7/9 - Leipzig, Bach and Peaceful Revolution

Though today was a long day, much of it was spent on the bus and general free time that was well spend shopping and eating.

Leipzig is home to many thing, but for our tour it was highlighted as the 27 year home of Johann Sebastian Bach and the launching pad of Peaceful Revolution.

First, let's talk about Bach. Bach, along with Handel, were musicians who made Germany set the pace for the future of music. From Bach and Handel came Beethoven, Mozart, Schumer, and many more musicians whose names I cannot spell. Bach was the musician in residence at Thomas Kirche, St. Thomas Church, where he wrote and composed some of history's finest pieces of music that are still performed today.

What you see here is his grave, but his 3rd location. Bach was first buried in a pauper's grave with 12 others, for reasons unknown. Later, his remains were excavated and buried in another church that was destroyed in WW2. Now his remains lie in estate in Thomas Kirche (hopefully, this is the last stop).

After bumming around Leipzig, we attended a pipe organ concert at Thomas Kirche, and then stayed to hear a pastor talk about his experience with the Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig that was pivotal in the eventual collapse of the East German government. All the churches in Leipzig participated in the Peaceful Revolution, which began simply with prayer at St. Nicholas Church. What started in 1982 with 10-20 people gathered to pray for peace, grew over the next 7 years to include thousands. From all over Leipzig and some parts of East Germany, they gathered with their frustrations, calls for justice, and demands for human rights, but always concluded with prayers for peace. As a means of protest against the injustice of the ineffectiveness of the East German government, the people gathered in the only place where the were truly free from the government - Christ's church. And from there, they left to return to the world in peace.

On October 9th, 1989, 70,000 people gathered after prayer in a peaceful demonstration to the government building. They were not armed with rocks and sticks, for their hands were already full of prayer and candles. The government, who could have done anything, did no harm. In the span of a couple weeks, the leading party and government of East Germany resigned. Then on November 9th, 1989, the Wall was torn down.

Revolution doesn't have come from violence and bloodshed. Sometimes, revolution comes quietly, slowly, and by surprise. That isn't to say there won't be problems along the way or that we get it wrong now and again. But violence is largely ineffective for rather than flourishing life, violence destroys life. Real change can come from valuing life by beginning with something tremendously simple and effective; prayer.