Adventures in Germany Day 4

This day was quite the adventure. We woke up and left the hotel by 8:45 with our boxed lunches in hand. We hopped on some charter buses and headed to the historic Berlin Dome Cathedral to have an ecumenical worship service. The Cathedral is Lutheran so they were represented as well as a Baptist Youth Pastor and then the United Methodists from all over the world. It was an amazing service. The dome itself is beautiful as you will see in the pictures. But the most amazing part for me was that the Russian delegation was sitting behind us for worship and it was so cool to hear words spoken in either English or German and then translated behind us in Russian. It was just neat to be reminded at that time how global we truly are as a church.

And this was the theme for worship. One church. That no matter where we are, what branch of Christianity we are from, or how we worship, we truly are one church in Christ. It was a great reminder that we are the ones who decide what church should be and if we do not make a decision than that also falls on our shoulders.

Following the service in the dome, we divided into our tour groups and were set out on the public transportation systems of Berlin. Let me tell you get groups of 30-50 people on and off the right trains and buses is no small feat, but I don’t think that anyone got lost.

Our first stop was the Eastside Gallery, which is the only remaining portion of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. This is probably about a mile long walk of wall that has been painted by various artists depicting their feelings and understanding of the wall and its effects on Berlin. Some interesting, beautiful and weird artwork, but a really neat experience. It was amazing to me how much of the wall they had left standing in tact as a reminder of what was.

Following this we crossed over the river and hopped on another train to a little artsy community with interesting shops and restaurants. We stopped and had some Kabob Pita. MMMMM, MMMMM, Good. Then we poked our heads in and out of shops. It was a good time, but lots and lots and lots of walking.

Following this we made our way on foot to a local United Methodist Church where we were given dinner by the church members and then told the history of the area and the church. We ended this time together with a Vespers type service. It was really neat to hear and experience what it means to be United Methodist in Germany. We had the pleasure of having the pastors son sit at our table and tell us some interesting insights as well.

Overall a great day, one filled with much adventure and much walking. Now I am ready to get some sleep so that I can get up and experience more tomorrow.