The days finally arrived. After a lot of preparation, furniture buying, interior renovations and much prayer, we had our opening of the St. Luke's Children's Center and the first worship service of the St. Luke's United Methodist Church of Kiev this past Saturday and Sunday. Festivities on Saturday night included a dinner, musical entertainment from a musical group from our UM church in Chernovtsi, a slide show on the history of the street children center, congratulations from various guests from Norway, America and Ukraine, an address from our Bishop Hans Vaxby and of course, if a Norwegian has anything to do with the organization, coffee with cakes.
You may notice the name of the center is now the St. Luke's Children's Center. Our organization is called Dosvitok, which is a poetic Ukrainian word meaning daybreak, but it was decided to name the center St. Luke's, the same name as the new church which will meet at the center. St. Luke's was chosen because because when Jesus announced his ministry in Luke 4, he read from Isaiah where it said:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
We strive for this emphasis to be the emphasis of our ministry for both the Children's Center and the new church.
Also, we were so grateful to hear of two gifts to the ministry, one of $90,000 from Blacksburg United Methodist Church in Blacksburg VA and also one of $46,000 from Molde United Methodist Church of Molde, Norway and the Central UM Church of Bergen, Norway. All three of these churches have been active in supporting our work, sending teams to participate with the children and lifting us up in prayer. This gift means that our $150,000 loan has only $14,000 left in less than a year from the time we purchased the center! We thank God for the way God has used these congregations and other supporters as instruments for enabling the St. Luke's Children Center and United Methodist Church to have a permanent home.
Here are some pictures from the events:
Click here for the Saturday Night Opening celebration.
Click here for the Sunday Morning Facility Dedication worship service, the first service for St. Luke's UMC.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Faith and Politics
After the excitement of the first caucuses and primaries in the US with the surprise victors in Iowa and "comeback kids" in New Hampshire, there is a little lull in the action as everyone waits for the February 5 Super Tuesday where half the US nation votes. Similarly, there is quiet in the political action in Ukraine after Julia Timoshenko was finally confirmed as Prime Minister 2.5 months after the elections results.
But in both nations, concerned Christians are confronted with those who feel that religious beliefs should stay out of politics, that religion is a private affair which has no business in the public realm. There is one Baptist denomination in Ukraine which agrees, believing that Christians should not vote since voting interferes with the will of God. Citing Romans 13:1-7 as the basis for this belief, their thinking is that if God establishes the authorities, then voting is humanity trying to supersede God's will. That sure doesn't sound like the rhetoric coming out of many of the churches in the US today, with religion in politics being one of the major issues in the 2008 US Presidential Campaign. What's a Christian to do?
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City is doing a series of sermons on faith and politics which is really outstanding. The series is entitled "Seeing Gray – Faith, Morality and Politics in a Black and White World." The first sermon was one of the best I have heard on the issue. The sermon series is current and on their website. Check it out, it is well worth your time.
But in both nations, concerned Christians are confronted with those who feel that religious beliefs should stay out of politics, that religion is a private affair which has no business in the public realm. There is one Baptist denomination in Ukraine which agrees, believing that Christians should not vote since voting interferes with the will of God. Citing Romans 13:1-7 as the basis for this belief, their thinking is that if God establishes the authorities, then voting is humanity trying to supersede God's will. That sure doesn't sound like the rhetoric coming out of many of the churches in the US today, with religion in politics being one of the major issues in the 2008 US Presidential Campaign. What's a Christian to do?
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City is doing a series of sermons on faith and politics which is really outstanding. The series is entitled "Seeing Gray – Faith, Morality and Politics in a Black and White World." The first sermon was one of the best I have heard on the issue. The sermon series is current and on their website. Check it out, it is well worth your time.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Wedding Bells!
We had a wedding yesterday in our Dosvitok Street children ministry. Sveta Tolstonok, a staff member and daughter of Svetlana Tolstonok, our daily director, got married yesterday! So congratulations to the new couple! Ukrainian marriages are different (to me) in that the civil and religious parts of a wedding are separate. Only the State can make a marriage official under the law, so one must go to the government "wedding palace" or ZAGS, where the couple signs the official wedding registry and receives a certificate of marriage. ZAGS stand for the Registrar of the Act of the Citizens Status, a throwback to the USSR when right after the revolution in the 20's, the USSR banned marriage. Then when chaos erupted, the authorities decided they needed to formalize for legal purposes a union which was occurring and ZAGS was created. There is a ceremony at the ZAGS which reminds one of a somber Las Vegas wedding ceremony in the wedding palaces there. They also do a video montage for the couple and show it to the wedding guests immediately after. Very nice. Afterwards, the couple and their friends go to famous places around Kiev, usually monuments, lay flowers there and get their picture taken in front of these monuments. A church blessing of the marriage may occur the same day, sometime later or not at all. But everyone has a big party in the evening, a big reception.
Helen and I went to the ZAGS, but forgot our camera! We did have a cell phone camera, so here are a couple of fuzzy pictures:
Mother holds the traditional bread given to the couple with Grandma standing by.
Closeup of bread - The words say "Bread and Salt" the two basic necessities to start a home.
The happy couple....sigh, cell phone photos aren't the best...I'll post some better pictures later!
Helen and I went to the ZAGS, but forgot our camera! We did have a cell phone camera, so here are a couple of fuzzy pictures:
Mother holds the traditional bread given to the couple with Grandma standing by.
Closeup of bread - The words say "Bread and Salt" the two basic necessities to start a home.
The happy couple....sigh, cell phone photos aren't the best...I'll post some better pictures later!
Monday, January 7, 2008
С Роджеством! (Merry Christmas - part 2)
It's Christmas again! One of the great things of living in Ukraine is the long holiday season which starts with the December 25 celebration of the Christmas, western date, New Year's Day, Christmas Jan 7, eastern date and the Old New Year, Jan 13 for those who really want to stretch it out, like shops and restaurants. Holiday lights are on at least through Jan 13, when they take down the big Kiev Christmas tree:
...And they continue on for some places through mid-February. Some places never take them down, just turn them off.
So today is Christmas. Yesterday was Christmas eve (quite naturally) and we had our first worship service in the Dosvitok Street Children Center! Joining us and helping us celebrate was a mission team from Central Pennsyvania, most of the team being from around Hershey. It was especially nice to see familiar friends, some who have come several times to Kiev. Here are some photos from the Christmas Eve worship service and celebration. When you look at the pictures, be sure to roll your mouse cursor over the captions to be able to see the English versions.
And since this is the first post of 2008, Happy New Year! С Новым Годом!
...And they continue on for some places through mid-February. Some places never take them down, just turn them off.
So today is Christmas. Yesterday was Christmas eve (quite naturally) and we had our first worship service in the Dosvitok Street Children Center! Joining us and helping us celebrate was a mission team from Central Pennsyvania, most of the team being from around Hershey. It was especially nice to see familiar friends, some who have come several times to Kiev. Here are some photos from the Christmas Eve worship service and celebration. When you look at the pictures, be sure to roll your mouse cursor over the captions to be able to see the English versions.
And since this is the first post of 2008, Happy New Year! С Новым Годом!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Naughty and the Nice
Once again during this Christmas season, we have read many articles and watched TV Christmas specials decrying the commercial nature of Christmas and trying to determine what is the real meaning of Christmas. This morning in Norway, in the Christmas Day worship service in the Kragerø United Methodist Church, the pastor, Harald Olsen, made an interesting comment about that icon of Christmas materialism, Santa Claus. Everyone knows what Santa is about. He has a twice checked list of all the Nice and Naughty Children, bringing gifts to the Nice Children and a lump of coal in the stocking for the Naughty Ones. Doesn’t that make perfect sense? Shouldn’t only the deserving be eligible to be on Santa’s list for a gift?
But that is the exact opposite attitude God has in gift giving on Christmas: God’s gift, Jesus, is expressly for all the Naughty Boys and Girls, to give us the opportunity to reconcile ourselves with God and the world around us through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. No one is so naughty, so poor, so lost, so unworthy, so sinful to be ineligible for God’s Christmas list. God seeks us all and rejoicing is heard throughout heaven when anyone of us takes the Gift.
Merry Christmas! And may you be an instrument of delivering God's Gift to the world.
But that is the exact opposite attitude God has in gift giving on Christmas: God’s gift, Jesus, is expressly for all the Naughty Boys and Girls, to give us the opportunity to reconcile ourselves with God and the world around us through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. No one is so naughty, so poor, so lost, so unworthy, so sinful to be ineligible for God’s Christmas list. God seeks us all and rejoicing is heard throughout heaven when anyone of us takes the Gift.
Merry Christmas! And may you be an instrument of delivering God's Gift to the world.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sergei
We finally heard about Sergei. Sergei is the young man who had been coming to our street children center for a number of years but is now in prison, serving a too long term for minor theft. The story of his trial is in our last newsletter. In Ukraine, if you are accused of a crime, you are held in a holding center for those awaiting their trials. There doesn't seem to be concept of bail. If you are convicted in the crime, then you will continue to be held in the holding center until it is determined to which prison you will be sent, depending on the severity of your crime. You cannot visit or officially communicate with a prisoner (read here about unofficial communication) until they are assigned to a prison. And notification of which prison they are in is only given by letter and the letter at last arrived.
We heard rumors that Sergei would be going to a prison near the airport, which would have been great for visiting often, but in fact, his prison is near Rivno, about 200 miles from Kiev. By Ukraine standards, this is not too bad, since the policy is reported to be to send the prisoner as far away from the place they committed the crime as possible, reputedly to break up criminal connections. So now we await more information so we can arrange a visit.
We heard rumors that Sergei would be going to a prison near the airport, which would have been great for visiting often, but in fact, his prison is near Rivno, about 200 miles from Kiev. By Ukraine standards, this is not too bad, since the policy is reported to be to send the prisoner as far away from the place they committed the crime as possible, reputedly to break up criminal connections. So now we await more information so we can arrange a visit.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Busy Fall
Time has flown as we have had many trips outside the Ukraine this fall. Now I have just returned from a 1 week trip to Switzerland and Germany where I was involved in two meetings: One was a 2 day meeting with three other missionaries to look over the new mission initiatives of GBGM which have begun in the last 15 years in order to review their strengths and weaknesses and discuss how we as missionaries could use our experience to help make upcoming mission initiatives better. We met in Interlaken, Switzerland, a very pretty place.
The next meeting was in Braunfels, Germany, where all the District Superintendents of Europe met with their respective Bishops in discussing the future of the UMC in Europe. Assisting us was Bishop Shnase from Missouri Conference who gave us lectures on the Five Principles of Fruitful Congregations: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Extravagant Generosity. The discussions were very much in line with the other conferences and meetings where I have been this fall. Now it is time to implement these ideas! It is great to be home in Kiev. Here is the Braunfels town square:
Here are a few more pictures from the trip. But our trips are not completely over for 2007: Helen left this morning for Moscow to attend the Eurasia Episcopal Area Financial Committee as the Ukraine and Moldova Annual Conference representative.
The next meeting was in Braunfels, Germany, where all the District Superintendents of Europe met with their respective Bishops in discussing the future of the UMC in Europe. Assisting us was Bishop Shnase from Missouri Conference who gave us lectures on the Five Principles of Fruitful Congregations: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Extravagant Generosity. The discussions were very much in line with the other conferences and meetings where I have been this fall. Now it is time to implement these ideas! It is great to be home in Kiev. Here is the Braunfels town square:
Here are a few more pictures from the trip. But our trips are not completely over for 2007: Helen left this morning for Moscow to attend the Eurasia Episcopal Area Financial Committee as the Ukraine and Moldova Annual Conference representative.
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