Exploring the Wendish homelands

We headed west from Austin to Lee County where the Wends settled back in the 1850's.  The first church they built was completed and dedicated in 1867 in Serbin, Texas.

This is St. Paul Lutheran Church and if you go on their website, www.stpaulserbin.org, and click on their restoration, you will find it very interesting!  It is one of the nine remaining Wendish churches in this area. 
The Wends (or the Sorbs as they called themselves) descended from Slavic tribes who as early as the 10th century occupied a swath of land down through central Europe.  By the 1800's there were only a small number of these people left inhabitating an area along the river Spree, in northern Germany running into Poland and the Czech Republic.  The impetus for the migration to Texas was in part religious and in part political.  For one thing the Prussians insisted that the Wends speak German and not their own Wendish language.  The Wends were discriminated against in the workplace, dispossessed of their land, and the final insult was the requirement by the Prussians that the Lutheran Wends join the Evangelical Reform churches in a single state run protestant church.  Rather than accept this decree they joined together and planned to immigrate to America.  The story of the Wends migration is one of triumph and tragedy with the deaths of a number of men, women and children from cholera as they crossed the Atlantic on the sailing ship Ben Nevis.  The triumph was their finally reaching the banks of Rabbs Creek, Lee County, Texas, where they purchased a league of land and began the Wendish Lutheran community in southeast Texas.  Their leader was the Reverend Jan Killian who wasted no time in connecting his Wendish brothers and sisters with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  This is a rich history and one well worth pursuing and it has it's beginnings right here at St. Paul Lutheran in Serbin.  The church pictured is often referred to as the 'rock' church; it is a replication of the original wooden church built on this site.  It is known and loved as one of the "painted churches" of Texas.

Others that we visited today were in Elgin, Giddings, Warda and Winchester.

Grace Lutheran Church, Elgin, TX, established in 1899.  The present church is new.  Notice how it makes use of colors, both on the walls and in the stained glass windows, to obtain the worshipful setting. 
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This is Immanuel Lutheran of Giddings, TX, founded in 1883.  This new church, along with a K-8 school and a huge gym-auditorium, occupy a city block in Giddings.  You may not be able to see it in this picture, but the bell tower is stain glass from the bottom to the top as it points heavenward in praise of our Great God.

Holy Cross Lutheran is located in Warda, Texas, and I believe that the church really represents the town as the only other building in Warda is the post office!  It was founded in 1882.  The present new building is represented not only by this church but also a very large elementary school with a huge multi-purpose facility.  The shear size of some of these facilities is outside of my realm of experience.  These early Wends set a firm foundation for a flourishing 21st Century church (Kirke).

Winchester, Texas, looks like it could have been the set for the movie 'Fried Green Tomatoes".  St. Michael's Lutheran Church, founded in 1887, is alive and well, preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus to about 200 souls in this place.  Another living legacy of the Wendish believers.

There is a wonderful Texas Wendish Heritage Museum in Serbin which is where we gathered our information on the Wends.

Stay tuned!