For two weekends in a row, I have been working on a blog and then either my computer shuts down or it mysteriously erases.

I find this very frustrating because the things I find myself writing are issues that I believe many people are dealing with - the next thing I know I have a dead computor or a blank screen!!

What gives???

One of the wierd experiences, at least for this American, is to walk into the big cathedrals in Germany and see the grave stones of the princes and lords buried in the altar of the church. Even stranger is to see all kinds of statues in honor of the king, the emperor, and other royalty and maybe one statue of Jesus.

Remember you are walking into what is supposed to be a church - a building built to honor God.

However, the cathedrals were built by the local Lord as a testimony to his power, affluence and honor. By the way, they were built with slave labor who didn't have the technology we have today to move 1,000 pound stones 50 feet into the air. Some of the cathedrals separated the state and church part of the building by building a separate section where the emperor or the Lord would sit for coronation or special services.

We can blame all of this on Constantine the Great and the Edict of Milan in 313 C.E. Constantine became a Christian and decided that the whole Roman empire should be christian. So everybody was now a Christian!

What is even more striking in these cathedrals in Germany is how they changed from being Roman Catholic cathedrals into Lutheran cathedrals. This is the story. When the local Lord decided that he was a follower of Martin Luther instead of Rome (one argument being - he didn't have to share his taxes with the Pope) then the cathedral became a Lutheran Cathedral. Now this is what also happened, if your feudal lord decided one day he was Lutheran, you became a Lutheran too! You didn't become a Lutheran because you had some spiritual revelation - you became a Lutheran because your Lord said so!

All of this was the experience of the founders of our country when they wrote: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

So how are we doing? Are we still maintaining the separation of church and state?

I wonder about this when I walk into churches as I did this week and see American flags prominently displayed in the sanctuaries.

Most of us know that God is not a Republican or a Democrat.

So I was thinking what if Jesus ran for office would we vote for him?

First, he is suspect because he comes from a small town. There is a proverb about his town: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (And they didn't mean Nazareth, PA - the home town of the Andretti family!)

Second, his birth is suspect. He was born to a woman who claimed she 'knew no man'. What gives with this? And the man she claimed as her husband was a radical who hated Romans.

Third, his lifestyle is suspect. "Come and see where I live." "The foxes have lairs, but I don't have a place to lay down my head." Who votes for a homeless man!

Fourth, his choice of friends makes him suspect. He was hanging out with prostitues, tax collectors, thieves, assorted social outcasts. And he chose some of these to be his closest followers. Can you imagine who he would choose to be his cabinet if he was elected governor!

Fifth, his message is suspect. He tells the rich young ruler to give all he has to the poor if he is going to vote for him. Doesn't he know we don't believe in forced redistribution of wealth! He tells the man who is hit in the face to give the attacker his other cheek. What kind of justice is that! He tells the man who is forced to carry the oppressor's backpack one mile to carry it two miles. Doesn't he know that you should beat up any body to tries to make a chattel out of you? He tells those who vote for him to seek his kingdom first. Doesn't he know that's unpatriotic and treasonness to support his kingdom instead of the earthly kingdom!

Sixth, his reaction to disrespect and disagreement is suspect. When people do you dirt, don't you hire the best defense attorneys? When people come after you and assail your character, doesn't he know that you have to hire the best ad companies to create ads to defend yourselves? What does he do? He speaks nicely to them if he speaks at all. Most of the time he says nothing in his defense! What kind of a candidate is that!

So if Jesus were running this fall would you go and vote for him next Tuesday?

(Here is a secret - actually he did run and he won - check out the Bible - Philippians 2:5-11)

One of my experiences on my trip to Germany a few weeks ago was to visit Buchanwald, a concentration camp built the Nazis prior to WWII.

There were several impressions I had from my visit.

First, the first impression I had was that the place is sanitized. While the pall of the horrors of what happened there still hangs over the air, it is hard to grasp the hardships, torture and deaths that were endured by those forceably taken there. The ground is clean, the barracks that housed the people are gone. There remains only some cell blocks which housed people before they were taken to other places to be murdered. And a large building which originally served as a warehouse in WWII is now a museum which tells the story of what happened at the camp. There is also the crematorium where people who died at Buchanwald were cremated, however, you don't reach this place until later in the tour.

Second, my second impression was about who actually made up the inmates of Buchanwald. One of the untold stories of WWII is that Hitler did not only target Jews but all 'socially unacceptable people'. Among such socially unacceptable people were communists, Blacks, the homeless, physically and mentally handicapped, homosexuals and gypsies. People who disagreed with Hitler were also on that list, however,gypsies and homosexuals were especially targeted. While 6 million Jews died in German concentration camps, well over 2 million gypsies were also exterminated. The number of homosexuals who died at the hand of Hitler's torturers are estimated around 10,000. The other groups have no active spokepersons so records are unclear about how many from those groups also suffered and died at Buchanwald and other concentration camps.

While I was walking around Buchanwald I was reminded by this quote from a German pastor who lived during WWII:

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

- Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

This was the most profound lesson for me - how do I treat those who are 'outside' of my circle - for whatever reason. And further, how do I respond when I see injustice and ill-treatment of the 'socially unacceptable' in my community? When is the last time I advocated for a handicapped person? When is the last time I defended the right 'for the pursuit of happiness' of a homosexual? What is the last time I defended the lifestyle of someone who chose to live outside of the confines of 'normal' society as the gypsies chose to do? When was the last time I defended the rights of those whose only 'handicap' was the color of their skin - a color they had no choice about?

This is the important lesson I brought home from Buchanwald!

I recently visited Germany. One of the most meaningful parts of the visit was to talk with followers of Jesus in what was the former East Germany.

One of the people we met was Renita, Renita grew up in the Communist-controlled East Germany after WWII. When she entered her teen years she knew that she would be faced with a decision that would determine her entire adult life. At the tender age of 14 she had to make a lifetime decision. She had to decide if she would join the Communist Youth Party or if she would choose to remain faithful to her faith in Jesus. If she chose the Communist Youth party she would be able to get a university or technical education which would allow her to provide for her family. If she choose the faith she had grown up in she would be saying 'No' to any hope of education. She would be relegated to the edge of society and, forever, be a social and political outcast. She choose to follow Jesus instead of join the Communist Youth Party. She married a follower of Jesus and remained faithful to her faith.

The day came, as she knew it would, that her daughter would come to her and talk to her about the choice that was before her: join the Communist Youth Party and get an education or follow Jesus. Her 14 year old daughter is very bright - she was 'doctor material' her teachers said. The daughter should choose the education even if it meant denying her faith. Renita and her daughter agonized over this choice. Throughout this time there was an active prayer movement in Germany praying for the reunification of Germany and dismantling of the Berlin wall.

And then it came, in the middle of this agonizing decision, the fall of communism. The fall of the Berlin wall. Freedom for all Germans! Suddenly Renita's daughter didn't have to make a decision as her mother had to make years before. The entire of her future lay before her. Renita's daughter continues to live in faith and is now completing her studies to become a doctor!

So how about you and me? What choice would we have made? Even if we made the choice for faith, would we have encouraged our child to make the same decision knowing the cost?