Autor-Archive:jdavidmartin68

Ukrainian Guests, Old and New Missions in Translation

It has now been two months since the Russo-Ukrainian War began. And it has been two months and a piece since refugees from Kiev arrived in our little Christian community outside of Augsburg, Koinonia. There are thirteen of them total: three small families and a single woman in her 40s. One of the family fathers„Ukrainian Guests, Old and New Missions in Translation“ weiterlesen

Helping Ukrainians in Augsburg

The initial shock of Russia’s attack on Ukraine was still very fresh here when Germans churches, along with Christian charitable institutions both Catholic and Protestant, organised to provide what humanitarian aid they could send themselves to the people fleeing the war and being housed in temporary shelter in western Ukraine and Poland. Here in Augsburg,„Helping Ukrainians in Augsburg“ weiterlesen

The Sharp Sword of Suffering

How to describe suffering—other people’s, I mean. I am just back from a shopping expedition for emergency food that my family would never eat. Everything must be pre-packaged and ready to eat. German sausages in cans, black rye bread that can also be used for paving streets, bizarre Christmas cookies that won’t go bad until„The Sharp Sword of Suffering“ weiterlesen

“Do a blog entry about supernatural healing and rationality.”

That was the note that I wrote myself a few days ago, though work and the quotidian plethora of social responsibilities has kept me from being able to put thoughts into pixels in this matter. To put a blunt point on it, I will here address a question beloved both by skeptics who mistake philosophical„“Do a blog entry about supernatural healing and rationality.”“ weiterlesen

Israel as blessing to the nations, Jesus as king of the nations

As it should be, Christmas for believers in Jesus is often a time when preaching and teaching focus on the fulfilment of messianic prophecies in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Finding teachings about the importance of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah as prophesied in Micah 5:2 or the meaning of „alma“ in„Israel as blessing to the nations, Jesus as king of the nations“ weiterlesen

A Tale of Two Houses and a Bridge

(A post by Susan Martin) “Over the river and through the wood, To grandfather’s house we go– The horse knows the way To carry the sleigh Through the white and drifted snow.” This poem by Lydia Maria Child was written in 1844 when the author was living far from the rural setting it describes in„A Tale of Two Houses and a Bridge“ weiterlesen

From Francke’s Orphan City to Augsburg’s Christian Kindergarten

Looking at the world through a child’s eyes „Kindergarten“ is of course, a German word, and many know that the institution started here. But did you how and why? Here’s an essay from Susan exploring the origins of the familiar form of early childhood education. At the “Little Friends” kindergarten in Augsburg stand rows and„From Francke’s Orphan City to Augsburg’s Christian Kindergarten“ weiterlesen

Adoption Means Forever

My daughter’s birthday was this month. She just turned fourteen, and all those songs, poems, stories and visual dramas treating the pathos of the passage of time in the lives of our children, they are all true. The day before yesterday, she would fit on my forearm. Yesterday she started school in Germany. Three seconds„Adoption Means Forever“ weiterlesen