70 years of Kristallnacht

Recently we had the 9th of November. This day was the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. This dark day in German history had its main influence in Munich and was planned long before. Therefore this whole weekend a lot of meetings and gatherings were planned - to remember, to commemorate, to meet each other and to worship God. A small group of messianic Jews was invited to come to Munich and to take part at these events.

Friday - A Prayer Evening
Friday evening started with a prayer evening.
This special evening full of the presence of God took place at the Charismatisches Zentrum München. It alwasy touches me when the body of Christ gathers together. But it is very special when messianic Jews worship bringing with them their own culture and history.

The impulse for the whole Kristallnacht was given from the Old City hall in Munich. So this small group of messianic Jews gathered there with some Christians from Munich to commemorate this event.

It touched me to hear what moving moments happened there. A sensitive song on violin that led to deep wailing and common lamenting, Germans and Jews were laying in each arms. Finally the celebrated the Lord's supper together and praised the Blood of Christ over all this guilt. Love was there, hearts were bound together, a deep connection was formed. Somehow it is special when German christians and messianic Jews stand together!

Some of the Jews shared very moving their stories with the Holocaust and what this day meant for them. All of them were touched with how much love they were welcomed.

After that we had an intense worship time in which the messianic Jews served us - very intense and dense. A very moving and intense evening. Nice to see that you can make history with only a few...

Saturday - Worship Evening

After being the whole day afoot I was looking forward for a nice seat and the worship evening together with our friends from Israel. But when I arrived at Paul-Gerhard-Kirche (a charismatic Lutheran Church I was attending years ago every Sunday) the whole hall was packed, no more places left over! There were many people standing in the corridors and in the back. It touched me that so many had come.

Some greetings were held, briefly summarized what happened already on this weekend, our guests from Israel were introduced and called to the front, Thomas Römer was preaching about John 17.

At some point everybody was standing to read out aloud a declaration being in opposition of the statements of the Kristallnacht. At that time the Jews were told to disappear, that we did not want them or what they had to give. Therefore we welcomed the Jews in the declaration of today with all their gifts and callings.

A worship band around John Angelina lead us into worship. Here the atmosphere was very dense and the presence of God touchable. Then the musicians from Israel took over. They came to us to serve us with their gifts, not to look at the past, on the wounds or the trauma. They have a special way to play with violin, clarinet and different drums. First the worship seemd to be very sagging, to much focused on shame and wounds.

From time to time I had to sit on the floor cause I was not able any more to stand. I just enjoyed the presence of God. Suddenly the worship went over into a prophetic part, were the drums, the shofar did mighty things in the spirit. Something was broken, the veil was drawn away, it was like something was fallen. now the music was more happy. The people went into the groove and were clapping. Very cool!

How wonderful it is when Jews find their Messiah, how much more when they understand to flow in the Spirit and to set free things in the Spirit! That really is a calling of the Jews to lead the nations into the worship of the one true God - Jeshua Hamaschiach.

The evening was so dense and intense that it is impossible to tell everything here. Again and again it was said that this would be a new day for Germany, a new cooperation of Jews and Germans. Now we are challenged to heed the call. Another important impulse was to found a prayerhouse for the nations in Munich, in which 24h worship and prayer will be held.

Again and again the Jews said thank you for being invited for being able to come and that they were welcomed with such a love. They told us that they would need us to bring light into the darkness of Israel that the people would find newly their God...

Wow, what a wonderful evening. Words can not describe it. How good that I stayed and did not let my tiredness lead me away...