Blog from the Living Letters visit to Germany

The very nature of a letter assumes that the author must live without knowing or seeing the reaction of his or her audience. There is a disconnect between the author and the audience which the author must live with. She or he must accept the fact that the letter might have many unexpected and unseen consequences which depend entirely on the audience. We as living letters are not any different except for one thing, we are experiencing the initial reactions! Our human interactions and shared experiences as these living letters will impact and stay with all who are involved having lasting effects long after the meetings are over.

We as living letters are here because we feel that when a part of the Body of Christ is hurting, we're hurting just the same. We are here to share our own experiences with other christians but more importantly, we are here to learn from them and gather experences which will help us identify commonalities with others and common ways of acting. We're here for a week of intensive learning. We want to learn how to involve people in the process of making peace through raising awareness about the DOV. It's our experience that the Decade to Overcome Violence is not very well know in our two corners of the world.

It's been our first day, and already we have been welcomed with open arms. Hugs and kisses were the norm. The tour of Frankfurt has made us feel as if this were our home and during the evening prayer service and program we were treated like dignitaries, right down to the food.

We would like to end with a Psalm which was used during the evening prayer service.

God, plant peace in the hearts of all people,
that they may not trample the seeds of peace,
as do the foolish.

Katerina & Thomas