Before I begin, May the Fourth be with you!
My brother Mark is in Germany right now. He works for the LCMS as the executive director of fund development, or – as he rightly renamed it – Mission Advancement. Over in Wittenburg, where Martin Luther stirred the pot, there is a new school. Y’know…. let me just do a little cut-and-paste or I’m going to goof it all up. There was a:
Dedication of the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School where the culmination of the joint effort by the LCMS, the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK), and the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg (ILSW), to establish a distinctly Lutheran presence in the very cradle of the Reformation.The International Lutheran Center will provide the place, the opportunity and the inspiration for people to gather and learn about the Gospel Luther preached there. It will provide a unique venue, attractive to all of our existing and emerging partners worldwide, to help us share the Gospel that Luther rediscovered in the 16th century — the Gospel our world desperately needs to hear today.
Cool, huh? I confess that I did not watch the live feed from the dedication service since Lloyd had services at the nursing home. I confess that I also did not watch the recorded live feed because I am very, very lazy. I did zip through it quickly to listen to some songs, and also to look for Mark in the crowd. It was like a very blurry Where’s Waldo. I thought I saw him in the church, but a friend posted some Facebook pictures and it wasn’t him. Watching people leave the church, though, I recognized his walk. There he is!
I sent him a text to see if it was really him, and it was. I thought I found him in another shot, but it wasn’t him. This isn’t Mark:
In the photo you can see the bottom edge of the balcony, which was helpful with some sleuth work. Lloyd and I went on a choir tour to Germany back in college, and since I have a terrible memory I asked Lloyd if we had ever been to that church. He said ‘yes’ to tour, but not to sing there. Sure enough, I dug through a box of photos:
The only memory of that building was the scaffolding out front. EVERYTHING was covered in scaffolding during our trip. I think they were renovating all of Germany in 1992. You can see that it’s the same organ, though:
Get home safely, Mark, and thanks to everyone involved for helping to make another place where people can learn about Jesus!