Category: Culture

The Hamburg Chronicles: Paint brushes and Cargo Ships

The Hamburg Chronicles: Paint brushes and Cargo Ships

Silva

We arrived in Hamburg on Friday in the morning.  We have learned from past trips that it is best for us to have a full first day and drive on through the evening so that we can at least force our bodies through the time change.  So, Saturday was our first day that looked anything like a real day.

Daniel had told us that he had a surprise for us on this day so Stewart and I weren’t sure what that was going to look like.  He told us to meet him at his apartment at 10:30-ish.  That morning, we needed to find a little food, so we walked around the place where we were staying and we found this very cool little coffee shop: Gluck und Selig which means “Luck and Good Feelings” (or something like that; the last word, “selig” is apparently old German…).  A couple of young ladies owned the place and its specialty was just being a cool place with crazy good food.  So, Stewart and I were eating a breakfast of coffee, coffee and more coffee when Kathrine (Daniel’s wife) met us there.  We walked to their house and we found Daniel already half covered in paint with his trademark goofy grin and paintbrushes in his hand: we were going to paint!

They were painting their apartment ahead of the arrival of their little girl, Elva Luise and we were going to do the main living room.  Kathrine had gone to a bakery and picked up some croissants, pastries and jam for us to eat during our time.  So, for the next few hours we painted their main living room and talked about all kinds of things: church, family, future…It was a great time of service and fellowship.  We thought the surprise was over…but we found out that later that afternoon we were going to the Hamburg beach to join folks from the church (and their friends) to hang out.

Interesting about this beach.  Hamburg is one of the top three largest ports in Europe.  It has a deep water inland port (like Charleston) on the Elbe River.  On the city side of the river (opposite the port side) is a beach about a football field wide dotted with restaurants, pubs and about a bazillion places to hang out, grill, drink libations and watch the ships.  So, we caught up with dozens of our friends and acquaintances on the beach from about 5:00-9:00 or so.  It was a great time!  Everyone just picked up a packet of some kind of meat to grill (and share) some folks brought small sides and everyone had their favorite drinks.  We all gathered together over a small grill manned by a master-small-grill chef (Klaus) and we were together.

It was low key, interactive and, when a big ship came in, exciting to see.  In the end, we was struck by how unstructured it was and yet how rich.  It was great to be with the people.

The Hamburg Chronicles

The Hamburg Chronicles

Silva

Late May was eventful for a small team of us as we traveled to Hamburg to support the Hamburgprojekt – a new church plant in the north German city.  Our church has been a partner with them for four years now.  To be a ministry partner usually means financial support, prayer support and encouragement.  In our case with Hamburg, it also meant that we would send small teams to the city to mentor, coach, teach and train their pastoral staff and leadership.  What a privilege it has been to be involved at any level and see what God has done!

This year’s trip was May 19-28.  These are the chronicles of that trip.

We left Charlotte at our usual time around 5:00 pm.  This time we flew Lufthansa which we were looking forward to – we’d done Continental and US Airways and it seemed at least the Germans knew that long flights and tiny seats didn’t go well together!  I happened to sit next to a sweet little 9-year old who was traveling with her family to India (what a trip!).  Stewart was traveling next to a business woman who made regular pilgrimages to Europe.  The only disappointment was the food on the flight – it was some scary stuff…

Dominic, one of the pastors, met us at the Hamburg airport around 1030 the next day (we connected with another flight in Munich).  Our commitment on Day 1 is to stay up until midnight or so.  Our bodies make the adjustment faster (Hamburg is 6 hours ahead) that way.  So, Dominic told us that Debbie (his wife) wanted to have us over for lunch before we went to our accommodations.  Stewart had experience with Debbie’s cooking and so he (for both of us) heartily agreed!  We were not disappointed…It was so good to see their family.  They have two boys, Merlin (around 4) and Luis (18 months or so) and they were both very fun.  They live in a first floor apartment with very tall ceilings (10 ft?) that they had one of their fathers help them refinish – it looked great.  We spoke about home life with the two boys and how the Lord is slowly giving children to the others in the church.

After lunch, Dominic took us to where we were staying.  Interesting story about that…a week or so before we were to leave the US, we found that we had no accommodations.  Walking around Hamburg there’s no shortage of hotels so we didn’t think it was any big deal.  That is, until we discovered the Hamburg marathon was the first weekend that we were there.  It wasn’t until a couple of frantic days later did we realize that just about every single room in walking vicinity of the church was taken.  A friend of ours from the church, Ulf, who was running in the race told us that this is one of the biggest road races in all of Europe…no kidding.

Daniel Bartz, the lead pastor, finally said to me in an email, “Gabe, let us take care of this.”  Boy, did they!  A young couple he recently married were on their honeymoon and (somehow) Daniel contacted them and they agreed to let us stay at their place for free.  Um, free?  And, they lived close by Daniel’s home and within walking distance to the church.  It was a wonderful set up in many ways and we were richly blessed; to be able to come back to an apartment each day and relax in it in ways that hotel rooms don’t facilitate was very helpful.

It was down to the wire, though, and it revealed sin in my own heart.  I had been so excited about this trip in ways that I had not been in the past, God had given us opportunities to ministry that we had not had in the past that to be confronted with an issue (albeit minor) like this…well, let’s just say that my response was less than faithful and hopeful.  I reverted to “wait a minute, God.  I’m jazzed up here and You throw ice water down my shirt….”  Or, put another way, I’m doing this for You, You need to do this for me…  Ugly and sinful.  I was reminded that I need mission trips for my own spiritual health maybe as much as anyone would need my ministry.  Thanks be to God!

More later.

Relationships are not efficient

Relationships are not efficient

Silva

I recently returned from a missions trip to Hamburg, Germany.  What a marvelous trip; it is remarkable (though not surprising) to witness first hand and participate in what God is doing through the hamburgprojekt, a young church there.  With a brother from my church we were able to mentor, train and visit with courageous brothers and sisters.  We hope to write more on that later, but there was one element that deserves mention ahead of those details: relational inefficiency.

Recently a pastor friend of mine remarked in my presence that as much as we would like to believe otherwise, relationships are just not efficient.  If you think about a favorite American past time, the “to do list,” versus relationships, we can see just how they differ.  To do list’s:

  • Are strictly controlled
  • Don’t surprise us
  • Don’t act in ways that are destructive
  • Don’t need to grow in holiness
  • Go away when we want them to
  • Don’t say stupid things
  • Can be delayed
  • Can be shortened
  • Take only as long as we want
  • Aren’t shy or guarded
  • Don’t yell at us…

You get the idea.  I guess it is no surprise why they are so popular to us.  All of this is probably clear, huh?  Relationships aren’t like to-do lists at all.  “Of course,” you say, “that stuff’s obvious.”

I think I underestimated how much I often put people in the same category as a to do list.  I wouldn’t really know that I had done so until I…well, left the country for another culture.  Now, no one that I know would suggest that Germans are inefficient!  Yet, one thing that became clear to us what that in their culture (perhaps it is just with Americans) they take a long time to “be known.”  They are cautious and guarded (yet polite and fun).  When it comes to intimacy, they take their time, or, are “inefficient.”

I think we get that real rich relationships take time to build.  But I wonder in our culture if we have mostly lost the ability and desire to make the investments.  Facebook demands nothing, Twitter demands less.  Email reveals little, text messages less.  I was listening to Christian radio the other day and the host was encouraging folks that if they wanted prayer to text, Tweet or Facebook ’em!  At what point did we think calling into a radio station asking for prayer was even a good idea?!  Do we do that because we knew that if we called a good friend he’d make us actually communicate in ways that would put us off our calendars?

It has taken four years for me to build meaningful trust and communication with my Christian siblings in Germany.  At times it was tiring (surprise).  But, what struck me on our most recent trip (last week) was the remarkable fruit and joy that came as a result of our investments in each other.  I never imagined that I’d be able to share such profound and impacting life and ministry with men and women from a totally different culture!  I believe it was due to the commitment to relational inefficiency that is present in the German culture.  There is a sweetness to the slowness.  There is a profound pay-out for the systematic investments in relationships over a long period of time.  Talk about delayed gratification!

In our culture, most often, we are serial-relaters.  We have efficient relationships, that is, ones that don’t cramp our style and that get us where we want to go.  I am glad that not every culture is as inane as ours.  I don’t intend this to be a German-grass-is-greener post as if one culture rises above all others.  But, clearly, ours is not a culture that places tremendous value on systematic and long-term relationships for their own sake.  How many Facebook friends do you have?