We left Cesky Krumlov on Monday morning, November 1, All Saints Day. Instead of heading north, we drove southwest, simply because it looked more interesting on the map. We also had the benefit of a GPS to lead us from place to place. If you look at Zelnava on the map of Czech Republic, you will see that it is within ten miles of the point where Czech, Austria, and Germany meet.
As we were enjoying the country-side and small villages, we saw this beautiful church which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The church is called St. Jacob's Church.
Now, it was not because it was All Saints Day that we stopped, but the fact that it WAS, made our visit so memorable. While snooping about taking photographs of the cemetery a man who could only be the sexton approached with key in hand, to let us into the building.
Every part of the beautiful interior indicated it was a Catholic church, but all of the writing was in German. As is typical in Europe, it was freezing in there--it was actually warmer outside.
Then we were led into the balcony for more photo opportunities, and, lo and behold, an organ! Jack really can't resist the possibility of playing it, so he asked (sign language!!!) if he could play it. "Ein Feste Burg" (A Mighty Fortress is Our God) was the first tune in Jack's mind.
You can see the sexton pulling the stop for the bass pedal and Dave Bosscher giving the thumbs up. Soon another man joined us who had heard the music but had arrived too late. "Could you play more of 'Ein Feste Burg'?" he asked.
As it turned out, this German man was in Zelnava visiting because of the All Saints holiday to pay respects to his deceased relatives and heard the organ and came to investigate. Because he spoke a little English (and Jack a little German) We were able to carry on a lovely conversation about the history of the church with him.
We love having these kind of spontaneous encounters that God seems to put along our way.
NEXT STOP: Prague
No comments:
Post a Comment