Date: 06 May 2009 09:24:18
I forgot to mention to my gentle readers that when I was telling my friends about my trip to the German church service, I mentioned that I had not been able to hear all of the sermon.
Kerensa: ...but the general theme was Jesus and the vine
Friend:... Jesus and the what?
Kerensa: You know, that bit in John's Gospel where Jesus says 'I am the vine'.
Friend: Huh??
Kerensa (beginning to doubt herself): You know, there's a chapter in John's Gospel where Jesus says 'I am the vine...and you are the branches'.
Friend: Oh...VINE. I thought you were saying 'Rhein'. I was going to say, 'that's a new one on me...did the Germans reckon that Jesus had been to the Rhein?'
;-) It's not always easy to hear everything clearly...even when you are sitting about a metre apart!
It had struck me in the sermon that when the minister said that Jesus used examples based on his audience's everyday experience that using the vine and the branches would resonate clearly with a German audience - Germany being a wine-producing country... particularly as it happens, along the Rhein (or Rhine... I never know how to spell such words these days).