Wilhelm's space

Pope Benedikt XVI: “said that for the Church in Europe, the encounter with the Church in Africa is always a moment of grace thanks to the hope and joy with which the African church communities live and communicate the faith, something the Pope himself said he has witnessed during his Apostolic journeys.

On the other hand, Benedict pointed out, it’s nice to see how the Church in Africa, although living in the midst of many difficulties and in need of peace and reconciliation, is willing to share its faith.” (Vatican Radio – Pope: discourse to African and European Bishops gathered for Symposium)

via Vatican Radio – Pope: discourse to African and European Bishops gathered for Symposium.

Bartholomaeus Grill is one of my favorite news correspondents covering Africa. He did that fulltime for the FAZ years ago, but here he’s writing about South Africa once again for the ZEIT. It’s a disturbing picture, mainly because not many write/talk about this frightening issue still disturbing South Africa. Read more about this in the following post: Farmermorde in Suedafrika 2012

After the first week at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane (Pretoria, South Africa) there’s always lot’s of news to report – and after writing the newsletter there’s still lot’s more to report. Well, last week Friday this letter was posted. Read more here on in the first LTS Newsletter of 2012: 12,1 NL

Thanks to the support by the Lutheran Heritage foundation and to numerous pastors in the Lutheran Church of Southern Africa and finally to the translations by my father, we can post these orders of worship in Zulu and Tswana. This time the sermon was written by Rev. K-G.Tiedemann and is based on 2.Cor.12,1-10. May God bless his holy word and grant that it serve us well by strengthening our faith and keeping us steadfast in love and hope – for Christ’s sake.

Here are the orders in Zulu: Lutheran order of worship in Zulu for Sexagesimae, the 2nd Sunday before Lent and in Tswana: Order of worship in Tswana for Sexagesimae (2.Sunday before Lent)

Read more on this sad state of affairs over here: Education in South Africa: Still dysfunctional | The Economist.

Sadly this is still the case and continues to be on the agenda – if we like it our not. It’s part of our history and part of our future – at least for the time-being. May the people of good will continue to strive to improve good relations to all people. Read more about the issues here: Race in South Africa: Still an issue | The Economist.

Reihe: Praxis des Glaubens

24 Seiten, mehrfarbig, geheftet

Einzelheft: 3,90 € (D)

Bestellnummer: 978-3-8469-0094-9

10er-Pack: 35 € (D)

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Dieses ansprechend gestaltete Geschenkheftchen ist nicht akademisch ausgerichtet, sondern für den praktischen Gebrauch und die persönliche Frömmigkeit. Altbischof Schöne hat die Gelegenheit genutzt, „sein“ Thema, mit dem er sich seit Jahrzehnten beschäftigt, ansprechend umzusetzen. Behandelt werden Themen wie die Einzelbeichte und die Allgemeine Beichte im Beichtgottesdienst. Es richtet sich besonders auch an die Verfasser der Beichtansprachen und gibt Anregungen für die Gestaltung von Gottesdiensten und Beichtgottesdiensten. Mit Lutherisch beichten startet unsere neue Reihe Praxis des Glaubens, in der weitere Hefte zu Themen wie Abendmahl, Kreuzweg und Taufe bereits geplant sind. Weitere Infos zu der Reihe finden Sie auf unserer Homepage: http://www.edition-ruprecht.de/katalog/reihen.php?id=55.

Wir möchten Ihnen das Heft für den Büchertisch der Gemeinde empfehlen. Sie erhalten von uns 20 % Büchertischrabatt. Wenn Sie den 10er-Pack bestellen und das Einzelheft zu dem festen Preis von 3,90 € (D) verkaufen, entsteht für Sie eine attraktive Gewinnspanne. Bestellungen richten Sie bitte direkt an mich.

Dr. Gottfried Martens aus Berlin hat für seinen Gemeindebrief eine kurze Darstellung verfasst, die ich Ihnen gerne hier hineinkopieren möchte: Pfarrbrief der ev.-luth. St. Mariengemeinde zu Berlin-Zehlendorf, Februar 2012

Das Sakrament der Heiligen Beichte ist der Lutherischen Kirche als ein ganz besonderer Schatz anvertraut. Während sie im Bereich des Protestantismus weithin verlorengegangen ist, wird die Beichte in unserer Lutherischen Kirche noch praktiziert – sowohl in der Form der Allgemeinen Beichte als auch in der Form der Einzelbeichte. Dennoch haben wir es auch in unserer Lutherischen Kirche dringend nötig, zum Gebrauch dieses kostbaren Gnadenmittels immer wieder neu ermutigt und auch praktisch angeleitet zu werden. Genau diesem Ziel soll das Heft »Lutherisch beichten« dienen, mit dem die Edition Ruprecht eine neue Reihe mit dem Titel »Praxis des Glaubens« startet. Dem Autor, der den Lesern dieses Pfarrbriefs nicht vorgestellt zu werden braucht, liegt besonders daran, die Leser dieses Heftes an die Einzelbeichte heranzuführen. Zur Allgemeinen Beichte, wie wir sie auch in den Beichtgottesdiensten unserer Gemeinde praktizieren, schreibt er: »Dass diese Beichte nicht leichter, sondern schwerer ist als die Einzelbeichte (für den Beichtvater ebenso wie für den Beichtenden), wird für gewöhnlich verkannt. Warum schwerer? Weil wir Gefahr laufen, das Gewicht unserer Sünde zu unterschätzen und die Absolution ›leicht‹ zu bewerten und auszuteilen, die doch bitter und ›schwer‹ erworben wurde durch Christi Leiden und Kreuz. Erst die Einzelbeichte lässt uns die Herrlichkeit der Heiligen Absolution ermessen.« (S.7) Im Weiteren gibt der Autor dem Leser dann ganz praktische Hilfen an die Hand: Antworten auf Fragen wie »Wann beichte ich?«, »Wie bereite ich mich auf die Beichte vor?« und Hinweise zur Beichte vor dem Beichtvater. Ein ausführlicher Beichtspiegel in der Mitte des Hefts soll zur gründlichen Gewissenserforschung helfen. Die Ordnung der Einzelbeichte, wie sie sich am Schluss des Heftes findet, ist ausführlicher als die Ordnung, wie wir sie in unserem Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirchengesangbuch finden, nach der die Einzelbeichte in der Regel in unserer Gemeinde abläuft. Absicht dieses Hefts ist es, den Gemeindegliedern die Einzelbeichte lieb und wert zu machen, die Heilige Absolution als Zentrum des Beichtgeschehens herauszustellen und zugleich mit vielen praktischen Hinweisen Schwellenängste, die so mancher immer noch gegenüber der Einzelbeichte haben mag, zu überwinden. Das Heft eignet sich natürlich auch zur Vorbereitung auf die Allgemeine Beichte. Wenn es den einen oder anderen aber dann auch dazu bewegt, den besonderen Trost der Einzelbeichte in Anspruch zu nehmen, hat dieses Heft sein Ziel erst recht erreicht. Es sei Ihnen zum Erwerb herzlich empfohlen! Gottfried Martens

Mit freundlichen Grüßen aus Göttingen

Heike Bilgenroth-Barke

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Looking at the country side as an outsider

After a month in Pretoria, South Africa the Rockrohr family has settled right in at the Seminary, the Church, school and have even established a temporary home in a guest house down the road. Read more about their impressions as Dr. Rockrohr describes them for the next LTS Newsletter under the heading: “Different Weather, Customs and Languages but the Same Gospel of Joy”.

He writes: “After six months of preparing and raising support for our move to serve in South Africa, Ted, Deborah and I felt very ready to move.  Deborah’s parents helped finish packing and organizing our house which we will lease and then we were off on the airplane from Detroit on 20 January and arrived in South Africa on 21 January. The day we left Detroit was the coldest day of the mild winter in Detroit, 5° F (-15° C). We met 81° F (27° C) in Pretoria. We traveled from the winter of the northern hemisphere to the summer in the southern hemisphere.

We attended church the next day at St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Arcadia only one block away from Lutheran Theological Seminary. We had made friends in the congregation when we visited Pretoria for a week in March 2011 and we wanted people to know we had arrived. St. Paul is a German speaking congregation, so we understood the liturgy fairly well but the sermon escaped us. Friends from the congregation said hello to us after the service.

The following days we caught up on sleep from jet lag and also attended a number of meetings for both the church and the seminary. The next Saturday, 28 January, Deborah and I were invited to attend a funeral service for a young pastor of the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa who had died leaving behind his wife and three small children. We left Pretoria at 4h30 for the service which started at 7h30. The service, along with the burial site liturgy, lasted until noon. Many area pastors and women’s groups came for the funeral as well as the people of the local congregation and town.

The funeral service and burial was mostly in Tswana, but also in some Zulu and English. There was grief expressed, yet also thankfulness for the pastor’s faithfulness and the hope of life everlasting with the Lord Jesus. The local tradition is to take the coffin directly to the burial site right after the service similar as in the United States. Since it was a small town all walked behind the hearse for several blocks to the graveyard. What was different however was that the burial rites include lowering the coffin and covering it with the pile of earth right then and there. Attending pastors and men of the community shoveled in the dirt and rocks while a choir of women from the Women’s Prayer League and the Women in Action groups led all congregants in singing Christian songs. I was privileged to stand right behind Bishop Weber watching the men burying the coffin while being literally surrounded and enveloped with Tswana hymns sung by a women’s choir of at least 50 voices.

Though sung in Tswana, I fully recognized the melody of the second last song that was sung: Joy to the World. And so Lutherans in a small South Africa town sang at a young pastor’s burial the very hope that we Christians proclaim to all: Joy – for God has given us His Son to save us, even in the midst of death.

Lutheran Theological Seminary, the place to which Deborah and I are called, has just started classes today (7 Feb). We have about 41 students in all (some are still arriving). The students are from South Africa, Liberia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zambia, Sudan, Botswana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Six of the students are doing masters or honors studies at the University of Pretoria. Eight of the students are women who are part of the first class of residential deaconess training. Though our instruction is in English, our students represent many languages and cultures. At the inductions into our seminary positions in chapel this morning, Deborah and I again plainly declared along with the whole Church that there is one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we would abide in true faithful teaching. We are thankful to God and to His Church for sending us to be with fellow Christians at LTS. We see again and again, the Gospel of Jesus Christ reaches into the hearts and gives faith, hope and love to all whom He calls regardless of race, language, culture and condition.”

War is bad enough. Having to settle down in a foreign country as a refugee can be traumatic, but to be forced to uproot once again after finally settling down, just seems too much to bear. Read about what’s threatening the refugees from Rwanda, who’ve settled down in Zambia if the relevant governments get their way. Thankfully the bishops are taking the side of the voice-less and marginalized. This is what ENI-News reports under the heading  “Zambian Catholic bishops oppose repatriation of Rwandan refugees: Roman Catholic bishops in Zambia are protesting a government attempt to repatriate nearly 5,000 refugees who fled different episodes of inter-ethnic violence in Rwanda between 1959 and 1994. The bishops are urging the government to consider integrating migrants into the local community, since many have lived in Zambia for more than 50 years. “We are greatly disturbed by complaints among refugees, especially those from Rwanda, that the Ministry of Home Affairs in agreement with the local United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and possibly the government of Rwanda, is trying to forcefully repatriate Rwandese refugees from Zambia,” said the bishops in a statement. [419 words, ENI-12-0071]

Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane: Home for many

“My name is Stefan, and I am one of the few non-theologians living on the campus of the LTS; in fact my profession is computer science. In the  later months of last year, 2011, when I was on the lookout for a new place to stay not too far away from the university where I work, I also informed the members of the nearby St. Paul’s parish and asked them to kindly keep their eyes open for me, too. Not much later I was informed by a leading member of the St. Paul’s parish about some available accomodation on the premises of the LTS,  after I had already viewed a number of other places which all did not suit my needs. The memo “LTS” was the last entry on my “to view” list, and soon I was lucky to get an appointment via Salome, the friendly LTS secretary. After Salome had shown to me the place and the available accommodation, it was immediately clear to me that this is what I wanted and needed; here in this particular atmosphere I wanted to stay. Not much later the rental contract was signed. Because I work at university for up to 60 hours per week – being a committed academic is not a usual “9 to 5” office job – people do not see me very often on the LTS campus during daytime. My “invisible role” at the LTS is not only to provide a little bit of financial support to the seminary through my monthly accommodation fee (which I consider more fruitul than paying rent to some private house owner in the secular economy) but also to serve as a “point of stability” in House “Segoe” where other LTS guests are moving in and out quite frequently. Thus I can continuously keep my eyes open to spot small issues of maintainance, which need fixing, and to report them to the secretary as soon as I spot them. Occasionally I can also fix small things by myself if the task is not too complicated, e.g.: glueing a broken pottery object, screwing a bolt into a wobbly chair, and the like. Whenever, in the moonlight hours after work, you hear some dissonantly distorted bluesy-jazzy choruses and tunes emerging from the chapel of LTS into the night: that is probably me, having switched the electronic organ of the chapel into Jazz mode, talking to Jesus Christ in the universal language of music which does not require any particular words. In contrast to more “classical” opinions about “appropriate” church music, I consider Jazz indeed indeed as a very suitable way of talking to Jesus Christ, because the art of Blues and Jazz (like almost all great art) historically emerged from terrible experiences of alienation and suffering, and who in the universe could understand alienation and suffering any better than Jesus Christ himself in his loneliest hour on the holy cross? Being a non-Theologian and an un-ordained layman I cannot seriously compete with the LTS-professionals in any subtle theological or doctrinal discussion, however I use the LTS-library to stick my nose into some book of theology for at least a few pages every evening. Recently I discovered in the LTS-library a copy of Richard McBrien’s book-like-a-brick, “Catholicism”, with its more than 1200 pages. If I manage to read only 4 pages of it every evening, then I will have it “done” in less than 1 year 🙂 Last but not least I should also mention that – at very rare occasions – I get the chance of a conversation with the director of the LTS, bishop Wilhelm Weber, in our common mother language (German). For all this I am very grateful. Is this “luck” or is this “grace”? Like all good academics I shall leave the final question un-answered, as an exercise for the readers.”