Russia, Persecution, and Chance Encounters (Wow)

Today was one of those church moments that we always hear about from other people and think, "Gosh, I hope something like that happens here."  So often we hear about the incredible things happening and just wish maybe... that we were a part of it?  Maybe, maybe not.  Regardless, it would be totally cool if someone that you know was suddenly healed of a life-threatening disease (great link there to Time mag piece), a gang-banger spoke up confessing their sins and then became a reputable leader, a homeless person came with a friend and everyone rallied to give them job skills, put them in their own home and everything become better.  Who doesn't want to be a part of that?!

All of that actually makes this seem a bit more tame.  It is the week of Independence Day, July 4th.  In four short days we'll be blowing things up in the sky (hopefully not in our hands) to commemorate the birth of our nation and our thorough spanking of the Brits.  Nothing says "freedom" like a burnt hot dog, sun burnt skin, and potato chips.  If its true that Baptists love to baptize its also true that Americans love to talk about how "free" they are.  "Land of the free..." right?

Have you seen those smiley face ones?  Amazing!

At our church we have this moment in the worship service we call "Joys and Concerns."  Its kind of like an open mic time where anyone can stand up and speak about what they are grateful for (i.e., my son just got a new job) or what they would like prayer for (i.e., my son just lost his job).  You have to be somewhat careful because we know that an open mic can be a dangerous thing.  On certain occasions we got to hear about "prostates that are the size of a cantaloupe," how much God is disappointed with everyone, or "they shot a laser up there."  Everyone gets a voice in our church.  That is both really cool and really nerve-wracking. 

Today a first-time visitor stands up and begins to tell us about how she ended up with us.  She had dark, somewhat curly hair, and a thick Russian accent.  She had grown up in the Soviet Union where, "religion as you call was illegal."  She didn't necessarily want religion she said, she just wanted a Bible.  But of course what she was saying is Bibles were illegal.  She had just moved here to the States and, while on her way to our church, walked past a garage sale and asked the people, "Do you have Bible?"  They said yes and so she bought one.  She then held it high and showed it to all of us proclaiming how excited she was to finally have one.

It was a lot like this just with people and a Bible and indoors.

Now this woman is old enough to have a 20-something year old son.  We got to converse a bit after the worship service and it was remarkably fascinating.  This wasn't the first person I'd met from Russia but it was the first one who lived in a rural area, in central Russia, near "the 'stans" as we like to say.  In that area there is still much cultural repression of spirituality so she says.  For some reason she always wanted to read a Bible.  She was so curious about what was in it.  But even after the fall of the Soviet Union (which she continued to call her homeland and apologize for it because she knew it was now Russia) it was nearly impossible to do that.  It took her moving here and happening upon a garage sale to make it happen.  I wish she would've just waited a few more minutes.  We would've given her all the Bibles she wanted.

There were so many things we got to touch on and wanted to talk more about.  She confessed that she expected everyone to be rich here.  Seeing poverty here was somewhat of a shock to her.  Seeing people live in huge houses while there were others on the streets were so confusing to her.  "Why does this happen if people know about Jesus and get to read Bible?"  She asked.  There is no good answer for that really.  It was a good opportunity to specify that the American way is not necessarily the Jesus way.  I was also sad to hear her say that most Russians are not entertained by Vladimir Putin going shirtless.  I wish our Presidents went out shirtless to do push-ups more often.

But alas, we met this woman and heard her extraordinary story today.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.  I would love to be able to write the conclusion to this story right now.  I'd love to be able to say that this woman came to our church in search freedom and found something even better.  I'd love to say that she is now happily involved in the justice missions of our church and has taught us many things.  Fact is we just don't know what tomorrow will bring.  We may never see her again.

I suppose the thing I'll be praying about tonight is the joy and praise that we have been able to share in a pretty infamous moment, to this point at least, for our little church and this one person's life.  We were sort of part of something bigger than our community.  We learned how fortunate we are and were convicted by her sense of sharing gleaned from her communist background.  I'll pray for her and her family's journey.  I'll selfishly ask that we'd get to share in her family's journey.  And I'll wonder, curiously, what it is we can do (or how to ask) for her family if we see them again.

...and I'll read my Bible a little differently for awhile.

Smacking Cheesecake #10:  "Firecracker Salmon" - fried salmon

Everything is better fried.  Except salmon.

Words to get rid of #1:  Deserve