Walking Together, Though the Road Stretches Seven Time Zones - ELCUSFE XXII Synod Assembly, 18-20 Oct 2013

 ELCUSFE Bishop Otto Schaude, in his opening report to the synod, noted that such assemblies always have to deal with a certain amount of official business. Yet for this church the most crucial thing at these annual gathers is to see that we are not alone, that we are really on the road (-od) together (syn-). While we constantly feel the enormous challenges that come with our being scattered over such great distances, there is a positive side - it is completely obvious that we need and have much to learn from one another. 

  We did engage in important practical questions - from next year's budget to a small-group discussion about new mission congregations, from the blessing of lay preachers to elections for the synod council. Yet the richness of our gathering was felt less in our (nearly unanimous most of the time) voting and more in our sense of being together on the way, despite our differences in pieties, priorities and experience. 
  Below you'll find pictures from our days together - days spent in listening to reports on various ministries (for youth, for women, for men; diaconal, educational, and musical) from our 4 deaneries. I can look at the official assembly minutes if I need to remember the details of one or another of the decisions we made. But the conversations I had with brothers and sisters in faith, their concern for one another and for their neighbor, will stay with me; they convinced me, more than ever, that we are on the road together.  

Nikolai, one of the delegates of our deanery (Krasnoyarsk.)

Bishop Schaude voting with a number of delegates from
our deanery in the foreground - Pastor Dimitry from Abakan
(bottom left), Nikolai and Vasily from Tomsk (far right).

Our small group proposed a variety of priorities 

for the development of ministries in our church. 

Synod President Pastor Evgeny Filipov and 

Assistant to the Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran

 Church of European Russia, Norbert Hintz.

At synod assembly Sister Heidi (who usually serves

  in the Omsk region) and I agreed that she 

would visit  a few of the  congregations in 

my deanery that are dealing with pastoral vacancies.

"A Prayer for the Workplace" will return 

with Vladimir to his home in the Urals.  

Andrey (above) and Evgeny (below) shared the stories 

of their faith journeysbefore being blessed as preachers

 for Magadan (Far East) and Azovo (Omsk), respectively. 

Not just the obligatory group photo, 

but the family of faith, on the way together.  

* * *
  I'll add a few words here for those of you interested in news of the synod itself.
  On the first day of the synod the schedule called for a guest speaker. While Bishop Schaude gave an interesting report in its place, we were saddened not to have had this guest with us. I would usually give his name, but in this case I've decided to be extra cautious - you see, the Central Asian country that he is living in has forbidden him to leave. Our guest not being able to come (as well as the strict limits on his actions within the country) is just one example of how difficult it is for Christians right now in that part of the world. 
  In other news - delegates to the synod assembly are selected here for 5 year terms. This year was an election year, meaning that delegates began new terms and elected a new synod council. Zoya Gentse, the lay person in charge of congregations in the Khakasia region of our deanery, was elected secretary, while Pastor Evgeny Filipov was re-elected synod president.
  As usual we discussed the budget plan for next year; while progress is slow, I see that congregations here are making progress toward the goal of doing more in terms of financial stewardship. This is a particularly important issue here, since most of the staff working throughout the church are paid through the central offices. Offerings from congregations to support ministries continue to increase.
  Based on what I heard at the synod assembly, 2014 should prove to be a very interesting year for our church: recent positive developments in building projects (e.g., in Ekaterinburg and Shelekhov) could mean new walls going up in those two places; a number of church partners plan to visit us (including church and Scout groups on the train); the Omsk congregation will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the church center with a number of events (including a conference co-organized with the state university here - "300 Years of Lutheranism in Siberia"); and we can expect further developments in educational ministries (an area in which I hope to be involved). 

Harvest Festival Pictures

In my last post I mentioned the Harvest Festival. Here are a few more pictures from celebrations in our church.

This is from my first congregation, St. Nikolai's in Novgorod

The rest of these are from Lutheran congregations in the Urals and Siberia.

Chelyabinsk

Chelyabinsk

Tomsk

Omsk

Omsk

Omsk

Abundance in Siberia

  One of the most surprising elements to me of life in Siberia has been the food. After living in Russia for so many years, I thought that I had tried it all - from the sweet and juicy tomatoes of my wife's home in Rostov-on-Don to the cucumber-smelling korjushka (smelt) fish that swim down the Neva in St. Petersburg every spring. 

  

  But I was wrong.

  

  Even today as I was preparing to write this, I tried something new - "zelts." I had to look it up in the dictionary. "Headcheese." I had thought that the aspic-with-floating-meat that I had been eating (or, rather, usually avoiding) throughout the years was headcheese. Wrong again.

Berries in the market

 Thankfully, my learning about food here has not always been related to meat products. This summer, for example, I was in Tomsk at the height of berry season. Every day of the two weeks that I visited the congregation there, I sat down to an enormous bowl of fresh berries, gathered by the family of my host, Ella Romanovna. Honeysuckle. Wild strawberries. Garden strawberries. Raspberries. Gooseberries. The I-don't-know-how-their-names-are-translated berries. Usually with fresh country cream. My days got off to a slow start as I took my time feasting on such goodness. 

Ella's dacha. Strawberries
drying in the foreground. 

   It was there in those days that I was struck again by the fact that stereotypes about Siberia are (usually) quite far from reality. Despite the harsh winters, this is an amazing abundant land. And it was with joy that I had the opportunity last weekend to celebrate that abundance together, once again, with our congregations in the Tomsk parish.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. Ps. 145:15
  This is the verse of the week, the week of the church's annual Harvest Festival.

 Preaching in Anzhero-Suzhdesnk and Tomsk I spoke about God's abundant grace and about thankfulness as the lens through which we can interpret our life. Despite the fact that many of them face material hardship, they, too, could point to many ways that God was good to them. Even without a pastor of their own, they were thankful that they could together every week, to remind one another that all eyes look to the Lord. Despite a sense of being at a bit of a loss during this intermediate time, they meet to hear again that God gives growth in due season. To be reminded of God's abundance. Even in Siberia. It was reason to celebrate. 

   

A photo of those whom I caught after the meal we shared in
Anzhero-Suzhdensk during the Harvest Festival.

Siberian Summer Camp

  Summer? In Siberia? Despite this region's legendary cold and in contrast to widely-held stereotypes, Siberian summers (at least here in the south) tend to be warm and pleasant. As I saw this year, it's just the kind of weather that is needed for church camp.

Beating the Siberian heat with water games.

   I hadn't worked at a camp in Russia since 1997, when I came to the country for the first time (through Camp Counselors Russia.) Then my Russian was primative, but that seemed to fit the atmosphere of the place where I was working - a complex near Moscow left over from Soviet days and filled with children whose parents seemed to want to get rid of them for the summer. Although that was a good learning experience, I felt much more at home (thanks to my experience in 1995 as a counselor at Red Willow Bible Camp) in the camps held north of Omsk for children of the Western Siberian Deanery this past August. Many of the church's active young people grew up in these camps and have gone on to be experienced and caring counselors; I felt priviledged to work together with them as a member of their team. Although I was only able to visit the young adult camp for one evening, I had the chance to fully participate in the week-long children's camp as one of the camp chaplains. The days were long and intense; this gave me a good opportunity to note that I'm not as young as I used to be! On the other hand diving into all the creativity surrounding games, skits, Bible studies, worship service, etc. not only benefitted the kids, but helped me break out of the rut of thought and action that can accompany "typical" congregational ministry, even in such a non-typical place as the Lutheran church in Russia. 

  I came away from the camps full of hope for the future of the church. I saw gifted and commited young lay ministers who shared God's love with the children; I saw children whose lives were touched thanks to the attention of their counselors and their encounters with the Good News. Knowing that similiar camps are held in various regions throughout the country, I felt blessed to be a part of the ministry of this church. 

A New Pastor for Khakasia

The new congregational start in Boridino (Khakasia),
gathered together during my visit to the region in March.

   The congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia and Far East in south-central Siberia (in the regions of Khakasia and the southern part of the Krasnoyarsk krai) know what it means to be without a pastor. Although I made several visits there in order to provide support and bring Holy Communion, they were left largely on their own for more than a year. While for congregations in the West vacancies are a normal part of life and present a number of unique opportunities (e.g., to reflect on the congregation's identity, it's central focus in mission, etc.), here there is usually a significant amount of fear related to being without a leader. It was really a blessing to see, then, that local congregational members did not become despondent when their pastor returned to Germany in 2012, but took on the responsibility to care for one another spiritually until the time when God would send them a new pastor. Lay leaders, some of whom had little experience, began leading worship and doing everything they could to keep congregational life going. Zoya Geintse, who was commissioned as a volunteer preacher for the region, took on many responsibilities coordinating ministries, preaching and visiting the most needy congregations.

Lay leaders Jakob and Alexander (front left and back
left, respectively) did much to support  the
congregation in Abakan during the pastoral vacancy.

  In August the prayers of the congregations of the region were answered when my colleague from ELM, Pastor Dmitri Schweitz, moved from his previous assignment in Omsk to Abakan. Dmitri was born in Uzbekistan and received his theological education in Hermannsburg after his family emigrated to Germany in the 1990s. Among Dmitri's many gifts are his pastoral skills and his first-hand knowledge of the life and piety of the congregations here, since his initial contact with the church was in a congregation very similar to the “brother” congregations of Siberia. At the same time Dmitri is a natural missionary who will work equally well with the congregations of the region that are new starts and which hope to develop and grow.

Pastor Dmitri with Zoya (center, lay preacher
and administrator for the region) and
the congregation in Abakan

  Last weekend I traveled to Khakasia to lead the service of Dmitri's official installation.  While in most situations this would be the role of the Bishop, our church is very spread out and our bishop is only able to be in the country for 6 months of the year. For that reason he asked me, as Acting Dean, to travel there in his place. On the way there and back (it is more than a day's train ride from my current residence in Omsk to Abakan) I was able to stop by other cities of the deanery and make important contacts there.   

  As usual, my travels to our small and scattered congregations inspired me to continue in be as strong in faith as they are and reminded me to once again express my thanks to the church's partners who help support the church in Siberia.