In the Fall of 2000, my father, his only living uncle, and six cousins, travelled to Gotthun, Germany, a tiny village in the northeast corner of the country. They went there to visit the place our ancestors, August and Augusta Stier, left in 1875 to come to America. Our connection to Gotthun had only recently been discovered by one of the cousins who had done extensive research into the family tree. Gotthun was small, and was spelled wrong in all the old records; so for many years no one knew where in Germany our family was from. Now, not only was the town located, but my cousin also found, through ancestry.com, a fifth cousin-once-removed living in Munich. This cousin, Dietmar, knew everything about the Stiers in Gotthun, and offered to give his American cousins a tour.
They visited the Blucher estate in Gotthun where the Stiers worked as farmhands for the family of General Gebhard Blucher, one of the generals who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. They saw the servants’ quarters where August and Augusta probably lived. A highlight of the tour was visiting St. Mary’s church in nearby Roebel, on Lake Muritz. There, my great-uncle Elmer (1918-2011) stood at the font where his father Ernst (1872-1944) was baptized, three years before being brought to Minnesota by his parents (pictured above). It was an old historic church, built in the twelfth century. It was used by Napoleon to house his troops for a while in the early 1800’s, as he led his army across Europe, making widows and orphans all the way.
Dad was shocked and saddened to learn that though the churches in Germany are old, historic, and beautiful, they were seldom used. The state church provided pastors, of course, and services were held each week; but for only a handful of people. Dad said they did not meet a single German on their entire trip that attended church or believed in God. Dietmar was a great guy and a wonderful tour guide and became a good friend, even visiting Minnesota a few years later to see where the Stiers settled here. But when they were all together at St. Mary’s Church in Roebel, Dietmar waited outside on the sidewalk. He did not want to be in church.
Dad had the same experience several years before, when he and my mother travelled to Germany with some friends, who went to visit their relatives. Once again, they met many wonderful people and always had a great time with everyone. But once again, they did not meet a single person who ever went to church.
Dad remembered one particular conversation with a rough and tough old German, the patriarch of the family. He was 85 years old, still fit and strong, loud and boisterous, brimming with pride and self-confidence. He was a real ‘ubermensch,’ as the Germans would say; a real man’s man. Dad talked with him for a long time, and eventually Dad asked him if he believed in God. “No, I do not,” was the loud and direct reply. He then raised his arm, flexed his muscle, pounded it with his other fist, and exclaimed, “My own strength is all I need.”
He was 85 then, and that was 40 years ago. I wonder how that is working for him now.
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Deuteronomy 8:10-18a – (Moses said to the people), “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
Jeremiah 5:21-22a, 24a, 31b — “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence?… You do not say to yourselves, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God…’ But what will you do in the end?”
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Guide me, O Lord, in all the changes of the world, that in everything that shall happen, I may have a tranquility of spirit; that I may do your will, never grumbling at your gentle discipline or fatherly correction, never becoming proud or insolent, even should I become overwhelmed by prosperity and success. Amen. –Jeremy Taylor
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O God, the generations rise and pass away before you. You are the strength of those who labor; you are the rest of the blessed dead. We remember all who have lived in faith, all who have peacefully died, and especially those most dear to us who rest in you. Give us in time our portion with those who have trusted in you and have striven to do your holy will. To your name we ascribe all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978, page 210.
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