VICTORBUR EVANGELICAL
LUTHERAN CHURCH
 |
Victorbur Lutheran Church
Pastor Andrea During-Hoogstraat and Pastor Jurgen Hoogstraat |
The
first and largest part of the church was built in the 11th century,
well before the people of East Friesland, Germany even thought of building the
dikes that hold the sea at bay. It naturally began its life as a Roman Catholic
Church and was under the rule of several Earls, government officials and royal
families. The second part of the church was built only about three or four
hundred years ago.
Jurgen
Hoogstraat has been pastor of the Victorbur church for 20 years. Herr
Hoogstraat and his Frau, Andrea During-Hoogstraat are both very much involved
in the church and the community. Andrea has been co-pastor with Jurgen since
1993 and takes a large share of the load of this parish of some 6,000 souls.
The
building of the churches in the Ostfriesland area may all have been
accomplished using the same method as was described to me by Jurgen Hoogstraat
on May 2, 2011. He said that a hill
(sometimes man-made) was chosen as the church site. Teams of horse-drawn wagons
would go to the sea shore at low tide and gather wagon loads of sea shells.
When they brought them back to the church site, a fire was used to burn the
shells until all that was left was chalky dust. This dust was then mixed with
water and used as mortar. On close inspection of the exterior brick work, one
can see evidence of tiny pieces of sea shells mixed in with the mortar.
The
walls of these old churches are about four feet thick. Pastor Hoogsgraat said
the walls are filled with rocks and covered with bricks and this mortar. That
was made clear to us when we were shown a door about 10-12 feet up on the wall
where a steep, narrow set of stairs was carved into and up the wall. These
stairs lead to a space above the relatively new wooden ceiling so that the
actual roof of the church can be inspected. I estimate the height of the church
at about 60-75 feet.
Inside
the church you can see the lengths to which the builders of old (with
instruction from the priests, no doubt) went to build a sanctuary worthy of its
mission. Very high on the walls, exactly five arched windows on each side of
the church were constructed. The number “five” is the number of “love” – God’s
love, in this case.
There
are many such “memory joggers” in the sanctuary because in early years, the
people couldn’t read, but they told the Christian story orally using the
symbols and the statues in the church. Around the pulpit area are perhaps half
a dozen carved wooden figures each with a particular item in hand or close, to
help children and adults remember the stories.
Today,
Pastor Hoogstraat still uses statuettes to help the children remember the Bible
stories they hear from him on Friday mornings or Friday afternoons. Evidence of
the children’s sermon from last Sunday was seen on a special place at the
chancel area. Herr Hoogstraat says he loves to have the children come and
doesn’t mind the time it takes.
Several years ago 54 people – some elderly,
some younger – from the Victorbur Church went on a tour of The Black Forest in
South Germany. They were in the mountains when the brakes went out on their bus
and the bus landed on its side. The driver couldn’t get the side door open.
However, the back door could be opened but it was a long ways to the ground and
probably people would have had broken limbs had they jumped. Suddenly a man in
a red car appeared. He got the side door open, helped all of the people out of
the bus, told them to find shelter in the forest and then drove off. Moments
later the bus exploded since gas was leaking out – lots of it – because the
tanks had just been refilled.
They
were so excited they forgot to thank the man so they put out advertisements in
papers far and near. They even described the red car. But no one ever responded either for the man
or his car. Some thought an angel had passed by and rescued them. They had an artist carve a cross and put the
words on it, “God Helped Us!” It will
remain in the sanctuary now for hundreds of years as a testimony to the
incident where they believe God intervened and saved their lives.
