“He sent redemption to his people; He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name!” (Psalm 111:9). My dear friend Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto, who entered the Church Triumphant last week, was a kind of real-life Forrest Gump. A savvy correspondent for United Press International and several German media outlets for many decades, Uwe was often in the right place at the right time…in the midst of world history. Uwe was on the scene when the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. He was in the room when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in November 1963. Disguised as a Jordanian officer, Uwe reported from Amman on the Six-Day War in 1967. He covered the Vietnam War from 1964 from the frontlines (see image), all the way up to the collapse of Saigon in 1975. Yet Uwe was also a world-class Lutheran scholar, frequently writing on the relationship between journalism and theology. Uwe was proud to be a Saxon (like Martin Luther)—witty and gritty, yet very much aware that we Christians are simultaneously sinners and saints—redeemed by Jesus Christ. Lula and I met “Druwe,” as I later called him, in 2005 at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where he was serving as the head of public relations for the seminary and I was a student. We soon bonded over our joint German heritage and love of history. The Siemon-Nettos often had us over for fancy dinner parties in their classy turn-of-the-century apartment, exquisitely furnished with European antiques. Uwe and I stayed in close contact over the years via video chats. I always ended our time together by reading a Psalm in German. Our last visit was on August 19th. I read Psalm 111, and we took great comfort in the fact that God the Father has indeed kept His covenant by sending His Son to redeem us. Uwe got to experience world history yet again last week, when our Lord’s holy angels ushered him into the New Jerusalem. Redeemed by Jesus Christ, Uwe is now and forevermore…in the right place at the right time.
The Tiews in Germany 