SERVICE CELEBRATES GERMAN HERITAGE

The Rev. Adam Mueller was a guest speaker Sunday night at the Old Hanover Lutheran Church. He preached a Christmas sermon entirely in the German.

Mitchell Lucido was the youngest member of the congregation Sunday night at Old Hanover Lutheran Church for the seventh annual German Christmas Worship Celebration.

Throughout the hour long service, Mitchell lay quietly asleep in the arms of his father, Greg Lucido, vicar at the church.

When the service began at 7 p.m. Sunday evening, Mitchell was barely two days old. He was born at 6:30 Friday evening and went home from the hospital Saturday.

In the pew directly in front of the Lucidos sat Marie Exler of Cape Girardeau, the oldest member of the congregation Sunday night. Exler, who is 84, helped to organize the annual German Christmas Worship Celebration seven years ago.

Although she does not speak German herself, Exler encouraged the German service as a way of celebrating the heritage of Hanover Lutheran Church. The church, which was organized in Cape Girardeau in 1846, conducted its services in German until the 1930s.

But even more, the service was, as members of the congregation tried to stress, a chance to bring the past, present and future together. The close proximity of Mitchell Lucido and Marie Exler seemed to bear that out.

"The German service is an opportunity to link our past with the future," said the Rev. Jeffrey Sippy, pastor of the church. "It is an opportunity to remember how the gospel stays the same even when the language changes."

He added that the language of worship has changed over the years from Latin to German to English. Throughout that time the church has tried to find new expressions for the gospel message during times of cultural changes.

Most of the 80 or so people in the congregation Sunday night did not understand the German that was spoken, but followed along reading a translation of the worship service that was provided to them. Most tried to read the liturgy in the unfamiliar language.

For Exler, the easiest part of the worship service were the hymns which were sung in German, especially "Stille Nacht," which is generally known in this country by its English name, "Silent Night."

Conducting the service in German was the Rev. Adam Mueller.

Mueller was born in the Black Sea region, in the village of Hoffnungstal in what is now the Ukraine. His family moved to Germany in 1940 when Mueller was 9 years old.

He lived in Germany throughout World War II and came to the United States in 1960 after receiving his seminary training in Germany. He spent time in the South Pacific as a missionary and returned to the United States to receive further training in English at Concordia Seminary in Springfield, Ill.

In 1971 he became the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, where he remained for nearly 21 years.

Though he was raised speaking German, Mueller has spoken English for so many years he finds it difficult to speak German as fluently as he did in his childhood. When he returns to Germany every two or three years Mueller finds it takes him a week or so to get his German back.

He had no such difficulty Sunday night when throughout the service Mueller continued to speak in German. Only occasionally did he pause to speak in English, but not because he was having difficulty with German, but so he could address the congregation more directly.

"Christmas means God sent his son Jesus Christ into the world," Mueller said in English as he was closing his sermon.

"All I wish for you is a meaningful Christmas," he said.