Dear praying friends,
Our gallery work is really fascinating - because so much of it exists right now in the realm of community building. Last week on Wednesday we had our monthly art-o-clock event. We had 5 artists share. Of the 5, three of them shared for the first time, four of them are Berlin-based artists, and there were two more people in the audience that I had to tell that they couldn't share that night because we were already full. Minutes after the event had finished, I had 4 of the 5 spots for next month already filled.
The next night, on Maundy Thursday, we closed an art exhibit with an artist's talk. One of our gardening initiative neighbors came and brought a friend. She was really interested in the event, our coming events, the conversation, and has an artist friend that she is trying to connect us with.
On Good Friday morning Elissa and an intern joined a multi-church/organization prayer walk, part of which took place right down one of the former death-strips where the Berlin Wall used to stand. Approximately 200 people walked and prayed, carrying a 6-foot cross, and gathered in a church that stands where the former East German government blew a church up to make it easier for them to see from one watch-tower to another. Because of a peaceful revolution, started in churches, that took place in 1989, and because of the continual presence of people like us and prayers like you, a service was held in a place people couldn't previously meet. God is faithful in his timing.
That afternoon several of us attended a Good Friday service held a local city monastery, where we listened to the passion account in the gospel of Matthew and music from Bach.
On Saturday night, Elissa and I were joined by some other staff members for a service at the monastery again, this time a 10pm service, followed by an hour of workshops, followed by a gathering around an Easter fire, concluded by the ringing of the church bells at Midnight and an hour long resurrection celebration, from midnight to 1:00 am!
Easter Monday, which is a national holiday in Germany, we hosted an Easter-Monday brunch with another ministry in town. It was a pot-luck, with a short devotional focusing on the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Several artists were there, and they were really encouraging about the space - and some are interested in maybe renting desks in our office sharing space.
So much of this is about us pitching our tents in this community that God has called us to and establishing a presence - where we are seeking to bring things together that have been pulled apart over time. We almost always tell people that we are looking to exist at the meeting place of faith, art, and culture!
Thanks for praying and keeping us here!
Fundraising update, people are giving - thank you so much for praying! The hole we have dug ourselves by building with pledges but no money is a big one, so please keep praying.
This week, could you ask God if he might bring to mind a couple of people that might be interested in supporting a crazy group of people in Berlin, Germany, who are seeing to build a spiritual community among artists and former East Germans, focusing on art and creativity?
You could forward them a link to our video and the link to how they could give from our email last week. You could also connect us, if you want! Write to us both! Use my [email protected] email!
Thanks for your prayers, I want you to know that things happened in Berlin this year that would have been unimaginable several years ago. A few hundred people walking and praying together? A gathering on a national holiday in our gallery where non Christians had follow-up questions about the bible story they just heard? Crazy stuff, friends - God is on the move!
Thanks for your prayers,
mike
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