Metzingen

For the last three days we have been at a church in Metzingen, Germany, a small town near Stuttgart. Metzingen is known for its outlet stores. Hugo Boss built an outlet store here several years ago and many more clothing companies followed suit. It the number one shopping destination in all of Germany. Somebody from the church told me that people come from France and England to shop here.

The church we are ministering at is downtown in the middle of all of these outlets. A friend of the church owned the land and gave it to the church in his will. As part of the will he included his wishes that the church never be sold. Now the church is prime real estate and right in the middle of all the shopping centers. Recently, they were able to sell a very small piece of land to Hugo Boss and were able to fund a new front to their church building.

The location of the church makes an interesting juxtaposition. It is really a meeting of two religions: Materialism and Christianity. They have many similarities. Both have a message and proclaim that message. Both claim to satisfy and people turn to both for satisfaction. But we know that only Christ can truly satisfy. That is our message and we want to proclaim it. We hope we can help this church be a light in this community.

This was also our first opportunity to stay in host homes. For many it was the first time with this experience. I’m sure there was some anxiety. Even if you know the drill and know there is nothing to really be very nervous about, there are still those few minutes of apprehension when your imagination is more vivid than usual, conjuring up images of all the things you could do wrong and quickly combining them into the worst possible scenario. You know that it will be fine, but you still hope that you do not horrendously violate a cultural norm.

The family I stayed with were wonderful hosts. They are Romanian Germans and moved back to Germany in the early 90s after communism fell. It was very interesting to talk to someone that had grown up in a communist country. The husband said that he has very fond memories of growing up in Romania. He was 13 when they moved back. He said that when he got to Germany he felt like he had an advantage in school because the education was better in Romania. That surprised me. I think that as Americans, after the “Cold War” and our struggle against communism for decades, we have the perception that anyone growing up in a communist country must be miserable. That really isn’t the case. Simon said that he enjoyed his childhood, but that he wasn’t old enough to realize his lack of freedom. Freedom becomes more important to you as you get older he said. I really enjoy listening to these personal histories in the places I stay. It opens my mind to new perspectives that I have never thought about before.