Stones of Significance

Word from Wiese

14 August 2024

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean . . . blue.

400 years later, in 1892, Germans installed blue—and many other colors—tiles high atop the tower of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany. The very church where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses which launched the Protestant Reformation in 1517. The tiles composed a mosaic message for the whole town to see, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,” or “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” Luther’s key hymn based on Psalm 46.

After almost 100 years in the Wittenberg winds, some of the tiles started to loosen. But the timing was right. In anticipation for welcoming the world to Wittenberg in honor of Luther’s 500^th birthday in 1983, and even though the leaders were communist in this region of East Germany, the town refreshed the castle tower’s mosaic message with new stones. So, in the early 1980s, small assortments of 1892 stones were given to interested townspeople.

Fast forward 44 years to this past March, 2024. Our COS Sanctuary Refresh Design Team had already brainstormed securing stones from the Land of Jesus to pepper throughout the two vertical rises in our new sanctuary chancel. Lutheran Palestinian friends sent stones from Bethlehem. Stones from the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem were secured. We were thrilled that the chancel upon which we would proclaim Jesus’ gospel would be built with stones from Jesus’ very birthplace, the lake where he fished, taught, and fed 5,000, as well as the city of his death and resurrection!

But then we wondered if there was any chance of adding another theological twist to these “stones of significance.” Could we secure stones from the birthplace of our Lutheran denomination as well?

Therefore, when I reached out to a Wittenberg friend, I was blown away when he arranged for a colleague to contact us. As a young student, Mr. Thomas Glaubig was one of the lucky kids to receive a set of the 1892 tower mosaic stones. Mr. Glaubig was enchanted with our dream to incorporate such stones into our new worship space and lovingly sent them to his Lutheran “cousins” in Georgia.

In the future, we hope worshipers will have fun searching for and discovering a variety of these “stones of significance” from both Israel and Germany peppered throughout our chancel steps. We look forward to using them to teach our children as well.

We look forward to sharing other (in our humble opinions) striking stories about our refreshed traditional sanctuary at COS! You’ll be able to hear some of them this Sunday as we move back into this sacred space. Come as we live out Psalm 122.1: “I was GLAD when they said let us go to the house of the Lord!”

8:30 and 11:00 AM Traditional Services back in our renovated sanctuary
9:45 AM Contemporary Service in Fellowship Hall
Celebration Refreshments at the Shepherds Window, celebrating both members financial and prayer generosity funding the Sanctuary Renewal Project AND for hitting last fall’s stewardship challenge goal of 150 family units signing up for online giving.

Grateful to God for new spaces and opportunities,

P Fritz

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. Psalm 18.2

Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine (said Jesus) and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. Matthew 7.24

Questions for Reflection:

Do you keep any pebbles or stones to remind you of special places or events?
Can you think of how stones or rocks have played roles in key biblical stories?
How are you feeling about worshiping in our refreshed sanctuary for the first time? 
How is “rock” a good metaphor for God’s role in your life? How is it not?