Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
A Busy Weekend
It was so great to see everyone this morning at Alleluia! (For the rest of our readers, we had the chance to talk briefly at our church in Naperville via webcam.)
After adjusting to life back in Russia, things are starting to take off. For example, today I (Dan) led a seminar in church on the ten commandments and the importance they play in our lives. About 14 new believers - people who came to faith in the last year - attended. It was refreshing for me to see and hear their eagerness to learn about God. They had lots of insightful and difficult questions - like, "How do I honor parents who have spent most of my life hurting me?"
We also went to the youth meeting this afternoon/evening. (As an aside, any church activity here seems to be about twice as long as its American counterpart would be - so the youth meeting was 2 & 1/2 hours long.) One of the interesting observations we had was how many similarities there are between Alleluia! and Living Word church, our church here in Ekaterinburg. For example, the pastor announced to the youth today that he plans to start having a second Sunday morning service in the fall to accommodate the growth the church is experiencing and make room for more people to bring their friends and neighbors. He also challenged the youth to step up and serve more. He hopes to have youth-led worship services perhaps once a month, also beginning in the fall.
Saturday we spent the day outside the city at the home of one of the elders, along with Pr. Leonid (the senior pastor at Living Word). We grilled sosiski (hot dogs), had tomato and cucumber salad, and drank hot tea - a VERY typical Russian meal. We spent our time fellowshiping and discussing all sorts of topics, eg.: how does one observe the Sabbath (Pr. Leonid was working on his sermon for today!), the American presidential elections, the influence of the church on the culture in our respective countries, the difference in prices between Russia & America (everyone wants to know if it's true that our economy is in crisis) and how to keep bees! (Pr. Leonid has two hives that he tends and keeps on Kostya and Luda's land. We find in Russia people have the most interesting and useful hobbies!)
This week we'll be spending more time with various people and preparing talks, etc. for the camp next week. Thanks for your prayers!
Dan & Lucy
Clockwise: Luda, Lucy, Dan, Pr. Leonid, Kostya at Kostya & Luda's house outside Ekaterinburg.
Pr. Leonid & Kostya after tending to the bees.
Luda keeps a fantastic garden, something many Russians do - it's usual to have a plot in a communal garden or at the "dacha". You can see the bee hives at the back of their property.
Pr. Leonid sat outside for a while to work on his sermon for Sunday morning.
After adjusting to life back in Russia, things are starting to take off. For example, today I (Dan) led a seminar in church on the ten commandments and the importance they play in our lives. About 14 new believers - people who came to faith in the last year - attended. It was refreshing for me to see and hear their eagerness to learn about God. They had lots of insightful and difficult questions - like, "How do I honor parents who have spent most of my life hurting me?"
We also went to the youth meeting this afternoon/evening. (As an aside, any church activity here seems to be about twice as long as its American counterpart would be - so the youth meeting was 2 & 1/2 hours long.) One of the interesting observations we had was how many similarities there are between Alleluia! and Living Word church, our church here in Ekaterinburg. For example, the pastor announced to the youth today that he plans to start having a second Sunday morning service in the fall to accommodate the growth the church is experiencing and make room for more people to bring their friends and neighbors. He also challenged the youth to step up and serve more. He hopes to have youth-led worship services perhaps once a month, also beginning in the fall.
Saturday we spent the day outside the city at the home of one of the elders, along with Pr. Leonid (the senior pastor at Living Word). We grilled sosiski (hot dogs), had tomato and cucumber salad, and drank hot tea - a VERY typical Russian meal. We spent our time fellowshiping and discussing all sorts of topics, eg.: how does one observe the Sabbath (Pr. Leonid was working on his sermon for today!), the American presidential elections, the influence of the church on the culture in our respective countries, the difference in prices between Russia & America (everyone wants to know if it's true that our economy is in crisis) and how to keep bees! (Pr. Leonid has two hives that he tends and keeps on Kostya and Luda's land. We find in Russia people have the most interesting and useful hobbies!)
This week we'll be spending more time with various people and preparing talks, etc. for the camp next week. Thanks for your prayers!
Dan & Lucy
Clockwise: Luda, Lucy, Dan, Pr. Leonid, Kostya at Kostya & Luda's house outside Ekaterinburg.
Pr. Leonid & Kostya after tending to the bees.
Luda keeps a fantastic garden, something many Russians do - it's usual to have a plot in a communal garden or at the "dacha". You can see the bee hives at the back of their property.
Pr. Leonid sat outside for a while to work on his sermon for Sunday morning.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
A Typical Sunday Morning...
We thought we'd walk you through a typical Sunday morning worship service at our church here in Yekaterinburg. So here's what this past Sunday was like:
10:00 - (ish.) Introductions and an opening prayer**, followed by a half hour of singing**
10:35 - "Children's" sermon (it's sometimes aimed at the children, but is often a mini-sermon of it's own) - the theme this week was stealing and how it harms the church and leads to punishment.
10: 45 - Brief greetings to guests (us included) and the sermon. The text was Mark 2 and the theme was evangelism.
11:15 - Song of response**
11:20 - Second sermon (sometimes on a totally different theme, this time more of a response to the first sermon).
11:40 - Prayers** - any member of the congregation can share a request or write it down to be shared from the front.
12:00 - Final announcements & sending.
** Congregation stands.
You might notice:
a) The service was 2 full hours long.
b) We stand for about an hour of that time.
If you'd been there on Sunday you might have noticed some other things. For example: the passion with which the congregation prays - it gets loud & fervent! - and the central role prayer plays in the worship. The worship leader prays a short prayer between each of the songs, for example and we prayed the Lord's prayer twice during the service. You might also notice, as we often do, the seeming disconnect between different parts of the service - multiple sermons on totally different themes and texts, for example. This is in large part because lay leaders on the elder board are most often included in the preaching rotation - but rarely coordinate their sermons with one another.
Here are a few pictures:
10:00 - (ish.) Introductions and an opening prayer**, followed by a half hour of singing**
10:35 - "Children's" sermon (it's sometimes aimed at the children, but is often a mini-sermon of it's own) - the theme this week was stealing and how it harms the church and leads to punishment.
10: 45 - Brief greetings to guests (us included) and the sermon. The text was Mark 2 and the theme was evangelism.
11:15 - Song of response**
11:20 - Second sermon (sometimes on a totally different theme, this time more of a response to the first sermon).
11:40 - Prayers** - any member of the congregation can share a request or write it down to be shared from the front.
12:00 - Final announcements & sending.
** Congregation stands.
You might notice:
a) The service was 2 full hours long.
b) We stand for about an hour of that time.
If you'd been there on Sunday you might have noticed some other things. For example: the passion with which the congregation prays - it gets loud & fervent! - and the central role prayer plays in the worship. The worship leader prays a short prayer between each of the songs, for example and we prayed the Lord's prayer twice during the service. You might also notice, as we often do, the seeming disconnect between different parts of the service - multiple sermons on totally different themes and texts, for example. This is in large part because lay leaders on the elder board are most often included in the preaching rotation - but rarely coordinate their sermons with one another.
Here are a few pictures:
Saturday, June 21, 2008
First week back
Observations:
* There are more & more signs of wealth here in Russia - expensive cars and big malls - but it still doesn't seem like everybody has access to it
* Everyone is carrying a cell phone - and often talking on it
* Prices of everyday items have really gone up - eggs have doubled in price since last summer - yet when we go to the "mall" supermarket there are 67 working cash-registers and each of them has a line behind it
* Driving, or just riding in a vehicle, is an even more hair-raising experience than in the past because the number of cars on the road just keeps increasing
* The church leaders here seem tired and overwhelmed - but we haven't had enough time to tell yet if that first observation is accurate
*Life has gotten much more convenient - we managed to buy a cell phone SIM card, a mattress, a new shower fixture and switch our internet connection all in ONE day (unheard of efficiency in the past!)
* Life still takes longer here than it does in America
We haven't hit the ground running, per se but we didn't expect to. It's partly that Russian culture, in stark contrast to American culture, is just not as interested in "planning ahead". Things happen as they happen here. Which is not to say that they never plan, but when it's not necessary to plan - they often don't. We didn't arrive here with much of a set agenda for our time in Russia. We know a few of the general things we'll be doing, but much of what we do day-to-day is either spur of the moment or will get worked out now that we're here. The senior pastor of the church here in Yekaterinburg just arrived back in the city from a two-week intensive seminary course in St. Petersburg. Now that he's seen us and greeted us, he's ready to sit down at talk about what we'll be doing this summer. And it's not just because it's us - the Belarusian group coming to visit next week have times for events planned (so they can be advertised) - but they don't know yet what those events will be! It's just a very different way of approaching life than we're used to. We want to be of service however we're needed and so we do our best to go with the flow. We know it would impose stress on our Russian church partners for us to insist on a plan before they are ready! We are, though, looking forward to sitting down with Pr. Leonid this week and hearing his ideas for us.
Please pray for:
* Our meeting with Pr. Leonid that it will be fruitful in figuring out the best ways for us to serve the church in Yekaterinburg this summer.
* Dan has spoken with Pr. Ilya from the church in Chelyabinsk and he asked that Dan choose the theme for his talks at the church camp/retreat in July. Pray for discernment as Dan prepares those sermons.
* There are more & more signs of wealth here in Russia - expensive cars and big malls - but it still doesn't seem like everybody has access to it
* Everyone is carrying a cell phone - and often talking on it
* Prices of everyday items have really gone up - eggs have doubled in price since last summer - yet when we go to the "mall" supermarket there are 67 working cash-registers and each of them has a line behind it
* Driving, or just riding in a vehicle, is an even more hair-raising experience than in the past because the number of cars on the road just keeps increasing
* The church leaders here seem tired and overwhelmed - but we haven't had enough time to tell yet if that first observation is accurate
*Life has gotten much more convenient - we managed to buy a cell phone SIM card, a mattress, a new shower fixture and switch our internet connection all in ONE day (unheard of efficiency in the past!)
* Life still takes longer here than it does in America
We haven't hit the ground running, per se but we didn't expect to. It's partly that Russian culture, in stark contrast to American culture, is just not as interested in "planning ahead". Things happen as they happen here. Which is not to say that they never plan, but when it's not necessary to plan - they often don't. We didn't arrive here with much of a set agenda for our time in Russia. We know a few of the general things we'll be doing, but much of what we do day-to-day is either spur of the moment or will get worked out now that we're here. The senior pastor of the church here in Yekaterinburg just arrived back in the city from a two-week intensive seminary course in St. Petersburg. Now that he's seen us and greeted us, he's ready to sit down at talk about what we'll be doing this summer. And it's not just because it's us - the Belarusian group coming to visit next week have times for events planned (so they can be advertised) - but they don't know yet what those events will be! It's just a very different way of approaching life than we're used to. We want to be of service however we're needed and so we do our best to go with the flow. We know it would impose stress on our Russian church partners for us to insist on a plan before they are ready! We are, though, looking forward to sitting down with Pr. Leonid this week and hearing his ideas for us.
Please pray for:
* Our meeting with Pr. Leonid that it will be fruitful in figuring out the best ways for us to serve the church in Yekaterinburg this summer.
* Dan has spoken with Pr. Ilya from the church in Chelyabinsk and he asked that Dan choose the theme for his talks at the church camp/retreat in July. Pray for discernment as Dan prepares those sermons.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
We're Here!
Well, we're here and in the throes of jet-lag. This year has seemed worse than normal, perhaps because the journey here was easier than normal and we got lots of sleep on the way. Now we're working hard to get our bodies to sleep, wake and eat on an appropriate schedule! We are truly grateful, though, for such an easy trip here and for the nice, clean apartment that welcomed us. Today (it's 5am) we'll go to church and then have friends over. We were glad for the phone call yesterday warning us that they planned to come and spent time with us after church - now we just have to figure out what to feed everybody! Among the guests today will be Sveta, a long-time friend of Dan's, and her husband Andreas. If you followed this blog last year you will remember that we attended their wedding last summer. Andreas is a pastor in Sweden and they are here for just a week, so we're very happy that their time here coincides with ours.
I'm going to try and get another couple of hours sleep before church, but wanted to check in.
Blessings,
Lucy
I'm going to try and get another couple of hours sleep before church, but wanted to check in.
Blessings,
Lucy
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