Simon is one of the people who will be able to say “yes” to Jesus and “yes” to His Church in our congregation next year. Here he tells us how it came about and how God was the calming influence in the fear, and why Simon now has to be brave again.
The redundant Netflix subscription
Simon tells us about his Protestant past, which above all had a culturally formative function in his life.
“I grew up Protestant, and this Protestant heritage has always been important in my family. There was a lot of culture and ethics that I benefited from. As a teenager, I was in a Protestant youth group, and it was wonderful – but I never really ‚caught fire‘ there, and over the course of time my connection to faith started to disappear. In 2020, I saw my Church membership as kind of a Netflix subscription that I don’t use – I pay for it (editors note: in the German speaking countries we have the so called „Church tax“ introduced by Hitler, that, if you dont want to pay, you have to write a written declaration that you are no longer a member of the Lutheran…or the Catholic Church), but I don’t go. That’s why I left the Church shortly afterwards – and interestingly enough, that’s also when I began the process of rethinking my faith.”
Horror scenarios or gratitude?
“The birth of my son was an event that changed my life. But with this wonderful event also came a time that was characterized by many fears. It was the first year of COVID-19, and all the uncertainty that came with it caused me additional worries. I remember lying in bed next to my son Julian and my wife Steffi. They were both sleeping peacefully and I should have been happy: a healthy child, a healthy mother – everything was fine. But I couldn’t find peace. Instead of being grateful, I imagined horror scenarios: What could have gone wrong? What if the birth had gone differently? What if certain doctor’s appointments had taken place at different times? These thoughts tormented me and I couldn’t turn them off. It was almost as if I was reliving war stories in my own head.
In this darkness, I remembered something I knew from my childhood: prayer. I hadn’t had any connection to it for a long time, but in this situation I tried it anyway. I folded my hands and simply prayed. I thanked God for what I had – even though I didn’t have much connection to faith back then. Prayer saved me. It gave me a kind of peace that I couldn’t find before.
It slowly developed to the point where I prayed every day before going to sleep. I gave thanks for the day in the evening. And then I wanted to make this a part of my son’s life as he grew up. I wanted him to be able to fall back on it if he needed it.”
It’s great to have you here.
Simon then approached his neighbor wondering if he knew of a church that Simon could visit. This neighbor was our LDA Lead Sascha, who then took him to the John Paul II. Center.
“Coming here was a really positive experience – the atmosphere, the community. This hustle and bustle of children, lots of young families who dared to be big families. Everyone was so incredibly interested in us – in each other, in my story. This sense of welcome and the feeling that they were accepting me despite my story – or perhaps because of my story. That really impressed me.
My next step in faith was an Alpha course and that was a milestone in my faith. It was about central topics such as ‚Who is Jesus? What does it mean to believe in Him? What is guilt? What is forgiveness?‘ There was a topic every evening and it was nice to have these topics presented in this way. But I especially enjoyed the discussion evenings afterwards. That’s something that struck me again and again: this faith as a unifying element makes it possible to go into depth with people. It impressed me so much that I also took part in the Beta course after Alpha. That was great and helped me to go even further on my path.”
God changes.
“One evening of the Alpha course showed us how to read the Bible. There was this three-part structure: first praise, then reflection on the Bible verse and then a guided prayer – honor and praise God, then ask yourself ‚What’s on my mind‘ and finally say ‚Thank you, God‘. At first it was hard to understand the praise element…. surely there was so much wrong in the world? But I did it anyway. It helped me to refocus on the truly beautiful things in the world, as well as just making ‚peace‘ with certain things in the world. At some point I started praying more regularly – suddenly I was kneeling down, praying silently and asking the Holy Spirit to come. That was a wonderful experience.”
God continued to gift Simon in many areas. So much so that Simon began to show visible signs of his faith step by step.
“I’ve started making the sign of the cross before meals, even at business lunches. People keep asking me when I started doing that. It’s a bit like jumping off a ten-meter diving board every time. But I think it’s important to work up the courage and endure a little ‚embarrassment‘. Every time I do this, I feel that I am consciously professing my faith. I think it’s great that faith requires courage again in our time. We can work up the courage and gain something from it.
Faith has become a fixed part of my life. Something that I no longer want to do without. These are simple but powerful things that were also given to me through the impulses from the John Paul II Center. And I’m looking forward to what’s to come.”
Simon will be received into the community of the Catholic Church next year. We would like to invite you to join Simon in prayer. We look forward to supporting Simon as a community and accompanying him on his path of discipleship.
