Margit Coltvet (ELCA missionary, Germany) writes:
“This weekend is the big celebration the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Large plastic-foam ‘wall pieces’ painted by school children are in place along the street in front of the Brandenburg Gate.  On Monday night, the 9th of November, they’ll fall like dominoes.”
I remember sitting in front of the […]

 
Extra! Extra!
 
Before “Extra! Extra!” became the trademark-shout of a TV show that reports celebrity news, it was the cry of newspaper sellers when an extra edition of the paper was published. When something happened that was sudden or excessive or of great interest to the nation, it was […]

(1) Upcoming for crafters at Calumet in 2010
Quilters, scrapbookers and knitters are invited to one of the following retreats / weekends at Calumet Lutheran Camp and Conference Center, Freedom, N.H., scheduled for 2010:
+ Scrapbooking retreat, Jan. 8-10, 2010 ($160, beginners welcome)
+ Quilting retreat for intermediate quilters, Feb. 22-25 (three nights, $230); March 1-3 or March […]

LWI Council Press Release No. 09/2009
Mennonites Welcome this Move toward Reconciliation, Says MWC General Secretary Miller.
GENEVA, 26 October 2009 (LWI) - The Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has approved a statement that prepares for a significant action of reconciliation with churches of the Anabaptist family.
With this endorsement, the statement “Action on the Legacy […]

Bishop Margaret G. Payne reports on the meeting of the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Oct. 1-6 in Chicago. The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the ELCA, consisting of the 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop and the secretary of the ELCA.
A Time of Change
As you […]

Earth Day in Puri, Orissa, India
This April, I was invited to come on a climate change immersion trip with the Lutheran World Federation. Together with the other twenty-three delegates from many countries, we traveled to Calcutta and to Puri, Orissa state. We visited several farming and fishing communities along the Bay of Bengal and talked […]

Hi,
I thought of you a good deal and I am much looking forward to spend the Holy Week at home. I hope, too, that I will have good things to relate from my candidacy entrance interview on 4/4/09 down in Worcester, Mass.
Sorry, it took me quite a while to write a new blog. Life as […]

Greetings from Chicago!
Wake-up calls
The house I live in rings, beeps, rattles, buzzes, raises a musical voice in the morning – just like a tree bursting to life with singing birds at sunrise.
Let’s see. Some of my fellow seminarians prefer waking up to music and decided on a radio-alarm clock as their call to shower, coffee, […]

Hi everyone!
Thank you for your warm welcome this past summer - it made a world of a difference to me!
I wish you merry Christmas and a blessed year 2009 - may it take its lesson from Pippi!
See you soon,
Anja
[P.S. There is a little movie enclosed … if you open this blog by clicking on the […]

Automatic Glass Gates
If you were around (would be so nice!), you’d sit with me in the Kamp’s Bakery and Coffee Shop sipping cappuccino, having a Broetchen with cheese, egg, and cucumber and (much less thrilling) would watch me reading my jottings on creation and Barth’s ethics that I will be questioned about in an oral […]

Surfing for Christmas gifts, I made it to the online catalog of the Herrenhut Community. Among many other great things, they offer coffee mugs – always a useful gift, I thought! Taking a closer look ended my shopping spree quite abruptly, though, in laughter that required two handkerchiefs to dry the tears. Freeing, that’s what […]

The Path of the Stolen Lexikon
This week, I had a life-changing consultation with my orthopedist – life-changing neither because of a serious ailment nor because he learned (no doubt from his cats) that kind of neck grip that makes kitten and human alike to instantly relax and purr. Nothing of that kind. It was all […]

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne und meine Laterne mit mir. Dort oben leuchten die Sterne, hier unten leuchten wir.
“I am walking with my lantern and my lantern is walking with me. Above, the stars are shining, below shining we are.” As I am writing these lyrics of a St. Martin song to you I am […]

The Thing and Candles
This morning of all Saints Day, I sold my car, a VW 181 (“The Thing”). It was my first car and I bought it, when I got my driver’s license. Believe me - it is the best car ever! Mostly, because it IS a car – no interior lining, no shining polish, […]

Denn Dousend Joahr sünd vör Di wi dä Dach, dä gissen vergohn äs. (”For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past.”) –(Ps 90: 4)
It is the time of the year when it is still dark at 8a.m. and the evening falls early. It is the beginning of the Stille […]

From the Bus Window
From the bus window, I saw two Canada geese sauntering about in a cabbage field. Then they turned their heads and I followed their gaze to a street across the field. I remembered the street like an ice-float on the ocean, but now it fasted itself to a place once more. It […]

Sunday, October 12, 2008: The village church of Stiepel
At some point I will formally introduce you to my church here and to all the other places and people around, but today, I heard such a nice story that all else will have to wait!

After church, there is coffee. However, where I am from (that is […]