I might need to rethink my original idea about attending a German only worship service. I have done that twice now (first, one near where I was staying with my friend in Stuttgart; second, 10 min walk from where I live in Mӧhringen). The intent when I went into this endeavor was to do a total immersion so that I could learn German faster. I still think that is correct thinking. However, the trade-off for now seems to be that I don’t know really what is being spoken of sung (except words and phrases). I think it is also hard for me to maintain any sort of attitude of worship when it becomes a linguistic exercise where I’m more focused on what’s begin said instead of the meaning and the point driving what’s being said.
Like this morning, for instance, I know the Scripture passage was from Luke (Lukas in German – that’s pretty easy to figure out). I heard multiple times “Gottes namen” meaning the names of God. I heard once “leben meister” (Master of Life, which I really enjoyed), but I also heard alleine (alone) and I don’t know who the subject is. Other than that and a several other words without any context, I have no idea what was going on.
So, I’m not sure what I should do. I still like the idea of not creating a crutch with the English language so that I really can be fluent in German. But on the other hand, I’m really not worshipping well in any sort of community with this initiative. Options: give it time (“it” meaning me until my German becomes better and better) or when the semester starts in October, find some student group where things are in English to supplement my German Sundays.
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