Tuesday 13 June 2017

The Reformation Bells everywhere..

It has been 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. Although there is no historical proof for this happening, it was an event that changed the world. The 500 year anniversary has created a festival mode across Germany. The reformation bells are adding more colours to my volunteership. Everyday in my place of assignment, Haus der Kirche, there are some activities taking place in relation to this and it makes me engage all the time..!!
I was in the Kirchentag crew  from the organization. And this year the conference was in Berlin from 24-28 May. The Kirchentag is a civil society forum which goes far beyond an ecclesiastical event. Over 2000 individual events were devoted to topics such as social cohesion, dialogue between religions, confessions and nations as well as the reformation. Every two years, Kirchentag provides opportunities for thousands of people to dip into the attitude to life of a new host city for the festival. Unknown songwriters and amateur cabaret artists contribute to it alongside high-profile personalities from the worlds of politics, science, art, business and Church.
The mindblowing experience for me was the public talk by the former President of the United States, Barack Obama and the talk by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.The feel when I saw them through my naked eyes was a different level..!!
We had setupped an exhibition in the Messe Hall, Berlin as an initiative from the organization. And it was about the lives of the refugees in Germany. Since I was asked to be in the exhibition stall for 2 hours a day, I had to learn a bit about the problems of the refugees and it was really a different experience when I talked to few refugees who visited the exhibition. Many of them lost their family members or friends to the violence,and many suffered physical and psychological trauma. I have read the issues of the refugees through the media, but I never felt an attachment towards it. When it came real, this was something shocking.

Last but not least I have to thank my mentor Pfr. Tilman Pape, who was there and who is there for me for 24* 7.
A long blog is not that interesting for the readers and therefore I stop here.. Will be back soon with a lot of interesting things...
Stay connected..!!

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