Karwoche 2023

Karwoche 2023

That would be the German word for „Easter Week“. The „Kar“ in „Karwoche“ does not mean “Easter” but instead “sorrowful, sad”. It certainly sets a somber and mournful tone for the week as we commemorate the trial, execution, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Appropriate sorrow for our falling short of the glory of God, pursuing our own pettiness, cruelties, depravities, greed, and malice instead of goodness, godliness and holiness, should guide our self-evaluations not just in this week, but in every week of our lives. Accompanying us in that sorrow should be, however, a grateful awareness of the courage, mercy, compassion and love Jesus showed toward us in that he died for our transgressions while we were yet enemies of God. A dual consciousness of our own evil and our God-granted redemption should be part of our everyday lives and in our approach to all natural evils, including death.

Here in Koinonia we began the week with a reminder of that duality. Eva B., one of the founding members of the community and one of the first to make us feel really welcome here, passed away on the 26^th of March. Her funeral was Tuesday of this week and it was one of the most joyful and evangelistic funerals I have attended. Yet also tinged by the sadness of knowing that we will not see her again in this life. We have to live in this tension, knowing that eternal life is real yet continuing to live in the poisoned ruins of the mortal world, until our own call to deathless glory comes. Pain, sorrow, and death are realities we rightly mourn. Mourning in awareness of and harmony with reality in Jesus is what we are called to when we have to take our leave of beloved persons here. Christians who act in all ways as if physical death is the real end of a person forever or as if it means very nearly nothing are both in error. With the deaths of our fellow saints (and that is what Paul called every believer at the church in Corinth, not just members of some spiritual “best of the best” club) it seems best to think of our loss as parting with someone who has gone on a long journey, who I know I will (most likely) see again. I mean, Jesus himself wept at Lazarus´s death, knowing exactly what he was going to do about that death just minutes later, so what on makes us think that mourning is somehow wrong. Mourn, but not like the world mourns. Eva B.´s funeral was a beautiful example of that principle.

Pesach and Easter

The Pentecostal Church we attend, the Arche, has for several years now, held a Pesach (Passover) celebration on the Thursday of Holy Week. This year it coincided with the second of day of Pesach on the Hebrew calendar, which made the reminder of the Jewish origins of Christianity more immediately present in our minds, at least.

Sedertisch “Seder Table” with Menorah

That Christian churches in the last 60 years, particularly of the Pentecostal or Charismatic lines, now often hold such observances as a way of raising awareness of the Jewishness of Jesus and his first disciples, the ineluctably Jewish nature of our Christian faith, is remarkable given the long history of mutual animosity between and Christian persecution of Jews in Europe and to a much lesser extent, in the New World. That such celebrations are not uncommon in Germany borders on the astonishing. And thank God for this renewal in the Church and the changed mindset behind it.

The Saint John Passion by J.S. Bach

Friday night we had the beautiful experience of hearing Bach´s Saint John Passion performed by the Yara Ensemble in the Emmanuel Evangelical (i.e. Lutheran) Church in Diedorf. The pastor did the right and brave thing before the performance: He gave an evangelistic introduction to the work, emphasizing how the Crucifixion, the Atonement it affected, and the Resurrection truly are the core of the Christian message. No recordings were allowed, of course, but the Ensemble sung and played beautifully. The pastor also enjoined us not to applaud at the end in order that the weight of the message conveyed in Bach´s glorious, eternal music might have purchase in our souls. There is a great performance by the Netherlands Bach Society available on line, though, and you can hear it if you follow this link: https://youtu.be/zMf9XDQBAaI.

I quite recommend absolutely everything by the Netherlands Bach Society. Their conductors and director have undertaken to record everything Bach wrote, in a project called „All of Bach“ and all of it is extraordinarily gorgeous musically.

What we´ve been doing lately…

We continue to intercede in the Gebetshaus as part of the morning team (for us, 9-11) and to work with the Christian scouting group at Koinonia. I maintain the Toward Jerusalem Council II Germany Website and translate the German site for Reasons to Believe. This week also so a new project come in from International Prayer Connect and I will post the results when they are available.

Recent writing projects include:

This piece on Biblical Archeology, reporting on two presentations at the Discovery Institute´s recent conference.

Beyond Tragedy (Easter post for Salvo)

Last week I began a Substack to which your subscription would be very helpful. The first entry is about David Hume and Carl Sagan.

That is all for now. Thanks for your time!