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With the Saints in Milan on the Lord's Day

 I'm standing with Rev. Andrea Ferrari, pastor of the Chiesa Evangelica Riformata Filadelfia, a URCNA church plant in Milan.  What a joy to worship with brothers and sisters who love Christ and his saving work.

The church was full and pastor Ferrari shared the news with us of several promising church planting efforts in Italy and Romania. It is truly exciting to hear what God is doing throughout Italy and beyond.  What a wonderful thing to hear of a growing number of Heidelbergers in a land so dominated by Romanism.

The Lord's Day bulletin was familiar to us, even if in Italian--my faint remembrance of ecclesiastical Latin certainly helped.

Any time you walk into a church bookstore and the first thing you see is a book from B. B. Warfield translated into Italian, you know you are in the right place!

Is It Just Me, or Does Francis I Remind Anyone Else of . . .

Peter Seller's portrayal of Chauncey Gardiner in the film Being There?

My DNA-Driven Family Reunion

Urs Rothlisberger and I stand atop the "Rothlisberg," a small hill in Heimesbach near the city of Langnau-Im-Emmental, in the Canton of Bern.   We had never met, and had no idea whatsoever of any family ties until we both took DNA tests and got a match.  Urs and I share the exact same y-DNA, have a common ancester (Cunradt Rothlisberger, baptized in the Reformed church of Langnau 1561), and the Rothlisberger family lived in this area for many centuries--many of the line settling in the Langnau area, some heading to the new world.  What a thrill to finally stand here together.  I wonder what our ancestors would think about two long-lost cousins standing together on the site of the old family farm?

The view from the top was simply breath-taking.  We could see radio towers in Bern in one direction, and the Alps in another.  The family which now owns the land welcomed "the two Americans" as Urs explained our interest in their hill.  They stopped their farm work, served us coffee and homemade Walnut-cake and wanted to know all about how Urs and I were connected.  They told us that they were worried when Ben Roethlisberger came to the same area several years ago looking for his ancesters, who descend from Cunradt's brother Nikolaus.  Ben had a big Swiss media group with him, and they were worried about too many people tramping on their farm.  Ben never did make it here--but we did (thanks to Urs)!  The family was sure gracious to us, showing us old pictures and explaining everything! 

The "new" farmhouse was built in the 1820's on the site of the old Rothlisberger farmhouse.  Some of the outbuildings date from the early 1700's.

It had been raining all week, but God graciously provided a perfect, warm Fall day.  All-in-all, the reunion fulfilled every expectation, and has become one of those remarkable days in life you will remember vividly until you die.

The Communion of Saints

My wife and I were privileged to experience the communion of saints in a unique and wonderful way.  On the Lord's Day we worshiped with the saints of the Independent Evangelical and Reformed Church in Heidelberg.  I preached on 1 John 2:18-27, "antichrist is coming" as the capstone to our series on eschatology.  We sang psalms and recited the creed in German, we shared a common cup with fellow Reformed Christians at the Lord's Table, and we felt as though we were in our home church.  Truly an amazing experience.

The pictures above are of Rev. Sebastian Heck, the pastor (along with me and the church's sign--the first question and answer of the catechism), while the other is of their bulletin, which contains a liturgy very much like our own.

Luther, Ursinus, Olevianus

During our walking tour of Heidelberg, led by Rev. Sebastian Heck, we stood on the spot where Martin Luther gave his famous "Heidelberg Disputation" (in April of 1518) while speaking at the Augustinian Cloister in the city.  It was one of Luther's first public discourses.  Luther spoke on human sinfulness and the bondage of the will.  One of those in the audience that day--Martin Bucer of Strasbourg--became a follower of Luther as a result.  Johann Eck also got wind of Luther's lecture, and subsequently challenged Luther to a debate which became known as the Leipzig Debate.

This is St. Peter's Church in Heidelberg, where Caspar Olevianus (1536–1587) served as pastor for a number of years.   St. Peter's was considered the "university" church of the famed University of Heidelberg, founded in 1386.  Students and faculty worshipped here.    

This was one of the high points of the trip so far---enjoying a fine cup of coffee and a pastry while sitting at tables in the old town square.  We were just outside the magnificent Church of the Holy Spirit where Zacharius Ursinus often preached, as did Olevianus.  A great way to spend an hour or so before dinner!

I'll bet our small group were among the very few in the vast multitude of tourists passing through the square who even cared about such things.

A Very Pleasant Surprise . . .

The members of the Selbständige Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche surprised me with a German edition of my book, A Case for Amillennialism.

The translation was done by one of the church members and approved by the publisher (Baker Books).  The German title means "Dispute Over the Millennium."

Heidelberg Conference on Reformed Theology Begins

 

We arrived safely in Heideberg and met a wonderful group of like-minded Reformed folk.  The photo on the left is the conference banner, and the other photo is of me making my introductory remarks with Jorg Muller, the conference translator.

Our European Adventure

Our first stop is Heidelberg, where I am speaking at the 2015 Heidelberg Conference on Reformed Theology (you can find info on the annual conference here:  Heidelberg Conference 2015).

I will also be preaching at the Selbständige Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche (the Independent Evangelical Reformed Church) on the Lord's Day (Sunday, September 20).  Rev. Sebastian Heck is the pastor, and directs the Reformation 2 Germany  project.  For more info about the church, go here:  Independent Evangelical Reformed Church of Heidelberg.

Our next stop is Bern, where we will spend a couple of days playing tourist, and then Lording willing, meet up with a "DNA" cousin, who will take us to Langnau-Im-Emmital (a city in the Canton of Bern) and then to the "Rothlisberg" (a small hill nearby), which is the home of our mutual ancestors--the Rotlisbergers of Bern.

After a few days in the Jungfrau the Swiss Alps, we will head on to Milan, where I will be preaching for the URC congregation there on the Lord's Day (September 27).  The pastor is Rev. Andrea Ferrari, who has preached at Christ Reformed.  You can check out the church's website (in Italian -- Chiesa Riformata Filadelphia) or take a look at the Reformation Italy Project (Reformation Italy)

I am thrilled to meet up with two old friends doing such great work in Europe, and then meeting a new cousin, who, until the wonders of DNA testing came on the scene, I would have never known I had.

"Remember the Lord Who Is Great and Mighty" -- Nehemiah 4:1-23

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon, the fourteenth in a series of sermons on Ezra-Nehemiah:  Click Here