. Morning glories are anything but common. Their blossoms seize the brief, opportune window of time in the earth’s orbit, and then vanish. God snaps His fingers and the world breathes loveliness; blessed are those who have eyes to see. It was not enough that Adam and Eve should merely eat, drink and survive; God provided for the rejuvenation of our souls in His transcendent aesthetic.

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Matthew 6:28-30

Brief Glory, or Glorious Brevity

Morning glory vine,
Vine of morning’s glory,
Glorious morning on the vine!
Petals of heaven,
Pieces of tumbled-down sky,
Drink heady sweetness of the morning
from the bugle-cup divine;
Sound the glories of the morning
from the trumpet on the vine!

Wine of morning yields to noon—
Phoebus’ chariot runs unchecked
Crushing all in its advance—
One chance
To be, to shine,
To shout such glory
In the narrow space of Soon.

Upgrading Church Music

"Many parishioners simply don't view what goes on in the church as 'the arts.'" This startling statement was uttered by my organ teacher, Sister MJ Wagner, of Elm Grove. Perhaps that's because the music used in the parish was low quality to begin with, and no one seemed motivated to improve on the status quo.

This new post from the New Liturgical Movement blog indicates a stirring among humble "church mice" such as myself to see the quality improved and uplifted as an offering worthy of the God we serve. Our efforts tell the world what we think of our God.

The Whole Counsel of God

One of my favorite theological blogs, Pyromaniacs, has a great post today concerning hermeneutical principles by Dan Philips. We'd do well to heed his counsel.

Paul told the Ephesian elders, "I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). But not all can truthfully make that claim. Early on in my Christian life, I was exposed to the deadly danger of taking a concept, phrase, saying, metaphor, or even truth, extracting it from the rest of the Bible, free-associating, and then erecting a structure on it. Read more . . .