Christian “Get Closer Weekend” with Neal Morse and his family filled with contemplative gospel music, very much hope and spiritual strength!
Just two weeks after the nearly three-hour progressive rock show with TRANSATLANTIC the singer, guitarist and keyboard player Neal Morse presented along with his family and many friends from all over Europe in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt a two-day, almost – 13-hour – Christian “Get-Closer-Meeting” in which he interpreted not only traditional and religious gospel songs, but also offered as part of an independent church the fair opportunity for the audience to share personal experiences, praise the Lord and praise the power of the Holy Spirit.
Musically, the first day was dominated by the songs of his new studio album “Get in the Boat”, and of course, the very well-known gospel songs, such as “Hallelujah”. Together with the musicians Julie Harrison and Debbie Bresee and his two children, Wil and Jeyda, the musical priest presented his songs with a Spirit that instantly filled up the room with emotional warmth, and deeply touched the hearts of the spectators.
The music was interspersed with testimonies from the audience. People stood in front of the microphone and told the visitors about their life, shared in their joy or even their suffering and fates. Two English priests, Mark and Jonathan – in no way related to the two benefactors of the American family series “Highway to Heaven” – participated, either as a preacher or as a singer in the activities.
Between the two-hour celebrations there was always a two-hour break, where plenty of food and drinks was provided to the visitors.
The second day was similar to the first, with one major difference: several visitors brought their musical instruments and joined Neal and his gospel band. The group was enriched with a bass player, a flute and viola 
player, as well as several singers. The highlight of the first part was a sensational praising a cappella canon from a 40-member group.
In the second part of the meeting, our first manager Alexander Höfer, took the opportunity to say a few words to the visitors. Here an excerpt:
“Dear friends! My name is Alexander Höfer, and I come from Nussloch. This is a town near Heidelberg. I am a social education worker, working with children and young people for over 20 years now. Today, I want to tell you about this work. But before I start speaking about the children, or rather about the society and their sad destiny; I would like to tell you a little story.
Almost four years ago, I had a visit by a mayor and two councilors from a poor small village of eastern Hungary. They were here in Germany for the first time in their lives and they knew our country and our people only from the football games on TV. Accordingly, they were very curious to know whether the impressions they had gained from Germany would be confirmed. On two evenings they headed off alone to look at my home community in more detail.
At dinner on second day, they gave me the following reports. They said, “Alexander, your home community Nussloch is beautiful. You have great, valuable houses, and many big cars. Some families even have three cars. You have very nice and proper streets and you also have beautifully maintained gardens. But tell us, where are the people? – We were now two days in the residential area of Nussloch, and haven’t met anyone we could wish a “good day”. We haven’t seen any people who sit together in the gardens, talking together, cooking together, or drinking a glass of beer together. Where are the neighbors? – And most importantly, where is the life?”
Then I answered them, “If you seek life, neighborhood or community, then you have to drive home in your village, because these things no longer exist here anymore, at least in the forms, as you know it.”
I told them in Nussloch many people live for decades in the immediate vicinity, quasi as neighbors, and possibly have never seen or met each other.
As my three Hungarian friends took note of this with a great disillusionment, they reported to me their other impressions: “Alexander, we have also seen some sadly abandoned playgrounds, with signs – “Playing football prohibited! – Cycling prohibited! – Roller skating forbidden “skateboarding forbidden! (! ?) ? Even eating ice cream is banned on the playgrounds” (!?!) – “Are the German children not allowed to play on playgrounds?”, and I replied to them: “Unfortunately, this is our reality, and I’m surprised that praying and meditating are still allowed!”
“And what happens when the kids are playing football or eating ice cream there?” the mayor asked me. “Then it may be possible that some neighbor calls the police or complains in person about it at the town hall. You have surely seen the age restrictions. Last year, a 15-year-old boy played basketball together with his 8-year-old brother on a playground. But playing on this playground is only allowed for children up to the age of 14. A neighbor saw this and called the police. They came and sent the boy off the playground. A day later, the father was playing with his 8-year old son there. The father, however, is much older than the 15-year-old boy. Such a scheme is totally crazy, and so I’ve been thinking for quite a long time about WHY so many people here are emotionally so cold, so hostile to children and so susceptible to indifference.”
For some time, the media speaks of a two-class society, which they divide into rich and poor. But for years, I have noticed again and again within my work that our society has developed not only from a financial perspective, but also in the social sphere to this two-class society “rich and poor “. One hand there are the people – I used to often call them “Power-Monsters” – because they are only working, and money, success and status, are their elixir of life. These people have normally no more time to participate in real life or live together with their peers and neighbors. On the other hand we have – and that is really the saddest part of this social development – more and more socially poor (interest- empty) and emotionally blunted, “sick” people (children and young people) who are lost and feel out of touch with the real meaning of life.
Neal Morse – Worship
But in both extremes, in the “poor” as well as in the “rich”, I realized for some time in interpersonal relationships, the behavior among each other, an increasingly strong and very painfully noticeable 
poisoned rivalry. This constant conflict “against each other”, is not only perceptible at the workplaces but also within friendships, couple relationships, in leisure, in social life – especially in clubs, where the managements’ or the participants’ interests are ONLY being the “first” or being “master”, unfortunately – and this is the saddest fact of all – includes many social institutions. Even the churches are affected by this negative development. “Everyone always wants to just be “BETTER” than the other, although I do not really know if such a setting is really useful, and whether it is actually possible to love better, or pray better to God than my fellows. Due to this negative social behavior development, we have also increasingly more disturbed children. The new studies currently say that 20 % of our children are either affected by a social disorder or an emotional behavioral problem. A third of all 13-year-old children had already been a drunken stupor. Is this surprising, when our children are not even allowed to play on the playgrounds?
Most people are only interested in winning, or about who wins, but not interested in what really matters in life: namely the community, living together, or even the individual person and his destiny. The people, and especially the children, here in our society only count when they can either contribute personally (through their performance), and or their commitment to the success of the community. For this reason, children, youth and seniors have no greater importance in our society. As soon as someone is not, or no longer able to, contribute to the expectations of society, the population turns its back on him, or drops him. This selection and separation in “Good” or “Bad” begins in kindergarten and is systematically controlled and used by adults (parents). Nepotism also plays a crucial role in this case.
One of my teachers once said that a meritocracy would actually be nothing more than an “addiction society” because the people who live in it are addicted to success in the form of money, wealth, power and prestige.
What many people overlook in this “vicious cycle” is, in fact, this system merely produces one winner, and automatically all others are losers.
Even the silver-medal-winner is a loser. He is not, as some people say, “The Second Winner,” No, he is the FIRST loser, or does anyone really believe, for example, that the management of the FC Bayern Munich or Manchester United would be happy or would be satisfied if their teams would be only 
winning the “Second-Master” in the next 20 years?
“What is more important? – The Winning of Bayern München or a playground for the children?
I do not know if such a social system in which there is always only one winner at the end, and everyone else are automatically losers, is really useful. However, one thing I know for sure. In such a system in which everyone just competes with everybody or everyone wants to be better than the other, there can be no true friendship. In other words, the “friendship” in such a system lasts only as long as the relevant company or the respective “friends” has a personal or financial gain (success). But as beautiful the feeling of winning is, so bad is the feeling of losing. But life is NOT a game. Life is a unique opportunity. And, life is here to enjoy the valuable things of this world.
For this reason, I founded in my home church a social and leisure club for the whole family. Above all, it is a club in which no one loses and no one is selected or sorted out, and in which everyone who is involved, both the children and the parents, can really only win.
This club I baptized ANIMUS CLUB. I call it ANIMUS CLUB because ANIMUS is the Latin word for soul, mind, spirit and passion, and has many other positive meanings as well. I believe that our society needs more spirit. The principle of the association is quite simple. Parents or especially the children make program proposals, and we try to realize them. In our club you can’t win games or become a master in any discipline. But with us, you can gain other things instead. With us, you can win life enrichment, social enrichment, cultural enrichment, art enrichment, literature enrichment, music enrichment, spiritual enrichment, and above all, educational and knowledge enrichment; everything in my opinion. These things are far more important for life than just winning a game or becoming a champion.
But the lack of interest of the people on the one hand, and the lack of time of the people on the other hand, cause many programs fail in advance for lack of participants, or appear in a very sad light. In January, for example, we gave away one free ticket for a Children’s University. The winner at that time did not come from Nussloch, but from a neighboring community. “Was that a coincidence?” In February, we gave away three free tickets for the concert and a meeting with the Ex-Genesis singer Ray Wilson. Again, the winners were not from Nussloch, but again from a neighboring village. And two weeks ago, we gave the Nußloch children and young people the opportunity to interview the members of TRANSATLANTIC and attend the concert for free. We even informed all music schools and especially the drumming schools, because Mike Portnoy was elected twelve times as the best progressive rock drummers in the world, with the shattering discovery that NO ONE was interested in, or had the desire or the time to come with us to this event. “Are education, history, art, culture, literature, music, acting and theater, but most of all knowledge at the present time really WORTHLESS , without value or interest for the people ? – “Do the people in the modern world actually only live for themselves and their personal advantages or success?”
Mike Portnoy – Unbelievable Drum Solo
I cannot really tell you how painful it was for me and how much it hurt me to inform the Tour Manager Randy George that unfortunately we only had two children willing to come, and that even some of our parents prohibited their children to participate in this unique project.
Only listening to all this is very painful. Some people in my home community have asked me in this respect why I make the great effort of writing nice and wonderful articles for a church like Nussloch every week. I replied that I don’t write these articles for the population of Nußloch, but only for the children and parents who participate in the program, and as of December 20th, for the now 200 to 500 visitors, which regularly visit our website.
Yesterday, a speaker said that it is much more difficult to do a good thing, than the right thing. Now, I do not know if I’m doing the right thing with this club, but most of all I do not know if my home church Nussloch is the right place to carry out such a nice program, but one thing I know for sure, that I am doing a good thing, and that’s all that counts to me.
Neal Morse – Mighty To Save
But to do these good things, I need a lot of power and an enormous stamina every day to put away disappointments such as the following.
A few weeks ago, the editors of a Ludwigshafen-based TV channel indicated that they would love to broadcast a part of our new film. For the first time, a 45 – minute film about the youth work of a club from Nussloch would be on TV! My home community is not able to receive this TV-channel. Therefore, we rented the auditorium of the University of Ludwigshafen, and invited the political prominence (in person), as well as the population of Nussloch with a very beautiful poster.
But even such an extraordinary event seems meaningless for the people in my home community. So far not a single application has been made, and we received letters from nearly all politicians telling us that they are not able to come, because they have “more important” (?) appointments.
Yes, almost all the important people cancelled out on us, but they wished us a lot of success and a good outcome for our great event. But when everyone cancels and no one applies, then the great success and the outcome is unfortunately the cancellation of the event. A 700-hour work effort is fading, to the great chagrin of the children who have participated in this work.
Real Tears For Sale
From Marillion there is a very sad song called “Real Tears For Sale”. So if you want to buy real tears, then you just have to come to Nussloch. Here you can buy them in the best quality either in kilos or tons, because those are my tears I have shed over the last 25 years for many socially poor and lonely people, and for people who are primarily only interested in success, the material consumption and the immediate personal gratification, and for those, which generally the pressure “WINNING must” and the constant force “to be better than their fellows” are far more important than the participation in real life, for these people which carry neither love nor esteem, nor spirit in their hearts. Thank you.
After this speech, singer Neal Morse changed his musical set, and played for all the lost people in this world the TRANSATLANTIC title
We All Need Some Light
ANIMUS KLUB
A Prophet Without Honor
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (The Bible, Mark 6)
