R B C F E AT U R E RBC students warmly welcomed in Europe It is for you! compiled by Vicki Sairs Two RBC classes traveled to France, Switzerland and Italy this winter (January 27-February 14) to see great art and architecture (for their Humanities class) and to visit sites of historic interest (for their Mennonites, Anabaptists, and the Radical Reformation class). Their teachers, Ken Miller and Reuben Sairs, led the tour, accompanied by Jenny Miller and Vicki Sairs, who provided logistical and maternal support. From Vicki: First day, Paris, emerging from the Metro: Up the subway stairs we go, damp wintry wind in our faces, limbs and minds numb from a night in the plane. And when we emerge, there it is: the city, the river, the cathedral Notre Dame. I hear a muffled gasp behind me; is it one of our students? I hope so. It is mid-morning. We ve been awake for around 22 hours, and we won t be landing in our hotel beds for another ten hours. It s a brutal way to cope with jetlag, but we have little choice: our hotel rooms won t be available until 3 pm, and all of Paris is waiting for us! Paris is gray, but beautiful to me. I want our students to love this city; I want them to eat chocolate crêpes and drink 6 APRIL 2015 BEACON espresso in the morning and stand in front of Van Gogh s Bedroom in Arles in the afternoon and weep. Oh, wait. That s what I m going to do on this first day of our Europe Study Tour. We will each have our own day. Writer Nikos Kazantzakis said, Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels, and that is true, I think, even for those of us who are imperfect travelers. We will each carry our own days, our own experiences in Europe, with us the rest of our lives some more thoughtfully than others, no doubt, because that is who we are: different. On this first day, we can t know what will happen to us in the next three weeks. We know we will see great art and architecture; we don t know what that will do to us or in
us. We have plans to visit a French Mennonite Church in Strasbourg and a Swiss youth group in Basel; we have no idea what that will be like, but we re hopeful. And so it goes on our Europe Tour: I found my chocolate crêpes in the Latin Quarter that day, lost my hat somewhere in the shadows of Notre Dame s interior, and walked two miles along the Seine to get to the Musée D Orsay, a museum housed in a former railway station. The D Orsay is home to an incredible collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. I stepped into the Van Gogh room and walked straight over to the painting of his bedroom, not because I knew anything about it, but because it was right in front of me and seemed like a good place to start. I had to wait to see it; others were there ahead of me. But when the crowd parted and I stood in front of it, I could hardly breathe, I was so shocked. I had seen this painting reproduced many times, as a poster, in books, online, on a postcard. Yet I had never seen anything like what hung on the wall in front of me now. The colors possessed their own light and life; the yellows, the blues, the greens, the reds they held such power! The colors drew me in, toward a world I very much wanted to enter and could not enter, no matter how long I stood there staring. Art has its boundaries. One of those boundaries is the need to see the artwork in person, with your own eyes. I was so grateful to be able to see this, and so many other beautiful creations, during our three weeks in Europe. I said that I wept in front of this painting, and in a way, I did. No tears. Just gratitude. Worshipping in French: On Sunday morning, February 1, we worshipped at L Église Évangélique Mennonite near Strasbourg. It came as no surprise that they worship in French, but they were expecting us! I had corresponded with the pastor, Geneviève Toilliez, who had assured me that in spite of the language barriers, we could all worship our Lord in the same spirit. As the morning progressed, we realized how much effort this church had put into making us feel at home. They made sure that English slides were projected alongside the French slides for music and Scripture reading, and they translated the French sermon into English for us as well. To take communion, we formed a large circle around the edge of the room and shared a common cup. At the end of the service, the worship leader announced that there would be a small reception, with drinks and finger foods. When they realized what was being said, our students looked at us (the tour leaders) eagerly, clearly hoping we would say it would be okay to stay. At this point, the worship leader broke into English and addressed our students directly: It is for you! Much delight ensued. Rarely have I been so warmly received by a church. Fondue in a church basement, fondue on a Swiss farm: Travel makes you hungry. We had some wonderful food, but my favorite meals, hands down, were the two encounters we had with fondue in Switzerland. On the afternoon of February 3, we arrived in Basel and were greeted by Hanspeter Jecker, a Swiss Mennonite historian who teaches at the Bienenberg Theological Seminary in Leistal, Switzerland. Hanspeter is also the president of the Swiss Society for Anabaptist History. For the next two hours, we walked around Basel, listening to Hanspeter s very thoughtful presentation on what the Anabaptists in Basel were up against. When " The colors drew me in, toward a world I very much wanted to enter and could not enter, no matter how long I stood there staring. " looking back at historical events, we tend to draw a straight line from one person or incident to the next, right on up to the present day. It s our way of making sense of what happened and explaining where we are now. We tell ourselves: The early Anabaptists believed this; this made them choose to do that; this is what happened to them, and this is how we got to present-day Anabaptism. But this approach doesn t do justice to the complexity of events and personalities involved. Hanspeter helped us step back in time and picture a more complicated reality: the early Anabaptists had choices. They had to decide how to respond to the church at the time, to the authorities and to God. They could have chosen (and some did) a less radical route. Their options were not always crystal clear they had to muddle through at times. Hanspeter also helped our students think about their own choices: what does it mean to be an Anabaptist today? Does it matter? Clearly for him, it does matter, and I m glad our students got to experience his tour. Hanspeter Jecker in Basel, Switzerland BEACON APRIL 2015 7
RBC FEATURE, CONT. An evening with the youth of Evangelische Mennonitengemeinde Schänzli "Crazy Game" played with the youth But our Basel experience only began there. It finished in the basement of Hanspeter s church, where we enjoyed a delicious fondue supper (and chocolate dessert!) prepared by the youth group of the Evangelische Mennonitengemeinde Schänzli. What a great night! The youth group leaders made sure we mingled ( Americans sit where there is a white napkin, Swiss where there is a red one! ). I sat next to a young man who is doing his civil service (the Swiss version of conscientious objector service) before going on to university. After dinner, we went upstairs to worship together for a while. Then back downstairs to play a crazy game involving silly hats, mittens, knives, forks, and tightly wrapped packages concealing chocolate bars (Swiss chocolate bars, which raised the stakes). The goal was to get to the chocolate while wearing mittens, etc., before anyone else did. This proved that youth groups around the world are inclined to play bizarre games with slightly cruel undercurrents. Many of the Swiss young people spoke English; some of us were able to speak some German or Pennsylvania Dutch. All in all, our students enjoyed this contact immensely. The oldest continuing Mennonite congregation, the Alttäufergemeinde Emmental in Langnau, Switzerland: Here on the next day we didn t meet with youth but with experience. Hans Juetzi, one of the former pastors of the congregation, met with us and told us not just about the early history of their church, but of a more recent and personal history as well. We even got to sing together Grosser Gott Wir Loben Dich. Two days later, Regula and Simon Fankhauser hosted us at their farm near Trub. The Täuferversteck (Anabaptist hiding place) is usually only open in warm weather, but Regula made an exception for our group. We originally planned to have the tour of the barn where Simon s ancestor used to hide from the Anabaptist hunters, then eat fondue outside around a fire. The weather did not comply. Regula had mercy on us and invited us into their beautiful home to eat together. There she explained not only the history of the farm, but also her own personal journey to faith in Jesus. This was unexpected and very moving. Once again, our students were face to face with people from a different land who loved and followed Jesus, and " This proved that youth groups around the world are inclined to play bizarre games with slightly cruel undercurrents. " Regula Fankhauser at Täuferversteck near Trub, Switzerland this in a setting that highlighted their own denomination s difficult history. Regula has put together an extensive display area that places the Anabaptist movement in a larger historical framework. It is well worth seeing. We haven t even gotten to Italy in this account, but I m going to close my comments and move on to what others on the tour had to say. 8 APRIL 2015 BEACON
Other voices from the tour Lydia Gingerich: I was moved by some of the artwork, and the way it has been cared for and preserved over the years. I was moved by the stories of people we talked to. Specifically the woman at the farm in Switzerland her beautiful journey from confusion about Jesus and the Bible to a passionate faith in God. And how so many different people and events (the faith of her husband's ancestors, an Anabaptist pastor, the death of a sister) affected that journey. I was moved by the beauty that man has created and the beauty that God created and how our creativity and love of beauty reflects His. Seth Mast: Something that played a large part in my trip was my reading of C.S. Lewis s book, Surprised by Joy. The highlights of the book for me, as I was reading on a bus traveling in Europe, were his explanations or understandings of natural beauty and his attempts to experience or find joy. He had too narrow a view of beauty. He found the towering mountains and the clouds to be beautiful, but never thought of finding beauty in what a friend of his termed homely, the main quality that was attached to a person s simple experiences. Traveling Europe, coming from a farm, I found a lot of beauty in rolling hills and the green land as far as one could see. In Paris I struggled with finding the beauty. As time went on I found things that made me smile (a kid fighting a massive Roman column, a dog playing with a ball). Upon finding these things I continued to see other things in the cities that could have beautiful qualities. C.S. Lewis also talks about his attempts to recover an old thrill :... all my waitings and watchings for Joy, all my vain hopes to find some mental content on which I could, so to speak, lay my finger and say, this is it, had been a futile attempt to contemplate the enjoyed. He explains how watching and waiting could only produce images. They could never produce the real thing. The real experience or thrill was a byproduct and could not be reproduced. He used the analogy of attempting to make the wet, damp sand the wave itself. Focusing on the aftermath of an experience of joy will never yield joy itself. This I found true in Europe. Going to Europe, I was in the process of desiring the old thrills that I felt were becoming elusive. I attempted to prepare myself for each cathedral, for each painting, monument, and landscape, to experience past moments of depth, mystery, and joy. As I was riding through the Tuscan landscape, reading C.S. Lewis, I realized what I had been doing. Lewis mentions the angel who asks the women, Why are you looking for the living among the dead? Why am I contemplating the enjoyed, the past moments that I have felt enjoyment, in an attempt to feel joy itself? I realized that joy is all around me. The past thrills are beside me, and simply having a desire is joy itself. C.S. Lewis said, Joy itself, considered simply an event in my own mind, turned out to be of no value at all. Not only was it of no value, but it also created a mindset that found no value in the things outside of my mind, like the landscape that I was currently riding past. Lydia Gingerich: I tried to communicate with and experience people as much as I could. Because as much as I wanted to experience sculptures, castles, and mountains I greatly wanted to experience people. Most of that was done by observing from a distance, but my favorite experiences were the different and often brief communications I had with people about their lives. Talking with people really helped me to experience the different locations we were in. Even if it was just finding out when a woman's baby was due, or what kind of music another woman liked, or how long this man had been selling rings. Seth Mast: I also experienced in Europe the weight of a continent having such a rich past. A cultural richness existed that one could feel and see, almost in every person. Not only was I separated by culture, customs, appearance, and the basic know-how (understanding the metro) but I also experienced the divisiveness of language. This I had never felt before to this extreme not being able to voice appreciation and gratitude to those who served you. It planted a desire to in the future learn in such a way that I may be able to help a foreigner not feel completely separated. BEACON APRIL 2015 9
RBC FEATURE, CONT. Evi Schrock: The whole experience was incredible. The knowledge from the classes added depth to the experiences, and the two classes integrated very well with each other. I would sit down in the cathedrals and try to imagine the mindset of the people practicing Catholicism in the 1500s. Then I would try to imagine what it would have taken for me to start seeing the same things that the first Anabaptists saw. Would I have been one of the radicals, or would I have been set in my ways and persecuted them? I have to say that being in Switzerland was probably the most moving for me. I was struck by how often I take the "... I believe more in the vitality of Christian faith and practice apart from the American versions I know." faith I was raised up in for granted, and how much I have yet to learn about it. The title "Mennonite" is so much greater than a family heritage, although I am grateful that it is part of my background. There are reasons that this faith emerged, that it survived persecution, and even grew through it. I wish I could formulate the right words to describe it. I am glad to be a Mennonite, because I believe in what they stand for. Peace, brotherly love, friendship, discipleship, and mostly, relationship with a personal God. On top of all of this, I was awestruck and almost brought to tears a few times by the beauty that France, Switzerland (especially Switzerland!), and Italy held. Being in a castle on a mountain above the clouds was absolutely breathtaking!! Most of all, this trip made me grateful and made my passion for learning grow... I want to learn so that I can better understand the world and people, so that I can better know how to share Christ with them. I do not want to be ignorant of the beliefs and traditions of other people; we can learn so much from them. Josiah Zimmerman: It was moving to see the places where other Christians like us suffered and died. It made me think about how easy being an Anabaptist Christian is today and how little suffering we go through. There were many connections between the trip and my studies. Many of the people, ideas, and terminology used by the tour guides were taught in class. It was exciting to see paintings and buildings I studied and to experience the cities and places of refuge for early Christians. Janessa Miller: So much of art has come alive to me through being able to see the actual pieces. I loved having the opportunity to see how people live in other places and also to get a feel for how they lived in the past. One of the best things that I came away with is the knowledge that the world is so much larger than I realized. This trip proved to me that there is so much to see and learn from other cultures. I knew this, but this trip made it come alive to me. Karissa Brenneman: One of the best times for me was spending the evening with the youth group. It really impressed upon me the international, global body of Christ. I've been to Nicaragua and had a similar experience, but it was different here. I think it's because everyone we met there spoke English, and I could have meaningful conversations with them about their lives and plans. Spending time worshipping with people my own age who live thousands of miles away gave me a new perspective on the church as a whole. I guess I believe more in the vitality of Christian faith and practice apart from the American versions I know. What were your favorite experiences? Ken Miller: Going from the bustle of Paris to the quiet of the Alsace and Switzerland. Getting to see new artwork as well as revisiting pieces I ve seen before. Helping turn students on to the idea of always being a learner. When studying paintings such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling by looking at a textbook, it s hard to get a feeling for the magnitude of the work and the effort it must have taken to produce it. Looking at Pozzo s painting of St. Ignatius in Glory helped us see the masterful job he did of making the ceiling disappear into the heavens. What surprised you? Reuben Sairs: How warmly interested in us the Christians were and how openly they expressed this. What moved you? Reuben: Watching our students turn on! What were your favorite experiences? Reuben: I love just being there. The great sites are important, but personally, I get a great deal out of a cup of espresso in a café, a ride on a subway, people watching in a train station. I love to wander through grocery stores. It seems like every step teaches you something. I hope all our students drew constant connections [between what they studied in the classroom and what they saw in Europe] those that were severed, those that persisted, those that continued in changed form. I hope they grasped the force and power of Christendom and what a remarkable act it was for a free church to challenge it as an idea. 10 APRIL 2015 BEACON