Completely by chance, I noticed a poster advertising a weekly bible study. The only information was the times, the location, and the organization name: Campus Bible Life (Campus Bibel Leben). I decided to pay a visit.
The bible study took place in an old building in a sort of apartment-like office space. I was greeted by a friendly Korean woman and soon introduced to the others there. The group consisted of seven people, two of whom were students and 4 of whom were from Korea. That surprised me somewhat, since Aachen doesn't exactly have a high Asian population outside of schools. Then again, it doesn't exactly have a high American population either.
We started off with singing praise songs with a guitar accompaniment, then a quick prayer and on to the text. We went through the 4th Chapter of Deuteronomy (just called 5th Moses in German). Each person read a verse aloud, going around in a circle. Honestly, this made it a bit harder for me to follow. I've always found that I understand less when I read a text aloud or read along while hearing it spoken. However, follow along I did.
During the discussion, the woman who had first greeted me proved herself to be somewhat scholarly. She gave clear, well reasoned responses to questions and sited other parts of scripture to make her point rather than just saying "It means he loves us" as so many are wont to do. That's like answering the question "What is Sally trying to do?" with "achieve her goals". It doesn't shed much new light on the situation.
After we closed our study, I was invited to share some tea and bread they had left over from when they dined together beforehand. It was pleasant company and pleasant food.
Finally, while walking back home, I asked one of the people going the same way as me what the group's affiliation was, protestant or catholic. THE ANSWER WAS NEITHER!
At long last, I have found a nondenominational community in Germany!
First - yay. Hopefully this will feed your spiritual side.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Interesting about the books of Moses. Can I assume, then, that the first five books are named after Moses? I should check my French bible and see how it compares.
Third: "popcorn" or read alouds are an ineffective tool with second languages. Too fast, too much to process, focus on pronunciation when reading and not understanding the content.
Fourth: 4th paragraph the phrase should be "wont" to do - not want to do. I don't know the background of that word.
Fifth : I know exactly how you feel about shallow answers- especially when working with evangelicals.
Sixth yay! I hope you will continue this and keep me posted about it.