21 September 2009

Third General Synod of ELCROS Undertakes Major Structural Reform

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.

10 September 2009

Dorogi - Russian Roads

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.