Reflections, one week later

At church Sunday, people kept asking me about my trip to Ukraine. Each time I found myself wishing I had a snappy two sentence answer that would summarize the experience in a way that captured their imaginations. (Maybe I also felt the need to justify a two week absence!) Usually I would simply say, "It was a great trip, and I'm still unpacking it." So let me continue to unpack it.

First of all, let me say that I don't believe in two week experts. I can't speak definitively about Ukrainian culture or Christianity; I can only speak out of my experience.

One reason I've found my time in Ukraine difficult to unpack is because it is a culture somewhat similar to my own. When I traveled to Uganda, the cultural differences were significant. So when people asked me, "What did you learn from them?" it was easier to answer than when someone asked me that a few days ago. I could point out the East African exuberance in worship, for example, as something I could learn from. But the Ukrainian worship climate made it feel a lot like leading a worship conference in a small town in the US: not a lot of understanding about worship, a traditional church base from which the younger folks are exploring/rebelling, and mass media worship industry filling the gap left by a lack of solid worship resources.

Even though our cultures are similar, I was struck once again by the things we take for granted in the US. For example, Dave and I accompanied George to the men's prayer breakfast at the church. I asked the half dozen men what kinds of things they struggled with and praying for, expecting the standard US answers of family, sex, and work. But one of the things they found extremely difficult was not taking or giving bribes. It seems that bribes lubricate most business dealings in Ukraine, and not taking part in that system puts them at a huge disadvantage. They had to count the cost of their faith, quite literally.

Another big issue we encountered was the Ukrainian church's relationship to the West. I was not surprised to find out that Western hymns and praise songs were a bulk of the Evangelical repertoire in Ukraine. What was surprising was how narrowly focused on Gospel hymns (Fanny Crosby, et al) their hymn repertoire was, and that their praise repertoire was more oriented toward Hillsong than Nashville. Some of that is changing with the recent release of a small collection of Ukrainian worship songs, but it's still a significant factor.

Another part of the Ukrainian relationship to the West is its dependence on Western money. The reality is that a new church won't get built unless it's funded from the outside. It was interesting to me that the Ukrainians are very aware of the way this financial support affects their worship. In a session discussing the Nairobi Statement on Worship and Culture, money kept coming up as a force that applies constant pressure on their decision making. I'm still chewing on this: how does money influence our theology of worship?

Finally, the trip to Ukraine drove home once again the need for good worship training. Dave and I led sessions on the basics of worship--things we've heard and taught hundreds of times--but you could see lights going on around the room as people heard these ideas for the first time. Worship as formation, worshipers as participants rather than audience, using the Psalms in worship--all of these were being heard with fresh ears. The closing worship service, though modest by Calvin Worship Symposium standards, was clearly a door opening to a whole new world for those who took part.

There is clearly a need. Maybe the need can be addressed by a book on the basics of worship. Maybe Dave and Greg will take their show on the road. Maybe these mini-symposiums will be supplemented by a seminary style curriculum on worship. As we close this particular chapter, it will be interesting to see where God moves next.

"Heaven Is My Home, Doubtless...

...but Halifax is my haven."  That line from Canadian poet Bliss Carman has been a favourite of mine for exactly ten years.  And I sure am happy to be back in my haven.  For that was one long trip back.  Our flight from Budapest to Frankfurt was delayed 1.5 hours, and our layover in Frankfurt was only 1 hour to begin with.  So we missed that flight.  Everything in Frankfurt was backed up, due probably to a possible impending strike by air traffic controllers.  No available flights to Canada anymore that day.  So Lufthansa put us up in a 5-star Hilton.  Then today we flew to London and then directly to Halifax, though that last flight also ran late.  Two treats today: when flying into London we were able to see Wimbledon's grounds, and flying to Canada we took the "north route" and were able to see Greenland.

The funny story in the Frankfurt airport is that simply because we had come from Budapest, an airport staff person asked us to lead a Hungarian family and an elderly Romanian couple (the 2 parties didn't know each other) through the airport workings.  So we became this merry band of travelers, none of whom could understand each other, and all that in a German airport.  How we managed to help them, I'll never know, but it seemed to all work out.  The family had 3 boys, and they latched on to Lian - sound familiar?

Seeing Asher was a joy.  He keeps hugging us.

With so much thankfulness for the last 2 weeks,

Dave

Group Photo

We joked about nearly becoming family after two weeks of living, eating, working, and traveling together.  So, here's a picture of the "twins" and the rest of us!

The "twins," Dave and Greg, with Carrie, Lian and the de Vuyst family

I can't think of any clever title for this blog post.  Where are Greg and Dave when you need them?  Oh, yeah, they're on the plane traveling far, far away from us - getting back to their true families! 

Going Global

Okay, two posts in one day.

Guess who we met yesterday?  We were at The Heroes' Square, minding our own business, when someone asked us whether we would be willing to take a picture of him and his three companions.  Of course.  After snapping the picture, we got to talking to them, and it turns out we just met Krit Kraichitti, Ambassador of Thailand in Hungary.  Yes, indeed (and here's a better pic of him, when he was still ambassador-delgate).  His three companions were his wife, and their good friends, the husband of which is the head of some neurosurgery institute in Thailand.  (Sorry, friends, he said there was nothing he could do for me.)

Ukraine, Russia, Hungary ... but who'd have guessed Thailand?  I love eastern Europe!

Dave

I'll post a pic of us with them real soon.  Gotta run for the plane right now.

Shaped by a Blessing

I think I never blogged about our Sunday worship with the Mukachevo congregation.  Greg did another amazing job leading the worship music.  I sometimes wished I could have pursued a musical vocation much further than I ever did, and so Greg's graciousness and patience with me while I joined him in music-making is a real blessing to me. Thanks, Greg - it's been a pleasure serving with and learning from you!

I preached on 2 Corinthians 13:11-14 (verses 11-13, in some translations), with the focus being on the blessing in the last verse: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." It's worth noting that the last verse is ... the last verse. The last verse of these two long letters to the Corinthians, to this messed-up church. The Corinthians had problems with the apostle Paul, with each other, with the gospel message itself.  And Paul deals with all that head-on.  And yet, for all of their problems, Paul doesn’t give up on them.   Paul doesn’t think they’re beyond God’s reach, have somehow put themselves outside of God’s grace.  No, he writes to them these important letters, these long letters, as an appeal to receive and live the love he knows they know in Jesus Christ.  And then the last possible words he can say to them, on behalf of his and their Lord, are: “Christ’s grace be with you, God’s love shape you, the Spirit’s fellowship be what you’re known for.”  To exactly this sort of people who have all sorts of problems – problems with God and problems with each other – comes this life-shaping blessing. These are not flowery words; they are words to combat evil – to erase gracelessness, to put a stop to hate, to bring together people who are divisive, isolated, and fragmented.  He wants them to be a congregation shaped by God’s blessing.

George wondered whether in the future there couldn't be an entire conference in Ukraine devoted to the topic of how our worship (worship services) ought to shape the lives we live: 

• As God greets us with grace in worship, so we need to receive God’s grace and peace in our daily lives.  
• As God’s grace frees us to confess our sins in worship, so God’s grace and peace frees us to live repentant lives every day.  
• As God’s Word builds us up as God’s people, makes us into God’s people in worship, so God’s Word should be central to our daily living, each one of us.  
• As we offer money in worship to the God who gave us everything anyway, so our whole lives should be offered to God in service and love.  
• As the Lord’s Supper makes visible God’s grace to us in Christ’s death and resurrection, so we need to live with eyes wide open to all of the amazing ways that Christ meets us in daily life. He is real, he is alive.

...And God’s blessing shapes us to live lives that are shaped like these things, like worship.

We'll see, George. 

The Lord bless and keep you and your congregation,

Dave

Buda ... pest!

It is Monday morning in Budapest!  Or should I say Buda ... pest?  I've learned that there were once two cities, one named Buda and the other named Pest, and they were joined to make the Budapest we now all know and love.

We got into town last night, enjoyed seeing some of the city from George's high-speed van - like Hero Square and the palace and the Chain Bridge, and then onto a city bus and off to a most amazing Hungarian dinner.  It was another enormous meal.  Carrie had oven-baked stuffed camembert with lemon-olive asparagus, Lian had Bavarian white sausage with sweet mustard and a pretzel, and, get ready, I had crispy knuckle of pork with Bavarian cabbage and napkin dumplings.  Whoowee, you haven't eaten until you've had knuckle of pork.  (And no jokes about Hungary and hungry; they've heard them all.)  But today we'll walk it off, exploring the city.

Thanks to all of you who've emailed us.  I understand some of you are having problems posting comments to our blog.  Greg and I disabled that feature so that people couldn't argue with what we said - ha ha.  (Seriously, I don't know why it's not working.)

You might want to check Sarah' blog today, to see what a blessing Lian was in Ukraine.

Well, time to step out of our lovely B&B and out into Buda ... pest!

Dave

Leading the Leaders

Greg led a session for musicians on how to lead a congregation in worship.   Here's "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" in Russian.