Limestone Church

In keeping with my normal Sunday blogpost subject........church windows.......here are some:

Last Friday, Husband sent me to an implement dealership in Fort Atkinson, Iowa, to pick up netwrap for the round baler. The town of Fort Atkinson actually does contain a preserved fort, and I will post about that sometime soon.

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Up the road from the fort are these limestone ruins of a church, and much to my surprise, the sign denotes that it was a Lutheran church.......this is the St. James Lutheran Church Preserve, which I've never been to before. This is a predominantly Catholic community, which is why I was surprised to find out this church was Lutheran. The Catholic church down the hill in the town of Fort Atkinson is called St. John Nepomucene......someone I'd never heard of before. Read about this Bohemian saint. Many people in this part of northeast Iowa are of Czech Bohemian descent.

Click this next photo to enlarge it and read the sign which says "English Congregational - 1857" and "German Lutheran - 1871. As I was taking these photos, a pickup drove up and honked......I thought, "Oh, dear, maybe I'm trespassing." But, no, the driver rolled down his window and said, "Thank you for taking a picture of my cross!" He made the cross in front of the old church. We talked for a few minutes........in that short time I found out he is a dairy farmer, now living in town, but still helping his sons out at the farm. He's very involved in his community, but here's something surprising that he said: He asked me what I thought of the upcoming election, and then he told me that he's NEVER once voted in the presidential election......not in his entire life, and he appeared to be in his 70's! He said, "I don't trust any of those national politicians."

Since yesterday was All Saints Day, a day to remember the departed, here's a couple little tombstones that were nestled amongst the tall pine trees behind the church ruins. Here's Tille and Milly.......twins.......

.......and Georg, whom presumably was also a young child, for his gravestone is tiny and has a lamb depicted on it.

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Today, in some parts of the world, people spend time in cemeteries, putting flowers on graves and having picnics near the resting places of departed loved ones. Seems like in the U.S., we do our best to stay away from graveyards.
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Enjoy your day! May we remember our departed loved ones and friends with thankfulness.......the Communion of Saints.......the Cloud of Witnesses.......they may be nearer to us than we realize.
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[WARNING: If you're still of the opinion that Sarah Palin is the greatest thing since sliced bread then you probably won't care for my opinionated blogpost tomorrow. Gotta get one more rant in before Election Day! What would life be without varying opinions......right?! Then I think I'll hunker down and hide out from blogging for awhile. Let the election whirlwind blow over.]

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