In my back garden there are three trees – an apple tree, a cherry tree and a walnut tree. You can see all three trees in this photograph, taken in early October 2019. The apple tree stands immediately to the side of the woodshed on the far side of the back garden. The cherry tree is on the left front in the photograph. Towering above both of them is the walnut tree, in the centre of the photograph, with its leaves rapidly turning yellow.
As you can see, the walnut tree stands quite close to my garden fence, with many of its branches extending over the adjacent public land, across which runs a driveway to the house behind my garden, the home of my neighbours Pavel and Vlasta. In the Autumn of 2018, the tree produced a large crop of walnuts, many of which fell on the public ground. More than one local lady came around and collected them, and example of thriftiness for which Czechs are renowned 🙂
Raking into piles, all of those leaves which fell into my garden and then transporting them by wheelbarrow to the bio odpad/green waste skip, was a major exercise.
During October 2019, the walnut tree lost nearly all its leaves in little over a week. There was no more than ten days between when the photograph at the beginning of this post was taken and the one above. As you can see, large quantities of leaves also fell outside of my garden.
Whilst strictly speaking, clearing them up was not my responsibility, I did feel rather guilty being the owner of the tree from whence they had come. This was especially so after rain and cars being driven along the driveway, turned many of them into a squelchy mess. So one Saturday in late October, I raked the leaves from the grass strip along the outside of my garden fence, whilst Pavel used his leaf blower to clear the driveway.
Over this past winter, I decided that I must do something to avoid a similar or worse experience in 2020. In simple terms, the tree has grown far too big for where it is situated. So I asked Mirka, whose English conversation class I help with, if she or one of her friends knew of a tree surgeon who could come and give it a ‘hair cut’.
Mirka kindly found someone suitable who, in turn, asked to see photos of the tree. I sent several, including some in this post. Having seen the photos, the tree surgeon, Johan Beneš, gave me a quotation of 5500Kc/£180.00 to reduce and thin out the tree, together with taking away all the resultant debris. I accepted his offer.
On the morning of Wednesday 20th May, Johan Beneš and a colleague, arrived in their van, towing a small trailer, in order to carry out the work. By a series of ropes and pulleys, Johan hauled himself up into the tree and commenced cutting branches, whilst his colleague collected them from the ground and started stacking them into the trailer. Johan did all the work with a simple hand saw being very careful where he cut in order to conserve the health of the tree.
And here is all the debris, either loaded on the trailer or stuffed in the back of the van. I remarked that they should really have brought a larger trailer with them. In reply, Johan admitted that the tree was far larger than he had envisioned from looking at my photographs 🙂
One of my regular commenters asks for me to post snowy winter photographs. Well this one – the view from my front door on the morning of Saturday 29th February 2020, is the best I can do, as this past winter has been remarkably mild. And within a few hours, all the snow in this photograph had melted.
A combination of it being a mild winter, together with my new wood-burning stove, has meant that I’ve had no problem at all in keeping warm this winter. I’m also very pleased that the hope I’ve expressed a couple of times previously, that the logs delivered in mid-January 2019 would last until the end of this winter, has been fulfilled.
But in mid-April, when this photograph was taken, I still had this supply of logs that I’d previously split, sitting on a table in the other half of the woodshed. These have enabled me to have the wood-burning stove going for a few hours each morning which is all I’ve needed the past few weeks.There are still some left if we do have few more cool days like today. The stove is burning merrily as I write 🙂
Although I pruned the vine on the front of the house in the Spring of 2019, I failed to give a serious ‘haircut’ to several of the bushes in my front garden.
This photograph, taken in October 2019, shows the result of my inaction 🙁 Therefore as well as pruning my vine, as explained in this post, in early November 2019, I severely cut back all the bushes in my front garden.
In the photograph above, you can see the result of my labours. As you can also see, because the bushes grew too large, they killed off the grass underneath, leaving bare patches of earth. Re-seeding these areas is one of my tasks in the coming days.
But with the arrival of Spring, green shoots are appearing on all of the bushes reassuring me that I wasn’t too severe 😉
As I outlined in my previous post, since the middle of March I have been living in splendid isolation because of the measures taken by the Czech government, to counteract the Corona virus. However, this has given me the opportunity to do a lot of work in my garden, aided by dry, fine weather throughout April.
Along with dead-heading and pruning all my roses, I have finally managed to repair this trellis alongside my front door, which was damaged on 10th February by Storm Ciara (UK), Storm Sabine (Czech Republic & Germany).
Once DIY shops, (or Hobby shops as Czechs call them), were allowed to re-open just before Easter, I was able to obtain a replacement metal bracket to re-attach the trellis to the wall of the house. You can see the new bracket in the photo. I also screwed a new wooden baton, (which you can’t see), across the base of the trellis, and resurrected the roses.
One of the joys of this Spring has been to have these daffodils and tulips flowering, directly in front of the house. The bulbs were given to me by my daughter Christa at Christmas 2018. Last Spring, only the daffodils flowered, no doubt due to being planted too late. This Spring, they flowered beautifully.
A couple of weeks later, just as the tulips were past their best, I also completely weeded and delineated the flower bed, and then applied wood stain to the panels below the enclosed verandah. This and the previous photo, show how dry everything is. The whole of the Czech Republic is currently experiencing drought conditions. Fortunately, this weekend as I write, we have had some most welcome rain.
I have also done plenty of work in my back garden. But that deserves another post 🙂
On Thursday 12th March, the Czech government declared a ‘state of emergency’ which would come into effect at 06.00 the following morning. This was in response to the rapid spread of the Corona virus, in particular, what was happening in northern Italy. Under the state of emergency, most border crossings to neighbouring countries were closed. All foreigners in the country at the time, would be able to leave – and tourists were actively encouraged to do so. But no foreigners would be allowed to enter, or re-enter the country, even those like me who hold permanent residency.
This had an immediate impact on me as I was due to officiate and preach at the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden, on Sunday 15th March. I had to rapidly compile and send an email, saying that I couldn’t travel and the service was consequently cancelled. Although the Frauenkirche authorities had originally planned to still hold their own 11.00 German Lutheran service, on the morning of Saturday 14th, that too was cancelled, as the German government closed all places of worship.
Since that weekend in mid-March, I have been living in splendid isolation. All my regular activities – helping three young ladies from the village with English, and helping with an adult English conversation class in Decín, have been put on hold. With all bars cafes and restaurants closed, there have been no evenings in Bar-Restaurace U Soni or visits to Coffee & Books in Decín.
I have tried to confine my shopping to a weekly trip to the Kaufland supermarket in Decín. However, once outside of my house and garden, I, like the rest of the population, am required to wear a face mask.
Whilst my once every six weeks appointment to see my GP, was cancelled in late March, at my request, the surgery did issue me with repeat E-prescriptions for the three tablets I have to take each day, meaning that I do now have sufficient medication to last me until the end of June.
Seven weeks on from when this all started, where are we now? Well, courtesy of the Czech government acting early and decisively, the virus outbreak in the country has been contained. Hospitals have not been overwhelmed and the number of new cases is declining. So a programme of slowly lifting restrictions over the next several weeks, has been put in place.
Just before Easter, DIY shops, (or hobby shops as Czechs call them), were allowed to reopen. This was something I was most grateful for, as I was finally able to purchase the correct florescent tube for my main kitchen light which had gone kaput nearly four weeks earlier. And hopefully in about two weeks time, bars, restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating areas, will again be allowed to function.
However, there has been no announcement yet as to when I will once more be able to freely travel over the border into Germany and return home at the end of the day. Some days ago, the Czech government did announce that Czechs and foreigners with temporary or permanent residence, can now leave the country via the crossing points that are open, or by air. But in order to re-enter the country, each person must have a test certificate no more than four days old, saying that they are clear of the Corona virus. Otherwise, they have to be quarantined for fourteen days.
Some restrictions on public worship in Germany, are just beginning to be lifted. The Bundesland of Freistaat Sachsen, of which Dresden is the capital, are now allowing Church services for up to fifteen people in certain circumstances. Today I received a four page letter from my diocesan bishop and his suffragan, setting out all things we should and shouldn’t be doing when re-starting public worship. But it does mean that our monthly Family Communion service in Dresden, could possibly be held as we normally only have a congregation of 10 -12. I doubt however, if there will be large services in the Frauenkirche until June or July.
But the problem is, I cannot cross the border to officiate. It is most unlikely that I would be able to find somewhere to be tested in Dresden on a Sunday afternoon or evening. Any test would also be at my own expense 🙁 And I have no intention of being put in completely isolated quarantine for two weeks! So as the title of this blogpost says, at the moment, I am effectively a prisoner in my adopted country.
…….Sunday 27th March 2016 was Easter Day. The following day, I put myself on a train from Prague to Decín, intending to spend my post-Easter break, walking for a few days in Ceské Švýcarsko – Bohemian Switzerland, fulfilling the promise I made to myself when I had paid a day visit to the area, some six weeks previously.
Surprisingly at the time, I never wrote about this visit here on my blog. But a combination of the fourth anniversary, together with the need to occupy my evenings whilst currently in lock down because of the corona virus, means I’m doing so now. And whilst I have previously explained here, why I chose to retire and live in North Bohemia, I still regularly am asked why I chose this particular part of North Bohemia in which I now live. This post may help to answer that question.
Around midday on that Easter Monday 2016, I set off from Decín station, first alongside and then over the Labe river, through the town centre, in order to join the red waymarked route and walk to the border village of Hrensko.
On the outskirts of the village was this delightful sign. To the left you will find the Hrbitov/Cemetery, whilst to the right is the way do vesnice/to the village. But the top fingerpost tells you where to go Na houby/for mushrooms, whilst the bottom fingerpost tells you where to go Na pivo/for a beer 🙂 Only in the Czech Republic!
From Labská Strán, the path descended into, and then along, an almost dry river valley before becoming a narrow pavement alongside the main Decín – Dresden road and the Labe river, for the last 1.5km into Hrensko. Having walked over 20km, I was very pleased to reach Hotel Labe where I had already booked to spend the night.
The next day, I continued along the red waymarked route, repeating the first part of the walk I had undertaken on my day visit, six weeks earlier. This took me up to Pravcická brána…..
…….to the small village of Mezní Louka. But it was whilst I was on this section of my walk that I had an unfortunate mishap. My old but faithful trekking pole snapped and would no longer support me.
Whilst walking the Chemin de St Jacques, in France, in 2002, I became a convert to walking with a trekking pole. Particularly as I have got older, I don’t feel confident walking on an uneven path, without a trekking pole in hand, to help me keep my balance. This is especially true if I’m also carrying several kilos in a backpack. Therefore I was quite pleased to reach the road at Mezní Louka, without falling over!
I had planned to continue walking along the red waymarked route, to the village of Jetrichovice, where I had already booked ahead to spend the night in Penzion Drevák. But without a functioning trekking pole, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Instead, I took a different route, partly consisting of gravelled tracks and the rest along tarmacked roads. Thus I safely walked into Jetrichovice, later that afternoon.
After checking in at Penzion Drevák, I went for a short walk around the village. Within sight of the penzion was a bus stop, on which there was the timetable of bus service 436, into Decín. Believing that a town of 50,000 people, next to a popular walking area, would have a sports shop selling trekking poles, I noted the time of a bus departing mid-morning the next day, and told my hosts at the penzion, I would be staying with them a second night.
The next morning after breakfast, I went to the bus stop in good time and waited. Very close to the designated time, along came the bus. There followed a very scenic bus journey lasting nearly an hour, through a whole series of attractive villages, including one called Stará Oleška 🙂 Yes, that bus journey actually took me past the front door of the house where I now live!
Upon arrival in Decín, I searched the town centre, looking for a sports shop, but couldn’t find one. Eventually I spotted new shopping complex slightly out of the town centre, with a large Kaufland supermarket – the place where I now do nearly all my food shopping. Next to it was, and still is, a large Sportisimo sports shop. Inside, I found a pair of trekking poles for a very reasonable price. Mission accomplished!
After a pub lunch, I caught the early afternoon bus and enjoyed the same scenic journey of a few hours earlier, in the reverse direction, back to Jetrichovice.
The next day, I did walk part of the red waymarked route I had avoided two days earlier. I climbed from Jetrichovice, up to Mariina skála, from where there are wonderful views over the surrounding area. Very worthwhile, even though it was a bit misty that day.
Slightly further on is Balzerovo ležení, an interesting rock formation which has a picnic table beneath it. Please note my shiny new trekking pole propped up against the table 🙂 Then, rather than retracing my steps, I made a circular return to Jetrichovice, via the yellow waymarked route.
On Friday 1st April 2016, I once more caught the 436 bus in Jetrichovice, all the way to Decín railway station for my return journey to Prague. Exploring this specific area on foot and then by bus, left a permanent impression on me. Whilst I never said to myself that I wanted to live in a village on the 436 bus route, when nearly a year later, I saw the house in which I now live, on the Vesta Reality website, I knew immediately where is was. And the rest, as they say, is history!
On Sunday 16th February 2020, I was once again preaching in the Frauenkirche, Dresden, at the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer. The theme of the service and of my sermon, was the title of this blog post.
As I reminded the congregation at the beginning of my sermon, the previous week had seen the 75th anniversary of the bombing raid by British and US forces, on Dresden. Those bombing raids, on the nights of 13th and 14th February 1945, resulted in the destruction of the historic centre of the city and the deaths of about 25,000 people. As I further reminded the congregation, 75 years ago the previous day, the predecessor of the dome under which they were now sitting, collapsed!
What follows in this blog post, is the bulk of the text of my sermon. Several people who could not be present at the service, have asked me for the text of what I preached. And whilst I normally preach from handwritten notes, rather than a typed out text, I believe what follows is a fairly accurate account of what I said.
I have been responsible for the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer at the rebuilt Frauenkirche, since the beginning of 2016. I’m into my fifth year. I regard coordinating English-language Anglican worship at the Frauenkirche as a great privilege – it is an amazing place in which to lead worship and preach. But it is particularly meaningful to me because of my background.
For I come from a city in England which also suffered from a serious bombing raid during World War Two, which resulted in a major loss of life and the destruction of its Cathedral – the city of Coventry. It is where I was born, lived and was educated up to the age of eighteen. I am proud to call myself a Coventrian.
And out of their mutual experience of the horrors of war and aerial bombing, there are now strong links between the cities of Dresden and Coventry, and particularly between the rebuilt Frauenkirche and the new Coventry Cathedral. These links express a desire to build peace and work for reconciliation.
Coventry
I want to start with Coventry as its experience dates from over four years earlier than that of Dresden. On the night of 14th November 1940, the Nazi Luftwaffe carried out a major bombing raid on the city which resulted in the death of 568 people – a far lower number than in Dresden, but the highest casualty figure for one night’s bombing of any English city. And the destruction of Coventry’s mediaeval Cathedral with its wooden roof and interior being set on fire and destroyed. Amazingly, the tall spire survived, along with most of the outside walls.
The Provost of the Cathedral, (who would now be called the Dean), was a man called Richard Howard. At Christmas 1940, only six weeks after the bombing, Provost Howard spoke on BBC national radio, not of retribution, but instead, that once the war was over, his vision was to work with those who had been enemies, ‘to build a kinder, more Christ-Child-like world’.
Provost Howard also did three significant physical things. He made a cross out of two of the charred roof beams of the Cathedral and erected it behind the altar of the ruined building, now open to the skies. And on the inside of the east wall, behind the altar, he had the words, ‘Father forgive’, carved in the stonework. Both are still there and can be seen today.
I will come to the third thing that Provost Howard did, shortly.
After the end of World War Two, the decision in Coventry was to leave the ruins of the old Cathedral intact, and to build a new Cathedral alongside. The new Cathedral is at a right angle to the ruins, which most unusually means it has a north-south axis, rather the traditional east-west axis.
The foundation stone of the new Cathedral was laid by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 23rd March 1956 and is my earliest memory. For as well as laying the foundation stone that day, the Queen, along with the Duke of Edinburgh, also visited the Jaguar Car factory in Browns Lane, the street where I lived until I was ten. Thus, the royal motorcade drove past our house twice – first on its way to the factory and then the later return journey. At the time, I was a four year old boy who didn’t even have a television, so you can imagine the impact this had on me!
Just over six years later, on 25th May 1962, the new Cathedral was consecrated. As a ten year old schoolboy, a few weeks later, I attended a Cathedral service for children from Church of England schools within Coventry Diocese.
But back to the third physical act of Provost Richard Howard. Out of three mediaeval metal roof nails, he made a simple cross, of which the one on the Frauenkirche altar immediately behind where I was preaching, is a replica.
The original sits on the high altar of the new Coventry Cathedral. And this cross is now the symbol of what is known as the Community of the Cross of Nails, linking Churches together, committed to working for reconciliation between those formerly in conflict.
Because at the end of World War Two, Dresden was in the Soviet zone of occupation, which became the satellite communist state of East Germany, despite the desire of the Lutheran Church authorities to do so, the communists were not interested in rebuilding the Frauenkirche. Instead, in 1966, they declared the ruins as a ‘memorial against war’. A few years earlier in 1959, a twinning agreement was signed between the communist authorities in Dresden, and a fairly left-wing Labour Coventry City Council, both vowing to work for peace.
Only after the fall of communism, just over thirty years ago, could the desire to rebuild the Frauenkirche be realised. Work began in 1993 and was completed in 2005. The rebuilt Frauenkirche will celebrate its fifteenth birthday on 30th October later this year.
The Frauenkirche has what in English we would call a ‘Mission statement’. It consists of only six words and is sometimes displayed on a banner outside, on the Neumarkt.
And it is the work of reconciliation, symbolised by the Coventry cross of nails on the altar, that I want to focus on.
2 Corinthians 5. 11-21
This was the first Biblical reading I chose for the service, part of what is probably the most passionate of St Paul’s letters. In this passage, Paul speaks of reconciliation between us human beings and God. Humanity is fallen/sinful, exemplified by resorting to violence/war to gain what we want.
But ‘one has died for all’ (v14) – Jesus Christ. And anyone who responds to what Christ has done for us on the cross; they are ‘in Christ, there is a new creation.’ (v17) ‘All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ’. (v18a) When we recognise our own failures, then recognise the work of Christ and respond to it in faith and trust, we can be reconciled to God.
But – as a result of all this, ‘he has given us the ministry of reconciliation’ (v18b) and has ‘entrusted the message of reconciliation to us’. (v19b) Christians – followers of Christ, are to be people ‘Living reconciliation’; to be setting an example of reconciliation in practice.
My being able to stand in the pulpit of the Frauenkirche, leading worship and preaching, is reconciliation in practice. It has been made possible because of the Community of the Cross of Nails and because of the ecumenical Meissen agreement between the Church of England and the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland. Two Churches from two countries who 75 years ago were at war with each other.
Sadly, at a political level, Brexit is starting to undo all the good work achieved by the EU and its predecessor the EEC. For it was set up to prevent further conflict and war, after two World Wars had devastated the continent during the first half of the twentieth century. Yet the British right-wing press in calling for Brexit, still uses the language of fighting World War Two, 75 years after it came to an end.
It is the voice of reconciliation, not division that so needs to be heard. Christians individually, and the Church corporately, need to be that voice.
Matthew 5. 21-24
But reconciliation needs to happen, not just between nations, peoples, Churches – it needs to happen at an individual level. The second Biblical reading I chose for the service is a small part of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives us the picture of the good Jew who has travelled to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and offer a sacrifice for his sins. ‘So when you are offering your gift at the altar’, seeking reconciliation with God, ‘if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you’, leave your gift there, go and be reconciled, ‘and then come and offer your gift’. (v23-24)
We cannot expect reconciliation with God if we have not first sought to be reconciled with our fellow human beings, especially those we see as enemies or those we find difficult. It is what we pray when we say the Lord’s Prayer. ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’. And in the Greek text of the New Testament, the sense is, ‘as we have already forgiven those who sin against us’.
We cannot ask or expect God to forgive us our past wrongs and failures, if we have not first sought reconciliation with our fellow brothers and sisters, regardless of nationality, race or colour.
Conclusion
In 1958, some eighteen years after the destruction of the mediaeval Coventry Cathedral, the first Precentor of the new Cathedral, Canon Joseph Poole, wrote a Litany of Reconciliation. As is explained on the Coventry Cathedral website, (and as I have previously explained in this blog), ‘While framed around the seven deadly sins, it serves as a reminder that when we pray about the problems of the world around us, we need to begin by acknowledging the roots of those problems in our own hearts.’ The Litany is said on weekdays at 12noon in Coventry Cathedral and in member Churches of the Community of the Cross of Nails at midday on Fridays, as it is at the Frauenkirche each week.
Therefore my sermon ended by me using the Litany and inviting the congregation to respond to each stanza with ‘Father, forgive’, or if a first language German-speaker, ‘Vater, vergib‘.
The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation
‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive.
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own, Father, forgive.
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth, Father, forgive.
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others, Father, forgive.
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, Father, forgive.
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children, Father, forgive.
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God, Father, forgive.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’
Postscript
Following the service, shaking hands with members of the congregation at the door, I received many expressions of appreciation for my sermon. One lady told me that she had been bought up in the former East Germany, but about thirty years ago, soon after the collapse of the Inner German Border, she had been able to travel to Coventry. She recalled how moved she was to stand in the ruins of the old Cathedral before walking through into the new Cathedral. I have also had expressions of thanks online.
I am very aware that many people were specifically praying for me that day and I felt very much upheld by those prayers. If you were one one those people, please accept my grateful thanks.
Finally, it was encouraging to have a larger congregation than normal on a February Sunday evening. I think that many came specifically because the service was marking the 75th anniversary of the bombing raid and the theme of reconciliation.
