Russian Correspondent

Ecumenical Worship Service during Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

2012-01-24T00:17:00.000+07:00

This past weekend, I had the privilege of preaching at the ecumenical service during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at the local Roman Catholic cathedral.

Father Dariusz (to my right) led the liturgy; Father Alexander
(to my right) also gave a sermon. Father Corrado
(Franciscan) and Archpriest Alexander (Russian Orthodox
Church) in the second row.

The theme of the week first struck me as rather strange - “We will all be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15:51-58). First of all, it seemed odd that a passage about the resurrection would be used to talk about something else entirely – Christian unity. Second, there were a couple of words in the theme that immediately raise red flags for Lutherans - “victory” and “change.” (OK, the second is a joke. Sort of.) About what victory could we speak if we look at the state of the church today? And if we were to think of victory as strictly eschatological (that is, that the victory will be ours only at the end of time), what impulse would that give us for praying and working for the unity of the church now?

After thinking about the text and getting acquainted with the very-well-done preparatory and liturgical materials (you can find them on the site of the Vatican, if you didn't have a chance to participate in the service yourself), I realized that the key to understanding the Biblical passage and the week as a whole was verse 57 - “but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God gives us the victory. Victory is a given...and that means our standard way of achieving victory (hard work through competition) is annulled; instead the hard work comes after the victory, in our attempts to live in accordance with that gift which we have been given. That thought was at the heart of my sermon.

Women from our congregation in front and other friends
behind as we shared bread as part of the service.

For those of you who know me, you can imagine that I was a might bit nervous when I got up to preach. But the atmosphere was warm (even if the building was cold), the acoustics were great (and that means I didn't have to worry about not being heard), and there were a number of congregation members and friends there – I calmed down quickly.

After the service, we all gathered in the congregation's parish hall (a.k.a. basement) to hear about an ecumenical project based on the principles of the L'Arche movement. You can read about L'Arche here. You'll see that it is a rather radical form of faith-based living even for the West; in the Russian context it is very unusual and very brave.

I didn't have much chance to mingle after tea, because I immediately got into a rather intense and long conversation with the newly ordained Greek Catholic (Uniate) priest in the city, Father Pavel. It became clear that he and I will continue to have a lot to talk about, so I promise to blog more about him (and about the Greek Catholic church in general) in the future.

Father Pavel speaking about his experience as an intern
in the ecumenical project based on L'Arche.
All pictures from: sibcatholic.ru

Entering the Jordan

2012-01-20T23:22:00.000+07:00

The longest season of the year in Russia has passed its midpoint; despite unseasonably warm temperatures throughout much of the country, apparently there were no problems in experiencing the extreme-sports-like celebration of the Baptism of Christ (January 19^th according to the Orthodox calendar). This year I join the crowds that jump into various bodies of blessed ice-water, “entering into the Jordan,” as they call it here.

I must admit that deep, spiritual meaning behind this event is still a bit foggy to me - I've learned in the last few days, that many in the Orthodox church consider this tradition a bit suspect, too - the Metropolitan Tikhon* of Novosibirsk said he didn't see it as necessary; one local Orthodox priest who went to the river to bless the water did go in, but when he came out he said - "it's very cold. I don't recommend it."

Here I am "in the Jordan".....
OK, that's not really me. Thankfully, no one was around to take my picture.

What, after more than a decade in Russia, is pushing me to participate in this rather unusual practice? Was it that I hope to improve my prayer life as I asked the Lord to help me survive? Was it sermon research (since this week's text is the story from 2 Kings 5 about Naaman's healing from leprosy after washing in the Jordan?) Was I trying, in my own way, to imitate President Medvedev, who took a swim in the river Jordan yesterday?

No, actually it was none of these things. Instead, it was jumping out a window. That's right. I've started jumping out a window regularly in the past few months. It has part of my weekly trip to the banya (the Russian version of a sauna) ever since winter started – there's a window from the shower room that gives you direct access to a snowbank, and I've found that going out into the snow after sitting in the heat makes the banya even better than before. While there was no banya on the 19th (there was, thankfully, a heated tent for changing your cloths - they even distributed hot tea inside), going "to the Jordan" was simply stepping it up to the next level.

Local news reported that many thousands of Novosiberians went into the water
at one of the 7 official sites around the city.
(Changing tents in the background - I must say that the whole experience
would have been much less pleasant without them).

The "prorub" or "ice-hole"...at one of the few moments
when no one was waiting to get into the water.

The reason I write about these rather insignificant and personal experiences is that, for me, they are symbolic of what I want 2012 to be. The last few months have been a time of moderation: the situation in the congregation is stable; the ecumenical situation in Novosibirsk has also been generally positive; the church structure in which I am working (ELCUSFE) shows positive signs, and even the situation in the country as a whole has improved, insofar as people have started to come together to make their voices heard and to push for change.

I realize that it would be easy to be content in each of these areas – in some ways, it is already better than one could reasonably expect. Yet, thanks to the snowbank outside of the banya, I've been reminded not to start the year ready to settle for “good enough.” Instead, I'm going to try to start it by taking it to the next level, even if that means diving in to the shocking cold.

*Tikhon had been an Archbishop until a few days ago. Patriarch Kirill is making significant changes in church structures including, in this case, elevating the status of the church and its leaders in Novosibirsk.

Christmas celebrations in Novosibirsk

2012-01-20T01:28:00.003+07:00

This year our congregation was fortunate to have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas (according to our western, Gregorian calendar) on a weekend; when the 24th and/or 25th fall on a workday, they appear to be days just like any others in the lead-up to the big holiday here, New Year's. But having the opportunity to come together Saturday and Sunday meant that we were able to simply enjoy worship (including more German liturgy than usual and a number of German hymns in order that the older people might feel as "at home" as possible) and fellowship in a harmonious and relaxed atmosphere. Below you'll find a few photos from Novosibirsk taken during the the last days of Advent and Christmas.

4th Sunday of Advent

Christmas Trees being sold near the apt. where I live

Christmas Tree on Lenin Square

Prayer house decorated for Christmas

In our prayer house

Christmas Tea

20 Years of Religious Freedom

2011-12-20T21:00:00.001+07:00

The Cathedral of the Transfiguration Diocese
in Novosibirsk. Spring 2011.

On the evening of the December 16^th, the Roman Catholic Church sponsored a roundtable discussion - “20 Years of Religious Freedom in Russia.” At the Mass held in the Cathedral before the meeting and at the roundtable itself, Bishop Joseph Wert spoke of his own experience as an underground Jesuit and priest in Central Asia and Siberia. He spoke of the sacrifice that were necessary in order to be involved in the church and of the way Catholics at that time experienced great longing to be fed spiritually. Believers scattered throughout villages on the steppe would dream, he said, that somehow a priest might lose his way and happen upon them. Then, after years or even decades of waiting, they might be able to receive the Sacrament. Every opportunity to gather together and to hear the Word and to celebrate Eucharist was considered an amazing gift of grace.

The diocesan center is in the foreground

In the past two decades the situation has changed radically. The Catholic church went from having 3 priests in all of the Asiatic part of the former USSR to having more than 100 in Siberia today; Mass is celebrated at numerous Catholic congregations around Novosibirsk, including in the impressive Cathedral; the roundtable was held in a brand new diocesan center, and this building will be the home for many other public and outreach events in the future. For the Catholic Church, even more significantly for the Orthodox Church, and also (even if in a more limited way) for the other denominations represented at that meeting, the conditions of church life have improved tremendously. Even our small Lutheran congregation, despite its radically reduced numbers, is in many ways better off than it was before the 1990s.

Yet, as the Bishop pointed out and as stories from my congregation's members have confirmed, external repression did not always results in a loss of inner freedom. Bishop Wert knew why he was running through the forest to escape detection – it was to serve those who were waiting for them. The parents and grandparents of my congregation's members knew the value of the Bible and their spiritual traditions when they had to hide the Scriptures under floorboards and could sign hymns only by candlelight in isolated basements.

Church life today, in contrast, shows that external freedom does not always lead to a full flowering of the spiritual life. Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the conditions have now been met so that a believer can be “perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.”¹ ² Being free from is a reason for great joy and celebration – I hope and pray that in all Christian churches (whether here or in the West) this is something that is not taken for granted. At the same time, a challenge before churches wherever they are – to focus our ministry on freedom for. Quoting Luther again, “a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

Bishop Wert is to my left at the roundtable

The roundtable that night brought together Christians from Novosibirsk, but in reality, the circle is much bigger. Wherever we are, we are called to put our faith into action in works of love, to be our neighbors servants, both in these Advent days of waiting and in all the days that are to come.

1 Martin Luther. “On the Freedom of a Christian.”

2 The degree to which there is true freedom of religion in Russia is a matter of debate. My own personal experience is that there is still quite a bit of prejudice in society against any group that is not the Russian Orthodox Church. On the other hand, the law grants freedom of religion, and I personally have not had any experience with government officials breaking the law in that regard. Going on my own experience, then, it seems that there is not much of a problem, even if there are on occasion cases when government officials become too open in their aggression against other faiths (for example, the news story that has been coming out today about the banning of the Bhagvad Gita in a neighboring state). However, if one reads the reports of an expert on religious freedom in Russia, Sergei Filitov, it seems that it is not possible to generalized based on my experience: “The last year and half or ttwo has been a time of constant growth in discrimination and pressure on the legal rights of religious minorities, especially Protestants. In all of Russia it has become unbelievably hard for Protestant to receive land for the construction of church bulidngs and renting space has become quite difficult. Persecution of Christians continues on all fronts – government officials create all sorts of difficulties for the work of protestant churches with children, campaigns are put together against drug rehab centers, missionary work is limited. Protestant congregation are en masse refusing to get registered since registration simply provokes problems with 'law' enforcement agencies. Official statistics about the number of members in protestant congregations are so distorted by government officials that it is impossible to come to any conclusions about their quantity.” (translation mine). http://www.keston.org.uk/_russianreview/edition49/01-autumn-2010-review.htm

Russian Elections - One Week Later

2011-12-12T21:31:00.001+07:00

When I said last week that I don't usually respond quickly to current events, I thought that it would be quite reasonable to make an exception in this case – Russian opposition parties had made serious gains in elections for the Duma; considering the country's recent political history, this was already news...and it seemed unlikely that there would be any more.
I was wrong, and I was not alone. Even expert political commentators seemed shocked by what followed. Not only did many people complain about electoral fraud (making this election similar to many others here), but, using social networking sites, they also actually acted together in coordinated way to protest the official election results. In the past, those opposed to the governing party were splintered into a various movements that spent as much time squabbling with one another as they did with those in power – their protests were relatively easily put down by overwhelming police power. This time, though, thousands of people in Russia's major cities gathered to criticize the government and demand a new election.

In Novosibirsk at least 3000 people turned up for protests.

And in Moscow tens of thousands of protesters went to the streets.

The only thing remotely similar I've seen in the 10 years that I have been here were the protests related to the monetization of pensioner’s benefits in 2005. Yet even here the differences are greater than the similarities. At that time the protesters were almost all elderly, and their anger was directed at a single government policy. Many of those gathered at protests this time around would disagree with one another about nearly every political issue. Yet, they were able to put aside their differences and make their voices heard. This time around the protesters were, to a large extent, also much younger. I've been very surprised to see that many acquaintances my age or younger have suddenly shown an interest in politics, whereas in previous years these same people either gave the government no thought or felt that they were powerless to make change.¹

That is not to say that those who went to the protests are likely to achieve the cancellation of previous election results. Much more likely is that the government will find a few “exceptional cases” where election laws were broken, but make clear that these had little effect on the final results. This seems to be the sense, in any case, of President Medvedev's annoucement on his Facebook page that said:

“People have the right to express their position, which is what they did... [but] I agree neither with the slogans, nor the statements voiced at the protests. Nevertheless, I have ordered checks into all the reports from polling stations regarding the compliance with the election laws.”

This has already generated an interesting response in the internet:

Most of the signs from the protest read: “we're for fair elections.” “He doesn't agree,” reads the caption.

If nothing more is done by the government, protest organizers plan to go out on the streets again in two weeks time. The situation has suddenly become quite unpredictable, yet in a way that many here are approaching (contrary to the country's traditional instincts) with a degree of optimism. If those dissatisfied with the current domination of United Russia and Prime Minister Putin can find an attractive alternative (it doesn't seem at the moment any of the leaders of the opposition parties fit that bill), there is, surprisingly, a chance that the presidential election this coming March will be interesting for the first time in more than a decade.

1 No less surprising is the fact that officials from the Russian Orthodox Church have called for “more public control” over the electoral system. In the past years the Orthodox Church has almost without exception supported the government currently in power.

Russian Duma Elections 2011

2011-12-05T17:27:00.001+07:00

“Siberia Put on a RedBelt”

That's the headline from a local paper today. “Red,” of course, beingthe color of the Communist Party.

While the Communist partyactually did not received a plurality (not to mention amajority) of the vote anywhere in the region, the move away from the heretoforedominant “United Russia” party of Prime Ministry Vladimir Putinand President Dmitry Medvedev was quite noticeable. In Siberia, thevotes for representatives for the lower house of parliament weregenerally split between United Russia and the Communists (with thesplit in Novosibirsk being about 30%/30%, while other regions hadUnited Russia leading the Communists by 10% or so), with two smallerparties (the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia) each gettinga little less than 15% each. It's clear that the results of thiselection mean that United Russia will lose its constitutionalmajority (i.e., they will not be able to change the constitution atwill anymore), though they will have the simple majority necessary toelect a prime minister and pass laws.

Preliminary results - 2011 election
Dark blue: United Russia. Bright red: Communist Party,
Dark red: A Just Russia. Light Blue: Liberal Democratic party.
The other parties did not receive enough votes to win a place in parliament.
Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/

About 57% of registeredvoters took part in elections, a bit less than in the previouselection cycle. There is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence of unfairelection tactics, though Russian election officials (and observersfrom the former Soviet Union) claim that there were no seriousproblems. This differs from the preliminary report from observers from the Organizationof Security and Co-operation in Europe, which states:

"Thisresult shows that voting can make a real difference in Russia, evenwhen the playing field is slanted in favour of one party. However,any election needs an impartial referee – and until now, it has nothad one. This needs to change. Yesterday, Russia showed that it istechnically able to organize fair elections – now it is up to theparties to use this opening for real politics and make it a reality,”said Tiny Kox, Head of the delegation of the Council of Europe’sParliamentary Assembly.

"Theseelections were like a game in which only some players are allowed onthe pitch, and then the field is tilted in favour of one of theplayers. Although the choice was limited and the competition lackedfairness, voters were able to come out and have their voices heard,”said Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, the Head of the ElectionObservation Mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutionsand Human Rights.¹

I usually don't like tocome to quick interpretations of news stories, since I'm not surethat it is possible to come to a good understanding of current eventsso quickly. On the other hand, though, some of you might be hearingabout the Russian elections now on the news, and I thought that I'dshare my first reaction.

One thing is clear –United Russia won the elections. Another thing is also clear - thereis really quite a bit of dissatisfaction with United Russia just now.The reasons for this are many and (perhaps surprisingly forWesterners) are not readily associated with the financial crises theworld has been going through in the past few years. Instead, it seemsthat people may be somewhat tired of a political scene dominated byone party, especially when it is very difficult to say what thisparty stands for. This, I suppose, does a lot to explain the relativesuccess of the Communist party in this election – they have clear(if usually quite unrealistic) positions on social and economicquestions. In Novosibirsk, I'd imagine that there is a certain degreeof sincere support for the Communists, insofar as there are so manypeople here tied with science and research, and they have reason tobelieve that if the Communists were in control, their instituteswould be better funded. But for the most part it seems like theCommunists draw attention, not for their policies, but because it isthought that they are they only party that can realisticallychallenge United Russia. The majority party, on the other hand,enjoys the support of two groups of people (as far as I can tell):first, those whose main approach to life is to hope that it won't getworse (the 2000s saw greater economic stability and growth than the1990s, and so we should stick with the people who were in charge inthe 00s) and, second, those who received concrete help with theirproblems thanks to Presidents Putin or Medvedev. A quick example –after church yesterday, people were talking about the elections. Oneof the people in our congregation said that they she would be votingfor United Russia since President Putin helped solved a problem sheran into a number of years ago. The land just next to their apartmentbuilding had been illegally seized and construction of a parkinggarage had begun. This women gathered signatures protestingconstruction from her neighbors, and they wrote to the President. Thepresident then wrote to the local DA, who took steps to stop theconstruction and return the land. While I was happy that this womanhad been helped with her problem, it must be noted that United Russiacontrolled every level of government in the past years. So while thePresident solved a problem and this is good, the President was alsoresponsible for helping to build and strengthen a system in which oneneeds to write to Moscow in order for a local problem to be solved.

Presidential elections arescheduled for March. Polls show that Vladimir Putin has lost a lot ofsupport in the past months, but at present it seems highly unlikelythat a candidate will be found that will even give Mr. Putin a runfor his money. But the political scene in Russia, despite itsstability stagnation in recent years, can also be pretty volatile.Perhaps the relative success of this parliamentary election willinspire the minority parties to come together to support one strongcandidate for president. If that happens, you can expect more blogposts on Russian politics in the future.

1 http://www.osce.org/odihr/85753

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-01T13:33:00.001+07:00

Despite the fact that atleast 90% of those Russians who celebrate Christmas do so on January7^th ¹,that doesn't mean that the country is far behind the West when itcomes to preparing for the holiday season. Christmas decorations havebeen up in some stores since early November, and Christmas trees arestarting to go up in squares and parks around the city. I plan onwriting more later about the winter holidays here, but for now, I'lljust share a few reasons why it's beginning to look a lot likeChristmas.

First of all, the snow. It is really, truly winter. After many years of freezing rain and slush in St. Petersburg at this time of year, it is a bit of relief that we know that the snow is here to stay. Until April. Or May. And shoveling snow from the church courtyard has been a good way to work off frustration, I've found...though I'll admit that by spring I might be feeling differently.
Christmas Bazaar. This past weekend, the local German cultural center (together with the German consulate) hosted their annual 1^st Sunday of Advent Christmas Bazaar. Our congregation always has a table there were we talk with the guests (there were over 1000!) and sell crafts and baked goods. We had fun and raised a bit of money for the church, which the council intends to use towards repairs for our building's foundation next spring.
Midweek Advent services. Our church building is quite isolated – you can't really just happen upon it. In addition, most people in the congregation live in other parts of the city (or even outside of it). For that reason, there usually isn't a lot of reason for the pastor to be located in the church building much. But I decided that for Advent, I would start every Wednesday with morning prayer and end with evening prayer, inviting congregational members to come at any time to pray together or just to talk. It is still too early to say whether or not this will meet the spiritual needs of those in the congregation, but yesterday morning a few of us did pray together, followed by and almost hour-long hymn sing. Fellowship time is important, so I hope that people continue to come.
“It's the most wonderful time of the year”. “Wonder” in the sense of “miracle.” The news here lately has frequently reported on the astounding number of people who have made their way to the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow to visit the “the Belt of the Theotokos.” This Orthodox relic, supposedly woven from camel hair by the Virgin Mary herself so that she might wear it during her pregnancy, is usually found on the monastic mountain of Athos in Greece²; in the past month, however, it has traveled through Russia so that the faithful could venerate it.³ When the Belt was in the capital, lines stretched to incredible lengths, with reports that some people waited 15-20 hours and with more than 80 people needing hospitalization after standing out that long in the cold. The Belt went back to Athos this week, but miracles (especially healings and restored fertility) are already being reported. I think I'll leave it to respected journalist Nikolai Svanidze to comment on this phenomenon, even if his commentary is perhaps a bit too harsh: “It testifies to the fact that people long for a miracle. It does not testify to depth of faith... In Russia our religiosity is very peculiar, because since the time of the Baptism of Rus I cannot say that the country became Christian. We have a peculiar understanding of the Orthodox faith; there is a lot of paganism in it. And this longing for miracle in and of itself has, I'd say, an indirect relationship to [Christian] faith.”⁴
Waiting in line to see the "Belt of the Theotokos."
Originally from the site bogoslava.ru

1The Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar which is (at present) 13 days behind the standard Gregorian calendar we use. A significant number of Protestant churches have also decided to celebrate Christmas and Easter together with the majority here, though Lutherans and Roman Catholics tend to follow the western practice.

2Where women are not permitted to visit under any circumstances. 80% of those who came to see the Belt in Russia were women.

3Strangely enough, certain parts of the Belt (and, among other things, part of the hem of Christ's robe) are in Moscow churches permanently, but none of these relics draw so much attention.

4On the radio program “Special Opinion” on the Echo of Moscow radio station. Nov 25.

Sophiology

2011-11-18T16:26:00.001+07:00

What better way to approach systematic theology than to use the writing method they taught us in junior high – the 5 w's?¹

The first sentence of the Wikipedia article on Sophiology can act as our starting point. Sophiology – “from Greek Σοφία Sophia (wisdom)(in Bulgarian and Russian: София) is a philosophical concept regarding wisdom as well as a theological concept regarding the wisdom of God.

Why?

I didn't set off to be living proof that dissertation topics are obscure – I really didn't! In choosing my theme for further study in the field of theology, I hoped to bring to light a relatively unknown idea that could be a resource for contemporary theologians. I felt that these voices from the East (both tied to church tradition and yet free to engage their mind and interact with contemporary thinkers) might just hold a key for bringing Wisdom out of her marginalization and into the lexicon of the wider church. I hoped that this the concept of Sophia might lead not only to a re-thinking of certain preconceived notions about God and God's relationship to the world, but that it could also lead to changes in contemporary practices in the realms of ethics, inter-faith and ecumenical relationships. In short, I had hoped that my work might find some resonance with readers today.

Vladimir Solovyov (on a good hair day)

Now, two years in to my research, I understand better both the problematic areas of Sophiology and the resources that it offers for those who both desire to remain within the framework of orthodox (though probably not Orthodox) Christian thinking and yet come to new interpretations of the church's teachings for the modern world.

Regarding my desire to find something useful for ethical questions, because of the limits of writing a dissertation at a state-sponsored university, I'm having to put these sorts of “practical” questions aside for the moment. While early versions of my dissertation outline were full of attempts to apply my research in concrete ways to wider questions, I eventually came to understand that this will need to remain outside of the bounds of my dissertation as such. For now, these ideas sit in folder on my computer, waiting for proper attention until after I get the major work (in the area of theology as such) done.

When? / Where? / Who?

Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov in the painting
"Philosophers" by Mikhail Nesterov

The theological movement that I'm studying is rooted in the intellectual environment of late 19^th and early 20^th century Russia. The concept of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, permeated the philosophy, theology and even poetry of the period; part of my task is to describe why it was an attractive idea at the time. I'll then be then tracing the concept through the lives and thought of three fascinating individuals - one of Russia's most famous philosophers, Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russia's most gifted and unusual talents, Father Pavel Florensky, and Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov, the former Marxist economics professor whose entire worldview in his mature years was formulated around Divine Wisdom and who, therefore, developed Sophia as a full-fledged philosophical-theological concept.

What = Wisdom?

Theologian, Bulgakov scholar, and Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has said that “Father Bulgakov's thought has often seemed impenetrable to the casual Western reader, or even the not so casual Western reader.”^²Sometimes Dr. Williams' works can feel the same way, so as you can imagine, I have my work cut out for me. That's even more true if another Bulgakov scholar, Catherine Evtukhov, is right that Bulgakov was careful never to give a complete and final definition of who/what Sophia was.

I think that Evtukhov is wrong, though, and my dissertation sets out to show Bulgakov really does have a well-defined theology of Divine Wisdom that flows through every major area of systematic theology he touches (and he touches them all.) Yet, saying that Sophia is important for these thinkers is not the same as saying who or what she is. And here I'll do my best to give a short summary. The best starting point from which to understand Wisdom in Sophiology is through a rather unusual Biblical text, from Proverbs 8 and 9. (NIV. Particularly important verses for the Sophiologists are in italic):

8.1 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind.
5 You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.
6 Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right.
7 My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness.
8 All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.
9 To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge.
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.
13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance evil behavior and perverse speech.
14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power.
15 By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just;
16 by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth.
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
18 With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
21 bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.
22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30 Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind....
9.1 Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city,
4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says,“Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.”

After reading this passage, you might ask - "What is this Wisdom?" Is it some sort of being? If so, is the being created or Divine? Perhaps it's not a being at all, but simply a poetic personification of one of God's attributes? While Biblical scholars tend to lean toward that last answer today, that does not mean that there is universal agreement. The situation is even more complicated for the Russian thinkers mentioned above because they also have a multifaceted tradition of Wisdom in the Orthodox church to deal with, along with (at least in some cases) their own (mystical) experience of Sophia (Yes, for them Wisdom is “She”).

For the Orthodox, theology
can be captured in icons. So
when two icons of Sophia
(such as these two here)

have such different symbolic
meanings, this indicates a
lack of theological clarity.

Where do the Sophiologists end up in their theological development? Well, we cannot really say except in the case of Bulgakov.⁴ Still, I'll be writing perhaps 200 pages on that question. But, to put it very succinctly, Bulgakov interprets Sophia as the essence of God (the divine substance or “ousia” for those of you interested in Trinitarian theology,) at the same time both part of the Godhead and (in its created, as opposed to Divine, aspect) the substance of the world (this is panentheism, for those of you interested in developments in later 20^th century theology).⁵

This approach to theology was quite controversial at the time, though political concerns (related to the divisions of the Russian church's representatives abroad that occurred because of the Revolution) were of at least as important here as theological ones. I know that I am certainly not fully convinced by the approach of the Sophiologists. Yet, on the other hand, I'm impressed by Father Bulgakov's devotion to challenging an ossification of the church that equates orthodoxy with teaching that is wholly static. At the same time, Bulgakov had no interest in joining those hypercritical of the church, rejecting its teachings outright. Bulgakov shows himself to be a true modern moderate who can make, with a creative approach that rejects long-out-dated stereotypes, orthodox Christianity intellectually interesting and engage in mutually-enriching dialog with the modern world.

That's why I'm continuing my work. And since I find Bulgakov interesting not just when he deals directly with Divine Wisdom, in the coming months I hope to finish a side project that I've been working on for a long time. Bulgakov wrote a small book called On the Gospel Miracles that has yet to be translated into English. If I can figure out the technical side of things, I'll be publishing this annotated translation on Amazon in early 2012.

* * *
1With a 6^th added on for good measure...and without the “h” since writing about the “how” of Sophiology, the methodology, is giving me headaches. I wanted to spare you that pain.

2 “Creation, Creativity and Creatureliness.” Speech for the Wisdom of Finite Existence Study Day organized by the St Theosevia Centre for Christian Spirituality, Oxford. 2005. http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/99

3 Sergei Bulgakov. Philosophy of Economy. trans. and ed. Catherine Evtukhov. Yale 2000. 10-11.

4Solovyov died without having systematized his thought. Florensky's life was cut tragically short when he was executed under Stalin.

5In highlighting some of Bulgakov's major themes, I see one more reason why I was attracted to Sophiology – these same topics are quite important to one of my favorite contemporary theologians, Jürgen Moltmann.

Ministry Inside and Out

2011-11-15T15:53:00.001+07:00

Writing for this blog hastaken a back seat for the last couple of weeks - I've spent quite abit of time on the road or in preparation for being away. Now thatI've returned to Novosibirsk, I hope to make up for my absence byposting a couple of different entries this week. The second will berelated to one of the reasons I was away – to go to Helsinki tomeet with my dissertation adviser and other doctoral students aboutmy research. Since from time to time some of you have asked about mystudies, by Friday I'll haven written a summary of the work I amdoing there in the area of “Sophiology.” (Don't be scared! It's not asbad as you think!). :)

But for now, though, I'llreturn to church and its situation here in Siberia.

Our congregation building on October 30.
It's whiter still there now.

Rather, I'd liketo return to the church. Instead, though, I feel like the church onthe congregational level is still a bit too puzzling to be able to bewrite about it in a way that is understandable. Instead what I feellike I can do is write about my confusion. For example: justbefore worship began on the 30^th of October, I was told bya member of the church council that there would be funeral after theservice. It would be held in the home of a very elderly woman who hadnot been able to attend church for the past 6-8 years. I was invitedto come and to preside. This took me by surprise, to say theleast. The last and only time I had presided at a funeral was 9 yearsago in Novgorod; though I have my own materials prepared for such asituation, they were at home (and I certainly would have brought themhad I been informed earlier!) I was tempted for a minute to say thatI wasn't prepared and therefore wouldn't lead the service, but thisseemed to me to be the worse of the two options before me. When we arrived we found the typical situationafter an elderly person dies here – family and friends weregathered in the living room around the coffin, taking turns paying last respects. Four women from the congregation leadthe singing (with some of the hymns proclaiming a word of hope forthe deceased and others (the greater number) reminding those gatheredthat they, too, will die some day and that they'd better get theirspiritual houses in order), and I did my best to lead prayers andgive a short homily. After the service ended, a few people present(none of whom had ever been to a Lutheran service) address somerather unexpected questions to us, so as “Does your guardian angelstay with you in heaven or come back to help someone else?” and“How should we bury Maria, with her head or her feet at cross?”I took my time in answering, and one of the women jumped in – heranswers surprised me as much as the questions themselves. Part of mewanted to react immediately – to make clear that I should be toldimmediately if someone dies (and that I should have a list of thehome bound to visit so that I can provide spiritual care to theelderly before they die), that the answers given to the questions donot really have a good basis in the teachings of our church. And, aspastor, I actually have a certain responsibility to make such thesethings clear. Yet, our relationship has not yet developed to such apoint that my “corrections” are likely to bring about the desiredeffect. So, I'm trying to follow a course of “responsible inaction”by patiently and consciously developing relationships withcongregational members such that I can eventually influence thecongregation's life in positive ways.

The situation is quitedifferent for me outside of the congregation, where I have no directresponsibility and, therefore, fewer limitations on the way I work. In exploring ministry outside of the congregation, it has becomeclear to me just how important it is that we keep a wide definitionof what and were the church is. While the congregation is important,it perhaps is not where I will focus most of my energy right now.

Together with Deacon Vyacheslav (Slava)
at the Reformation Day Service

I've been able to becomeacquainted with one very interesting sphere of ministries outside ofthe congregation thanks to the help of a deacon in the localFinnish-tradition church, Vyacheslav (Slava, for short). Slava hasspent many years engaged in prison ministry. While this aspect of hiswork is practically inaccessible to me – every time a foreignerwants to visit a prison, permission must be received from Moscow -there are many prison-related fields in which I might be able to takepart.

Slava's work is notlimited to what happens behind prison walls. His work there ledrather quickly to the realization that there was a whole complex ofsocial issues related to those who had been incarcerated. First, itbrought him into contact with the families of the men he had beenvisiting; he found that most were suffering, and that many had beeninfected with tuberculosis, which is a wide-spread problem in Russianprisons. Their children (if diagnosed properly) would be sent to aspecial hospital complex for a minimum of six months of therapy. Infact, the situation was very close to one in an orphanage –relatives visit rarely and staff are occupied with caring for thephysical needs of the children but have no resources for providingmore. Slava gathers donated toys, cloths, diapers and other materialsfor these children and brings them to the hospital at least once amonth. He also gets together special gifts for those who hadbirthdays that month, and he presents them and other special treats to the kids at the afternoon tea break. He usually does a short programwith the older kids to help them see God's love for them.

In addition, whenfollowing-up with the men who had been released from prison, Slavafound that a large number were suffering from substance abuse and in need of rehabilitation. Eventually a rehab center in Novosibirskthat was looking for some spiritual support approached Slava for help, and since that time he makes weekly visits there for Bible study as wellas providing counseling at other times. He and another man from hiscongregation have worked closely with this rehab center and hope toopen a Lutheran church-based center in the near future.

Men at the rehab center.
Picture taken with their permission (or, rather, at their request)

And this reminds me ofanother rehab center I had the opportunity to visit in the last daysof October. This center was about an hour outside of Novosibirsk inan isolated village. I traveled there with a group of friends workingon HIV prevention. Since about 70% of new cases of HIV here comeabout through the sharing of infected needles, these friends aretrying to increase awareness among former or current drug users aboutHIV. On the one hand they hope that this will allow HIV positivepeople to have the opportunity to receive treatment at these centers(instead of being forced out because of a fear about the “dangers”of being around HIV positive people), and on the other they want toencourage those in the centers to get an HIV test so that they mightknow their status and take appropriate steps if needed. Of the peopleI traveled with to this center, two of them came to faith inChristian rehab centers....unfortunately, by the time they started toheal from their drug addiction, they had already become HIV positive.That these two friends (we'll call them Ivan and Anna) were able tokick the habit is really a bit of a miracle – the recovery rate atrehab centers (including at Christian ones) is disappointingly low,and some Christian organizations use the rehab centers as afor-profit business, whereas others make membership in their church acondition for continued help with recovery. On the other hand, thereare few alternatives accessible to addicts, and so these churchcenters are the best option at the moment. And for folks like Ivanand Anna, they were crucial in their recovery...and now this effectis being multiplied by their engagement in trying to bring help toothers.

I feel very privileged tohave had the opportunity to see the church beyond the borders of thecongregation in these past few weeks. But I don't want to leave theimpression that nothing new is possible in the congregation. Justrecently, in fact, we did something that would be typical in theU.S., but which is rather innovative here – we gathered 3congregations (our church, the Finnish-tradition Lutherancongregation, and a local Baptist congregation) together to celebrateReformation Day. While I realize that in the context of the West there is the danger of simply glorifying the past on this day, for us here it was notonly an opportunity for education (since not that many people are familiar with the Reformation), but was also one ofthe few chances we have here to see a concrete example of churchesworking together. There were not many of us at the service (it was a Monday night, after all), but I believe that allthree congregations felt strengthened spiritually by our eveningtogether, and I hope that in time we'll find more ways that we cancontinue to strengthen one another....perhaps in social serviceprojects and youth work? I'll let you know how our efforts in thosedirections work out.

Reformation Day Service at the Lutheran Church of Christ the Savior (Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Ingria in Russia). Gennady Moskalin (center) is in charge of that parish; Presbyter Russell Phillips
from the Baptist congregation is just left of center.

A Wider Vision of the Church in Siberia - Synod Assembly

2011-10-19T17:16:00.000+07:00

This past weekend I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the 20^th annual synod assembly of the ELCUSFE in Omsk. Just over 20 delegates from the “largest Lutheran synod in the world”¹ considered both practical and theological issues; the positive tone of the assembly was set by Bishop Otto Schaude and reinforced by a wonderful facility, excellent weather and common worship.

I should probably apologize – the above sounds more like a press release
than a blog entry. At the same time, it is a sincere reflection of the events of the weekend.

But now, back to the beginning - as soon as I arrived in Omsk, I was reminded of the great variety of congregational life in Lutheran churches in the region. A few congregations are working more or less like a “normal” congregation would – they have a pastor, a building, and are striving to be the best stewards of what they've been given and to build up ministries that meet the needs of their congregations and the wider community. A few have something in common with new mission starts in the U.S. - they are building their congregations from the ground up and are, as a rule, small, yet experiencing a fruitful spiritual life. A third group of congregations are in the process of re-development, moving from German to Russian or trying to overcoming some other significant challenge. These congregations tend to be very small and a bit depressed. But even having the opportunity to be together and to realize that we're not in that boat alone was quite helpful.Events of particular interest for me included a theological presentation by Dr. Jürgen Schuster from the Bad Liebenzell mission. Missionaries from this evangelical mission organization have been working in the Ural region for quite some time, and the influence of their missiological approach and piety have certainly been felt throughout the years. At the same time, it has been my experience that our sense of mission has serious differences, so I cannot say that I was the most unbiased of listeners when Dr. Schuster began. It was to my great pleasure that my prejudices were found to be false. Dr. Schuster's presentation itself was very helpful; even if the information presented was not particularly new for me (much of the same ground had been covered in a Missiology class taught by Dr.Richard Bliese then at LSTC, by focusing on the book of Acts (and in particular on the events leading up to and surrounding the “Apostolic Council” in Acts 15), we were all reminded that the church has always had to think about its relationship to culture. This has been important because for all of my years here I've been a participant in the process of trying to understand how Lutheranism applies to the Russian context. In particular, I've been a big proponent of doing what I can to help the church “russify,” as opposed to remaining so very close to its German (Finnish, etc.) roots. Now, after 10 years, I'm a little bit uncertain. The more I think about it, and especially the more I see the everyday life of congregations here, the more I realize that the Lutheran church needs to retain a certain degree of distance from the culture if it is going to find an audience here. What I mean is this – if the church were to strive to be “typically Russian,” then it would clearly do this in a less successful way than the bigger, stronger, more experienced churches in this regard (especially the Orthodox, but also Baptist and Charismatic, in their own way) will. Instead, the Lutheran church will find its place here if it realizes that it's “target” is not to be in the broad center of the culture, but around the culture's margins, among those who either do not wish to or cannot participate in the dominant culture. This is not to say that I want the church to remain an ethnic ghetto - not by any means! Instead, though, I hope that the Lutheran church can become a spiritual home for those who do not see the church as addressing their situation. A relatively successful example of such an attempt is the ministry of the Probst (Dean) of the Far East, Manfred Brockmann.Pastor Brockmann will have been in Russia 20 years by this time next year. In his particular context of Vladivostok, he's been able to support a congregational ministry that uses culture (for example, they have a very large program of German culture events every year as well as a very active ministry of free, classical music concerts) as a means to demonstrate a different way of being church than is common in wider society. St. Paul's in Vladivostok is a unique congregation with an experience that is not likely to be repeatable elsewhere. At the same time, despite all my respect for the Eastern Orthodox tradition, by looking at their work I become even more convinced that we cannot and should not try to become a second Orthodox church.

The youth choir from the congregation in Omsk singing at closing worship.

It is not only our German-rooted church that is going through this struggle. This weekend I also had the opportunity to meet the Probst of the Finnish-rooted Ingrian church, Juha Saari. Like me, he is a long-time missionary in Russia, and we both easily agreed that we would like to do what we can so that the Lutheran congregations in the region would come together. It seems that I have yet to mention the fact that there are actually four (!!!) different Lutheran church bodies in Novosibirsk and a 5th is also represented in the region. Many of the congregations are small and struggling, while their divisions sometimes reflect either “foreign” conflicts (“liberal” Lutherans vs. LCMS vs. WELS) or battles over personal leadership. It is my hope, then, that we can do a lot of work together both on a local and a region-wide level. Already later this week I'll be joining one of the deacons of the local Ingrian congregation on a visit to a children's Tuberculosis center, and Probst Saari has already invited me to a seminar for ministers of their church that will take place early next year.

Closing worship led by Synod President, Pastor Evgeny Philipov

This contact with the Finnish-tradition church brings me back again to the central question of our synod assembly – the church and culture. As the Finnish Lutherans have enculturated, they've decided not to follow the practice of some of their western partners and have rejected women as preachers and pastors. At synod assembly, though, one of our differences from the surrounding dominant culture was highlighted when two women (former students I know from seminars I taught) were blessed as preachers for their congregation in Krasnoturinsk. I have full confidence that these women will be engaged in the very important ministry in making Christ known to their neighbors, even if it is not "culturally correct."

The synod assembly highlighted for me both the opportunities and challenges that come with a wider vision for the church, a vision that will make us question again the ways we interact with surrounding cultures.
_ _ _ _ _
1 Only geographically the largest, of course. Blue dots on the map below represent ELCUSFO congregations that had delegates at the synod assembly.

Synod assembly delegates and guests

Same Old Russia

2011-10-11T21:07:00.000+07:00

In one of my earlier posts (“Another Russia”), I wrote about the ways that Siberia seems to be different from European Russia. I was trying to be clever with the title - “Another Russia” is also a name of an opposition political party. Yet, the past few weeks have shown me that there is some reason to doubt that “another Russia” will arise anytime in the near future.

The immediate reason that caused me to think about this was my experience of buying train tickets earlier this week. I'll be attending the ELCUSFE (Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia and Far East) synod assembly this weekend, and in order to do that I need to travel between two of Siberia's largest cities, Novosibirisk and Omsk. At the ticket office I was confused about the time of departure and arrival until I clarified with the ticket agent that the times printed on the ticket are not local but “Moscow time.” “What does Moscow have to do with anything?” you ask. So do I. It's a bit hard for me to imagine a ticket from Denver to Seattle that would show arrival and departure in “Eastern Standard Time.”....

The focus of this country's political and economic life around the capital has been something I've enjoyed talking about with my new acquaintances here. For fun (and because I also sort of believe it), I've been arguing a political position that reflects my states'-rights-flavored upbringing. “We're living in the Russian federation,” I say, “which assumes that the central government has limited powers. What do the bureaucrats in Moscow” (=Washington) “know about what's best in Novosibirsk” (=Fallon County...ok, there are more people that live within a 3 minute walk of my apartment than in Fallon County, but you get the picture), “anyway?”

While I really do think that the people of this vast land would be better off if they had stronger local democratic institutions, it's not that I see this as a panacea. It probably wasn't in Moscow, after all, that the decision was made to improve the conditions of the neighborhood by first laying down a nice, brick sidewalk...and then, a month later, to tear part of that sidewalk up in order to make another improvement (adding street lights). I know that if I were a citizen of this country, I'd feel a large degree of ambiguity about this use of tax dollars – even really nice improvements to quality of life are done in such a way that it is hard to be completely happy.

And this brings me directly to the topic of national politics. In the last weeks, we first learned that there will be no real alternative to the party that unilaterally holds power in the central government

Posters with Prokhorov were everywhere for a couple of weeks...

(“United Russia”); this became clear when the intriguing but short-lived political career of oligarch and New Jersey Nets' owner Mikhail Prokhorov came to an end. The most common explanation of why he was not given the chance to head an opposition political party was because he became too independent of the Kremlin “sponsors” who originally supported him.

After that, it became clear that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would be running for President again. Despite many reports in the press that support the idea that Mr. Putin is overwhelmingly popular, I personally know few Russians who sincerely consider Putin's candidacy a happy surprise. While many respect his accomplishments in his first terms in office, at the same time many sense that stagnation has set in since then. (Comparisons with the time of Brezhnev are everywhere, including here.) While for a time there was some question about whether President Medvedev might not actually be taking the country on a different course that might help the country deal with some of its most chronic ills (corruption and the lack of rule of law being primary), now his entire terms is seen as a buying of time before Mr. Putin could officially take the lead again. Yet, as with previous elections, in the months leading up to the vote there is a wave of pseudo-activity on the political front. Earlier this year a group gathered around Putin's personal leadership in the “People's Front;” this group is using every trick in the book (“the book,” by the way, seems to include many chapters from the experiences of the ruling elite in the Soviet times, while at the same time also making use of modern, western political technology) in order to exclude any possibility of doubt that Mr. Putin will be in power until 2024. Important aspects of the plan apparently include a popularism (see the “People's Front” sign below) and nostalgia for the country's imperial past (see the following article on Putin's proposal to create a “Eurasian Union” of former Soviet states).

"The People's Program" of the "People's Front" with a description of how the people support everything good (utilities control, entryway renovations, road repair, school repair, schools, and pedestrian streets, new kindergartens, accessible public transport, playgrounds, modern clinics, new jobs, accessible housing).... I'd assume that they have billboards elsewhere explaining how "the people" will make these things appear.

The Russian question to ask about this situation - “what is to be done?” The assumed answer - “nothing.”

The Lutheran question to ask about this situation - “what does this mean?” The assumed answer - “we are to fear and love God...”; in this particular case, though, the conclusion of the answer will not be found in the text of the catechism. Instead, it will be found as our people strive to act on the basis of our faith for the good of our neighbors.

Celebrating Harvest and Remembering Famine

2011-10-04T12:45:00.000+07:00

HarvestSunday was celebrated in early October this year; were it not for theunseasonably warm fall temperatures, we might have had to buyimported vegetables to decorate the church. Instead, though, most ofthe women brought a sack of goods from their gardens (the last of thisyear's harvest – the rest having been either consumed, canned, orstored away) to bring color and to share with one another.

HarvestSunday has always been a day when I've taken the opportunity to talkabout the bounty of creation, about the wide variety of reasons wehave for giving thanks, and about the importance of the stewardshipof that which we have been given.

Thisyear, though, the sermon text¹for the day pushed me in another direction. The reading, from theprophet Isaiah, started like this:

Shareyour food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor.Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse tohelp your own relatives.²

Onthe one hand, this text speaks clearly to the people in thecongregation, since they are all too familiar with most of the thesocial ills that were facing the chosen people at the time of theirreturn from Babylonian exile. On the other hand, what was I to say tothe congregation when they themselves have veryfew resources? Could I really encourage them toward more generosity when,in fact, this particular congregation shows an already impressivelevel of stewardship when compared with other congregations in ourchurch?

Yet,the text kept challenging me:

Ifyou put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and toevery evil word; ifyou give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, thenthe darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. AndI will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keepyou strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty ofwater, like a spring of water that never goes dry.³

Andso, I tried to use the opportunity to counter the popularly heldnotion here that “no good deed goes unpunished,” and I askedthose gathered to think realistically about the ways they couldextend their care to those around them, to apply their faith in apractical manner to the problems of society.

Iused an example that my son, Matvey, suggested. Last year as wetraveled around St. Petersburg, he would ask me about the people wewould see sleeping on the street or begging for money. He wanted tohelp them, and we discussed how we might do that. Giving money might not be the best thing, I said, since those who beg here are frequently not allowed to keep the money themselves, but are instead being misused by others.Matvey thought that it might be a good idea to give them foodinstead, and our experience was that he was right. Instead of takingone apple or pastry with us when we left home, then, we'd take two –one for Matvey and the other for someone begging on the street. Ithought that we could do the same thing in the congregation that day– we'd share the fruits on the table with one another, but we'dalso take some as we left church – we would distribute it to thosein need that we'd meet on the way home (and since all of us takepublic transport, all of us would see the needy).

Ileft a bag of fruit out in the prayer house courtyard, then, forfolks to take. I didn't know how they would respond, though, until Isaw that all the fruit was gone even before everyonehad left.

Iwas surprised and happy that the experiment had worked out so well.Yet, as frequently happens here, I found that there was more to thestory.

Igot a hint of that on my way back home. On the bus I stood next toone of the older (yet also one of the feistier) members of thecongregation, Sister Valentina. She told me that Harvest festival wasalways important to her, since she knew what it was like to gohungry. She had very vivid memories of that day in the fall of 1941when, as a little girl of 7, her family was told that they would have2 hours to pack, that they would were being deported. Valentina wasthe oldest of 4 children, and her efforts were key to the family'ssurvival in the next years, especially since her father was exiled toanother, still harsher climate than the Siberian steppe that was homefor Valentina, her mom and siblings. She told me that she neverlearned to read because she was immediately engaged in helping tofeed the family. At that age, that meant searching for whatever mightbe edible - berries, mushrooms, roots. No less important was goingthrough the fields after harvest time, giving her a personalunderstanding of the Old Testament's command that “when you reapyour harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shallnot go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan,and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all yourundertakings.”⁴

Asa result of the deportation from the Volga River region in 1941,200,000-300,000 German Russians met their deaths. Valentina, despitethe suffering she has gone through, survived and helped others tosurvive. With many similar stories among the elderly women in thecongregation, it is no surprise that they are willing to feed thehungry, having once been hungry themselves.

Cana small, poor, and mostly elderly congregation solve Russia's socialproblems? Certainly not. But I pray that God will give us year-roundthe thankful and generous hearts he gave us at Harvest, so that wemight know the joy of having a connection between our faith and ourliving, and that we might feel that we truly are “like agarden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that nevergoes dry.”

1 The lectionary here is based on a German system; there are two readings (one Gospel and the other from elsewhere in Scripture) for every Sunday in addition to a sermon text. While the two readings remain the same from year to year, the sermon texts are based on a 6 year cycle. I must admit that in my years here I've really missed our Revised Common Lectionary for a number of reasons: 1. there is always both and OT and a NT reading 2. there is flexibility when it comes to choosing which of the 3 texts works best for the sermon on a given Sunday (meaning I can't even wiggle out of preaching on Lamentations this coming Sunday!). 3. there is such a wealth of resources for those using the RCL for preaching.

2 Isa. 58.7. Good News translation; used here since in this case the text most closely parallels the Russian translation.

3 Isa. 58.9b-11. GNT.

4 Deut. 24.19 NRSV.

Installation

2011-09-30T18:34:00.002+07:00

While attending college and seminary, I worked in tech support. Since then I've fallen farbehind on the technology curve, but the word “installation” isstill more associated in my mind with software and hardware than withchurch. And so, as I prepared for my installation as pastor here inNovosibirsk, I began to reflect on what the church is doing when itpublicly acknowledges a new call in this way.

And I've come to theconclusion that I certainly wouldn't call it “installing.”* In ourcurrent usage, installation usually relates to a thing(OpenOffice, a headlight, newcarpeting) not a person. And if you look at the roots of the word, itis clear that the reference is to putting something into a specificplace. I do not suppose that many pastors would much like to be“in-stalled;” evenin rural places no one wants to feel like they've been put intocramped quarters for cattle. The “stall” root also bringsto mind other negative connotations, for example a car that hasbroken down and is going nowhere...

While “installation”is a word with many mechanical associations, what the church istrying to do, I hope, is something more organic. To a degree this isreflected in the way “installation” is said in the church inRussian: введение в должность(vvedenie v dolzhnost'). The firsttwo words are translated as “introduction to,” implying abeginning, a making of new acquaintances, and movement from theoutside in. The next word means “appointment” or “officialcapacity,” but here, too, the root indicates something more thansimply a job, it is an “obligation” or “duty.”

For me this new call toSiberia has nothing to do with getting “plugged in” like some newmemory module for increased performance. Instead “installation”is a movement towards carrying out a set of holy duties inrelationship to the community of faith. In my particular case, inbeing called to the pastor in Novosibirsk I've been given a fragilegift – a small and rather isolated congregation that is becomingaware of the transitions it is going through now and are yet to come.We do not have a computer for new software or a car for new parts ora building where new carpet would be appropriate. Instead, we haveonly the seed of faith, our relationships with one another, and ourhope that the Spirit will stir new life within us for the good of ourneighbors.

Here are a few pictures from the celebration of our new relationship, our faith and our hope.

In the center is a friend of the congregation, Brother Corrado from the Franciscan monastery. To his right is Andrey Filiptsov, my former student and pastor in Tomsk. In the first row is Svetlana, a Bible study leader in the congregation and soon to be a seminarian.

With the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia and Far East, Otto Schaude.

* A side note. One ofmy friends who speaks English as a second language wished me a good “inauguration.” While this felt flattering at first (“I'm muchlike a president!”), I then started thinking about the roots ofthis word – in / augur. Somehow I don't like the idea much that myservice is based on agreement with augurs / omens.

Observation and Action

2011-09-22T01:03:00.000+07:00

While teaching at theseminary outside of St. Petersburg, I would frequently tell studentsthat after they receive, they will need to spend a lot of time observing - the congregation's inner dynamics and spiritual values, the hidden conflicts as well as the hidden potential for growth. Ithought that I was giving them good advice that couldeasily be applied to their situations in congregations. I did notrealize just how difficult it would be to be patient....and I've onlybeen here three weeks! Did I mention that I told the students thatthis applied to their first year?

In some ways thecongregation in Novosibirsk is ready for change. As I've mentionedelsewhere, my predecessors did much to lay the groundwork for change;when I visited the congregation in May, the council decided that wewould take the big step of starting to worship in Russian this fall.While I'm sure it will take a number of months for everyone to getused to this new arrangement, it is clear that they're making theirbest effort. I'm especially impressed by the congregation's oldermembers, the ones that really want the German language to be a partof their spiritual life. These older women (and they are all women)could easily say - “I can read my prayers at home in German insteadof taking taking a hour or two to ride on two or three buses in order to get to church. I'vehad enough of this.” Or, instead, they could still come to theprayer house because of the role it played in their past, but couldengage (either actively or passively) in resisting the move intoRussian. For example, they could show their resistance simply bysaying, “We're old, and we can't see very well. We're not even goingto try to follow the worship service.” They wouldn't even be makingexcuses, they'd be telling the truth! Instead, though, they search for the words and the notes that are still unfamiliar to them.Their effort really impresses me and witnesses to the fact that theirfaith and being a part of the worshiping community are more importantto them than questions of language or ethnicity.

That said it really willtake a lot of time to change the way folks think about the church andtheir participation in it. Time will need to go by before they arewilling to respond to my offers to help them in their gardens, tocome over for tea and fellowship, or to attend Bible study. A largepart of me wants to be doing these and other new things (moreChristian education, congregational involvement in social justiceissues, talking with the council about the stewardship of our resources,getting a team together for visits to the sick and the homebound,etc.) in order to feel useful. But I need to keep remindingmyself that at this point my feelings of usefulness are not what ismost important. Instead, I need to allow time for relationships todevelop, and that will do much to improve the likelihood for successof new ministries.

The congregation's prayer house before the congregation arrives

In the meantime, I'mtrying to fulfill my need to feel useful in other ways, outside ofthe official boundaries of the congregation. Besides learning my wayaround Novosibirsk (you can find a few street scenes below), I'm also trying to develop as many contacts aspossible outside of the congregation. Since community and specialinterest groups are significantly fewer here than in the U.S., Icannot necessarily start with those things I already know or am goodat, but instead must try to determine what the needs are here andwhat efforts are already being made. As it turns out, in a country where newinfection rates remain among the highest in the world, HIV prevention is a priority. Later inthe week I'll be attending a roundtable discussion to see aboutparticipating in an intensive new testing effort in October and November.

Next week I'll let you know more about how the roundtable went, as well as say a few words and provide a few pictures from my official installation service this coming Sunday. Until then, here are a few pictures from around the city.

One of my favorite scenes in Russia - playing chess in the park. I'm glad to see that they do it in Siberia, too.

This is the "Composer's House" in Novosibirsk. I think it is cool that there is a building specially dedicated for composers to meet and work.

The fountain in front of the Russian Academy of Sciences of library where I do research for my dissertation when I have time.

A typical street scene in the center of Novosibirsk - the enormous, Soviet-era "Theater of Ballet and Opera" is the background while a tram makes its way down the street at about the same speed as pedestrians. On the right is a building under construction.

A picture of the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin, at the subway station named in his honor.

Ascension Cathedral. Russian Orthodox Church.

Worship in Siberia - a slowly evolving tradition

2011-09-15T14:53:00.000+07:00

I prefer to keep my blog entries colorful and relatively short. This one, though, will need to be a little longer, and at the moment has no illustrations. Moreover, it is probably of interest mostly to those for whom liturgy and forms of worship are important topics.

Well, how's that for "selling" this blog entry? :) I simply want to say that what I'm posting today is certainly not typical.

And, so, the reason I am writing this is in order to take a "snapshot" of congregational life as it has evolved here over the past century, in particular since it is clear that the congregation is on the verge of making a significant shift in its worship practice.

In order to understand what the congregation has been doing when it meets, it is important to know where they've come from. And where they've come from has been, primarily, ethnic minorities (e.g., Finns and, in my case, Germans) in the Russian Empire. Despite having been in Russia for many decades or even multiple centuries, Lutheran congregations as a rule were made to worship in the traditional language of their people. That means that Lutherans in Novosibirsk had no strong tradition of church life in the language that all had in common - Russian. The repression of the church that started after the Bolshevik Revolution led to the closing of all the churches, but when large numbers of ethnic minorities were deported to Siberia in the late 1930s and early 40s, underground congregations began to gather again. German-speaking Lutherans in Novosibirsk, for example, were gathering secretly by 1941 and openly by the early 1960s. After their official recognition by the Soviet state, they revived an intensely pious spirituality that included at least three weekly meetings, with much of both Saturday and Sunday dedicated to church. At first they had an educated pastor in their midst, but later the congregation was run by a group of elders, in particular one to three "brothers" whom the congregation acknowledged as their leaders. As the brothers grew older, they passed on leadership to the next generation. By this time, though, the piety of the congregation's leaders was to a large degree focused on preserving the heritage of the past rather than bringing the congregation into the modern world and keeping its worship accessible to those who knew neither German nor the "brother" traditions. By the 2000s, then, while a large number of Russian Lutheran churches had updated their liturgical traditions and moved into Russian-language worship, the congregation in Novosibirsk remained relatively isolated from these developments. The general attitude was that as much from the past as possible much be preserved, even though many of the now elderly congregation members lacked the physical strength to make the hour + trip to church more than once a week.

All that does a bit to explain the way worship looked when I arrived there my first Sunday, the 2nd of September. That day, we had agreed that the German-language liturgy would be led, for themost part, by Sister Emilya, a faithful 85 year-old member of the congregation.But before the liturgy actually began at 11.00, the older women who hadbegun to gather at 10.15 or so started to sing hymns. This was an adaption of the Saturday meetings the congregation had in the past, which (as I understand it) were very much focused on singing. The women sang from two of the three hymnbooks they have, always acappella, the hymnbooks having no notation. The largest and oldest hymnal, the German Volga Songbook,is apparently what was primarily used at the beginning of the centuryand then throughout the Soviet Period. In addition, they have twosmall, modern hymnals of which I do not know the origin (only thatthey are not the modern, official state-church hymnals used in other places). As I sat there an observed the way thatthe hymns were chosen, I was not sure whether to be puzzled, disturbed or amused; whenever we finished signing a hymn, there was always some debate about what would be sung next. Now I'vebeen in Russia long enough to know that both the language itself andthe manner of expression make it seem like people are expressingthemselves in rude ways, and this not not usually true. However, itseems like the way they choose the hymns is likely to cause some hardfeelings, even among these thick-skinned women; some suggestions were rejected for some reason (e.g., wrong time of the church year), but sometimessuggestions were simply ignored, and whoever felt they had the authority todecide or the guts to start signing first was the “winner.”

At 11 o'clock, when the liturgy officially began, Sister Emilia stood up in front of the congregation andled opening prayers, a hymn of praise and the Psalm of the day more or less as they exist in our current, Russian liturgy. After this the congregation recited the confession of sins in unison (again, without any printed materials to read from - all the older members know it all by heart), though it seems that there were no words of absolution(unless I missed it – since everything was in German, I was always sort ofguessing). Then we sang a song a had a reading from Scripture. After this we had the Lord's Prayer, aconcluding prayer and the blessing. In short, this was basically a full worship service without a sermon or Holy Communion. Afterwords, though, the church council president got up and read a 19th century sermon. This sermon was from a book that acted as the sermon book for very many Lutheran congregations during that time when they were without pastors. After that sermon, I was given a chance to preach, after which we sang a Russian hymn. Except for my part here, I think that this "middle" part of the service is what reflects what traditional Siberian congregations would do on Sunday mornings.

But we still had another whole part of the liturgy left to go. After the Russian hymn, sisterEmilia led the “prayers of the people;” these prayers had aformal, general introduction, “let us pray for...” and thenalmost everyone got on their knees (a few remained standing) andprayed in a very interesting way – each person prayed aloud in ahalf-whisper in either German or Russian. It was a bit like prayer ina charismatic church insofar as everyone was speaking at the sametime, though everyone was speaking in a language that they, at least,understood. After that we said the Lord's Prayer again, sang anothersong, and then I gave a blessing to the congregation. Again, with the exception of my blessing at the end, this part of the worship service is also clearly left from the old tradition, and was either from another day (Wednesday) or perhaps reflects some of what would happen on Sunday afternoons.

And so - that's where we were at the beginning of September. After church, the council said that we would move into Russian language worship next week, which we did. I'll write something (shorter!) on that in a week or two. First, though (in the coming days) I'll write a bit more about the Siberian context in which I am serving.

Another Russia

2011-09-12T10:56:00.001+07:00

After my first 10 days inSiberia it is clear that I've moved not only to a different city and adifferent climate, I've also made a significant change in culture.

On the one hand it seemsthat I've traveled backwards in time as I moved east; there are aspects of life inthe city that seem to have disappeared from the bigger cities inEuropean Russia. One example – there are probably 50 people between my apartment and the nearest subway station 5 minutes away who spend their days on the street selling their gardenvegetables, the mushrooms they've collected, or (if they are reallydesperate for cash) nick-knacks from around the house (in that lastcategory is a woman who sits near my apartment and attempts to sell, among other things, an old computer keyboard and asingle, warn-out shoe.)

The flower sellers are the most photogenic!

Another example would bethe prominence of Soviet-era buildings in the city. This trait isespecially clear if one is driving or riding on the bus, since thecity is organized around a series of squares...that are actuallycircles – roads flow out of the circle like spokes on a wheel, andlining the diameter of the circle is a row of impressive “stalinki”.“Stalinki” were the apartment buildings built during Stalin'srule and almost all have a similar look about them (you can see oneparticularly colorful example below), and are highly valued by thepeople here because they are well-built and comfortable (compared tothe later Soviet apartment buildings).

A poorly maintained, but still in-its-own-way-impressive "Stalinka" in Novosibirsk.

St. Petersburg has plenty ofold buildings, too, but those old building in the center of the citymight be 18^th, 19^th or early 20^thcentury. In other parts of the city (the residential regions), you'llfind many more buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s, including theinfamous “khrushchevki” (named after Nikita Khrushchev, whodecided to build cheaper residential buildings in order to help withthe housing shortage in the Soviet Union.)

This postcard says - "A Khrushchevka - Khrushchev saw buildings for refugees in America
and decided to build the same kind for us in Russia."

Novosibirsk is tooyoung for old buildings. By the standards of European Russia (Novgorod, thefirst city I lived in, is at least 1150 years old), it is just ababy. Novosibirsk's development is tied with the rise of trade and railroad in this region a little over 100 years ago. Yet, you don'tget the feeling here that Novosibirsk is behind St.Petersburg in terms of its development; instead, it feels like theyare on different paths. One gets the impression that Siberiansbenefit, to a degree at least, from being far away from the seats ofpower. I'm reminded of that great line from “Fiddler on the Roof,”when the Rabbi indicates what would be a proper blessing for theTsar: “MayGod bless and keep the Tsar... far away from us!” While distancefrom the capital means less access to some of the resources that areoffered there, one gets the impression that this area suffers lessfrom bureaucratic pressure of Moscow and from the “brain drain” affecting western Russia. Overall (and, Imust admit, maybe it is just the beautiful fall weather that creates thisimpression) there seems to be a greater degree of calm here; peopleseem less stressed out and, therefore, less aggressive. If this turns out to be true, this will be a great help in my life here.

These are some of my first impressions, and perhaps it will turn out that they are way off target. Probably the winter will give a more realistic impression of what life in Siberia is really like. In the meantime, a few pictures:

Another example of feeling like I've stepped back in time - "Montana Jeans" and "Montana Coffee" have disappeared from St. Petersburg, but they were here to welcome me in Siberia.

The sign in the foreground is all over the city - inside the heart are the letters Новосибирск (Novosibirsk). In the background is a large sign on top of a building on the other side of the street. It's a leftover from the Soviet era, and the store name was дружба ("friendship.")

There are birch and berry-heavy rowanberry trees all over the city.

And pine and cedar trees on the banks of the "Ob Sea," the large reservoir on the Ob river that flows through the city.

A decade in Russia and a new beginning

2011-09-08T15:44:00.000+07:00

It was on the 1^stof September 2001 that I arrived in St. Petersburg to begin myyear-long internship as a part of the ELCA Horizon Program. I wasexcited; I was returning to the country I had fallen in love withwhile a student at St. Olaf, and I would be contributing to thedevelopment of the Lutheran church as it re-emerged after 70 years ofrepression. It would be just one year, but I was aiming to make themost of it – to meet the other interns, to develop goodrelationships with my supervisors (one from the ELCA and another fromGermany), and to be of use in the congregations (first in St.Petersburg and then in Novgorod).

Leading Worship in Novgorod. 2002.

Well, that single yearcommitment to the church in Russia has now stretched in to its seconddecade. So much has changed; both at St. Nikolai's in Novgorod and atthe Novosaratovka Seminary, there were many moments that inspired andmany others that brought disappointment. And now, as I start a newministry as a pastor in Novosibirsk, I've decided to be moredeliberate about publicly reflecting on the life of the church inthis country. When I was located in European Russia, I at least hadthe illusion of being close to the West; now that I'm in Siberia, itis clear that I am far, far away.

Over the next few months,I hope publish updates here no less frequently than once a week. I'msure that this discipline will give me the chance to pause and get abit of perspective, while I hope that it will give you a window intolife on the other side of the planet.

Autumn Notes on Summer Impressions

2011-09-08T15:21:00.000+07:00

While usually my time in the United States is focused on talking with congregations about ministry in Russia, this time around I found myself being more alert to some of the specific traits of my home country that I have not always appreciated. While I make no claims to any degree of depth here, a few observations:

Public drinking fountains are great. Why buy bottled water?
Chicago is impressive; NYC – perhaps more so.
At the same time, for this rural boy at least, the drive between Havre and Lewistown through the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in central Montana was perhaps even more impressive than the cities.
The lack of sidewalks in many urban and suburban areas perplexes me
Iowa should grow more tomatoes (even at the expenses of growing less corn)
I think being in Minnesota in the summer is more difficult than being in Russia in the winter.
Ben and Jerry's is actually too sweet for my taste.
I'm thankful that I had the discipline not to even touch a few of those addictive food (Doritos and Oreos primarily) that I made not have a chance to eat again for three years.

Besides that, a few things about family:

My grandparents are taking full advantage of life even at their advanced age. I'm happy for them and find that they are a great example.
It was really good to dedicated a few days time simply to spend with siblings and nieces/nephews this time around. I miss them.

And then, about the trip to and from the U.S.

After having a couple of significant layovers in the airport in Amsterdam, Natasha thinks that the Netherlands might just be the best country in the world to live in. It seems that everything there is focused on the comfort and happiness of travelers, and it was really a treat to spend some hours there.
My flight took me through Munich as well; free coffee and newspapers there means that I feel a special connection to Bavarians.

Lutheran Churches in Russia Moving Toward Unity

2009-12-16T10:59:00.003+06:00

In the past year, the Lutheran Church in which I am working (formerly known as ELCROS, currently known simply as the Evangelical Lutheran Church) and the other historic Lutheran church in the region (The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ingria - Ingria being the historically Finnish region of northwest Russia), also supported by the ELCA, have made significant steps towards unifying their ministries. The latest declaration of the Lutheran World Federation National Committee, of which they are both a part, testifies to this. I've included an English translation of (most of) their common declaration here. While I see that the process won't be an easy one, it does seem clear that the church's ministries will be strengthened by more mutual interaction and a unification of common efforts.

* * *

Meeting of the National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation

On December 10th a regular meeting of the National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (which consists of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria) was held. The following statement was issued by the churches:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, recognizing their common history of service in Russia, their dramatic experience of testing, repression, and persecution... in the period of atheistic dominance, taking into account the common goals and tasks before our Churches now, the high level of mutual trust, common membership in international and Russian ecumenical organizations, and being led by the words of the Savior “that all may be one”

declare together

In the context of an actively changing world and of new challenges which the contemporary secular worldview create for Christians, questions of our unity gain special relevance for us, historical Lutheran churches. In the time of the open preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in democratic Russia...our Churches have gained not only an understanding of the necessity of more unity, but also created the necessary spiritual and confessional grounds for such unity. With faith in God's providence as it is realized in the church's life, we declare with hope our decision to strive for a full removal of barriers to the unification of the ELC and the Church of Ingria and call our congregational members to prayerfully support this intention.

ELC Archbishop August Kruze
ELCI Bishop Arri Kugape
ELC Vice-Archbishop, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia, Edmund Ratz.

Former ELCROS Archbishop, Georg Kretschmar

2009-12-03T10:59:00.002+06:00

A man who did much for me personally and the church in which I am working, former ELCROS Archbishop Georg Kretschmar, passed away recently after battling illness for the past few years in Germany. Archbishop Kretschmar was a very serious theological scholar, but also a very kind man. He co-presided when my wife and I were wed in 2003, and showed me great support as a very young teacher at the seminary which was so dear to him. Below you can read a bit more about his life.
_ _ _

On November 19th former ELCROS bishop Georg Kretschmar died in Germany. He was 84.

Georg F.K. Kretschmar was born on August 31, 1925, into a family with a long tradition of serving as pastors in the Evangelical Church in Silesia (Poland). After finishing school in 1943 he was drafted into the army, during which time he was wounded. During his time in the army he visited an Orthodox church in Ukraine and from that moment on made it one of his goals to increase mutual understanding between the Western and Eastern churches.

Kretschmar began his theological studies in Tubingen in 1945, and continued his studies in Oxford and Heidelberg, where, in 1940, he defended his first thesis and became a teacher. He passed his second exam in the Wurtemburg church and did his internship there; in the beginning of 1953 he was ordained as a pastor in Tubingen, where he defended his doctoral dissertation later that year. After a few years there, he taught in the university of Hamburg until 1967, when he moved on to help found the new protestant theology department at the University of Munich. He worked there until 1990, and remained professor emeritus there until his passing.

Georg Kretschmar always understood his church service as an ecumenical service. He was involved in various working groups, and from 1959 to 1991 took part in 12 meeting between the Evangelical Church of Germany and the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation asked that he become a part of the worldwide Lutheran-Orthodox dialogues and lead the Lutheran delegation. This he did until 2004.

In 1989 the Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Soviet Union, Harold Kalinin, asked Kretschmar to organize educational programs for the church. He agreed and found the job so important than he left his former position at the university. Although he did much for education in the church, this was not his only duties. In 1992 he became the assistant Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (the successor Lutheran church body founded after the breakup of the Soviet Union), and lived in St. Petersburg on a permanent basis starting in 1993. He was elected bishop of the church at the first General Assembly, and his title was changed to Archbishop after the new constitution was adopted in 1999. He was responsible for the largest (in terms of territory) Lutheran church in the world, with 7 regions churches and around 600 congregations in his care. In this period of great change congregations were re-organized and church buildings were re-claimed by the church or built anew in dozens of places. He remained Archbishop of ELCROS until health concerns forced him to retire in 2005.

Besides his work in the church itself, Georg Kretschmar did a tremendous amount of work in various academic fields, in particularly in the areas of church history and biblical theology.

Georg Kretschmar was the father of seven children, one of which has continued the family tradition of serving as a pastor in Bavaria.

Saturday, October 17

2009-10-26T09:44:00.001+06:00

After finding out yesterday that my exit visa is finally ready for me in Rostov, I was able to follow through on my plan to fly from Omsk to Moscow and then, from there, to take the train south. I'm writing now from there...at least until my battery runs out. The day was pretty uneventful, as tomorrow is likely to be – simply being on the road or waiting for the road, while Monday, besides getting my visa, I'll try to do as much possible to prepare for the next step in getting my Russian “green card” - getting a whole bunch of tests at a local hospital, getting a tax idea number... And, so, the blogging will stop until something particularly interesting comes along.

Friday, October 16

2009-10-26T09:42:00.001+06:00

My sermon for today was not prepared when we were all held in the room, and so I was working on low sleep this morning. Again, though, I felt like I was given the right words for the situation and the people, and hopefully everyone received a word of comfort.
We spent part of the day continuing to talk about what had happened the night before – it was really important for everyone to be able to express their feelings and care for one another. Then I had anticipated that we would close off the day by trying to do something practical – make a few Sunday School lessons based on what we had covered in the days before. As it turned out, as each was describing the Sunday school situation in his or her own church, it became clear that they also had a lot to share, especially about common problems. This, too, it turns out might be important for the future, insofar as it might be the witness that was needed that makes the church do a bit more on the regional level to meet Christian educational needs in congregations (esp., it seems, in training Sunday school leaders).
The day ended with a common worship service. While my liturgical leadership was far from ideal on my lack of sleep, it was good to be together...ah, and I also need to say how, by the end of the week, I was “converted” by the song book that had been used by the congregation in Omsk on Sunday. One of the seminar participants, Denis, someone I've known a long time, did a lot of music leadership during the week; he showed me that among the 2000 (!!!) hymns collected there, there are dozens that a just fine theologically. It, in fact, made me rather sad to see that the new ELCROS hymnal had missed many good opportunities to bring out different theological aspects that still fit into the Lutheran tradition, as well as bring some musical variety – it's clear after that seminar that the new hymnal will not be able to compete with this other pan-Protestant one (“Songs of Renewal”) in terms of songs that are full of feeling (though I must say that the ELCROS hymnal is pretty good at depressing songs) and more popular with young people.
After the seminar, I had good, in-depth discussions with a couple of the students, and had the opportunity to spend a second evening with Andrey and his wife Lena, and that was a real treat...
Off early in the morning!

Thursday, October 15

2009-10-26T09:41:00.001+06:00

Today was an interesting mixture of experiences. On the other hand, we continued our fruitful work with the Bible (not NT); in addition we talked a bit about Luther's Small Catachesis and how it can help us understand God and creation. After that, we talked about a small section of a document the Orthodox church put out - “The Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church.” It opened up a whole bunch of things, in particular, related to the ethics (environmental ethics, personal property, social justice) and ecumenism. While the latter didn't get very far, the former was one of the most open and interesting discussions about ethics I've had here – for students at the seminary, we eventually get to the point where they can speak about Christian ethics in a helpful way, but it is usually very difficult to get to that point. After that, we talked just a bit about prayer and then had a very moving time of prayer together.
On the other hand, the day was very hard. At our lunch break I checked my email and there I saw that my grandparents were in a serious (11 car) accident while on the way from Montana to visit my uncle and his family in Denver. We are blessed that they survived; I couldn't tell to much from my parents' email exactly how Grandpa and Grandma are feeling now, though it appears that their injuries are not too serious. Of course, I'm worried, though.
And then, as the day was ending and everyone was going back to their rooms, we learned that two of the girls had had their telephones stolen from their room. They were rather in shock and Dieter and I were sitting and talking with them when others among the church staff decided that they would call the police. When the police came, they rounded up all of us who were there and put us in one room, while trying to scare the thief into the open. It was rather crude theater, though I can understand it, considering it did really look like an “inside job” (the rooms are on the third floor and someone from the outside would be taking a big risk to go up there, besides the fact that they would have to know that we were all at the seminar and that their room would be open and empty at that time). I can even understand why they singled out a few individuals (the girls' roommates, a young many who would be leaving the next day) as suspects, but it seems to me that they went too far. One of the girls was questioned for about two hours; none of the rest of us could leave the room for 4 hrs.
The police eventually left and the phones, not surprisingly, were not found; we all felt pretty rotten after the whole experience... the last day of the seminar will be interesting.

Wednesday, October 14

2009-10-26T09:39:00.001+06:00

I'm not sure what to think about the way the seminar is going in terms of the materials we are presenting. For example, we talked about the two creation stories in Gen 1 and Gen 2 and about the different time periods these stories come from... I would have expected some resistance to the idea, actually. But I guess a key element here is the approach we took – we didn't come in with some highly academic theory as to what the sources of OT texts are. Instead, we looked at the texts and compared them, then looked at the history of Israel and its religious development. After that, the idea that different texts were written for different times (and were written for different theological purposes (answering questions like “why?” “who?” and “what does it mean?”) instead of attempting to give accurate and scientific detail (answering the question “how?”).
The most difficult thing today for me was leading and preaching at morning prayer (which happens daily for those who work in the church center in Omsk); I was nervous and am afraid the sermon wasn't well understood. On the other hand I find that working so intensely with a group (from 9 am to 8.30 pm) is really beneficial in understanding what message might be able to reach them.

Tuesday, October 13

2009-10-26T09:38:00.000+06:00

The theme of our seminar is “I believe in God the Father;” while at first I had had in mind to do quite a bit of work with them about the relatively difficult to grasp questions about God's existence, the Trinity, etc., we've seen that the students varying levels means that we need to stay closer to the questions that arise directly from relevant Biblical texts. As it turns out, I see how fruitful it would have been if I had started this way with my students in Novosarataovka, too, in those days when I taught Systematic Theology. Knowing the Biblical base and the wide variety of Biblical voices as the texts speak about and describe God helps in a lot of ways – it makes us humble in our claims to “know” what is really unknowable about God; it helps us open up new sides of the witness of the faithful about God (i.e.., when looking at OT names for God, I saw that Hagar calls God “the God who sees me;” it is an image that I really like and that will stay with me for a while); it helps us understand Jesus and his witness about the Father. At any rate, I'm liking it.

Monday, October 12

2009-10-26T09:37:00.001+06:00

Yesterday evening I met the seminar's participants, and was a bit surprised by our small numbers. Last year we had around 20, and it looks like this year we'll have around 10. It seems that there are a number of reasons for this, but the prime one being that not many places got the invitation on time. After today, though, I see that our small numbers are not really that much of a disadvantage – we have a few people in the group who are really new to church life (in addition to being quite young), so I'm happy we'll be able to work with them in a smaller group and address the various levels among the students. There were 4 people back from last year, all of whom are quite experienced; I hope we'll be able to make it interesting for them. One of them, Andrey, is a preacher in Magadan, in the northeast part of the country. It turns out that he was on the same flight as I was yesterday. That means he flew first 7 hours to Moscow to the west and then 3 hours to Omsk to the east! Apparently that's the cheapest way to go – there is no train service up there...and don't even ask about roads.

"I Believe in God the Father." Seminar in Siberia. October 2009.

2009-10-22T10:57:00.002+07:00

Since I did not have regular email access on my recent trip to Omsk, I've decided to publish my daily thoughts on the trip a week late. Hopefully, these entries will give a bit of insight into what daily life is like when I'm teaching seminars here.

* * *
As with my travels last year to Omsk, the days rather run together on this trip. Public transport got me to the airport just in time to make my flight to Moscow...where I had to wait 7 hours in the Vnukovo airport before the plane from Omsk was to take off. Vnukovo isn't the type of airport where you can really find things to do for 7 hours, so I tried to read and make suggestions to drafts of student thesis and forget about the clock. The flight took about 3.5 hours, and was relatively unremarkable except for the large quantity of food that they gave us and the scariest moment I think I've ever had in an airplane. At one point, about an hour from Omsk, it felt like we were just plan dropping. Three times in about 30 seconds there was a a loud swooshing... followed by a free-falling sensation. What was particularly strange is that no explanation was given... it did remind that I am thankful for life. :)
My former student, Andrey, picked up me and others at the airport; Omsk isn't a big city (somewhere in the range of 300,000 people?), but its airport is particularly small; what is more surprising, however, is that when you fly in, a bus takes you to the edge of the airport territory and just drops you off outside – you can go over to another building if you have baggage to claim, or simply walk through the airport territory gates.
Omsk is 3 time zones east of Moscow...and that puts you only in western Siberia. The country really is enormous. At any rate, this made it morning but, since I hadn't slept, I was happy that I didn't need to get up except to make it for the Russian language service at 2 pm, which would be just in the other side of the Christ Church Center, where I'll be sleeping for the next week in the “Erlangen” room.
The congregation gives a good impression – their friendly and well-organized and today's preacher (Dean Dieter Grimmsmann, with whom I'll be teaching) was good. The only hard part for me at their services is the hymns they sing. The problem is not at all with the musical style (which I don't know how to describe other than “Baptist,” meaning not classical, yet not quite contemporary piano music played at quite a lively tempo), but the theology of the texts completely contradicts what the Lutheran church tries to teach. I'll have to talk with Grimmsmann about that...

Third General Synod of ELCROS Undertakes Major Structural Reform

2009-09-21T23:17:00.002+07:00

Over 40 delegates from around the Former Soviet Union took part in the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia and Other States (ELCROS) September 16-19 in St. Petersburg. They were joined by guests and friends, both local and international, from both Lutheran churches and ecumenical partners.

The Synod, the first since 2005, gathered together around the theme “Fellowship Over Borders;” it was the reality of borders (in particular, cultural and political changes in the post-Soviet climate) that presented the greatest challenge for the delegates. For while all of the churches do face a number of common problems (searching for a new, multi-ethnic Lutheran identity first among them), the legal and financial challenges of remaining together were particularly apparent in the months that led up to the meeting. In the end, delegates made changes to the constitution of the church so as to avoid the legal ambiguities caused by the previous situation, i.e., a single, multi-national church.

The way these changes are to be incarnated are yet to be seen. What is clear at present is that the legal entity that was ELCROS has now become the Evangelical Lutheran Church, uniting two regional churches - the Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia in the west and, in the east, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Urals, Siberia and Far East. Delegates chose Bishop August Kruze (background, below) of the Siberian church to be the new Archbishop, though Dr. Edmund Ratz (former ELCROS Archbishop - foreground) will remain on for some time to assist in the transition.

The Russian churches will be united with the churches abroad (the largest of which are the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kazakhstan, which are joined by smaller bodies in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Belarus) by covenants of agreement and through common ministries, regulated by a committee of delegates from all member churches. At present it is planned that the Russian churches will continue to provide educational, public relations, and women's ministries resources for all of the former ELCROS congregations.

The changes undertaken at this meeting were vast, and it is likely to take a number of years before the effects of the changes become clear. The needs of Lutherans in this area, as they strive to preach the Good News despite small size, isolation, and meager resources, are still great. It is not clear, in fact, that the new structure will meet these needs. And yet, I feel privileged to be accompanying my brothers and sisters here on their journey, and am confident that God will continue to work wonders even through all our flaws and all the challenges we face.

Dorogi - Russian Roads

2009-09-10T19:56:00.005+07:00

There is a saying here attributed Nikolai Gogol - "Russia suffers from two grave misfortunes - fools and roads." When traveling by car here, the latter is particularly apparent. But when it comes to Russia's other roads, its railroads, they make getting around here a relatively easy, if relatively slow, process. Last week, the boys and I helped along our cultural re-integration after the summer away and took the train (36 hrs each way) to Rostov. The reason for this? That takes us back to the first misfortune of Gogol's quote.

That's probably being too harsh. But over the past two years of trying to find a way to avoid the hassles of getting a visa every year (with that chance that I could be rejected), I've not yet learned to love the Russian bureaucracy (or, for that matter, to learn how to spell bureaucracy without spell check). As I attempt to get permanent residency here, I have to get all my documents processed in Natasha's hometown, even though it is one, nation-wide agency that works on immigration questions. In way with my current status I have to get a new exit visa every time I want to leave the country - that happens only in Rostov (where there are only 4 hrs a week available for submitting such

applications), and only after the FSB (the successor to the KGB) does a background check on me (which takes up to 6 weeks). And so, I'll be going to Rostov again in October in order to have the chance to leave Russia in an emergency, or to get to Finland to talk with my dissertation adviser.

Yet, this little adventure is not so bad, preciously because the "fools" seem to have so little in common with the actual people I meet when traveling here. In the 3rd class wagon that we took, sure we were a little crowded (with the 3 of us all sleeping on one of the bunks you see to the right), but the boys and I had lots of people to talk and play with, people who,

inevitably, shared their food and their stories.

The way back to St. Petersburg was particularly

interesting. There our wagon was full of families

with young children, coming back from their vacations in the resort areas or with families in the south. Our neighbors across the aisle were traveling with their 8-month old son, Andrey, who really was interested in his older peers. Since our train got in at 3.50 n the morning, nearly 2 hrs before the subway opened, his parents, Marusa (Maria) and Tolik (Anatoly) kindly offered to give us a ride home with their friend who was to pick them up. This sounded great. And here, Gogol's two grace misfortunes meet.

Maria and Anatoly's friend stuffed all our things into his Russian station wagon and we were off. On the way from St. Petersburg to the seminary (a little over a mile outside of the city limits), we have to pass by a police post. The police can stop any car without reason, and, this time, the Russian station wagon looked like a good target. Our driver got out of the car and showed the police his documents...and didn't come back. 10 minutes. 15. 20. Finally, Tolik went to look for him. Our driver, it turns out, was driving with a suspended license. He was deep into negotiations with the policeman, who was threatening a jail sentence of 15 days. And so, we waited some more. All the money we had between us wouldn't be enough to get him out of the situation, though this was obviously the policeman's hope. And so, eventually, our driver worked it out that the policeman would take him to his apartment to get the remainder of the $1000 it was going to take to get him and the car out of there.

By then, though, the Buerkle clan had already split. It was 5.30 in the morning, and we had been given the rare chance to take an early morning walk down our last stretch of road. For now.

"Home"

2009-08-31T01:01:00.002+07:00

Every two years, as the days of my home assignment draw to a close, I get hit by a rather strange nostalgia - "this will be the last free continental breakfast I'll eat in two years;" "time to stop expecting strangers to make conversation;" "I wonder if it will get over 80 degrees in St. Petersburg in the next 12 months?" These little things that pull me back to my home country, it seems to me, are part of my coping mechanism - they help distract me from the hardest thing about going back to Russia - people. While I'm quite blessed by those with whom I have a chance to serve, our travels this summer helped me realize once again the great group of friends and supporters we are leaving behind, both among those whom we saw and those whom we did not. If you are reading this from the U.S., know just how much I appreciate you. If you are reading this from Russia, know that, even if I might seem a little homesick for the next couple of weeks, I really do consider my life here as my call. I feel privileged to be even a very little part of all of your lives.

Visits to Sponsoring Congregations

2009-08-01T04:07:00.004+07:00

In July, Natasha, Matvey, Martin and I visited congregations throughout the great state of Montana (and its not-so-shabby neighbors, Idaho and Wyoming) as part of our "home assignment" for ministry with Global Mission of the ELCA.

View Summer 2009 in a larger map

If all goes well, here you'll be able to see a map of where we've been so far.

After that I'll be going to Missiouri and California to visit great sponsoring congregations there.

Russian Orthodox Church Elects New Leadership - the effect on other Christian churches

2009-04-03T15:39:00.010+07:00

Elected in the year before the fall of the Soviet Union, Patriarch Alexei II died on December 5th, 2008, after heading the Russian Orthodox Church for 18 years. Alexei, while born into an Orthodox family, had experience with other confessions from his youth - he was born in the capital of then-independent (and mostly Lutheran) Estonia, Tallinn, and spent many of his first years in church service in congregations in that country (by then already a part of the Soviet Union). Alexei rose quickly through the church hierarchy (something which at that time could only happen with the blessing of Soviet officials) and was an active participant in ecumenical affairs in the years before the fall of the Soviet Union. Alexei’s growing up in a predominately Lutheran country and his good relationship with former ELCROS Archbishop Kretschmar certainly contributed to the better-than-average relations between the two communions in Russia.
However, the 1990s showed a slow but consistent movement by the Orthodox church to hindering the work of other Christian confessions here, especially by influencing the laws of registration of religious groups and by attempting to gain a monopoly on the teaching of religion in schools. Granted, many groups deserved to be treated harshly - without seriously attempting to understand Eastern Christianity, it was dismissed as "not Biblical," and therefore no meaningful dialogue was possible. It was no surprise, then, that once elected Patriarch, Alexei did all he could to regain the church’s position in the country (and in the Orthodox world in general) after 70 years of repression. In this he no doubt had a great measure of success. Literally tens of thousands of congregations have been re-opened since the fall of the Soviet Union, and Alexei did much to organize the structures, funding, and educational programs that such restoration required. It is here, however, that there is the most room to criticize Alexei’s (and his successor's, Kirill's) legacy. The church clearly has business interests, though there is no transparency or financial accountability for them. Some have speculated about the wisdom of the symbiotic relationship between the church and the state that has developed in which the church is given access, influence and financial advantages by the while the church gives unquestioning support for government decisions (in particular during the two Chechen wars). In addition, Orthodoxy in Russia faces a challenge insofar as structures of the church are now so closely tied to the surrounding culture that in some ways they also reflect the weaknesses of the culture (for example, corruption).
The importance of Alexei for Russia can be seen by the reaction of the public to his death. Between eighty and one hundred thousand people lined up outside of the Church of Savior in Moscow to pay last respects to Alexei as he lay in state.
The Orthodox Church was fortunate to find a worthy successor of Alexei in Metropolitan Kirill. Kirill was well-known in Russia even before his election as Patriarch in the end of January - he was the Church’s media representative, and led a well-produced weekly program on state-run television. It was this program and some of the things Kirill had to say during its broadcast about other Christian groups that made many non-Orthodox Christians rather nervous when they heard, after Alexei's death, that Kirill was a leading candidate for the post. On the other hand, it also became clear as the months went past that Kirill was not from the "right-wing" of the church - not by far. A recently excommunicated Bishop in the Russian Far East was an example of a reactionary form of Orthodox (rather apocalyptic in character, very anti-ecumenical) that is relatively popular among "serious" believers.

Non-eastern Christians, then, can be glad that the council of the church elected a very talented new leader – a competent theologian, an able administrator, and a successful populizer of Russian Orthodox values in wider society. And while it is probably not realistic to hope for great gains in ecumenical dialogue under Kirill (despite his activity in ecumenical circles early in his career), the Orthodox Church under Kirill should at least have the resources to resist those elements within itself that would tear it out of dialogue with other churches. This gives us good reason to pray for this man, whose influence is great, that he might enable all Christians here to work for clear preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our words and in our deads.

Southern Ossetia

2008-09-13T12:44:00.001+07:00

After 70 years of particularly cruel treatment by Soviet authorities, this mountain people (for centuries subject to one or another of its stronger neighbors) longed to gain independence. And, as was the tradition amongst nearly all the peoples of the Caucuses, they were willing to take up arms to defend themselves. The fight frequently looked like clan-warfare – kidnappings and public executions, pillaging and rape, blood feuds that could simmer for decades, waiting for the time to be ripe to reap revenge. Yet, this was more than a local conflict – larger powers (with their larger geo-political and economic interests) were involved, carefully planning the course for their goals to be met, regardless of what happened to those ordinary folks who called this mountain country their home.
These words apply not only to the violence in Southern Ossetia and Georgia. Sadly, they could be used to speak of many conflicts (the most well-known of which are the wars in Chechnya) in the past 15 years.
The understanding (and, even more so, the media coverage) of these conflicts look quite different from those writing on different sides of the struggle; western and Russian sources each seem to enjoy painting a black-and-white picture of events that turns one side into a hero and the other side in to “the aggressor.” But what is clear from here is that both sides were aggressive – Russia in laying all the groundwork for war by giving people in break-away regions outside of their country Russian passports (thereby having a reason to come to “the defense of our citizens”) and by resisting changes to the status-quo of de facto independence for Southern Ossetia and Abkhazia, which de jure remained Georgian territories. Russia was even less adept in finding an opportunity to improve its image abroad in its response to what apparently was a military operation initiative by Georgia – instead of remaining as actual peacekeepers, it is clear that the Russian military desired to punish Georgia and, particularly, its president, for trying to re-integrate these regions. Russia’s response was clearly over the top if it were truly interested only in how the peoples of these lands were living. Yet, clearly Russia alone is not at fault. The status quo, no matter how bad it was, was less violent that the all-out war of the early 1990s; these small ethnic groups did truly desire independence and suffered under Georgian rule. It seems that Georgia’s supporters in the West, directly or indirectly, gave the Georgian President reason to think that he could and should take a “now or never” opportunity to bring the territories back into Georgian control. However, Georgia succeed only in pushing the republics further (much further, no matter what one might think about Russia’s recognition of independence for the two territories) away.
And while all of this politics is going on, thousands of refugees pour in Russia from Tskhinvali and surrounding regions, while the Russian military causes enormous damage as it pounds its way through Georgian cities, villages and ports far from the actual zone of conflict.
The last weeks have been filled with two countries’ PR-campaigns, each selling its own version of the war. One sells the story of a victim, beat up by an aggressive bully-of-a-neighbor with no respect for international law or even human life. The other side tells the story of delusional president whose love of power at home (while boot-liking abroad) led him to attempt a “genocide” of one (or two) of the proud peoples of the Caucuses. If one thinks even for a moment about the positions the two sides take in other conflicts (e.g., Kosovo, and especially if one considers the West to be unconditionally supportive of Georgia, as is frequently portrayed here), one loses any illusion that either side is defending any sort of moral principle; instead, each defends their own self-interest (and interest in making the other look bad) at the expense of the simple people who are most affected by these political games.
The human suffering has already been great. The ripple effects are likely to be wider – Georgia is today threatening to cut diplomatic ties with Russia. Does that mean that the young woman the Georgian Lutheran Church who was planning to send to study at our seminary will not be able to make it? Will the rhetoric eventually simmer down, or will we continue to see headlines such as “Will there be War with America?” as one popular and respected Russian news weekly asked on its cover this week?
I would ask you to pray for all political leaders involved in the conflict in one or another – they will need great wisdom to bring the people of the region safely out of the mess that has been made. Prayers, too, that the political conflict does not take on an even more distinct ethnic character – if it does, the up to one million Georgians in Russia and the thousands of Russians in Georgia could become the target of violence. I’d ask you to pray for the churches here, that they could raise a collective and prophetic voice in defense of those who suffer.
As I write this, it seems to me that the worst days of this conflict are behind us. I pray that, by God’s will, I am right.

Turkish Coffee Gone Bad

2008-04-11T20:19:00.003+07:00

Once you've developed a taste for it, it's hard to resist Turkish coffee. In my first years in Russia, this stove-top coffee was just going out of style, making way for the much cheaper and faster Nescafe instant. And now that a second coffee revolution is taking place, expensive European espresso is easier to find than the gritty, old-fashioned coffee associated with places further south and east.

Recently, though, we've learned to make Turkish coffee at home; it helps me get through the sleeper hours after noon. There's just one problem - making it. It takes time. Three teaspoons of coffee, one of sugar, mix and put over medium flame until just starting to boy. One really should simply stand next to the stove and wait in order for it to turn out right, because if you don't time it right, the result is what you see in this picture. And the coffee's not any good either. It happens to me no less than once a week.

Turkish coffee has become a symbol for me of the difficulties I face in mission here. On the one hand, I try to accept the gift this culture has presented to me (this new drink); on the other hand, my multi-tasking, American self has a hard time waiting and watching closely so that I might enjoy the gift to its fullest. The same goes when contributing to the two-way exchange that is mission - those gifts I try to share are not always accepted in the way that I had hoped; not always is it possible for the other to wait at the stove while the grinds transform into a the intended gift.

Once again I'm convinced of the crucial need for patience. May the Lord grant it to me and all of those I'm trying to make coffee for.

Ministry at the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary

2008-04-03T16:28:00.004+07:00

Internships
The Theological Seminary has been operating for much of the last two years on a significantly reduced theological faculty – from five teachers in 2005 to three now (we are hoping for a fourth teacher to arrive from Germany this autumn). Our most severe need is in Practical Theology; since we don’t have a person directly responsible for this area, I’ve been asked to direct the seminary’s contextual education.
Fall was filled with calling bishops and congregations and talking with them about the possibilities of arranging an internship in their church; the early winter months were spent working out details. As February was coming to an end, we were able to complete the final step before internship – a short seminar with students to help them in the difficult (and quite quick) transition from seminary student, concentrated on his/her final exams, to congregational intern. In the first weeks of March, then, all 11 students were able to leave for their internship sites and begin what for many of them was the goal of seminary education – on-the-ground pastoral ministry; at the same time, it will be for some of them the most difficult and frightening part of seminary – engaging their theological ideas with ordinary people in the often difficult realities of parish life.
Together with this newsletter, you’ll find a map of the former Soviet Union. There you’ll find blue tacks on those cities where we have an intern, and get a sense of the incredible distances that are a part of church life in ELCROS. From west to east the internship cites are: Odessa (Ukraine), St. Petersburg, Kharkov (Ukraine), Moscow, Volgograd, Kazan, Perm, Astana, Pavlodar (both Kazakhstan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), and Vladivostok.

Graduate Update
For those of you who have been reading my newsletters for some time, you might be interested in reading about the ministries of recent seminary graduates.
There were five graduates in 2007. One of these, Igor, was from the extension program; he was ordained in the summer and continues to serve in my former congregation in Novgorod. While none of the other graduates are yet ordained, most are engaged in interesting work: Sofia has received grants from the ELCA and German parachurch organizations to work on developing a Christian website for children; Menzer is back in her native Azerbaijan, where, along with her quiet evangelism efforts, she has received support from a Norwegian missionary organization and UNICEF to work with children in at-risk families; Andrey is back in his native Siberia, where he is working for the synod office and the congregation in Omsk as director of educational programs and publicity, and where he also does pastoral work (without ordination – he feels like he’s still too young to be ordained, and has asked his church not to rush things!) Our final graduate, Dmitri, began to serve in Belarus this fall. Unfortunately, Dima has already had to give up this position. While very talented academically and with a very deep sense of the need to make the church more “local,” (i.e., less tied to German language and traditions) Dima’s enthusiasm for church reform was too much for the congregation to which he had come. Regrettably, Dmitri’s case is not unique, and the seminary continues to struggle with finding ways to help its students develop a firm sense of theological identity while at the same time not imposing their views on congregations, even despite the lack of mature, healthy development in many congregations of this church. Dima is taking some time off, and hopes to return to church work in a year.

Classes
This spring I have had the opportunity to teach in areas that I thought belonged already to the past – English (which I am teaching in order to cover a temporary gap in our staffing and which I taught as recent college graduate 10 years ago, but not since) and Systematic Theology (which has been in the hands of my Russian colleague, Anton Tikhomirov, for the past three years). In terms of the latter, this year we’ve decided to add a seminar-style course on the history of doctrinal development, and it has been particularly enjoyable for me as the students (whose academic qualifications are higher now than they have been compared to other recent courses) and I read together classical theology texts and try to come to an understanding of how the church’s teachings developed over time.

Easter Greetings!

2008-04-03T16:23:00.003+07:00

When and how do we celebrate Resurrection? It is a natural question for missionaries in Russia in years like this one, when the calendars of the Russian Orthodox Church the western churches differ by so much that we celebrated Easter just as our brothers and sisters were becoming adapted to the rhythms of the Great Fast (Orthodox Lent).
Being in Lent and Easter at the same time - this situation, it seems to me, reflects the state Christians are to be in at all times - standing before both the cross and the empty tomb, meditating and acting upon both the reality of death in our world and the anticipation of God’s coming kingdom.
In these spring days, I wish you an ever-deepening sense of what has been done for us in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the subsequent joy and new hope that only the Resurrection life can promise. Bradn

A Day in the Life... November 25, 2007

2007-12-17T12:38:00.000+06:00

The day started early. Too early. While one would not feel the same way in June (when by that time of morning one can already drive without headlights), in the fall and winter one's body protests against a 5:45 a.m. departure time; it's as if one's limbs know that all of nature will be arising only many hours later, and they encourage you to do the same. But there was no choice. I had to preside at the service in Novgorod at 11, and the evening before my LADA began to give forewarning of what was to come - as I drove back to the seminary after picking up the new Anglican chaplain from the airport, my 5 year-old copy of a 1960's FIAT was starting to die at every intersection. It was this that caused Natasha and I to decide that she and the kids would stay home and that I would try to take the bus.But the bus was not interested in taking me. Or, if it were not strictly the bus's fault, one can at least blame those who organize her travel. I left home at so early an hour after having failed on the previous evening to learn if there tickets were available for the early morning bus. As I arrived at the station, I was disappointed by the dark that engulfed the building. The front door was open, but everything else was closed. St. Petersburg is a city of five million, and it has only one major bus terminal. But even at that terminal, there is not one ticket counter open at 6:15 in the morning. And so, not knowing if I could find a place on the first bus but being certain that I would have to miss the service if there not, I decided to risk it, and took off in the car. As I was leaving the city, my dear “semyerka” tried again to warn me - she would not start after I stopped for a fuel-up and a purchase of windshield wiper fluid (a frequent combination at this time of year, when the temperature is just below freezing and slush covers every inch of the road.) But after giving the car a push and popping the clutch (reminding me the GEO of Berkeley seminary days, which demanded that I parked her on a hill in order get up enough speed as I gave another push-start) the car started up again, and I was off. I made it all three hours to Novgorod without incident - even the infamous traffic police (GAI) didn't stop me. It wasn’t simply my good driving or good luck, though. There was a clear reason I wasn’t stopped this time – the “gai-shniki” were too busy. Too busy stopping nearly every vehicle going in the other direction, i.e., to St. Petersburg. A protest march was scheduled for the day, and the authorities didn’t want any incidents. Any at all. So in the first hour outside of St. Petersburg, I met 3 convoys of riot police from out of town, coming into the city to support "good order." But more of that later.Returning to Novgorod, as I drove in to the city and started hitting traffic lights, the car again began to warn me that all was not well. It appeared for a while that I would need to leave the vehicle on one side of the Volkhov, while taking the city bus to the church on the other side. But after letting the car and myself cool down after two failed push-stars, in half and hour’s time the car sprung to life again, even if temporarily. And while the car was dying now even on speed bumps, I did make it to the church in plenty of time.

Lydia was there to greet (and fee) me. Every trip to Novgorod is a reminder of Russian hospitality, which Lydia incarnates. She and her husband, the pastor, Igor, live upstairs in the former office building which is St. Nikolai Lutheran Church in Novgorod. Igor had asked to take the service this Sunday, as he could not get away during the week (having recently taken on a second job, since the pastor’s pay is far from a living wage) and his father was recovering from a difficult surgery after having been diagnosed with cancer just a week before.

The Sunday was a special one in the life of the congregation. The primary reason for this was the yearly remembrance of the Saints Deceased. Local Lutheran theology has not caught up to practice and piety in regards to the importance that this day carries for people in congregations – the prayer list was just as long as the sermon (which witnesses both to the length of prayer and the shortness of the sermon). Just as important was fellowship with elderly members of the congregation, many of whom are now too weak to make it to church regularly.

The trip to church is particularly difficult for those from outlying villages. Two of these, Ekaterina Genrickovna and her niece, Galina, asked for a ride home after church. First, of course, I needed to spend a little time with members of the congregation; we conversed over coffee and more treats from Lydia while some of the new members (members of the youth group) practiced their Christmas pageant downstairs. I warned Ekaterina and Galina that the car was not in great working order, but they said that they weren’t in a hurry. Ekaterina had learned patience in her nearly years. As a German-Russian living in Stalin’s Russia, she was deported to Kazakhstan with her mother and brother. There she was immediately put to work – apparently the authorities decided there was no need for a shepherd to learn to read. Her life continued along that difficult path for decade upon decade; it is only now, as an elderly woman, that she is begging to come to inner peace.

For that reason, she could both express concern at the car’s lurching and laugh as we found ourselves making very slow progress toward her home. In the end she and Galina did take the bus, because it was clear that without taking the car in for service, we weren’t going to be leaving town…

At about the same time, the situation in St. Petersburg was developing in an interesting way. The “Dissenters' March” was on the way. This time the authorities decided that it was not in their best interests to forbid the event entirely – they had done that in the spring, and the pictures of OMON beating a photojournalist with his billy wasn’t great for PR. This time the police simply decided to let the dissenters (a very mixed crowd of representatives of all the groups (from pro-western politicians to socialist/nationalist groups) that resist contemporary developments in Putin’s Russia)) meet for a rally without letting them march. But the dissenters claimed that to march was their constitutional right…and a collision was unavoidable.

Later a representative from the European Union commented on the arrest of Gary Kasparov a day earlier at a similar rally in Moscow - "A former world chess champion does not pose a security threat to Russia."Back in Novgorod, I was able to push the car to a service station. When I let the mechanic know that it appears that I need to have the spark plugs changed, he looked at me with disdain at said, “where have all the real men gone?" As frequently happens in Russia, I felt about 2 inches high; consolation came only later when the mechanic (even with his better-than-my wrench) had to find an even bigger wrench in order to loosen the plugs. The mechanics found a few more problems as well, but for the two hours they worked on the car, the work wasn’t too expensive - 3 times less, in fact, than in the "northern capital."

But then again, perhaps it was worth what I paid.It was nearly 6 pm, and I was feeling that I was nearly home. I was enjoying listening to a radio program on "Ekho Moskvi" about early 20th century Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin. For an hour the commentators were discussing his relevance for current Russian politicians. I was enjoying being in the country again. I asked myself “Can you find radio programs about philosophers in America? Even on NPR?

But then the adventures began again. I started losing power. The car died once, but then started again. The LADA began to backfire; even popping the clutch in 2nd gear wasn’t working any more. The machine came to a halt.

It seemed that it was just another bump in the road. The car had started again in Novgorod, hadn’t it? That means I’d simply wait, and in no time I’d be back with my family. But waiting wasn’t helping. Not after 20 minutes, not after 40. After and hour and a half, I had moved all of 200 yards. It was clearly time to enact another plan. “Should I flag down a car?” I asked myself. While that would be a typical response here, I couldn’t help but remembering an incident from the year before. It, too, involved a roadside breakdown and flagging down a car… but that’s a story for another time. For now, suffice it to say that stopping another driver on the unlit road at night was not an option.

And so, what remained? To call friends, but not many of them have a car. One was in the subway, and wouldn’t be back to his car for at least an hour. The second call was to the Seminary; they were able to send help. I was glad I had a scarf, though, because Alexander, the Seminary’s driver, wouldn’t be arriving for at least an hour and a half.

I fell off into that half-sleep that is the only possible way of sleeping when it’s too cold, until I heard a horn honking – Alexander had arrived. I had already hooked up the tow rope to the LADA, and we threw a blanket on the ground in order to hook up to the Sobol, after briefly trying to start the car once again. Alexander kindly said nothing about my lack of mechanical prowess, but simply told me to watch for slack in the rope, and we were off.

The next 90 minutes were a flash-back to the hardest days of harvest when I was a kid – the days when I had to drive the combine. Thankfully, they were few, since long after returning home from the field my mind would be racing with images of trying to keep everything under control. Being towed need not have been so bad – if only the tow row were not two times shorter than it should be, if only the battery hadn’t died, leaving me without windshield wipers even as the Sobol’s rear wheels were constantly kicking up slush from the recently rained-upon roads…

And then, suddenly, we were home. Natasha and the kids were waiting for me, along with a cup of instant coffee. The day ended late, too late. On one level, I was totally exhausted. But on another, I was filled with the sensation of how blessed I was – the people with whom I came into contact this showed me how the world over is filled with grace.

Home assignment is tiring!

2007-07-31T05:51:00.000+07:00

We find rest wherever we can while on the road. Here - on Amtrak between Minneapolis and St. Louis.