A Busy Weekend

B.J. and I were invited to attend a business meeting and a retirement celebration at the national headquarters of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren (ECCB), our hosts here in the Czech Republic, in Prague this past weekend.  We had an opportunity to venture out a bit also and had a very full and 'heavily-walked' weekend.

We attended a business meeting of the ECCB American Group on Friday, March 31, at the headquarters in Prague.  The meeting included about 15 people and was conducted entirely in English (impressive) and centered around the joint activities of the American and Czech organizations.  Betty McGinnis, with the Czech Mission Network, was in attendance and briefed happenings there.  We also had a young Czech, Tomáš Dus, who briefed on last year's Triennium at Purdue University from the Czech perspective.  B.J. and I gave a quick outline of our visit and met some of the staff who would like us to participate in some activities later in the summer. All in all a very fulfilling morning.

Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus

In addition to the business meeting, we attended a
retirement service on Saturday, April 1, for Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus, the Head of the ECCB Ecumenical Department and Deputy Head for the External Relations Department of the church.  The celebration was held in St Martin in the Wall Church, built in the late 12th century and integrated into a 13th century wall surrounding Prague--thus the name.  Gerhard was ending a 27 year career with the ECCB in the Czech Republic.  The ceremony was equally touching and enjoyable with the ancient church filled to capacity.















As you can see in the photo, Betty and John McGinnis were in attendance as were our hosts here in Letohrad, Dan and Renata Popelářovi.  It was our distinct pleasure to get a flavor of Annapolis in the historic city of Prague.

The remainder of the weekend was filled with lots of walking around Prague from the New Town to the Old Town and in and among the picturesque building and streets that make up this marvelous city.
Although many and varied sights abound in the city, we were touched by the 'Memorial to the Victims of Communism'.  I copied this description of the site: From 2002, the memorial:

...contains seven “phases” of a man living in a totalitarian state – from the first statue being a full man, up to the last statue where only a part of him remains. This evaporation represents the gradual physical and psychical destruction of a man who is ruled by any undemocratic regime. The man disappears due to censorship, secret police, no freedom of thoughts and expressions etc.







Since we were in Prague we had an opportunity to drive north to the site of the World War II Gestapo prison in Terrazin.  I admit, I did not understand that Terrazin was not a concentration camp or extermination camp, it was a Gestapo prison adjacent to the town of Terrazin, which was a forced Jewish Ghetto of some 30,000 people.  The visit was powerful and I could go on for multiple paragraphs... but I will just let it be for you to investigate on your own.

However, there were a couple things I would like to share.  First was the number of young people on tour busses... there was a constant stream visiting the site - a good feeling to know the legacy of the place is being passed to the next generation of Europeans.  But what got to me was the moment I came face to face with the concept of time and place.  Time and Place. In one cell block which was used to hold prisoners under interrogation I noticed a couple young men, nicely dressed and impressive, coming out of one of the cells eating popsicles.  Terrazin 1943 and 2017.  Time and Place.


But, hey, we had plenty of time for good Czech food, fantastic people watching and good conversation - primarily in English, of course!

Later.......