Evendays

I have been Kiev a bazillion times, but have never really been on my own in the city. (Which is not necessarily a bad thing.) The Metro dives hundreds of feet under  ground and speeds around, letting people off only if they can read the mysterious Cyrillic writing that is hidden in each station, or when they can distinguish the garbled Ukrainian that comes over the 1960’s intercom system. The Metro is amazing. It is way old, there is danger everywhere (no barriers, no directions, crushing crowds) and no one speaks English, French or Spanish.

My good friend Olha met me at the airport. She and her husband are starting a camp to welcome orphans and teens, but she took a week off to accompany me to Ternopil where I was to speak, and where her mom and grandmother live. In the 4 hours before our night train, we went to the Pinchuk Modern Art Museum. It was free and loaded with university students who were checking out the wonderful "still-video" exhibits. Fascinating to see the “art” AND the crowds of students! Then we headed over to the monument built to honor those who Stalin and his henchmen starved to death during the harvest of sorrow (1932 to 1933). In order to force farmers onto collective farms, Stalin took away seed, food in storage and the new harvest. He let the people (mostly Ukrainians) die, wiping out an entire generation. Perhaps around 10 million people.

I was asked to speak about the C/church of Christ while in T., Ukraine. It seems that some brothers, at least I think they are brothers—though they never called me brother, come to think of it—had visited the T. church around Christmastime and had tried to point out a more excellent way to the church there.

I had the privilege of meeting these two Ukrainian Christians who had raised the questions. I cannot express how sincerely happy I was to encounter Ukrainian Christians working full time to plant a church in another Western Ukrainian city. The dedication that is required to do this is mind blowing, I guarantee you. Anyway, I digress.

The question came up about THE DENOMINATIONS. Now, those of you who know me, know how much I hate drawing lines. I strongly believe that spiritual maturity brings discernment and, God knows how much our churches feel it, we need discerning leaders. Yet I do not do a good job neither at drawing lines in hyperbolic doctrinal sand or in follow-this-or-you’re-out teaching. I have come to the conclusion that I am either a very big chicken or extremely wise, that either I have a perceptive intellect or have never had an original thought, tending to parrot the last person I’ve talked to.

To make a long post shorter, and to ask for your prayers, if not your insights, I spent 3 hours talking about what it means to be “in Christ” and how, as the N.T. expresses it, that takes place. I lament the separation of those who are in Christ. I am also saddened by the lack of obedience of those of us who wear the name of Christ. And I have come to believe that those among us who are the most concerned about the denominations are those who, sadly, have a denominational view of the church.

Of course, I’m not sure about that. It’s just what the last guy I talked to said.

Yes, I am in Ukraine. Don’t know how much I’ll be able to get online (not that time online has affected my blogging). My bags were limited out (20 kilos for the checked bag and 12 for the carry-on). Here it is mornings free… Late lunches with fellow Christians… Meetings in the afternoon… Teaching Bible study every evening… Finishing up before 8 PM so everyone can get home in the cold… I feel like a monk! Time for studying, reading, singing (alone), making tea for guests. I like it, but I’m always ready to get back home.

As the days went on, the crowds got smaller. Had I kept on teaching another week, I could have wiped them all out!

The last 3 nights we were 15 people. I used a lot of visuals (picture “white board”) and there were many questions after the 90 minutes of teaching, people staying till late talking over the subjects, sharing sins that they struggle with, looking carefully at the New Testament texts, wanting to understand more clearly how God has revealed himself.

We were supposed to finish early the last night, but it didn’t happen. We were all invited to “a turkey party” as Volodya called it, and we sat down to pickled cabbage and tomatoes and cucumbers and more pickled cabbage (this is Ukraine) and potatoes and dead bird (picture 6 pounds, all the weight in the bones, but still tasty). The communion was sweet.

The late-night snow started falling as I caught the train. A lumbering diesel that would tower over our Swiss engines pulled us to Kiev. I enjoy these trips and they do go by quickly, but it’s always nice to be heading home.

Thanks for your prayers.

Welcome from cold and friendly, yet not-cold-enough-to-freeze-the-mud, Ukraine. It’s foggy, already dark, and I’ve just finished a day in fellowship with 40 Christians from Ternopil. I got to preach twice this morning. After about 45 minutes, we stopped for tea and open-faced sandwiches, then they asked me to preach some more. Okay, it’s true that not everybody stayed for the overdose, but a good group did, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together. I just finished borsht (sp.) and cucumbers and tomatoes and frozen strawberries with melted ice-cream (not mixed together). All was good. I forgot how late people eat lunch here (at either 2 or 3 pm) and how little they eat at night. Of course, I am on my own at night, and can eat as little, or as much, as I like. I have little internet time, but just enough to stay in contact with family (and you). What a blessing! I will catch up on YOUR blogs later. In the meantime, please keep me, and your family in Christ here, in your prayers, as well as the family in Lausanne.