Day 10: By The Rivers of Babylon

 

On Day 10 I had an opportunity to visit the Pergamon Museum.  If you like to see "big things" this museum is for you.  The main item that I was interested in was The Ishtar Gate.  This was one of the main gates leading into the ancient city of Babylon.  It is an impressive structure that was built to both impress, and scare the heck out of the visitors to the city.  Let the reader understand that visitors weren't always willingly visiting the city.  Think of the Israelites who were attacked by the Babylonians and taken into exile in Babylon.  Daniel 1:1-7

This model of the giant gateway shows the processional way that lead up to the gates.  Sodiers with their weapons would have glared down from above at those walking into the city for the first time.

Along the processional way were pictures of lions built in relief coming out of the ceramic bricks to "welcome" you.  Everything about this entrance is meant to be intimidating.  Can you imagine what it was like for Daniel and the Israelites to enter this foreign, and powerful city for the first time?

Another impressive large structure in the museum is the Pergamon Altar. It is a monumental construction built during the reign of King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC in the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.  The structure is an impressive 35.64 meters wide and 33.4 meters deep; the front stairway alone is almost 20 meters wide. The base is decorated with a frieze in high relief showing the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods.  This is only about one third of the original structure.

Not far from the Pergamon Museum was another building I was hoping to see; The Church of St. Nicholas.  This church actually pre-dates the city of Berlin and is therefore the oldest church in the city.  

What makes this church interesting to Lutherans, however, is that one of it's Pastors was Paul Gerhardt who was probably the most prolific hymn writer of the Lutheran Church.  If have have sung the timeless hymn "O Sacred Head Now Wounded," you have Paul Gerhardt to thank.

The Elector at the time was Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg, who was Reformed. He was also growing impatient with a lack of success at his conferences to unite the Lutherans and the Reformed. So he put an end to the conferences in 1664 and published his "syncretistic" edict. Since the edict disallowed the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran Confessions as contained in the Book of Concord, many Lutheran clergy could not bring themselves to comply with the edict. Gerhardt was thus removed from his position at St. Nicholas Church in 1666.  Gerhardt was not willing to compromise all that Martin Luther and others had fought so hard for.

While the building is no longer used by an active congregation, it is kept alive as a museum and it plays host to a number on concerts throughout the year.

I then went across the city hoping to visit the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.  It is a church that was bombed during the war in 1943, and the people of Berlin decided not to demolish it or restore it but to leave it as reminder of the devastation of WW2.  This is how it is supposed to look, however when I arrived it was covered in  scaffolding and tarps.  Apparently bombed out structure wasn't so safe and they are in the process of preventing it from collapsing on tourists.  So much for that.

Years ago they did build a new church for the congregation to worship in, and from the outside it is very boring and unimpressive.

The inside, however, redeems the building.  That statue of Jesus hanging there is huge and if He ever falls on the presiding minister, well...I guess we would have to say that it was God's will.


On Day 11 I will check out two very unique Museums.

Looking Back: A Few Videos (Morning and Evening Prayer)

Now that I have returned (the young adults still have a few more days in Germany) and I have returned to the world of fast internet I thought I might post a few videos from the trip.

One of the things I especially enjoyed about the festival was that we began and ended each day with Morning and Evening Prayer respectively.  It is a wonderful way to "bookend" your day.  It was especially meaningful to have these services in the churches where Luther and the other reformers worshiped themselves.  The above video is as short clip of Morning Prayer from the Castle Church in Wittenberg where Luther is buried beneath the pulpit.

This next clip is the begging of Evening Prayer.  Evening Prayer often begins with what is called the "Phos Hilaron" or the Joyous Light.  The Phos Hilaron is the oldest Christian hymn that is not directly quoted from the Bible.  As it is sung a lit candle is brought into the community.  This reminds us that even though the sun has descended from the sky, we still have the Son of God, Christ, our eternal light with us always.

I have some more videos and some pictures from my time in Berlin that will be posted in the next few days.