By Randy and Katy Smelser
Randy Smelser Reading an Advent Lesson at an Anglican Church in Germany
For the past four decades we have been blessed to minister with German churches, and even though we live in the land of Christmas markets, of Advent wreaths and Advent calendars, and where children clean their shoes and put them outside the door on the evening before December 6th for Saint Nicholas to fill with treats, it actually took us a few years of marriage to find the traditions that meant the most to us. Ironically, one of our most cherished events of the season is neither American nor German, but British.
When we moved 35 years ago to a new city to plant a church, we were still getting to know people and finding our bearings as Advent began. In the paper was an announcement that on the evening of the third Advent Sunday there was to be a Carol Service at a village church nearby and we made plans to attend. The German pastor’s Welsh wife initiated it.
As we entered the church we were greeted by the pastor and introduced ourselves. He remarked: “Oh, you are native speakers! Would you be willing to read one of the lessons?” Randy immediately said, “yes” and we were led to the front of the church. I was struck with how different this church looked from others in northern Germany. It has more wood and brick and less stone, and seemed to have come from England itself. The atmosphere was lovely and serene.
In Anglican churches the service is often called “The Festival of the Nine Lessons and Carols.” The lessons are Bible readings that include the prophesies of Christ’s birth, and the nativity story, with carols in between. Through the years, we have learned to sing the British carols which sometimes have familiar words to different tunes, or familiar tunes with different words.
We know that the congregation stands when singing, and that we need to begin and end our readings in the following manner: “The fourth lesson is taken from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 11, beginning at verse 1,” and “Here ends the fourth lesson. Thanks be to God.” However, everyone just has to put up with our very non-British accents!
One year when a German pastor who had lived in the American Northwest for many years, read out of a non-King James Bible and ended with “And that is the Word of the Lord!”, looks of consternation appeared on the British faces.
We appreciate this special evening for several reasons. We can go and enjoy it thoroughly because we aren’t in charge of anything, something that doesn’t often happen for leaders in a small church. The readings in beautiful, poetic King James English bring back memories from our childhoods. Belting out “Joy to the World” in our native language with several hundred other people is uplifting. But most of all it is refreshing to hear the Christmas story through God’s Word, without a theological interpretation.
Randy and Katy Smelser are long-term missionaries in Piene, Germany.