With the Nativity of Christ! (С Рождеством Христовым!)

The title of this post is a literal translation of how we wish someone a Merry Christmas in Russia. While the same grammatical form is used on all sorts of occasions ("With the New Year!" "With your birthday!" "With the Day of Air Force Paratroopers!"), I think that it works best on Christmas; there would be no real reason to celebrate this day were it not for faith that Christ's nativity is "with" us now, that it is present in and among us despite a separation of 2000 years and many miles. 
  
In the season when we celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, I pray that all of us might be encouraged again to be "with" this holiday; it is my convinction that we will then experience the peace and joy of knowing that we are never alone.

S Rozhestvom Khristovym!
Bradn

* * *
Not long ago I was asked to write a very short Christmas meditation for “Loza” (“The Vine”), the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia, and Far East. I share it with you (below) in order to give a small insight into the the life of the church where I am serving. Despite the fact that their lives differ in many ways from yours, throughout the world we are united by the common need to see the incarnate Word embracing the world.

 

 

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a (Verse of the day. Dec. 24)
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14a (Verse of the day. Dec. 25)

 No, the repetition above is not a typo, it is an exceptional situation – as you will notice later this month when you open up your “Daily Readings,” the verse (rather, half-verse) is the same on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The words are well-known, simple and beautiful. Is that the reason why we read them twice in a row?

 It would be easy to accept these words simply as a“theological formula,” as the way of correctly expressing the church's teaching. But it seems to me that we come back to this verse again and again not in order to memorize it, but in order to over and over again dive into its mystery and meaning for us.

In these few short words many questions about the Incarnation are raised. How could a small, helpless child be the Ever-eternal Logos? Can the Divine really become that which it earlier was not? Would the All-Holy and Perfect God really find our dirty and sinful world worthy of a visit, let alone come to “dwell” here?

Throughout the centuries many theologians and pious believers have tried to “save” God
from real contact with this world, have tried to show how “the Word became flesh” actually
has nothing to do with matter. But John 1:14 shows that God decided to truly embrace the
world precisely through contact with it. By taking on living, human flesh God found a way
to our hearts, strove to convince us that we are understood and we are accepted.

Two days in a row we think about this mystery and pray about it, with the hope that we
would feel new birth here and now. As the Russian poet Zinaida Gippius wrote during the
dark days of World War I: “Be born, Eternal Word! / Ignite the earth's silence / Embrace
our native land.” (“Our Christmas”)

Warmed by such love, don't we wish to response to it through service for the sake of our
neighbor? In such a way we can witness in our lives to the fact that the Word continues to
dwell with us today.

Merry Christmas to you, brothers and sisters in Christ!

Khakasia

As I have frequently mentioned in this blog, Lutherans in Russia are quite literally few and far between. This creates a number of challenges for those trying to offer spiritual support for believers here, and one of the ways that this is addressed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia and Far East is through the ministry of 4 area deans ("probsts"). In some situations the dean acts as the representative of the wider church, in others the most important thing is to be an organizer and fund-raiser, in still other cases the dean's job is focused on education and /or pastoral care. I was appointed "acting dean" for the Central and Eastern Siberia deanery at the synod assembly in October, and the last few weeks had me moving into this role in a new way as I once again left Novosibirsk for travels to other congregations.

My first stop was with the small group associated with our church in Barnaul. As I frequently notice when visiting our congregations, the quality of church members does much to compensate for their small quantity. The women in this congregation, despite their age and weakness, have a serious prayer life and desire to know and apply Scripture in their life. Their dedication impressed me...

But I couldn't stay there long; I needed to be many kilometers east in Khakasia in 2 days time, but simply could not find a direct route there. When I saw, before I left Novosibirsk, that the best option was to take the train and spend a whole day waiting for a transfer in Novokuznetsk, I decided that it was time to think creatively - perhaps I do something useful with those 16 hours? I remembered, then, that there is an independent Lutheran congregation in the city of Prokopevsk, about 30 miles away. I made contact with one of their leaders, and we arranged that I would come to Friday evening prayer service. "A Friday evening prayer service?" you may be asking. Yes. This congregation, with strong piestist roots, has been able to preserve some of the central practices of that tradition, despite the changing times. Perhaps most importantly, they made a decision early (that is, in the 1990s) to start having worship in Russian. This meant that they were able to pass their faith on to the next generation and attract new people as well. I spent quite a bit of time that day with two of the congregation's leaders, Brother Peter and Brother Viktor. They took me around, engaged me in their worship service, and showed great hospitality. I hope that our contacts with that congregation can continue, especially insofar as I find them to be a very good example of how central aspects of older ways of doing things can be maintained and modified in order that the Gospel reach people today.


By the next morning I had arrived in Abakan, where I was able to start the main portion of the trip - more than a week getting to know the numerous congregations scattered through the state of Khakasia and the southern portion of the Krasnoyarsk krai.

The red dots on this map mark the congregations that we
visited in the region. 

Until May of this year the region was served by Pastor Stephan Waganer, who worked for the Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Lower Saxony, as I do. In the meantime, the congregations have had to rely on their own resources. Zoya Gentse, recently blessed as the lay coordinator of the region, has helped them in their journey. I arrived there a few days after the arrival of Pastor Dimitri Schweitz, currently serving in Omsk; he had already visited the two "city" congregations (in the capital of Khakasia, Abakan, and its large suburb, Chernogorsk); ahead lay many kilometers of travel through the steppe of south central Siberia.

The landscape there, especially in the region we visited on the first day, in western Khakasia, reminded me very much of my home in southeastern Montana - rolling hills, wide open spaces, more livestock than people, snow blowing across the road and into the ditch... I immediately felt at home. I also immediately felt that I was visiting a region that is even more seriously affected by poverty than other rural areas I've visited here. One of the two congregations we visited that day (Borets) was very much 

like Barnaul - faithful elderly women who met weekly on their own, even if they hadn't seen a pastor for the better part of a year. In the much larger village of Shira, the congregation was facing quite different challenges; despite having more people engaged in congregational life, they were having a hard time meeting without the presence of a pastor. Part of the problem was practical it is hard to gather everyone together since they live far apart and there is no serious public transportation), while another part of the problem was both practical and spiritual - they do not really feel confident enough to lead worship themselves. Pastor Schweitz, who was born in the USSR (Uzbekistan) and whose family moved to Germany when he was a young man, connected immediately with the people in the congregations - I was happy to have him lead worship, while I considered my main job to be observation and acting as sign of the larger church's care and concern.

In Shira and Borets we saw (without knowing it) examples of the two of the three main types of congregations in the region - one elderly, German-based, and capable of meeting in homes weekly for worship, and the second younger, not necessarily German, and less capable of maintaining congregational life on their own (though with significant potential for growth in this area). It was already clear that one of the areas of ministry for the next pastor in the region would be to work intensely with lay leaders in this second group to help them reach a level where they could meet weekly even without a pastor.

The third group is those 3 congregations in the region that are organized and strong enough to be officially registered. Overall we held Holy Communion services in 8 different congregations (and would have had one more joint worship service for two other congregations were it not for mis-communication regarding time), and were present at a meeting of the "parish council," responsible for joint ministries of the congregations. It is clear that there are a lot of different needs (from a Communion set in Chernogorsk to a new roof for the prayer house in Bograd, from worship leadership training to Bible study), but more than that, what stuck out for me was the gifts that the Spirit had already given to these small communities, and dreams for how ministries in the region might develop further. 

After worship in Bograd, where we blessed their prayer house
after the completion of renovations to the interior.

As we made our way from one congregation to another, the 10^th anniversary of my ordination slipped by unnoticed. I thought about it only after my return, when I considered the ways in which God has blessed me in this decade as a minister of Word and Sacrament. It was appropriate that I was "on the move" at this moment; my days as a pastor have not been filled with stability, but have constantly kept me on my toes as I look for what the Spirit might be preparing to do next in my life and in the life of those with whom I serve.

Below: a few more pictures from our journey. 

(All photos provided by Pastor Dimitri - a big "spasibo" to him!)

Days set apart

In Russia not many people celebrate Halloween; fewer still know of Reformation Day or of the western church's celebration of All Saints on November 1st. 

Yet the calendar is full of holidays during the fall, and I've been thinking about them this week. These days are not filled with joyous celebration, but are "holy-days" in the sense that they are "set apart." 1 They are set apart for remembrance.  

The content of that set-apartness, though, varies widely among individuals in this society still recovering from a traumatic past. For some the most important day is no longer celebrated in an official way, though it was the most important of days in Soviet times - November 7th, the day of "The Great October 2 Socialist Revolution."

For others November 4th  is an important day, at least insofar as it is a day off of work; "The Day of the People's Unity" was established in the mid-2000s as an alternative to "The Great October..." The idea behind this holiday is to recall events from the distant past when the Russian people resisted outside invaders. In current practice, however, the day tends to be an excuse for nationalists to get together in rallies and marches.

For a smaller, though no less significant group of people, the true holy day of the autumn is "The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions." On October 30th every year time is set aside to remember those who suffered as a result of political repression in the time of communism, especially in the years of the height of the Stalinist terror, 1937-1938. 

The Resurrection Cathedral

In many cities throughout the country the day was marked by prayer services in Orthodox churches and a public gathering at memorials. In Novosibirsk a priest at the Resurrection Cathedral began the liturgy with a few words of comfort for those in attendance; those present (mostly elderly) held candles and flowers as lists of names were handed to the deacon who chanted them out as the choir echoed "Lord, have mercy."

Last Sunday we in our Lutheran congregation also recalled the victims of political repression. The text for the day could have hardly been more appropriate - Jeremiah 29:  

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare...  For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (NRSV)

The story of exile is familiar to those in our congregation, as much from the pages of their family albums as from the pages of Scripture. If my calculations are correct the parents and grandparents of those in our congregation (Germans from Russia) would have read these words as they gathered secretly in homes in 1948, 1956 and 1964. What might they been thinking? Were they, like the ancient Judeans, searching for meaning in it all? 

It would have been hard to find meaning in Stalin's madness. Perhaps it would have been harder still to listen to the prophet's encouragement to "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf." And most difficult of all might have been believing in the promise offered to the exiles: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you."

More than 70 years have passed. Germans from Russia still are unsure about their homeland - is it Germany? The Germany their ancestors left two centuries ago no longer exists. Is it the Volga or the Black Sea? Decades of war, misuse and neglect have changed those lands dramatically...and even where the land has been restored, no one is inviting former residents to return. Is it Siberia? If it is, the prophet has words of comfort. He promises that the Lord has a plan; he uses images from Paradise (the garden, the directive to multiply) to help the people of faith to see that God is giving them an opportunity for a new start. 

Part of our ministry here is to encourage German Russians to see that God has accompanied them here, and that God will accompany the next generation of believers as well. If we can encourage them to grow in that trust, it is my hope that we can be a force for the "welfare of the city," that we might cultivate new life here, thus witnessing to our neighbors of God's goodness, even in and through our trials, in days set apart and every day. 

1. reflecting what is said to be at the heart of the Old Testament understanding of holiness.
2. "October" because pre-revolutionary Russia had not switched from the Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. 

21!

In the U.S. the number "21" is almost immediately associated with the age at which young people are no longer legally considered minors. By that time they should have reached a certain degree of maturity, society has determined. Attending the 21st synod assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Urals, Siberia, and Far East (Oct. 12-14), I could see that the same can be said of our church. On its 21st birthday, there is already a lot of life experience to look back upon - miraculous developments, tragic mistakes.... And all of it now can be seen in the light of moving towards spiritual maturity. 

This synod saw me "maturing" into my call by giving a sermon at the opening worship and being made Acting Dean ("probst") of the Central and Eastern Siberian Deanery, but much more important was what I saw and heard from others there - the founding of new congregations in the Urals, the pursuit of theological education by people in the Far East, the ordination of a young man from Omsk who grew up in their Sunday School and the installation of a local leader for women's ministries, just to give a few examples.

As with any 21 year-old, there are probably even more challenges lying ahead than behind. This church will continue to grow into maturity as it strives to work on stewardship, questions of theology and liturgical practice (Holy Communion was noted as an area that the pastors will look at during their meeting in the spring), as well as congregational redevelopment in those places that have not been able to adapt to the changing situation here in the past two decades (most especially the emigration of large numbers of German Russians).  

Now it is time to let the pictures do the talking. 

Bishop Otto Schaude reading his report to the assembly.

Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in European Russia and our Acting Archbishop, Dietrich Brauer, conversing with a delegate from our region, Elma. 

I gave a report on our region, as did leaders from the Far East, Omsk and the Urals.

Pastor Dmitry leading the closing worship.

Youth choir in the Omsk congregation

Ordination of Vladimir Vinogradov

Installation of Tatyana Serebrova as head of women's ministries.

Synod delegates as guests

After the Synod Assembly there was a seminar for
church leaders; I was given the opportunity to feel
 like a teacher for a little while again.

Anastasia was one of my students
in Novosaratovka. She has just
now begun her internship in Omsk...
and she also just celebrated her birthday. 

Interpreting - Part III

One of the surprises of our trip was running across a very interesting book in the church in Moscow - “To Siberia!” by Bishop Theofil Meyer. The book recounts Meyer's travels from 1925, when he made his way from Moscow to Baikal and beyond with the goal of strengthening the Lutheran church in the Soviet Union.I'll reflect more on Bishop Meyer's book in a later post, but here I'd like to share one quote that seems particularly appropriate for our journey:  “If everywhere in the world fellow believers of various nationalities  related to one another as well as they do here … then our Church would be much better and could contribute more significantly to [mutual understanding among] peoples.” Meyer was talking about a particular congregation, one which compared favorably with others that he visited. However, I think that his words reflect the experience of our delegation throughout all two weeks of travel and each of the 6 congregations we visited. I was thankful to be a part of it.

At the same time, I wasn't free of the work of translating! That was especially the case on our way from Vladivostok (where we were deposited by the train “The Ocean” on the morning of the 24th ) to Ussirisk and Arseniev. Once again, translation turned out to be as much cultural as linguistic  For example, I had to assure the terrified Americans sitting in the van that, yes, this was normal driving for Russia. At the same time, I was careful to selectively translate the irritated (to put it very mildly) exclamations of our small-city driver in big city traffic. Had I not been used to it by now, I might have even blushed. 

Sharing photos in Ussirisk. Oleg and his wife Olga in
the center; Ekaterina - far right.

At any rate, our first congregational visit in the Far East was to Ussirisk. Once again we visited a small congregation (St. Mary's) where most church events take place in the apartment. Like in Khabarovsk, there we saw a “family” type congregation with very impressive lay leaders, despite having no full-time pastor. As their lay preacher, Oleg, spoke of the situation of those living in the area, his words contained the mixture of hope (e.g., related to the economic prospects of the region as it developed ties with neighbors in Northeast Asia) with concern and uncertainty (related to the social/ political situation of the country) that we ran in to so frequently here. During our short visit, we experienced the warmth and hospitality Bishop Meyer knew so well almost a century before; our group came to the conclusion that the blinys (crepes) made by church council president Ekaterina win the prize for the best in Russia. 

KA-52 "Alligator," made in Arseniev

The trip to Arseniev was suprising in a number of ways. Perhaps I  had expected things to look and feel familiar since I know their pastor, Alexander, and a number of their lay leaders pretty well thanks to my work in education in the church. What I hadn't known, for example, was the degree to which Arseniev is surrounded by natural beauty. Areas of fertile soil made for rich farmland, while the forested, high-rising hills and quick-flowing rivers reminded me that we were now in the real wilderness. Going into the city, too, I could see that it would be different than the rest of the places we had visited. With the exception of Ussirisk, everywhere else that we had been had the status of a state capital; these other cities had recently done much to improve the quality of life of their residents, and it was clear that development was still going on. Not so with Arseniev. Here we were experiencing the “provinces,” and a depressed economic situation similar to what I had seen in certain parts of European Russia. Arseniev's situation is made even more complex by the fact that it is more or less a “mono-city,” i.e., a city based on a single factory. Arseniev's “Progress” factory makes helicopters, and the fortunes of everyone in town is based in one way or another on the number of helicopter orders the factory receives in a given year. Despite the more difficult economic situation, we were impressed by the warm and positive interactions we had in the city. 

Our evening there began there with an organ concert. We had arrived in the Vladivostok region during the “German Cultural Days” organized by Dean Brockmann. Many of the congregations in the  Far East use culture as a way of reaching out to new people, and the primary means of doing this is music. Arseniev has very little by way of cultural events, so an organ concert (by a German organist, held in a Soviet era hall that had clearly not seen renovations since the 70s or 80s) was a big deal. While Pastor Alexander had hoped for a better crowd, we were impressed both by the music and that so many people would come out on a weeknight to attend it.

Pastor Alexander Lapochenko with Bishop Mansholt

After the concert we went to the church, St. Luke's. Like our congregation in Novosibirsk, the church building is a private home that has been remodeled. Unlike Novosibirsk, Arseniev is a congregation that was founded with no tie to German-Russians. Here, too, we were met warmly by the congregation as our conversation stretched late into the evening. As someone in our group remarked later, in Arseniev it became especially clear how frequently we saw the people of this country striving toward beauty – for example, in their singing and renovations of their church. 

And speaking of renovations of the church building, in our final destination, Vladivostok, this was at the very center of our attention. St. Paul's there is the only historic Lutheran building (from the Urals to the Far East) currently in the possession of our church. Before being returned (in very poor condition) the building housed the Museum of the [Russian] Pacific Fleet. Besides commemorating 15 years from the date of the building's return, we also were celebrating 20 years of Dean Brockmann's ministry in the Far East. Our days in the city included concerts at the church, a city tour, and worship. To give you a sense of the guests represented at the anniversary celebration, the Gospel lesson on Sunday was read in Russian, German, English, Slovak, Finnish, Afrikaans, and Korean! Besides visiting St. Paul's and Dean Brockmann, we had a very good opportunity to meet with other guests, including ELCUSFE Bishop Otto Schaude.

On the 1st of October we were in Vladivostok's new airport for our trip back to our respective homes. There we were reminded one final time of the vast distances of the country; a mosaic in the terminal shows how far it is to various cities – Anadyr (in the very NE corner of Russia) – 3750 km. Tokyo was much closer (1500 km), and even Singapore (5000+) was nearer than Moscow, seven thousand km away. We covered those kilometers and saw much along the way. At the same time, of course, we still missed much more that we saw. That means that I can hope that these two weeks of interpreting will not be my last.

PS. I read a newspaper on my flight back to Novosibirsk. In it I stumbled across a number of articles that really stuck out. For example, I read about how the head of the Russian Orthodox, Patriarch Kirill, had just visited Vladivostok before we arrived, and how the turnout for his appearance was disappointingly small. I read about a festival of native peoples of Siberia and the Far East, a topic that came up frequently in the museums we visited. There was an article on helicopters from Arseniev, the quality of Russian airplanes, as well as a number of items on politics and corruption. As our trip came to a close, then, I received a small sign of confirmation that we had been talking about the right things as we traveled, and that we had all taken some steps the right way in the path of being interpreters of culture.  

Interpreting - Part II

Translating at Evening Prayer. The congregation's preacher,
Alexander, is to my right. Pastor Loren Mai is giving the sermon.

As our group was reflecting on the journey we had made together, one person commented - "the fact that any of these churches are in existence today is a miracle." It was a powerful reminder of what could otherwise be taken for granted. It is certainly not obvious that the strong, pre-revolutionary congregation in Krasnoyarsk would be reborn 60 years later. Nor could one have predicted that new congregations would spring up in the Far East. Traveling with a group of people that were thoughtful, flexible, funny, adventurous and faithful helped me appreciate with fresh eyes the wonder of God's work in this country, even as I continue to be concerned about those areas of society and the church that are yet to see the effects of the Gospel's freeing power. 

So, while I was translating in a number of ways during this trip, others (Americans and Russians) also translated for me, helping me to understand the world around me differently.  

But now - back to the journey.  We took the "red eye" to Khabarovsk, where we were met by the church council president, Tatyana (one of 3 Tatyanas we met in the small congregation); we rested before taking a city tour with Tatyana #2, mostly in the rain. Even then it was clear that Khabarovsk was a big, vibrant and quite beautiful city. 

By evening we had made it to the apartment of St. John's Lutheran. Like Krasnoyarsk, the apartment is the center of the congregation's life, while they rent space for worship. Also both congregations are similar insofar as they have excellent quality lay leadership...which also means that everyone is very busy. Particularly challenging for such congregations in a Russian context is the lack of their own church building; most people here believe that only very strange people would meet anywhere other than in a "real church" if they were seeking spiritual growth or comfort. Khabarovsk has the additional challenge of being without their own pastor for most of a decade. 

Dean Manfred Brockmann (center in the picture right, together with church council president Tatyana and Pastor Gary Teske, of St. John's partner congregation in Lawrence, KS) came up to meet us from Vladivostok. He does much to support this and other congregations in his deanery, and we were happy to have him with us as we started out on this leg of the journey. He was one more translator among us as the members of our American congregation shared stories of life and faith with the group that had gathered in order to meet with us. Besides visiting the congregation, we had the chance to take a boat ride on the Amur (below) and visit the city's excellent history and natural museum.

We left Khabarovsk on the overnight train to Vladivostok feeling very blessed for the quality of our visits; those who were returning to Russia noted that there was a new openness in interaction, and that bodes well, I believe, for the possibilities of partnership in the future. 

In order to not make these posts too long, I'm going to stop now and add another installment in the next day or two. 

Interpreting - Part I

The planning began a year ago, though certain details were being worked out at the last minute. How could it be otherwise when a church delegation from America comes to visit their partners in Russia? The ELCA Central States Synod has had a long relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Urals, Siberia and Far East. The initial connection came in the early 1990s through German-Russian communities stateside taking an interest in the fate of their distant relatives (figuratively and geographically) in the former USSR. A German pastor serving in the Russian Far East, Manfred Brockmann, made visits to the U.S. and developed partnerships. Today, almost 20 years later, there was an opportunity both to celebrate what the relationship has been, and to look toward where God might be leading in the future. Bishop's Associate Janice Kibler did much work to prepare the visit; ELCA Global Mission staff also shared their experiences, while I added a little local expertise. 

I say "a little" even after more than a decade in Russia. One of the reasons for that is that I had never really led such a group before; yes, I have frequently spoke with Americans about life in Russia and the situation of the church here, but I had never showed it to them. This time I would have to be a cultural and language interpreter on the ground, and I wasn't sure that I was ready.

This was particularly the case in Moscow; despite its relative proximity to my previous calls, I have never really felt at home there. Yet, my confidence grew as we were able to navigate through the city, see a few of the sites, and have good conversation both the Bishop Dietrich Brauer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia and with leaders of the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy. The former gave us a wonderful introduction to the history of the Lutheran Church in Russia and an overview of its contemporary life, while the latter helped us understand what it is like to be a part of the expatriate (or refugee) community in a diverse, expensive, traffic-jammed, difficult and beautiful city.

Bishop Brauer (center) showed us around the site of Sts.
Peter and Paul Cathedral in Moscow. On his right is
Bishop Gerald Mansholt from the Central States Synod,
farther right still is Pastor Loren Mai, while Kathy Walter
and I are soaking up the sun during the tour. 

Sometimes Moscow is so busy that
it is easier to pay attention to the cars
than the monuments (e.g., to Cyril and
Methodius, missionaries to the Slavs)

Our time in Moscow was short, however; we wanted to dedicate most of our time to cities east of the Urals. Our first stop was in my deanery, in Krasnoyarsk. I've written about the congregation there a number of times, in large part because of the vibrant ministries the congregation and its pastor have taken upon themselves. 

While a number of those in the CSS delegation had been to Russia before, none had been to Siberia. We therefore made a significant stop there, which gave us the time both to develop a sense for the place as well as the opportunity to hear stories of life and faith from members of the congregation. In the course of 5 days we went for very long walks through the city (one through some significant rain) and outside of it; we experienced morning prayer, Bible study, youth group, and Sunday worship with the congregation. 

Bible study in the congregation's apartment

Bishop Mansholt and Pastor Gleb Pivovarov descending a
ski lift overlooking the city 

A group photo with many of the congregation members
after worship on Sunday.

Yet, even after we left Krasnoyarsk, we had completed only half of our journey. From there we moved on to the deanery of the Far East, where we would visit 4 more congregations. I'll fill you in on that part of the trip in "Interpreting - Part II," to be posted in the near future. 

General Synod - Day 4

September 14, 2012

Bishop (and acting Archbishop) Dietrich Brauer with new
President Bentzel and outgoing President Pivovarov.

In some ways the final full day of the General Synod was anti-climactic. After dealing with difficult and unpredictable discussions the day before, the main item on the agenda for the last day was the elections. With the resignation of Archbishop Kruze, a new person needed to be named. In addition, a new President of the Synod Council (aka General Consistory) needed to be elected. Here, it is clear, the General Consistory had done much work ahead of time considering the best options for leadership positions in our church. They suggested that the best option for the present was that Bishop Dietrich Brauer of the ELCER become the acting Archbishop for the next two years, while Pastor Wladimar Bentzel from Yekaterinburg would be the President. Because Bishop Brauer will be busy enough in his duties in Moscow, Pastor Bentzel will need to take on a number of new responsibilities for the General Consistory to be able to work effectively in the period leading up to the next General Synod in two years time. 

While elections were somewhat of a formality, there was an air of tension about them. In my mind this revealed a degree of distrust between the two Russian synods based on the old politics of ELCROS. Such tension between the Russian churches wasn't so noticeable before since this is the first general synod where really only the Russian voices count. In other words if at earlier general synods there were a number of different currents of piety and church politics flowing all at once (Central Asia, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia....), now all the political tension is packed into the relationship between these two churches. That said, the elections went by without any major problems, and I believe that the next years will be filled with productive and cooperative ministry, and this will build up the trust that has not thus far been strongly established. 

The only other item of business for the day (other than once again confirming all the decisions that had been made up until that point) was to confirm the text of a letter to the press about recent vandalism in St. Paul's Church in Moscow. It is possible that you have already heard or read about the damage done to the organ there, but if you have not, I ask your prayers for Christ's peace to reign in that congregation that has suffered much at the hands of former leaders. 

The day ended up being "heavier" than expected. But despite all our frustrations, we ended on a high note - a Holy Communion service at Petrikirche in St. Petersburg with commissioning of those with new responsibilities (photos below).

General Synod - Day 3

September 13, 2012

The hardest day of the General Synod began with continued discussion about theological education. In the end it was clear that, on the one hand, the need for reform is great; on the other hand, it was also clear that there were too many possible options for them to all be given careful consideration in the context of the GS. For that reason the Synod decided to appoint a working group for checking into questions related to accreditation, while Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov will take on responsibility for reforming the program of the seminary, focusing on education by extension. The new General Consistory (which could also be called the Synod Council) will oversee this process and will form a new seminary board together with representatives from the other Lutheran churches in the former Soviet Union (i.e., former ELCROS churches, now united in the Union of Lutheran Churches). 

What proved to be even more difficult than education was the question of the Central Church Administration in St. Petersburg. In the years since I have started serving in Russia I have seen tensions rise in the relationship between the central office and its partners; in addition to that, there was significant pressure on church staff to perform well in the absence of the leader of the administration (i.e., the Archbishop). However synod delegates came to the conclusion that the manager had fulfilled his responsibilities neither in the Archbishop's office nor in the Theological Seminary, though in the latter he had been serving for most of a dozen years. The end result is that he was let go; there will be a search for a new church administrator, while the General Consistory will now consider whether or not the seminary needs a full-time administrator. In the meantime this will mean quite a bit of added work for President Anton Tikhomirov, who will have to sort out ways to deal with all the financial and administrative challenges at the seminary. 

Working on final changes to the text
 of the church constitution. 

The final act of business for the day was making changes to the ELC constitution. After a process of revision that was rather chaotic at the last General Synod, this was done in a way that was relatively orderly. Delegates had a chance to analyze and suggest changes to the text, though overall the structure of the revised document included a lot of positive clarifications. While it was a bit trying to go through all that "nit-picking," it was constructive. One of the most obvious changes is to the name of the church - we will now be known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia. 

I had the challenge and opportunity of closing the business of the day by leading a service of evening prayer. It felt great to once again be preaching in the seminary chapel and to look out upon those who had been my students, colleagues and friends throughout my decade of service in the country. We made it through the hardest day; not without difficulty, but we made it. Thanks be to God!

General Synod - Day 2

September 12, 2012.

Bishop Otto Schaude set a very positive tone for working together at the General Synod through his sermon at opening worship. At the center of his message was the message of 1 Peter 4.10:  "Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received." (NRSV). Reminding delegates of the great gift they had received and the responsibility to use it well, Bishop Schaude helped us to put aside any secondary concerns and to focus on the needs of the church in Russia at this moment in time. 

Consistory President Rev. Vladimir Provorov
leading the proceedings of the first day.

After worship and a lunch provided (as usual, with significant skill) by the seminary staff, we moved on to introductions and other formalities that usually occupy the first hours of all official proceedings here. There were greetings given from partners in attendance, including Rev. Arden Haug, the ELCA Global Mission representative in Europe, Dr. Eva-Sibylle Vogel-Mfato, the Lutheran World Federation representative responsible for the region, and Oberkirchenrat Michael Huebner from the Evangelical Church in Germany. Others could not attend but sent letters of greeting. There were two people whose absence were felt even as their letters were read - Bishop Arri Kugappi., from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (ELCI); the last General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church seemed to point toward greater cooperation between Lutherans in Russia, but there are some (including myself) who are rather disappointed at the progress made in that direction. Even more difficult for those at the GS was the absence of ELC Archbishop August Kruze. His call in this ministry was very difficult ever since his election in 2008. At the time he was Bishop of ELCUSFE, though he fulfilled his duties not from the church's center, but with the help of a very good administrator in Omsk, from his home congregation in the Urals. The election process during the last General Synod was an indication of future developments; there was not good order then, nor did Archbishop Kruze have an orderly time in his position. A number of factors contributed to this, but in the end the very frustrating situation he found himself in led him to refuse to fulfill his functions as the Archbishop for most of the last year of his service. Rev. Kruze wrote a lengthy and difficult letter to the synod; it was read and the reaction of the delegates (this one, at least) was sympathy and sadness. At the same time, we all felt a degree of relief that there was official resignation after an extended period of time when there was no clarity.

The day's business went by rather quickly, but that just meant that we were able to move on of the difficult item on the agenda - education - up one day. The topic was difficult because of the challenges facing our Theological Seminary. We heard the report of Seminary President Dr. Anton Tikhomirov, during which he explained the decision he made to suspended the program of full-time education at the seminary for this academic year. Dr. Tikhomirov pointed to two major factors - a lack of students available for full-time studies and the expenses related to running a seminar in the traditional way. He presented a plan for re-focusing educational ministries in our church; Bishop Schaude and I added on our own suggestions. With that, the day's business was over, giving us the opportunity to return to more concrete decisions about education the next day.