The older people mostly sat and talked, catching up on family news, reminiscing about their parents and grandparents, and just comfortable to be. The toddlers, wandered wherever and got into whatever, given a little more freedom to roam by parents. Teens and middle-agers were into sports and trips to different attractions around town. Each day all came together for a common meal, ample food and drinks and conversation.
Heinrich Bernard Bauer had immigrated to Indiana in the 1800’s. One of his sons, Gottlieb, had five children. 90 of Gottlieb and Elizabeth’s descendants gathered on the Seminary campus the last four days for the Bauer Family Reunion. “Who’s that? Who does he/she belong to?” And some of the younger people probably thought, “Boring. Stuck with all these old, unknown people.”
Like them or not, family reunions remind us of a lesson America needs to learn anew. “God settles the solitary in a home.” (Psalm 68:6)
“Our Father, by whose name, all fatherhood is known,
Who dost in love proclaim each family Thine own,
Bless Thou all parents, guarding well,
With constant love as sentinel,
The homes in which Thy people dwell.”
(Lutheran Service Book, 863)
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