Pastor Roggelin's Newsletter at Zion Church of Baltimore

Zion hört die Wächter singen,
das Herz tut ihr vor Freude springen,
sie wachet und steht eilend auf.
Ihr Freund kommt vom Himmel prächtig,
von Gnaden stark, von Wahrheit mächtig,
ihr Licht wird hell, ihr Stern geht auf.

Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing;
She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious.
Her Star is risen, her Light is come.

Words: Verse 2 of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme by PHILIPP NICOLAI. The words may have been inspired by a 1523 poem by Nürnberg’s Meistersinger Lutheran poet Hans Sachs (1494-1576); they were first published in Nicolai’s Freudenspiegel des ewigen Lebens (Joyous Mirror of Eternal Life), 1599. CATHERINE WINKWORTH translated the lyrics from German to English in 1858. Music: “Wachet Auf,” PHILIPP NICOLAI; harmony by JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, 1731.

When I attended this year’s OKTOBERFEST in the Armory, a gentleman asked me: “Why does your church have this Jewish name?” As I tried to explain to him that ZION is as well Christian as it is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, I thought that this person might not be the only one asking why Zion has her name (documented since 1785). Now, here is some info, and you will se that it fits the season further down… This is what the dictionary has to say:

ZION (z ´ n) or Sion (s ´ n) , section of Jerusalem, defined in the Bible as the City of David. Originally the name referred to the Jebusite fortress conquered by David, on the southeastern hill of Jerusalem. Zion was later applied to the hill where the Temple stood, and in turn came to denote the Temple area itself. Zion is symbolic of Jerusalem, of the Promised Land, of Israel’s hope of returning to Palestine (hence the term Zionism), and of heaven or God’s dwelling-place with his people.
With it, we are in good company. According to an August, 2002, article of THE LUTHERAN, among the ELCA's 10,777 congregations, Zion ranked fourth in the Top 10 names.
We can assume that the charter members of our church chose the name because it reminded them, the immigrants, of their eternal home. In applying a name that originally was not theirs to their church, they followed a century old pattern that had been developed to allow the believer to interpret passages of scripture in a specific way, called the fourfold sense of scripture.

It goes like this:
Scripture’s sense Gives answer to Question: »ZION« / »JERUSALEM«
sensus litteralis/historicus Was ist, war ...?What is/was...? Die Stadt im hl. Landthe city in the Holy Land
sensus allegoricus /typologicus Was bedeutet das heilsgeschichtlich?What does it mean in the light of salvation history? die Kirchethe church
sensus moralis/tropologicus Was bedeutet das für den einzelnen Menschen?What does it mean for the individual? die Seelethe soul
sensus anagogicus/eschatologicus Was bedeutet das eschatologisch?What does it mean in the light of the last things? das himmlische Jerusalemthe heavenly Jerusalem

Now Luther was rather critical of this method as in his times it would often obscure the sense of Scripture rather than reveal it. He made sure that every interpretation of Scripture had to be judged against Scripture itself and against its core “sense”: the gospel of Christ.
With this in mind, writers of hymns and prayers could still make use of it. Our example above speaks in most beautiful images of the wedding feast to which we are invited. “Zion” here is indeed both the church as well as the individual soul – getting ready to greet the one who is coming: the strong in grace, in truth victorious - to raise her from gloom and despair.
It is my prayer in this holy season that we can identify anew with this joy and open our hearts as well as our community to the message of the gospel: Her Star is risen, her Light is come
Have a blessed season of Advent and Christmas!

Eine besinnliche Adventszeit, ein frohes Weihnachstfest und ein gutes Neues Jahr wünscht Ihnen allen