We have made a covenant
with missionary Joyce Mauler!
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Rev. Geissinger presenting the covenant to Dr. Mauler, missionary to Czechoslovakia. A covenant is a contract guaranteeing our prayers and financial support.
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Missionary Joyce Mauler tells us of the hardships of Christians under Communism. The Czech are not living in poverty, but they need a translator and an instructor to train religious leaders.
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http://www.hyperlink.cz/ecmji/index.html This is a link to the church that Joyce attends
… BRIDGES
… Number 3, 2005: “Beyond
Damnation” by Joyce Michael
In recent days, Protestant congregations in the Czech
Republic have faithfully relived the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday,
White Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Furthermore, churches throughout the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and Germany are busily preparing
for an international, interdenominational “Gathering of Christians” that
will be held in Prague the first weekend in June. Thus, I had anticipated that
this message would consist of short reports related to these topics. However,
some experiences that I had in mid-March seem to be clamoring for expression.
Thus, in keeping with the
contemplative ambiance that Lent and Easter regularly engender, I would like
to adopt a reflective tone in this message to you.
On
March 12, I was walking through a square near John’s office when an elderly
man looked directly at me and said, “the adults are going to hell.” I was
surprised, both by the words and by the fact that I had
understood this unusual Czech sentence without any contextual clues.
However, looking about, I saw a group of young adults with several dogs gathered
around a bench, playing recorders and engaging in quiet banter. Had the man been
referring to these folks who appear to be homeless and who periodically turn up
in historic squares throughout the center of the city? Even as that question
surfaced, I spon- taneously decided to retrace my steps so that I could wander
through an Easter market that had just been set up in a nearby park.
When I returned to the square a little later, the same man walked by me
and said, “Everything! To hell!” I was struck by the force of this word of
condemnation, which almost seemed to be addressed to me personally, since the
young people had left the square by then.
Being
aware of the troubling realities that many people regularly face, I could not
easily dismiss the old man’s analysis. Thus, his dark prophecy remained with
me for several days
before
being counter-balanced by the pre-Easter worship service that the Protestant
Theological Faculty held at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Wall on March 15. A
few days before that eucharistic gathering, my friend and mentor, Dr. Jakub
Trojan, had described his sermon to me, so I was well-prepared to hear him
remind us that Jesus’ death occurred in an unclean place far from the purity
of the temple and beyond the protective walls of the city. However, I was
challenged to move beyond my self-centered preoccupations when
Professor Trojan declared that we are similarly called to go beyond the
protective walls of the church into the secular world where people are hungry,
hurting, and seeking.
The
emphasis of the evening was on serving – beyond the comforting warmth of the
church. Yet, I was touched by the
gentle spirit of the communion service, and by the kind greetings that were
extended to me by several colleagues whom I had not seen for a while. It seemed
to me that the worshippers lingered longer in the sanctuary and just outside of
the church than has been the case other years, perhaps because the challenge of
the sermon was also an exceptionally graceful reminder that when any of us feel
as if we are on the outside of the hope and promise of the church, we may be
exactly where the Crucified and Resurrected One is waiting to extend the gift of
true acceptance.
