Tuesday I went to a Hauskreis (a "home circle"--a Bible study in someone's home) with a new friend from the DAAD. Maybe it's because I have to concentrate so hard on both the pronunciation and trying to get some meaning as the words go by. Also it probably helps that most praise songs are pretty simple. I'm looking forward to being completely over my cold so I can get my singing voice back.
Our text was 1 Samuel 2, and we discussed whether Hannah was channeling God's sovereignty and justice or her own very human jealously in her song of praise; Eli’s parenting skills or the lack thereof; and how Hannah’s song—with the rich being punished and the poor being rewarded—reminded us of certain Psalms, of Mary’s Magnificat, and the Beatitudes.
The group is nice, and I plan to attend every Tuesday night the 5 months I am here in Dresden. I was rather frustrated, though. Even though I can understand what I read in my Gute Nachricht Bibel and often know the words from my New Revised Standard Version in English, it is completely another matter to produce interesting commentary in the course of a discussion, because I don’t know the vocabulary in German well enough to insert it into my speech. And you can forget quoting verses. I’m not a big fan of memorizing Bible verses, but being able to insert snippets here and there can help you make a point. I mean, heck, I'm still just learning all of the names of the books of the Bible! (I really puzzled over Jesaja and Sacharja.) DH says there are a couple of Chinese students in Grad Study back home who are also having some difficulties, which I can easily believe, because we tend to be pretty Biblically literate, and sometimes drop names or theological theories like a tree sheds its leaves in autumn. I learned a lot of that stuff in that group, but for any newcomer trying to do it, and in a new language no less, it’s hard. But like I said, these Methodists(!) seem really friendly, and I think we'll get on just fine.
One final point: I have become one of those people...you know, the ones who read their Bibles in public. I take it on the bus or streetcar to have something to read while I commute. I don’t feel any social inhibitions about it, largely because reading my Bible in German is new and exciting--I mean, I can do it.* There’s so much to re-learn in this new language, and I want to know as much as possible. On top of that, I find myself approaching familiar passages with new eyes. (This probably isn’t what they mean when they suggest doing your reading in multiple translations, but there you go.) I am working my way through John (Johannes) right now, and then I think I will tackle Isaiah (Jesaja).
*--This feeling reminds me of the time I was cussed out by a German Zivi while staying at the Goethe Institut in Göttingen during college. A mutual friend of ours had taught him a bunch of English curse words, and when I joined them, he delighted in being able to use them "correctly", albeit it my expense! They thought it was a hoot. I have that kind of joy at the simple accomplishment of understanding my new Bible. :)
Your comment about the weird names for books made me smile. I recently shelf read the Biblical and Judaic Studies section for work, and had a lot of fun figuring out what the heck the books were about with their German or anglicized Hebrew titles.
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