Collage: Leipzig City Centre

The Leipzig Cotton Manufactur - a historic building
A view of the St. Thomas Church from Café Luise, one of my favorite places. Here I am sitting outside drinking coffee and enjoying this view. 
The clock tower of the old city hall, from the 15th century
The Grimmaische Straße - one of the oldest streets in Leipzig. 
The Messehofpassage - trade fair passage - seen from Café Darboven. 
A restored department store building - housing Karstadt now. 
The contrast of old and new in downtown Leipzig
The Passage in Speckshof - the inner court of the Speck building. 

Here you have snapshots of my daily life, since my work takes me past most of these scenes several times a week. I often take breaks here to prepare for classes, read, or just relax. 

Knowledge is Power

Join me for a fresh espresso and a praline of your choice - over 250 to choose from...
Or would you rather read the Munich paper with me and have a cup of coffee in the Biergarten at the Glashaus...
Okay, we talk over espresso, and you see this backdrop...

This is not really about coffee drinks but rather a topic on my mind for years. 

Many things motivated Europeans to leave the "old world" for the new. Among them was the idea - born of the Enlightenment but not new - that "all humans are created equal". This is no new idea. In the New Testament Paul quotes the Old Testament, saying"God is no respector of persons...". Literally from the Hebrew, God does not stand there as an ancient Asian Despot, before whom all must bow their faces and touch the ground with their foreheads, after which the despot allows some to raise their head, while others must remain bowed. Not so with the real ruler of all: he gives no special advantages to anyone. 

This is truly still a radical thought: no color of skin, no academic or royal title, no professional or theological or church achievement, no amount of money or appearance gives any of us an advantage over others. 

We all share in the same human predicament: saved by grace but still subjected to the human shortcomings, among which the greatest are the lust for power and money. 

The founding fathers of the United States were well aware of these shortcomings - they built protective measures into the Constitution to assure that no one interest group would have the opportunity to take advantage of others. These are referred to as checks and balances. Behind this was the wish - the prerequisite - that knowledge must flow freely and in all directions in a group that preserves the equality of all humans. 

Perhaps you are already thinking with me. "Knowledge is power" said an ancient Greek philosopher, especially when I know something you don't know, and you don't even know that I know it. Not only does this address the serious responsibility of journalists. It also alerts us to how easy it is create an imbalance of power and influence, which often results in unfair advantages to one group over other groups, which can sway the hearts and minds of others unfairly. We sometimes call this propaganda, sometimes coercion, sometimes downright deception. 

While we may shake our heads when we see this on the political front of various nations, it is even more revolting to experience this in a group that would quote Paul before it would cite the US Constitution. Those who would uphold the unity we all have in Christ - the sameness and equality of all believers - can then also deliberately establish approved avenues of procedure to intentionally hold knowledge from those who they, as leaders, have been called to care for. 

Earlier times saw the condemnation of translations of the Bible or banning teaching except from approved persons or institutions. The Roman Catholic faith presents another variant: divine sanction as the wild card. If you need a justification for your special priviledges with knowledge (and, thus, power), you simply need a direct mandate from God. According to this, the directives of the church leadership are also from God himself. And the King was also ruler by God's grace, so you had better obey the King and not question his power. 

Yet Protestant secular leaders and free church leaders still aspire to such divine mandates. "I believe God has called me to be......" . You fill in the blank: governor, preacher, president, bishop, whatever. if God has called you, then who dare question your authority? 

But, aren't all humans created equal? Paul said that, and he was certainly called by God. But how intoxicating can power be..... as the current world stage shows.  Checks and balances serve us well, as we all correct each other and hold each other in check and balance, when we realize our equality. Yet leaders - individuals and groups, political and church - can hire and fire, pro- and demote church workers stateside and abroad using their monopoly on power and knowledge to stage pro forma meetings, any kind of "discussion" forum, even though their decisions were already made well in advance. Numerous cases in US current events come to mind. Indeed, this very writer has experienced first hand in the religious arena the detesting hypocrysy of being duped into staged situations in which the real matter to be decided was the power and reputation of others, and this writer's fate played only an ancillary role. 

What am I learning from this? How tragic it is when someone or some group claims others have nothing to tell them, or they refuse to communicate openly to others. And, in any decision-making forum, I always look for the checks and balances. Does the leadership communicate openly? That is, does the leadership engage in true open discussions, and not simply impart information to others? Too often have I experienced staged meetings, in which leadership simply made announcements or probed the participants for information while revealing nothing about their thoughts. 

I am thankful for the more critical journalism here in Europe and for the lessons that have been learned from totalitarian goverments restricting knowledge and power. But the danger of falling back never abates. Yes, even literary theory helps us, as semiotics and deconstruction help us to uncover the power structures so deeply assumed in the narratives we read and promulgate in our daily lives. Critical reading and discussing are essential, yet who takes the time for that nowadays? 

If you have read with me, I hope your espresso kept you alert.... and thank you for your attention. 

Saturday Evening Mass in St. Peter's Church....

Some of the hauntingly beautiful stained-glass windows
the chorus in action with the Camerata Lipsiensis
a close-up of chorus and orchestra
Another close-up
The duet Domine Deus, rex coelestis 

The Peterskirche from outside
And from inside
sacred spaces
Today was no normal Saturday. I was running errands in the city this afternoon and taking a break in a café, where I saw someone wheeling an elderly lady in a wheelchair. Suddenly I saw my mother in front of me, and the whole range of emotions exploded. 

When you think you may be recovering, this happens to remind you how little time effects healing. 

I decided to go to a concert in the Peterskirche - St. Peter's Church - just south of the city centre and only 10 minutes by tram from my flat. At 7:30 pm. the Oratorio Choir of Tokyo (Japan, of course) was performing J. S. Bach's B-minor Mass with the Camerata Lipsiensis, a Leipzig orchestra made up primarily of music conservatory students. This should help my mood, I thought. 

As you see from the photos above, the Peterskirche has an almost mystical and quite sacred atmosphere. Restoration moves slowly in this, one of the few gothic churches of Leipzig, giving it a type of haunted atmosphere. Add the late evening sun streaming through the stained glass windows, and you are ready for a gothic romance. 

Then the performance began. This is an excellent choir that has already produced several professional cds, including a recording of the Bach B-minor Mass. Such standards were noticeable in the performance. Here was an intimate Bach that played, in the baroque fashion, with the melismen and tacitura, creating an ephemeral melody line almost like incense wafting through the rows. 

I am always amazed at the style of Bach concerts I experience in Leipzig, the home of Bach for his last 27 years of life. No matter which group performs, there is a vitality and joy in the playing that makes it hard to sit still during the concert - J. S. Bach is still in the air here, and time stands still as music 250 years old seems as fresh as if the ink on the pages were still wet. 

Though I own a recording of this mass, this is the first hearing that has called to my attention how much dissonance Bach has put into the work. Melodies and harmonies move chromatically in a way one would assume in the late 19th century. Perhaps my favorite section was laudamus te - we praise you - sung so personally by the soprano soloist. When it came to the section of the credo - et ressurrexit tertia die - you felt the power and glory of something humans still cannot fathom. 

Finally, at the end, I realized dona nobis pacem - give them peace. Time cannot heal all things, but, as I experienced in this concert, peace can still come in spite of grief. 

And, this concert was free - it was a gift from the chorus to the St. Peter's Church in Leipzig. What a beatiful gift - a showing of grace - from messengers from across the world. As if God gave his blessing, during the final dona nobis pacem it began pouring rain and thundering and lightening outside - what perfectly timed divine support for the tympani and trumpets, as we all were ceremonially baptized in the deluge as we then left the church with the last chords and words still in our ears, hearts, and minds. 

Summer in Leipzig

This little pond is in the central city area - an oasis of rest.

Here we visit the birds in Clara Zetkin Park in central Leipzig

Cooking out with Matthias and Gesine and their daughter Felicitas 

Matthias' father puts some Bratwurst on the grill....

Some young families feeding the birds at a park

Here is a post with lighter topics. These photos show aspects of my life in the summer here. The temperatures are mild - highs in the mid 20s - upper 70s Fahrenheit - so sweating isn't a problem. 

On Saturday my friends Matthias and Gesine invited me to eat with them, so we cooked out at Matthias' father's place. We ate, talked, and sat next to the fire to stay warm until 1:30 am., when we called it a day. Pretty typical for Germany in the summer. 

a rainy July day

Café Grundmann - an art deco cafe with some of the best cakes and tortes in Leipzig

The corner of August Bebel Straße, with many Gründerzeit buildings. 

The tramstop Südplatz - I am here virtually every day.

KillyWilly - an Irish pub at Südplatz; Leipzig has several Irish watering holes. 

When I returned from Texas in April, I was back in my daily life here, traveling down these streets, as well as many other streets, and interacting with people again. Here in East Germany there are many people with little or no connection to religion, often called atheists. This is one of the results of fifty years of a state-sponsored socialist dictatorship. 

In relating to my friends and acquaintances how I had lost my mother, I usually mentioned my faith and my conviction that I will see all my family members again. In response to this, I got, in essence the following reactions: 

 - silence, meaning the person did not show a reaction to my expression of faith in a life after this life. 

 - respect for my conviction, since it helps me deal with the tragedy. 

 - the most considerate response: "Why not? Since millions of people on earth believe in life after this life, there must something important there that helps a lot of people." 

I also spoke with the pedagogical manager of a language school I work for. The manager is a Christian and grew up in East Germany. So I asked her how most people here deal with death in their immediate family. The answer: it is an extremely difficult situation. For them death is an enemy you can do nothing about, so just avoid it as long as possible. It is the end of all things, after which we know nothing. 

In an unexpected turn, this lack of support from a number of people has actually given me strength. Even though the death of a parent is a rift in your life, I focus even more on the coming permanent reunion and gain strength from this hope. But what would there be without this hope? 

Rain and Sun

I'll try a little post here, but it isn't easy. Last week I fell asleep, and it happened. 

There I was talking to my mother, and she was laughing, how the doctors were saying there was nothing they could do for her, how she would die in just a few hours. And the doctors were standing next to her shaking their heads in disbelief, that she was still standing there in that simple but nice white blouse. Out of pure happiness I grabbed her and hugged her for a long time as we kept on talking. And she kept saying "I'm still here, I've never gone away." And her white blouse surrounded us and became a wonderful cloud, but then something happened, and I saw yellow - the yellow of the wall of my bedroom, and I thought, "well, now I am dreaming, because I am in bed somewhere. But after a few moments of reflection, I realized that white must have been the dream, and yellow was reality - I guess. 

I still think often about that experience that many might call a dream, for there was a crispness and three-dimensionality to that conversation with my mother that separates it from all other dreams, and I experienced her nearness in such a unique way, that seeing the yellow of my bedroom wall made me think that dream and reality were mixed up. 

I have decided it was not a dream, but the grace of God, that he gave me the comfort of knowing that she - as the rest of our family also - is still here with us. 

To close, I have a CD recommendation. Maurice Durufle's Requiem, Opus 9, performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Robert Shaw. Telarc CD-80135. 

Now that I know the grief of loss freshly, I listen to this mass of loss and realize the subtelty of grief, how it captures you when you think it might abate, how you stand there mourning as your loved one ascends into glory in the first movement of the Requiem. Then following movements accompany the anger and grief with the noble restraint so typical of anything French. It rains and the sun shines often in this mass, as you realize life as we know it now can leave us mourning and baffled as we search for comfort. 

And comfort is there, as my previous post mentions...