Faith Matters - Oberammergau Passion Play - The Plague and Covid-19
The history of the Oberammergau Passion Play reaches back to the seventeenth century, when a plague known as the Black Death swept through Europe. In 1633 the residents of this Bavarian village vowed...
View ArticleFaith Matters - The Cup and the Covenant - Wine and Catholicism
Wine cultivation is a continuous thread running through both the Jewish and Christian scriptures. No plant is mentioned more times in the Bible than the grape and its products. So it’s hardly...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Different, Amen - Evangelical Youtube Stars
Stefanie and Ellen Radtke are the Youtube stars of Germany’s Lutheran Church. The two female pastors from Eime, in the state of Lower Saxony, are a same-sex couple. With their Youtube channel "Anders...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Eco-Friendly Monks - Plankstetten’s Green Abbey
Running a monastery these days includes having good business sense. Plankstetten Abbey, in Bavaria, has a community of only twelve brothers, but the monastery is thriving. St Benedict’s motto was "Pray...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Pastoral Care - In Spite of Covid
The first acute phase of the pandemic, in March 2020, resulted in a number of tragic deaths in German hospitals and senior citizens’ residences. To prevent new infections all visits from outsiders were...
View ArticleFaith Matters - The Artist Who Saves Churches
The artist Moritz Götze grew up in East Germany, in an atheistic environment. However, shortly after the collapse of communism in 1989 he helped turn a church ruin into a cultural center and conserved...
View ArticleFaith Matters - New Life in Old Walls — Village Churches Bearing Witness to...
Anyone driving through eastern Germany may be surprised by the number of old churches east of the River Elbe. Almost every small village has one. Many of them are fieldstone churches built more than...
View ArticleFaith Matters - New Light in old Walls - Windows for Tholey Abbey
The small village of Tholey in southwestern Germany is home to the oldest monastery on German soil. Founded in the seventh century, the Abbey of St Maurice was plundered and badly damaged 1000 years...
View ArticleFaith Matters - The Quest for Utopia - Grassroots Democracy in Venezuela
The Cecosesola Cooperative Federation grew out of a practical necessity. Some fifty years ago, when a co-op member died, the other members founded a funeral home. Cecosesola now comprises a federation...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Church in the Living Room - Hoodie Ousts Cassock
Max Bode and Chris Schlicht had envisioned Christian ministry rather differently. These rookie pastors wanted to revamp the Lutheran liturgy: A sofa replacing the altar, a hoodie the cassock, and...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Vaccines for Africa - Namibia in the Pandemic
Between May and July 2021 Namibia suffered a devastating Covid19 wave. In those three months no fewer than eighty-two of Lorenst Kuzatjike’s parishioners in the poorest district of the Namibian capital...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Caring for Creation - Climate Protection in Rwanda
Rwanda: A poor, landlocked country of 13 million people. In terms of climate protection this East African nation is a role model for the whole region, a powerful example of how a country that is only...
View ArticleFaith Matters - Every Grain Count - Weaponizing Food, and the Effects on...
Ukraine, alongside Russia, is one of the world’s main grain exporters. When Russia attacked Ukraine, regular grain exports stopped. Since July, some cargo ships have been able to sail via Turkey, but...
View ArticleBelievers on Wheels - Cycling for Christ
The idea of a pastor living out his vocation on a bicycle may sound eccentric, but Michael Stahl, a German Lutheran pastor, is convinced that it’s fully in line with the gospels. "If Jesus were out and...
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