Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

In 1633, as the Bubonic plague swept through Europe a man came back for Christmas to a small German town in Bavaria.  Without realizing it, he had brought the plague with him.  He died not long after, and the plague itself began to spread through the village.

     Where do you turn in the 1600s when something as awful as the plague invades your community?  The entire community, we are told, turned to God and made a vow: if God would spare their village then they would honor God every ten years by re-enacting the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

     The story goes that from the time they made that vow, not another person in the village died from the epidemic.  The very next year, 1634, the town performed their first re-enactment of Jesus’ passion.  Ever since, from generation to generation, the town has offered its Passion Play almost without exception every ten years.  This year would have been its 42^nd production.

     The town, of course, is Oberammergau.  Still small (it numbers about 5,400 residents) it has become famous for its frescoes, its wood carvings and its play.  Through all the years the play has only been cancelled twice: the first time in 1770 when Bavaria banned passion plays, and the second in 1940 because of World War II. 

Image by Duernsteiner from Pixabay

     What originally began as a small and intimate production in the parish church was forced to move to the graveyard because of the growing crowds.  By the eighteenth century even the graveyard was too small, and the play was moved to a field where the town had to build a new stage each time the play was offered.  A more permanent location was finally established in the nineteenth century, and what began as an open-air theater has since been expanded and modernized into a theater that today can accommodate more than 5,000 people.

 
     As many as 750,000 people were expected to attend this year before it was postponed because of the pandemic.  About 450,000 are now expected for 2022.  The play runs five days a week from May through October, and over 2,000 people from the village are involved.  It lasts five hours, but includes a three hour intermission for dinner.

     Needless to say, a play that is offered every ten years and that draws people from all over the world becomes a “once-in-a-lifetime” event for a lot of people.  I have a lovely, wooden nativity in my office given to me by friends who attended the Passion Play twenty years ago.  I can still remember their enthusiasm when they returned.  I have felt the pull of Oberammergau ever since.  Bonnie and I had finally made reservations to attend this fall.  Lord willing, we will be there in 2022.
 
     What I love most is the story behind the play – an entire community turning towards God in the midst of a terrible epidemic and seeking a way, together, to honor Him.  Lots of people make vows in times of crisis.  What makes this story unique is the way that particular vow has been fulfilled for nearly four hundred years.  There is great power in turning towards God in the midst of whatever challenges we might face; great power in that act of faith which is the choice to glorify Him no matter what.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelations 4:11)