Well, hey there! This is one of two posts from 13. February (I think, so, if I can find the other one, I am posting this one today (12. February) and will hopefully post the other tomorrow...but, let's be realistic--it might not be until Monday. :) )Today is my best friend's birthday, so I have to say: HAPPY YOU DAY, KRISTA!!!
It's crazy how fast the time really does go, and it really isn't something you can appreciate until you're not a teenager anymore. I hope you enjoy this installment--I have thought many times about the sermon mentioned therein. This email was the cause of my having lost a follower on my email list, and that was a pretty awkward time. I still feel the same way about the content of that sermon, however. I hope you like it, whoever you might be.
~sarah
UPDATE: It's 4. March, and I am only just posting this...I think I knew this would happen at some point. Well, here's to picking up where I left off. Hope you enjoy this read, and there should be some interesting things coming in subsequent posts, if memory serves. ~s
howdy!
sorry it has been so long since i wrote last, things have gotten kind of crazy around here, and i can only get to a computer until 7pm so thats a bummer because i am in class until around 3 or 4 every day and i dont get a chance to check between classes (if im responsible) because im trying to get homework done before i forget it. in april, however, theyll start staying open later, so maybe there will be more emails then. so, sorry!
so whats new with me...i have spent the past two weekends in berlin, and they were, for the most part, AMAZING! this weekend, i went with a few people from the program because it was tims birthday and that was his location de choix. this weekend we went to 2 starbucks *they were amazing, by the way* and to the pergamon museum. the pergamon was really awesome, except i dont think i was a fan of the disdainful tone of the voice on the "what is this thing im looking at" recording. but i guess there arent toooo many people who worry about that in the world (something id like to change, ha)...well so thats pretty much it, we walked along the wall for a while and saw the memorial to the jews who were killed during the holocaust (kinda a strange thing) and of course, checkpoint charlie (again). last week, when i was visiting jennie, we saw the siegessaeule, the brandenburg gate, and the graves of the soviet soldiers, the deutscher and franzoesischer doms...basically, if its in berlin and touristy, i saw it in the past two weekends. (rathaus and fernsehturm, as well)
i cant really compare the two weekends because they were vastly different from each other but they were both really awesome and im so glad i got to go! what else, what else...i had my final for a class last friday and we are supposed to get them back tomorrow, but i think i did okay, so thats a big relief! thanks for the many prayers, i needed them!
one of the best things i remember about berlin from the jennie trip was a guy trumpeting "when the saints go marching in" & "swing low, sweet chariot" at the entrance to the schoenhauser allee u-bahn station. AWESOME! and i think it was on sunday morning, so that was great...
this sunday was...different. i decided it had been too long since i had gone to church and i felt comfortable enough in berlin to be willing to go to church on my own and not feel as though i was going to get lost, so i got on the internet and found a church to go to which was the franzoesischer dom in gendarmenmarkt. its a heugenot church and was erected during the persecution so i figured hey this should be a solid church, esp since it said it was a reformed service. i was SUPER excited to get to go to church in berlin, especially (the german word for especially is "besonders," so get used to seeing it, hehe) one which was reformed!
i woke up early on sunday and got all my stuff together, and ended up being late to church since i had to collect and organize all my belongings from the hostel, but i got there and was excited...i walked in and there were probably about 40 other people there but it was okay. so i got my bearings and started trying to figure out what was going on and got with it in time to figure out what the passage for the morning was before he finished it, so that was nice because then i could know what the sermon topic was (generally useful foresight!). it was the parable of the workers in the vineyard in the first 6 verses of Matthew, chapter 20. i was excited because what i got from it (from the Holy Sprirt) was that God has His timing and Will and we should be excited that He is the one in charge and that ultimately He is going to do what he wants...
what i got from the pastor was something completely different. and frustrating!
i believe that what he said was something along the lines of jews Christians and muslims all inheriting the kingdom of heaven...crazy. i was trying not to believe that thats what was being taught but i just kept hearing it. i think the word of the Lord was distorted in the following fashion:
the jews are the workers gathered in the very beginning of the day and they were upset because the next group was getting equal treatment. the next group in this interpretation is, you guessed it, the Christians. and that the Christians in the world should be okay with the third group getting as much of an inheritance as they. the third group would be...yup, muslims! i really cannot believe that this message was preached from the pulpit of a Bible based church! i mean, i realize that im in europe and things are going to be different, but (this is for you megan a holt) are you freaking joking me?!?! like, come ON i know you guys dont really believe this...
it seems fairly evident to me that the parable is more along the lines of God calls whom He will, when He will, and thats all and that the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ works the same way for everyone. its free and covers "a multitude of sin" (in fact all of them, whoop!)...its monday evening, and im still reeling from the thought that thats what the message was last night. Gosh! ARGH!! so thats enough of that story for now, but i thought id send you guys a shocker...
so whats going on with yall? im typing on an american computer right now, and its horribly difficult to remember which keys are supposed to be where...
my other reactions to berlin is that at checkpoint charlie, i have never been more proud or thankful for my nationality. i love germany, dont get me wrong, but man am i glad to be an american! a little propaganda never hurt anyone right?
well i guess thats about all that is going on in my life right now. i started genesis last week, as per the evolution talk (i dont remember if i typed about that or not, but i guess ill get emails back if i didnt, hehe) and have almost finished it. its an amazing book! i love getting to know what went on so long ago...
write when yall get a chance, i still love hearing from you!
all my love,
~sarah
ps--i listened to the war hymn and spirit downloaded from the aggieband website while i finished this email, and it was wonderful :-D
