April 1634, Grantville,
State of Thuringia-Franconia,
United States of Europe
"Has Jen heard anything from Roy about how people over at Fulda are taking the outcome of the election?" Belle spooned drippings over the top of the lamb shank roast while Susannah finished draining the Swiss chard pot liquor. The fresh baked biscuits and steamed carrots were already on the table as was the tossed salad. "I was talking to Marc Kronzburg. He was very excited that Franconia voted to join the state."
Susannah shook her head. "She hasn't said anything. Jen's not really interested in politics. Ready, Belle?"
Sybella nodded.
"Okay, boys! Soup's on!" Susannah called out as she finished ladling her greens into the serving bowl. "How can it be that almost two years have gone past since the first time I called these friends to this table with those words?"
Belle laughed. "Time flies. Pete was just so excited to find an unopened jar of mint jelly after all these years. He said we were going to 'freak out' on just how good this stuff tastes on lamb."
By the time the ladies placed their loads on the dining room table, Belle's children, Tony and Vicky had, as usual, found their places and tucked their napkins into their collars. Susannah called the men for the second time, "Pete, Dieter, Anton, get in here right now before we throw it all to the hogs!"
"Mama, I'll eat it," Tony cried out as his face signaled to one and all that he didn't want to be passed over for some smelly pigs.
Susannah was barely able to avoid laughing out loud as she said, "Tony, you and Vicky are the hogs we might just have to throw it to!"
Six-year-old Vicky was very upset at this, "Aunt Su-Su, I ain't no hog!"
"No, you're my little piggy and don't you forget it!" Anton said as he rounded the doorway holding their newest addition, one-month-old Michael Magdeburg Beyer. Anton just beamed with pride at his little girl and her prissy little personality. Truthfully, he beamed with pride over his entire family, wife and children included. They had experienced a very big turnaround in their fortunes since fleeing burning Magdeburg three years ago.
With Pete taking his place at the head of the table, and Fischer in his usual position at the foot, they all sat as Dieter said grace.
"Let me make the first toast," Pete announced, raising his wine glass. When the others raised theirs, he continued, "To our wonderful Reverend and friend, Der Fischer! May he save as many souls as there are stars in the sky!"
"Hear, hear! To Der Fischer!" Anton clinked his glass against Fischer's and the others. "I don't know what a revival was up-time, but I do know that nothing like this has been seen in this world since Paul was taken into Roman captivity."
"Thank you all. I've been blessed with good fortune and the wonderful mentoring of Reverend Chalker and the love and support of all my friends here in this church. I'm just the messenger for what you all are doing," Fischer responded before draining his glass. "You know, I feel funny being here tonight and not at Bible study.
Pete smiled, "I'm sure Johann will do fine. If we're going to expect laymen to start teaching Bible studies in all the towns we're about to move into, we've got to start learning how to do it here."
Johann Friedrich was a member of the Elder Class of 1633 who worked as a caregiver at Manning Assisted Living Center.
Conversation continued as dinner was served. Little Michel fell back to sleep in his mother's arms. Miracle of miracles, Tony and Vicky failed to get into a food fight with the lettuce salad.
"So, Fischer, where's the tour taking you next?" Pete asked between bites.
"Reverend Chalker believes we should schedule along the rail line to Magdeburg first, one revival stop per week. That way, the choir and roadies can have enough time to rest between stops, and we can have the time to work with our newly recruited Bible study group leaders here at the church in between. Sister Jennifer and Brother Slater believe they can find enough substitutes to cover for cast and crew members who can't take that much time off from their regular jobs." Fischer cut a second helping of lamb for his plate before continuing, "With this schedule, Reverend Chalker believes we should be able to build towards a big event crowd in Magdeburg by late April or early May. That depends on how close the rail company keeps to their construction schedule, of course.
"After that we'll take a break, then start working the other rail line out to Eisenach. By September, we should have covered the major points on both lines and we'll see what God wants us to do then."
"It's an ambitious schedule, Fischer," Pete said. "But I know that God's been with you ever since I've met you and this is what He wants you to do."
"Changing the subject…" Pete stole a quick glance at Susannah. "I think it's time…" Pete pushed back his chair and dropped to one knee next to Susannah's chair. "Susannah, you've been the salt in my life ever since the Lord guided you to me. Would you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?"
He pulled a small blue box out of his shirt pocket, and opened it to reveal a small gold band.
Susannah covered her mouth with both hands and tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Peter, I don't know what to say…"
"For God's sake. Say yes, woman," Anton blurted out.
Susannah practically leaped into Pete's arms as she replied, "Yes, yes, yes, yes! Oh my God, yes!"
Once he was able to disentangle himself, Pete took Susannah's left hand and placed the engagement ring on her finger, looking very much like the cat that had eaten the canary.
After the turmoil and congratulations, Pete and Susannah delivered explanations (largely involving her Mennonite family) of why they had taken so long to make the decision. Then Susannah caught Fischer's attention. "Dieter, could you please help me bring in the desert?"
Fischer nodded as he stood up and followed Susannah into the kitchen.
"Congratulations, Susannah! I'm so happy for both of you." Fischer grinned as he watched Susannah pull the pies out of the oven and place them on the hot pads.
Susannah smiled, seemingly never taking her attention from her work as she brought up her primary goal of the night, "Thank you, Dieter. Now, when are you going to do something about Constanzia?"
"Wha…" Fischer was speechless at this unexpected topic.
Susannah put her oven-mitt-covered hands on her hips, then looked Fischer right in the eye. "Now, Dieter Fischer. You know that girl is in love with you. Why else do you think she's been hanging around helping all the other church ladies during the Bible studies? Why else do you think you always found her within a few paces of wherever you were when Hans left on the train that day? Have you even called her since you got home?"
"Well… ah, no."
"You're a good man and a preacher needs to be married. Constanzia is a good woman and she loves you. You must take care of this." Sternly, Susannah added, "This week. Before you leave for your next revival. Now, take one of these pies and let's say no more about it."
Jena,
State of Thuringia-Franconia,
United States of Europe
The Collegium Jenense had been the center of the University of Jena since it's first two professors, Stigel and Strigel and their one hundred seventy-one students moved into the old Dominican monastery in 1548. In his third floor office just under the bell tower, a gray-bearded man dressed in a black vest and robes sat at his desk studying.
"Dean Gerhard?"
The Dean of the College of Theology rose from his chair, bidding Dean Werner Rolfinck, his counterpart from the College of Medicine to enter.
Gerhard asked, "Well, Rolfinck, what's your conclusion concerning those that participated in the healings?"
"I've examined a good number of the patients, Professor. What's more, I've verified their previous history of suffering from the ailments they claim to have received relief from." Shrugging his shoulders, Werner Rolfinck concluded, "All seem to be valid. From what we've learned so far from our up-timer colleagues, some seem to have suffered from one form or the other of arthritis, some may have had nervous disorders, and some may have had other diseases of the mind or body, but as far as my examinations have been able to determine, the outward symptoms seem to be in remission now."
With a small smile, Rolfinck added, "I've seen the inflammation of the cartilage around joints of arthritis sufferers in my autopsy work. If I were able to get any of these subjects into my anatomical theater, I would be able to verify to what degree those conditions have indeed disappeared, but alas, I doubt if we could get that permission from the patients."
Gerhard let himself smile for a brief moment. It was an open joke that no student without a Bible in hand was safe in Rolfinck's presence. The doctor had received permission from the church to perform his autopsy studies on any body the church refused to bury. "No, I'm sure they wouldn't. Unfortunately, that leaves us with yet another unsolved mystery."
"Have you heard anything from Wittenberg yet?"
"No. We are becoming so used to this telegraphy that the Americans have brought us that we become impatient with waits for responses of only a week or so. And, since Saxony chose not to join the USE last year, AT amp;L has found adequate reasons not to extend their lines to Wittenberg.
"However, we have located correspondence with one of our professors from a Dieter Fischer. It was from the right time period for this Fischer to have been of the age to hear lectures in the Faculty of Theology there."
"Then, when do you expect to hear from your colleagues in Wittenberg?" Rolfinck asked.
"I sent a personal courier out Friday, a young theological student to whom I entrusted this responsibility. More than likely, he should be able to bring us a response by the end of the week, Monday at the latest."
"I see." Rolfinck nodded. "And what is your opinion of the theological substance of Fischer's Pentecostal message?"
"Well, it's all based on extrapolations from the first century church, in that it seems valid. They seem to reject the bulk of Christian scholarship from the intervening centuries. They do acknowledge the major creeds, but strongly reject any arguments that the age of miracles ended with the passing of the Apostles."
"Frankly, with the Ring of Fire, they have good supporting evidence."
Gerhard nodded in agreement, "Still, as with all the rest of the future Christian philosophies that flow out of the Ring of Fire, including the Grantville Roman Catholic for that matter, this Pentecostal belief system is heavily influenced by our current day Protestant doctrines. These Pentecostals have gone much further in removing priests or even pastors from the role of intermediary between mankind and our God. They very clearly believe that the third member of the Holy Trinity exists to this day as a direct conduit for God's instructions.
"We noted that Fischer was very careful to disclaim any personal credit for any of the healings that took place last week. Plus, in every theological matter, he always deferred his interpretations of scripture to the interpretation that this Holy Spirit would be offering direct to the congregant, once they had opened the ears of their souls to what It was trying to tell them."
"Then there's this Pentecostal Commentary and Concordance." Dean Gerhard picked the book up off his desk and absent-mindedly began to flip through its pages. "The concordance section seems to be a straight derivative translation of the up-time Thomas-Chain concordance that is standard in a number of the Bibles we've acquired from Grantville since the Ring of Fire. Chalker and Fischer have made some interesting modifications in areas relating to their peculiar beliefs on the end of the age of miracles, of course. But all in all, it's a perfectly acceptable point of view from the Lutheran perspective.
"As far as the commentary goes…" Gerhard grimaced. "It's hardly what we think of as commentaries. It's more of a collection of remembrances or stories that one would tell to a child. I did find quite a number of surprising interpretations of scripture there, but nothing like what the Papists have tried to shovel down mankind's throats all these years.
"Of course, only a theologian would have a problem with that. For the average person, especially someone who had been kept from reading the Bible in his own language by his religion, this might be very powerful. All in all, as the Americans might say, it's a very plain vanilla theology wrapped in an extraordinary amount of emotional appeal."
The two professors looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Rolfinck added, "I can say one thing. It's clear that Herr Fischer is not as confident in his power to restore the wounded and disabled. The students I sent to observe his tent meetings all reported that he would pray for amputees but send them away unchanged."
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God," Gerhard quoted from Luke. "You remind me of something. At services yesterday, our chaplain observed a number of our students place their hands over their heart, then raise their open palms to the sky during prayers."
When Rolfink's eyes widened at this information, Gerhard added, "I've instructed him to strictly reprimand any future participants from this sort of behavior.
"This faith apparently rose from a period in the future which had large numbers displaced from their homes due to wars and depressions. It's sure to be very appealing to the displaced thousands upon thousands throughout Europe due to our current wars. It even threatens to be a tool for a concerted demagogue, if that were the Pentecostals' intent. However, I see no theological evidence that it must be opposed at this point. Let's watch how the Reverend Fischer's future tent meetings go, and keep a closer watch on their results."
Grantville
"Reverend Chalker? Ready for dinner?"
Ingrid Nemeth heard the squeaking of chair legs against the wood floor, then, "Come on in, Mrs. Nemeth!"
Ingrid opened the door, and carried her wicker basket into Chalker's office. She placed it on a chair so she could clean off the table to serve Chalker his evening meal. "Well, how have you been today, Reverend?"
"Fine, fine." Chalker set aside the sheaf of papers he had been studying, "I was just going over the figures from young Fischer's Jena revival. I am so proud of that boy."
"He's truly a gift from God, Reverend. We needed someone to continue our faith in this world and He provided Reverend Fischer. I remember Paul's vision that Fischer would be the answer to our prayers."
"Amen to that, Sister." Chalker slowly made his way over to the table and sat down. Then he waited for Ingrid to take her seat and gave thanks.
"I don't know if you've heard," Ingrid said. "At work today, one of our customers came in saying that Fischer was teaching the Nazi salute in Jena. Isn't that ridiculous? I mean, the Pentecostals weren't the only evangelical group to hold our hands up to God during prayers. Just because Reverend Fischer is a German… It's just not right to slander a man like that."
"Many are the places in the Bible that say that the devil saves his strongest attacks for the souls that are doing the best work, Sister Nemeth."
"Amen to that, Reverend. It just burns me up. Attacking our minister for teaching people to reach out to God when the biggest atrocity is that rag that's been forced on us by the new government. What were they thinking?"
Ingrid was referring to the newly adopted United States of Europe flag. That it was a St. Andrews cross was not a problem. That had been the basis of the Scottish and other European flags for generations. However, the display of individual stars on that cross representing the states of the USE and using the background color red had been a point of controversy amongst the up-timer community since it was announced. With that dominant color, from a distance it was impossible to differentiate the USE flag from the old Confederate States of America battle flag also known as "The Southern Cross."
Even the black cross with the added golden crown in the center didn't offset the agitation that some up-timers felt. In fact, a good number of up-timers refused to display it.
"I understand that black, red, and gold are historically German national colors, I do." Ingrid continued, "But they could have used the black as the background color with a red cross just as easily, couldn't they?
"After all the evil things that have been done under that flag, how could Mike Stearns ever agree to let it be used? It puts us in the same camp as Hell's Angels and Ku Klux Klanners. I wrote Terrell and told him that I understood he had to take orders, but I didn't want him to go out of his way to pay any other respect to that piece of filth."
Using this opportunity to change the subject, Chalker asked, "How is Terrell? I've been expecting to hear from him on how his latest studies for the ministry are coming along."
Ingrid beamed, "Oh, he's wonderful. He is really enjoying this telephone and telegraph training he's been assigned to up in Erfurt. The warrant officer who he reports to is from Grantville, but I never met him. Art Berry. I understand his wife still lives off of High Street near the middle school.
"Oh, that reminds me, Terrell said to tell you and Reverend Fischer that Mr. Berry had told him about a way to transmit a radio signal over long distances. Something about linking up two CB or cab radios to form a relay or something like that. Terrell seemed real excited about the idea. I'll bring the letter over tomorrow. He thought Reverend Fischer might be able to do a live remote broadcast from the next revival stop."
Chalker chewed on his fried chicken for a moment longer, then wiped his mouth with his napkin and mused, "A live remote. My, my, wouldn't that be something? They worked real well for Billy Graham, didn't they?"
Constanzia was exhausted by the end of the school day. How these up-timers call themselves civilized and not teach their children Latin, she would never know. Every time she brought up a rule derived from Latin, her up-timer students showed the same blank stare as the down-timers scribbled the lesson in their notebooks.
She really didn't pay a lot of attention to who else was in the small crowd on the trolley stop just across the road from the high school. So she was surprised when she heard him call out her name.
"Fraulein Garb! What a pleasant surprise to run into you here."
Constanzia recognized the distinctive baritone voice and felt her face flush like a schoolgirl's. "Reverend Fischer! What brings you here?" Oh God, could I have said anything dumber than that?
"Oh, I was out for a walk and decided to catch the trolley home." Fischer decided that she didn't need to know that he'd been sitting on this bench re-reading the same page of yesterday's Grantville Times for the last forty-five minutes. "Since I've been given Monday nights off, I missed you at Bible study this week. What did you think of how Elder Fredrich handled it?"
"Fine, fine," Constanzia responded as she sat down beside him. "Of course, he's not you, but I think he handled the conversations well. And very importantly, he began and ended on time. As a teacher, I appreciate that."
Fischer was stuck on what to say for a moment, but then added, "That was very difficult for me when I replaced Reverend Chalker. I'm sure Elder Johann will do just fine."
Then he took the plunge. "Since we're here, would you like to share a bite to eat with me? I hate to eat alone. Pete is out of town bidding a new job and Susannah is having dinner with her family tonight."
Constanzia's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I'm not dressed to go anyplace fancy…"
"Oh no, no place fancy. What do you think of the pizza place downtown? You do teach Italian, don't you?"
After continuing their conversation on the trolley ride downtown and while sharing a pizza, Fischer decided that the time had come for him to ask the question that Susannah had demanded he ask, "Constanzia
…"
As he paused, she thought, Is he about to ask what I think he's been leading up to? Surely not! What will I say? How will I tell Catharina, much less my father?
Finally, Dieter found the words he had been searching for, "Constanzia, as you know, I'm just a simple pastor, but God has been good to me since coming to Grantville… Well, I don't know if you have a boyfriend or not, and I was thinking… I mean… Would it be possible for me to ask your permission to call on you?"
Raising one eyebrow, Constanzia said, "You mean, like going out?"
Now it was Fischer's turn to flush, "Yes, like for going out and seeing each other regularly."
"Why Reverend Fischer! Yes! I'd love to see you regularly." Constanzia broke into a big smile and took his hand in hers.
"Well, in that case…" Fischer placed his other hand over hers. "I guess you'll need to learn to call me Dieter."