My cousin Esther made us very welcome at her home near Thun, Switzerland. Her home is in a valley surrounded by huge mountains. No matter which way you look your eyes feast on unbelievable beauty. Wheat fields and grassland, gardens and trees, farmhouses and barns, streams and lakes are framed by mountains that rise 6000-9000 feet (see picture).
My cousin is a nurse and her husband a family practice doctor. They work together and have two children eight and eleven. I’ve appreciated all the time she gave me over the last three days. When we arrived on Tuesday there was a fresh loaf of zufla (see Picture) that Esther made to greet us. It is a Swiss bread my mother baked and one I sometimes bake. The bread common to our family on both sides of the Atlantic made me feel as though all our ancestors from Switzerland and America were at the table. Esther has managed to serve us excellent meals and act as our non-stop tour guide. She arranged for us to visit several churches on Wednesday and to talk with a friend of hers who was from Missouri but has lived in Switzerland for 13 years and is now a citizen here. He grew up in the Baptist church and attended bible college in Mayfield. I learned so much from him that I want to share, but that must wait until I’m back at home in Bowling Green.
What I want to share today is how this July 4 may be the most meaningful Independence Day I’ll ever celebrate. I know this because in a conversation I had Thursday with a distant cousin, Oswald Muller (see picture) tears welled up in my eyes as I was told how America provided a place where my great-grandfather, John Muller, and his family could go in 1893 to keep from either going to jail or being killed. It is a story I’d never been told. From letters written in the early part of the 20th century by my great grandmother, Rosetta Muller and found a few years ago, we thought my grandfather left Switzerland for economic reasons. He owned a mill and we thought his brother had opened another mill not far from John’s and stolen many of his customers. We had assumed John left Switzerland angry at his brother. We know that when he got settled near East Bernstadt,KY his wife and children followed. My grandfather, Emil, was just an infant when they made the crossing. Our family received several copies of letters written by Rosetta (from 1905-1937) to her sister-in-law in Switzerland and in some of those letters she mentioned that John had forgotten the wrong done to him and was just living in the present. Today I learned from the grandson of John Muller’s brother what really happened. John and his wife Rosetta had become members of the Taufers. The word in German means baptizers. The reformed church believed in infant baptism. That was the official religion in Switzerland and infant baptism records were used to register citizens and to let the state know who existed for tax purposes and the draft When this group of Taufers began preaching baptism by immersion and opposed the draft and war they were hunted down and either jailed or killed. Word was sent to my great-grandfather to either leave the country or he would be jailed or killed. So he disappeared. His mill was taken over by the government and sold. John immigrated to America and sent word to his father when he had settled near to send his family. Even in America he was afraid the reformers might find him, so he never wrote and he never returned to Switzerland. My guess is that is why he changed his last name to Miller to avoid any scrutiny by other Swiss families who had already settled in America.
For several weeks I’ve seen the destruction brought by Reformers bent on changing the church and wrestling political power for themselves. Little did I know I’d discover my own great-grandfather had to leave his native country and lose his business because of the intolerance of the Reformers in Switzerland.
America gave him a fresh start, a place where he and his family could believe as they chose, a place where the government could not put him in jail and or take over his business because he believed in something that wasn’t popular.
On this 4th of July I won’t be in the states, but I will give thanks for a nation where different people are welcome, where new ideas are encouraged, and where freedom remains our most cherished possession. And I will give thanks for the people at First Christian Church who are comfortable with differences and try to room for everyone at the table.
Today we are in Zurick and have toured Zwingli's church. He was a contemporary to Calvin and Luther. Some say Disciples' view of communion follow Zwingli most closely. After what I've seen I'd argue with that point.
Tomorrow we are of to Rome.
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