Holy Week in Khakasia

"What do we need to do?"

  This is the question I run into very frequently in all sort of areas of congregational life...but none more so than in the area of worship and ritual. I'm not sure how much of it has to do with the "hardening" of various norms that took place during the church's underground (and later semi-official) existence in the Soviet era and how much of it has to do with the "folk Orthodoxy" shared by many of our neighbors here, a piety that is very rule-based (while at the same time, ironically, not usually very serious about following all of the rules). In any case people are concerned that they do the "right thing"... ad are usually pretty sure that the solution be in the singular. 

  For that reason there is a certain barrier to working on renewing worship here. Church leaders recently dealt with the issue at a seminar for extension students in Novosaratovka, while during Holy Week I had the opportunity to work on this issue "on the ground" as I visited south central Siberia. 

 

With confirmands in Bograd

Palm Sunday in Kuragino

 The region's four viable congregations and other preaching points are served by three dedicated, competent lay ministers who continually seek out ways to improve their ministry skills and to gain knowledge that will help them fulfill their responsibilities. Together with them and Area Dean Vladimir Vinogradov, we decided that it would be good if I could visit them in order to provide them with some additional pastoral support and to introduce them to some of the options for enhancing liturgical worship during this special time of the year. 

  Maybe it's their Montana-like landscapes, maybe it's the people's warmth, but I always feel a bit like I'm coming home when I visit Khakasia. I was privileged to interact with them in an intense week of worship services, theological discussions, Bible study and planning for the future. The preachers, who now have mastered the basics of leading worship, were surprised and excited to hear about the ways our services can be enhanced or altered  on Lenten holy days. They saw and their congregations saw, as I had hoped, that a renewed experience of worship can help us feel closer to the events that took place in Christ's life and bring us deeper into our sense of what that all has to do with our lives.

  I hope that after this seminar lay leaders can feel more confident so that we might dream together of asking not "what do we need to do?" but "what might we be able to do?" 

Zoya Heintse, the region's coordiator, leading worship.

Fall Seminars

  The past months have been filled with new opportunities for the “Equipping for Service” educational program for which I am responsible. The core idea of the “Equipping...” project remains the same – “to maximize accessibility to quality educational opportunities in the Evangelical Lutheran Church through a program that is collaboratively planned, flexible, and decentralized,” but in marked contrast to the events of the first part of the year, recently I've been engaged not only in teaching, but also in organizing events.

  The first of these came together at the last minute – “Two Issues in Christian Ethics,” held

in the congregation in Krasnoyarsk. This is an active congregation that values educational opportunities, so I knew that it was possible to try an experiment there - we would talk about Christian ethics. In a society that leans towards either a legalistic or a nihilistic approach to ethical questions, Lutherans sometimes would prefer to avoid the question altogether. But given the conflict between Russia and its neighbors and the influx of refugees from Donbas that have come even to Siberia, it seemed important to me to help our congregational members use their faith to engage these questions. While I hoped to look at the question of "Peace and War," in our two evenings together we only had time to look at the more general question of whom we help and why, which lead us in to the underlying question of how we go about moral decision making in as Christians. The two evenings brought together a total of 24 participants, which I consider to be quite successful given that people needed to take public transport to the church after work in order to attend. I was also very pleased to see congregational members interested in applying their faith to concrete ethical and social questions that surround them. I plan on doing more work in this sphere.

  The second event was south of Krasnoyarsk, in the region of Khakasia.  The region has 10 congregations spread over a 150 mile radius; most of them get only monthly visits from their pastor, Dmitry Schweitz, who was instrumental in helping organize this retreat, which we called "I am a Servant." The

main idea was to support the team of people leading congregations on a week to week basis. We hoped to reach this goal both through fellowship and through thinking about the following questions together - “What does it mean to serve? When do I feel like a servant? How can one serve effectively?” In the process we talked about the way service is understood in society and in the Bible, Jesus as a model of service, love at the center of Christian service, the Lutheran understanding of internal and external call, and our communal call as the church in this place. A number of concrete ideas were raised that the leaders intend to bring to realization – e.g., fund-raisers to help those in acute need, printing fliers about Lutheranism for distribution, and a cooperative attempt to form a new youth group in one of the congregations.  

  And this last month I was very pleased to welcome Pastor Chris Repp back to Russia.Chris had been my mentor when I came to Russia at as a seminary intern in 2001. About 2 years later, he passed on to me the position of teacher of Church History, Systematics and Ethics at the Novosaratovka Theological Seminary. When the opportunity arose to invite him for participation in an academic conference co-organized by the church, we decided that it would be great if he could also have contact with others through the “Equipping...” program. Chris and I chose to lead two 3-day seminars, one in Omsk (Siberia) and one in Ulyanovsk (in European Russia on the Volga). We thought that the title, “Law, Gospel and the Lutheran Confessions Today,” would attract mostly pastors and students. We did have participants from these groups, but it turns out that the topic had wider appeal than we might have expected. In Omsk there were 9 full participants (along with 7 others who were in and out) and in Ulyanovsk a week later we had a very large number – always more than 20, and most of the time around 30. Although the theme of the seminar was the same, Chris and I had to seriously adapt our material to the different audiences we saw, but in both cases I believe that the time we spent together was meaningful. 

  In Omsk the main thrust of my teaching was to help participants see that we do have official confessional documents, though we are far from familiar with their contents and that we need to familiarize ourselves with them in order to decide for ourselves what role(s) they are to play in the life of our church. Chris Repp focused on the issue of Law and Gospel as address in the Augsburg Confession and the Apology, demonstrating why this was important and how it applies to the interpretation of Biblical texts. (In this he has been influenced by the theological approach of the Crossings Community). In Omsk Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov was also with us and he first spoke about the confessions as a textual expression of Luther's Reformation break-through and then traced the development of Western (especially Protestant) theology from that time forward. In Ulyanovsk we kept things simpler, giving the most attention to the uses of the law and Biblical interpretation. In both places local leaders (a special thanks to Tatyana Muramtseva in Omsk and Vladimir Provorov in Ulyanovsk) did an excellent job of solving logistical issues.

Seminary participants in Omsk. Seminary President Anton Tikhomirov is 2nd from left; Chris Repp far right.

Seminary participants in Ulyanovsk. Pastor Vladimir Provorov (red, center) was our host. 

  Many thanks to you for your prayers and support (through the Hermannsburg Mission and the ELCA.) If any of you or your congregations are interested in making a special gift to help cover the expenses related to the “Equipping...” project, you can learn more about that through the ELCA's “Always Being Made New” initiative.

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. 

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!)