 |
Welcome |
 |
More about us |
 |
Diary & Information |
 |
Community Café |
|
Clubs |
|
Contact Us |
|
Movie pages |
BlogHere are the thoughts and news of the people in our community. Leave a comment as you wish. If you want to join the blogging ask Mark.
Friday, May 05, 2006Germany there I went
 We had a great trip to Nuremberg. A real mix of stuff that when put together made for a really impacting weekend. Thursday and Friday we spent some time doing the touristy stuff. In particular we went round Hitler's 'Rally' grounds - where he held huge conferences [kind of]. It was in this place that you see the classic poses of him in front of thousands of people. We also went to a museum tracking his rise to power. Really quite scary. He clearly modelled the stuff on the Roman Empire [he built a colloseum type structure] and set himself up asa Messiah, god-like figure. I never realised the deliberate religious overtones that went along with the whole thing. For me it was particularly stark having recently read Colossians Remixed which picked up the themes of empire that the Colossians had to face and related it to empire in our own day -then to see the most extreme overt form played out in recent history - and so subtely that much of the German church did not notice. Crikey! That picture by the way is of the "Holy Ghost Hospital" - an ancient hospital in the centre of Nuremberg. We stayed with a lovely family called the Erkharts - so generous and welcoming. It is always good on these trips to stay with locals rather than in hostels or whatever. You feel like you get to know the people a little. On that front we also spoke in the church on the Sunday morning. I tried as much German as I could and got a round of applause for it - mind you Mark Mumford got almost as much response for standing up and shouting "Come on ENGLAND!!". He has such talent. Great to have the opportunity to share with them. A guy called Norbert Knoell [Nobbie to his friends] leads the church and is a great guy. Then there was the conference. Run in true German efficiency - 3 x 3 hour session a day, it was pretty intensive. The first guy, Gerard Kelly, set the scene of cultural shifts: 1) Post-industrial - change in technological base of western culture; "when you change the tools you change the rules"One other thing about germany - they do beer...  Labels: church, conferences Posted by: Mark | 7:50 am |
|
