Written for readers who have finished Book 1.
The Lydia-Gemeinde is a busy, warm congregation in Neukölln, and its parish hall is the heart of it. On Thursdays the long tables go end to end for soup night, the urns tick and steam, and the door stands wedged open on a brick to let the street in. Over the serving hatch, painted years ago in a child's bright uneven letters that nobody has had the heart to repaint, are the words Alle sind willkommen: all are welcome. On the third Sunday of the month everyone eats together at one long table with no head and no foot. The congregation still remembers the autumn it filled this hall with camp cots for people who had walked a very long way, and it has never stopped being proud of it.