settling in with the community

Hmm, what is there to report? I guess there’s not a big fancy party to report on this time, but there have been several noteworthy isolated incidents of craziness. Lets start with the retreat in Reimlingen that I went on with the Brot des Lebens community.

On Friday evening Marc Wimmers picked me up from the Olching S-Bahn station and we set out on a two hour long drive over what I would consider characteristically German roads. Where I come from, the main roads and highways tend to go as much as possible in straight lines. They build them that way so that people can drive relatively hastily without having to think. Here they don’t bother making them straight. In fact, the “highways” pass through towns and turn every which way. At first you’d think this would be slower, but its not. You see, people here still drive hastily, but don’t have to worry about the thinking part, because they all seem to have computerized voices in their dashboards telling them where to go. “Wenn möglich, bitte umkehren!” The ride was fun for me.

When we got there I started meeting all of the community members who don’t attend Kostenlos Auftanken. Everybody was smiling. I met a great many people and repeated to each one what exactly I’m doing here. I feel like I’ve told my story a million times, but its fun to suddenly be the center of attention. The evening started off with some praise and worship. I was really excited about the music. I felt like I already knew it all. Most of it seems to have been stolen from Ann Arbor and translated into German. Voll cool. Another thing they stole from Ann Arbor and translated into German was Don Schwager, a brother with the Servants of the Word who was to give the talks throughout the retreat. I had met Don once before in Detroit and was happy to hear what he had to say about spiritual growth. It’s always a real treat to listen to really wise people say smart sounding stuff. I dig it. I can’t really speak to the actual content of each of the talks… there was just so much to absorb. But it was good.

Afterwards, since this is Germany, we had a party. Honestly, what on earth compels Germans to have beer, champagne, cake and horses doovers in abundance at every single event!? I’m really getting to like this country. I should also mention that Marc and Daniel are true skateboard profi’s. No broken bones or scabby knees, just pure adrenaline and mad-crazy skating.

On Saturday there was another series of talks and small group discussions. I don’t remember the details exactly, but I distinctly remember that there was some confusion with the words unabhängigkeit and selbstständigkeit. That was important and led to some interesting philosophical debate.

I should note also that the food was tremendous. I’m not used to being spoiled so much. What I am used to is Bethany House or Pine Hills buffet style chicken wings and curly fries, but we had gourmet meals instead

This leads all leads up to the Lord’s Day and the prayer meeting. Both were good. I was asked to introduce myself during the Lord’s Day, though I didn’t exactly know what I was supposed to say. I talked for maybe five minutes with a translator standing next to me (I don’t know what he was thinking… Silly German, translators are for people who don’t speak German.). I told a funny story about Barb, and everyone liked me all the more.

The Lord’s Day is one of those things, steeped in tradition, that makes me feel right at home here. I love sharing a meal with a community of believers. Its an indescribably beautiful foreshadowing of the banquet of the Lamb in Heaven. [Der Matthew kriegt Gänsehaut.] The prayer meeting was excellent. The Holy Spirit made its presence felt in our midst. God was there. Not much else to say. Its effect was different for each individual, but for everyone it was a very good time. Afterwards, like the good German community that we are, we had another party. Yeeeee Haaawwww!!!

On Sunday morning came Mass, discussion, lunch and goodbyes. I also understand that many of us got “blitzed” on the way home, which means that they got ticketed with a radar gun. It has an entirely different meaning in English and it makes me chuckle.

I guess I should say that the retreat was not much different than any other retreat I’ve been on. I’ve never really been a retreat type of person. They’re a good recharge and a lot of people get a little boost of HS happiness when they go, but I think its better to have a prayer life that repeats the retreat process daily… examination of conscience, repentance, acclaiming the greatness of God, thanksgiving, and supplication for the strength to live out the day. It all can be done every day, and without traveling or spending money or that much time. I prefer an adoration chapel to a retreat center.

The big thing that I got out of the retreat was a sense of belonging. I think that if I were to get a job in the area at some point in time, I would live in their town and join up. Before this retreat I was sort of suspicious of the community lifestyle, but here it just seems to make sense. It seems right in some sort of way that was never quite right for me in Ann Arbor. I don’t know exactly what it is or how to explain it.

On Thursday I went to Kostenlos Auftanken again. For dinner they had Chili this time. It was DELICIOUS! (By delicious I mean that it tasted similar to what you might eat in the US) On Friday I went to the full community meeting. Praise and worship, a talk and chatty time. Again, something just felt right. Afterwards, Marc drove me to Mark’s bachelor party. So much fun! I had a blast talking to the community men and having one Weissbier after another handed to me. They are an excellent bunch. I was driven back to Paul Jordan’s pad in Olching around two and was going to bunk up there for the night, but it turned out that there was a late train. I got home around 3:30. I was somewhat worse for wear at breakfast the next morning, but I told the Bayerns about the bachelor party and they just laughed.

Sunday was a slow day. We went for a walk to Grandpa and Grandma’s house where they served us tea and cake. They have a super sweet pad. It’s hidden away on the lake on a piece of land that has been in the family for hundreds of years. The house is full of things that you would expect respectable royalty to have. Crazy ornate clocks. Portraits of other royalty. Furniture that you can tell was originally in some castle somewhere. The most impressive thing I think I saw were pictures of them sitting next to Cardinal Ratzinger at a banquet where they are the guests of honor. I don’t actually think I’ve ever known anyone who was friends with a pope, but I do now.

And that’s it. I realize this entry is boring without pictures, so I’ll try to take my camera to some places next time. You might find some pics of me doing community stuff if you visit www.brotdeslebens.de and then ->jugend ->fotos. there aren't too many of me though as of this post.