On the Road Again!! April 5, 2010
Wishing You Joy, Peace and Love . . . Now and Always! April 2010
Dear One --
How are you? I hope all is well with you and yours.
I am leaving for Russia on Saturday and decided to use Constant Contact to send my usual travel journal entries. It's easy to unsubscribe if you want to -- and if you are interested in forwarding the e-mail to a friend, that's fine with me.
You may know that I am heading overseas again. It's a blessing that I will be able to spend almost three months in Russia to work on my Doctorate of Ministry, God willing. Bishop Hans Vaxby, the United Methodist Bishop of the Eurasian Area (which is most of the former Soviet Union) has given me permission to work on two independent study courses and my doctoral project over there. I'll be in Moscow for almost a month, and then travel around a bit to visit with friends who are pastors and District Superintendents of the Russian United Methodist Churches. I hope I will be able to be encouraging and helpful to them all.
With great joy, for the last week I have been visiting my Mom and Dad in Florida. We had a lovely time on Easter yesterday when my sister Jennifer, her husband, Mike and their daughter, Chelsea joined us. We had a delicious Easter dinner and then Dad and Mike went out fishing for a while. They both loved that, and even caught some fish!
When my son Tom called to wish us Happy Easter from southern California, the earthquake happened in the middle of our call! They were all OK, but it shook me up for a few minutes. Blessedly, they know what to do when they first feel a tremor, and they all got out of the house right away. A few minutes later Tom said that my daughter, Krista, was calling him because he saw her number on call waiting. Seems like they are close enough that she knew right when to call, just when they had been feeling the earthquake tremors!
Tomorrow I fly to Washington, D.C., to pick up my passport and to spend some time in the Wesley Seminary library before heading to Moscow. I would appreciate any prayers for safe travel and for my family while I'm in Russia, if you feel led.
During my travels, I will be able to check my e-mail off and on, so please keep in touch if you feel like it!
As ever, I will be praying for you and yours.
May God continue to bless and keep you and all those you love.
Blessings -- Kathy
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Blessed Are Those . . .!
"Blessed are those who are poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." [Matthew 5:3-9]
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Here in Moscow April 13, 2010
Wishing You Joy, Peace and Love . . . Now and Always! April 2010
Dear One --
How are you? I hope all is well with you and yours.
I am writing today from the United Methodist Seminary in Moscow, praising God that I arrived here safely on Sunday afternoon! Since I last wrote to you, I traveled from Florida to Washington, D.C., after visiting with my parents and my sister and her family. I needed to be in D.C. to pick up my passport with the visa imprinted in it, andthere was a bit of a time crunch because it is somewhat unpredictable how long it will take for the Russian Embassy in D.C. to process a visa request. I also wanted to spend some time at the Wesley Theological Seminary (WTS) library in preparation for the studying I am here in Russia to do.
I was blessed that a dear friend in Washington offered her generous and gracious hospitality to me again. I also stayed with her back in January during my Doctorate of Ministry Session at WTS. However, a few days after I arrived in Washington, my friend's mother passed away after suffering with several health issues during the past six months or so. Please keep my friend and her family in your prayers as you feel led. Of course they are dealing with their grief, but also celebrating the life of my friend's mother, who was a fabulous, joy-filled and very loving woman, as is my friend.
During the first few days I was in Washington, it was unseasonably hot -- in the 90s. But on Saturday morning, it was much cooler, like a normal spring day in April there. I had arranged to take a taxi to Dulles Airport with the same driver who had driven me from National Airport to my friend's house on last Tuesday evening. He told me that he was Ethiopian when I commented a small cross I saw hanging from his rear view mirror. On both drives we talked about how things are in Ethiopia, how long he had been in the U.S., and our faith. That reminded me of something I have been wanting to write about for a long time.
When I was ordained some friends gave me a gift of an ancient silver cross from the early days of Christianity. You can see the curved edges of three of the five silver Roman coins from which it was made at the bottom of the cross and at each end of its two arms.
I saw a coin like it in a collection of coins found on his archeological expeditions in Jordan by one of our WTS Old Testament professors who is also a biblical archeologist, Dr. David Hopkins. He said that coins of that type were minted by the Roman Empire between 100 B.C. and 200 A.D. So the cross I was given is between 1600 and 1800 years old. The particular style of the cross has its origins in the Coptic Church, which began in ancient Ethiopia and still has believers in Egypt and in modern-day Ethiopia (and also some who are immigrants in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere!)
According to the traditions of the Coptic Church, the Ethiopian people came to believe in Christ because of an event narrated in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 8:26-40). An Ethiopian Eunuch, who was an official of the court of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopian people, had been worshipping in Jerusalem for the Passover at the time of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. The Apostle Philip had an encounter with him, and he asked Philip to explain prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Hebrew scriptures. Philip did as he asked. Upon hearing the Gospel that Philip proclaimed to him, the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip to baptize him. His conversion led him to share his faith when he returned home, and the Ethiopian people were one of the first nations to become believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Two good friends gave me the cross arranged on a leather string along with fourteen ancient glass beads made from pink sand. One of the friends was working in an antiquities shop, and she told me that the beads might be over two thousand years old. She also told me about the symbolism of the design of my cross.
From the top down there are four different symbols, each from different cultures in the Roman Empire around the time of the Early Church. The very top of the cross curves in a semi-circle, and there are little rays protruding from the curve. It looks like a sunrise and signifies the dawn on the day of Jesus' Resurrection. Early believers in Christianity saw significance in the idea that Resurrection Day was the dawn of a brand new era for creation.
Underneath the curve of the rays there is a symbol that has four ovals connected to each other in the middle. I was told that it is a traditional African design representing the Creator. Beneath that symbol there are several bars of silver with spaces in between them. Below that, the body of the cross has a kind of lattice work design with open spaces in between the overlapping diagonal strands. The lattice work is reminiscent of a Celtic symbol for eternity.
If you look up "ancient Coptic crosses" on a search engine online, you might find a photo of a cross that looks like the one I was given.
I'm still jet-lagging, so I won't write more tonight. I will tell you more about the rest of my trip to Moscow and my impressions of the city compared to how it seemed when I was here three years ago.
As ever, I will be praying for you and yours. Please let me know if you have any specific prayer requests. And please pray for the pastors and people of the United Methodist Church in the Eurasia Area. Already today I have been blessed to see old friends and to meet some folks I haven't known before, including several of the students who are now studying here at Grace Russian United Methodist Seminary in Moscow.
May God continue to bless and keep you and all those you love.
Blessings -- Kathy
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God Has Good Plans for You
For I know the plans for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. When you call out to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. When you seek me you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart
Jeremiah 29:11-13
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Dear One –
It seems like I have a lot to tell you, so I think I will relate all I have to say over the next few days. My impressions of Moscow this time, three years after I was last here include things that have changed and things that seem to have stayed the same. First, though, I want to back up and tell you more about the trip over here.
I flew from Dulles airport to JFK airport in New York in one of those smaller shuttle airplanes often called a puddle-jumper. It was packed. In the waiting area before boarding and while on the plane, I spoke with several people who were also heading up to JFK to catch planes going overseas.
Two were heading to Nigeria for a conference on AIDS education, and the wife of an elderly couple told me that they were thrilled to be on their way to Egypt for the first time. I told her that as a child I had loved learning about ancient Egyptian history and culture and that I went through a phase when I wanted to be an anthropologist or an archeologist. She said that was a phase she had been through as well.
Once we arrived at JFK, we deplaned down a ladder and walked under an enclosed canopy hallway for what seemed like two blocks. I had to make my way to the terminal next door to the one where I had deplaned from the flight from D.C., and I had about four and an half hours between flights. The Aeroflot counter didn’t open until around three fifteen, so I had some lunch while I waited to check in for the flight. Having to go through two airport security processes in the same day was kind of frustrating, but necessary. It’s better just to “go with the flow” and not fuss about the things I can’t change.
The weather in New York was the same as it was in Washington, with the cold air of an early spring day, but still bright and sunshiny. Turned out that Moscow was in the same state as New York was in terms of what was green, and what wasn’t. The temperature was about the same and the sun shone brightly in a beautifully cloudless sky.
The long flight to Moscow was uneventful and pleasant. I watched two movies and had several conversations with the young woman who sat next to me. She was on the way to visit her family in Minsk, but married to an American man. She told me that she had a ten year old daughter and studied singing in a conservatory. So she sings as a soloist in the choir of a Russian Orthodox Church in New York.
As she described her solo for the Resurrection liturgy, I could just imagine how beautiful it must have been. She said she had come with her choir to the celebration of the reunion of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with the Church in Russia. During the Soviet era, as you probably know, the two parts of the Russian Orthodox Church were estranged because of the repression of faith by the Soviet government.
The reunion was celebrated during the first week that I was here in Moscow in 2007, and I wrote about it in my 2007 Moscow Journal. It was fun to tell the young woman who sat next to me that I had also been in Moscow when she and many others were praising God in song and worship at the beautiful Christ the Savior Cathedral that they finished rebuilding in 2004. I described the beauty of that cathedral in the 2007 journal, too.
With great joy, I saw Christ the Savior Cathedral again on Tuesday because it happened that I went to visit an old friend in his office which is a few blocks away from the Cathedral. I know that many of you received the entries in the 2007 journal, so I don’t want to be repetitive here. If you would like me to send you more details about Christ the Savior Cathedral because you didn’t hear about it earlier, or you don’t remember what I wrote about it so long ago, I will be glad to oblige. Just let me know.
After leaving the Sheremetyevo International Airport on the outskirts of Moscow, I found and cab and was driven to the Methodist Building.
If you come to visit on the Moscow Metro’s Red Line, you will find that it is about five Metro stops southwest of the Kremlin, which is in the hub of downtown Moscow, though it is not exactly in the center of the metropolis. The Moscow River winds its way through the downtown area in the south central part of the city, and the Kremlin was originally built as a fortress on its banks.
The Methodist Building houses the Grace Russian United Methodist Seminary, the offices of Bishop Vaxby, and a worship space which several congregations use. Upon arriving, I immediately felt that I had come home and was graciously welcomed and escorted up to my room on the third floor, where the students and others who work in the Seminary live. The room I was given is right next door to the room I stayed in three years ago! It also has a window skylight in the slope of the roof, but is a larger room that has three beds in it.
Three years ago my bed was right under the window, and I enjoyed watching the night sky and being awakened by the light that shone through the window in the morning. However, this time I gave myself a few nights to sleep on a bed in the furthest corner away from the skylight window. I was still sleeping at unpredictable times because of jet lag, so that made more sense. But last night I moved over to the bed under the window and enjoyed waking up because of the light this morning.
I promised you some reflections on first impressions this time in Moscow. The main changes I noticed during the ride from the airport were that there were even more billboards, more new buildings and more cars on the main highway from the northwest outskirts of the city where the airport is all the way to the Khamnovichesky Val near the Weavers District where the Methodist Building is.
As I wrote in my 2007 journal, Leo Tolstoy owned a house in the Weavers’ District, a few blocks from the first Russian Orthodox Church I went to in Russia, called St. Nicholas of the Weavers. Both his house and the church are in walking distance from the Methodist Building, and I walked by the church the other day. It was wonderful to see it again.
Probably that is enough for now. I have some reading to do before I head to bed. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow morning I will finally find that my internal clock has caught up to the time zone here. We’ll see!
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.
With Love -- Kathy
The God of Peace Will Be With You
The Apostle Paul wrote to his beloved friends in Philippi -- “ . . .whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—think about these things. 9 All that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
[Philippians 4:8-9]
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Chirping Birds April 15, 2010
Wishing You Joy, Peace and Love . . . Now and Always! April 2010
Dear One –
Hope this finds you and yours well and happy.
The window in the sloping ceiling of my room is open this afternoon, and I can hear the birds chirping in the trees around the Methodist Building. Situated in the courtyard between some apartment houses, a school building and a factory/office complex, the building has some fruit trees in its yard. There are deciduous trees that provide shade, too. And beyond the fence that surrounds the grounds around the edifice, also situated in the courtyard sheltered by the other twelve and fifteen storied buildings towering over the three stories of the Methodist Building, there is a playground.
Apartment complexes in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union are often designed with what amounts to a little park in the space in between the buildings. When I’ve been outside, the only birds I have noticed are some pigeons, and I’m sure the chirping I have heard all day does not originate from them. Three years ago, I know the robins were around in May. They arrived back to northern Georgia in March, and I saw some in Washington, D.C., last week, but I think they are still being expected here. I will keep looking for them.
A friend in England wrote to ask about Christ the Savior Cathedral and some questions about what we have to eat here and the standard of living in Russia, etc. I will copy what I wrote to her:
I will tell you some things I know about The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and you can see some good photos of it and find out more of its history on the official web site:
http://www.xxc.ru/english/index.htm
And also on the Wikipedia web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Christ_the_Saviour
When it was built in 1812 it was the largest church in all of the countries that were Christian. Stalin had it torn down in 1931, and an outdoor swimming pool was built on the site. The pool was heated and used year-round in the Soviet era.
In the fall of 1977 when we met some Soviet exchange professors, our friend who was the head of the Geo-Thermodynamic Department at Moscow University told us that he was one of those who swam in the pool for exercise all year round. I marveled at that, wondering what it must be like to swim outdoors when it is snowing.
But my friends who live in Rosemont on the western slope of the Rockies in Colorado often go to the natural hot springs pool in Ouray, even in the winter, so they too, must know what it is like to swim when it is snowing. There is kind of a canyon in the part of Ouray where the hot springs pool complex is, and even in the summer, it is lovely to sit in the hot water and look up at the mountains on either side. So they might understand how it was here in Moscow swimming in the winter, although swimming in the midst of a city on the plains compared to swimming in a canyon between the mountains would still be different!
I always thought that was ironic, because even though he tore it down because he didn't believe in God, because the swimming pool was built on that site of the church, it was holy ground and all those years whoever swam in it was swimming in holy water, as far as I'm concerned!! The Orthodox Church rebuilt it after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and it is very beautiful. It is near the river, not far from the Kremlin, and on its grounds there is a statue of Tsar Nicholas II, who with his family was martyred by the Bolsheviks. The statue is of the Tsar saluting the Cathedral with his back to the Kremlin.
Russian food includes soup for lunch and supper -- lots of different kinds, but usually with potatoes in them . . . though the classic Russian soups are beet soup and cabbage soup. Often cooked bulgar wheat groats and other cooked cereals will show up at any meal. I have lunch in the Seminary on week days. It is made by a woman who cooks very well.
Yesterday the bulgar wheat groats had slices of gizzards or hearts in them . . . chicken or beef, I am not sure in addition to the soup . . . today we had some pasta with a light tomato sauce on it. There is always a salad of some kind at lunch or dinner, too . . . maybe little cubes of potatoes and carrots and tomatoes and some peas with tomato sauce, or with mayonnaise . . . or maybe some sliced tomatoes and sliced cucumbers with salt and vinegar and a bit of sugar . . . or sliced cucumbers and slivers of onions in vinegar.
In restaurants you can find shashlik -- shish kabobs -- as well as the classic Russian dishes like Beef Romanoff and stuffed cabbage, piroshki, which are buns stuffed with meat, cheese, or potatoes; and of course Chicken Kiev. (Okay, I know. . . Kiev is the capital of Ukraine, but it’s a common kind of dish in Russian cuisine.)
For my regular breakfasts and dinners on my own here in the Seminary Building I usually buy some fresh bread from the little store around the corner. There are also bigger modern grocery stores a few blocks away with everything you or I could hope to find in our grocery stores along with Russian types of food as I mentioned above. But there are also old-fashioned markets (bazaars . . . in Russian "bazariy") which are in buildings like big warehouses and outside of them are little booths or kind of like small cabins with windows you go up to in order whatever they are selling, and there is usually just one person inside. Everything is much less expensive at the bazaars compared to the modern type grocery stores.
The standard of living in Moscow depends on your economic class . . . I think I read recently that it has the highest percentage of billionaires in the world. But it’s a big city and there are lots of opportunities here. I have been told that outside of Moscow people have fewer opportunities, and the world economy is tough in many places. In Kazakhstan it was similar. In the old capital city, and in the new capital city, things were more like they are in contemporary Western economies, but in smaller cities -- and especially in small towns, and out in the countryside people were having very difficult time.
There was one other thing I wanted to tell you. Most cars seem to be black or silver. And maybe I have seen a few white or aluminum sided trucks. But the other day when I was walking back to the Metro near Christ the Savior Cathedral, I was very surprised to see a car that was the same shade of pink that the ladies who do very well selling Mary Kay Cosmetics drive. Do you suppose there are Mary Kay ladies here, too? I am hoping to find out, and I will let you know. Many Russian women are very stylish and wear beautiful make-up. So anything is possible!
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.
With Love -- Kathy
Don’t Worry About ANYTHING!
[ Jesus said,] ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." [Matthew 6:25-34]
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First Communion and Answers-April 16, 2010
Wishing You Joy, Peace and Love . . . Now and Always! April 2010
Dear One -
Hope this finds you and yours well and happy.
Seems like I left you yesterday with two questions (at least). The first one was answered by a Russian friend who now lives in Florida.
After reading what I wrote about seeing the pink car that reminded me of Mary Kay Cosmetics, my friend wrote to let me know that indeed, since 1991 there have been Mary Kay Consultants in Russia and other countries that were part of the former Soviet Union. Her sister is one of them!
The second question was: What kinds of birds were chirping in the courtyard? So last evening I took a walk and paid attention to the birds. I think the chirpers are sparrows, and I always love to see them because they remind me of the Gospel hymn, "His Eye is on the Sparrow", and of course the scripture passage on which the hymn is based (Matthew 10:29-31 - see below). Whenever I see them I remember that God watches over me . . . and over you, too.
When I went for the walk my heart was full of joy because I had been invited by one of the students to come to a Communion and Praise service. The Communion celebrant is a friend who works with the Bishop. Three years ago I met her here right before she left to go to Washington to receive her Doctorate of Ministry degree from Wesley Seminary, and then I saw her again right before I left here, and she took me out to dinner.
Yesterday was the first time I had seen her since then, so I was very happy she was celebrating Communion at the service.
We sang some praise songs and then shared Communion together. There were just five of us there, so it felt very special. Two of the participants were young men who are seminary students here. There was also a student from Africa who is studying at Moscow University.
It was so lovely.
Some of the praise songs we sang were favorites of mine in English, translated into Russian, and some had been written originally in Russian. I love singing hymns and praise songs in the Russian language no matter how small or large the congregation is. Throughout the Great Thanksgiving of Communion and the time of singing praise songs, I felt the loving presence of the Holy Spirit very deeply, and praise God.
After Communion, we sat in a circle around a table, and one of the seminary students read "The Upper Room" meditation in Russian for yesterday, and we all took turns reflecting on it. The United Methodist daily devotional publication called "The Upper Room" has been published in English for seventy-five years. It is currently also published in forty languages all together, including Russian.
I just saw the Russian version for the first time a few days after I arrived here, and I was so excited. They have published it in Russian for about a year. Also in the past year meditations written by my friend who celebrated Communion yesterday, by the Bishop here, and by another good friend in ministry in the Moscow area have appeared in "The Upper Room." I was delighted to see their names at the bottom of the pages their meditations were on when I read them.
When we finished talking about "The Upper Room" passage, we then all spoke about our prayer requests. Finally each person prayed for his or her brother or sister in Christ on his or her left as we went around the circle.
By the time we dispersed my heart was so full of joy I just couldn't stay inside the building. The beautiful early evening light caused the edges of some small high clouds to be a bit pink.
It was cool, and after paying attention to the sparrows as I mentioned earlier, I left the courtyard to walk along the sidewalk of the busy boulevard known as Komsomolskiy Prospect. Many people were walking quickly down the sidewalks on either side of the street, and rush hour traffic continually filled the side of the four lane thoroughfare leading out of the downtown area near the Kremlin. However, there were almost as many cars heading the other way. It seemed tense, and the noise of the speeding and stopping cars felt almost like an assault to me.
I had to work hard to keep the feelings I had of peace and joy in the midst of such busyness all around me. So I thought the best thing to do was just to pray for the people I saw. Of course, that increased my joy and the knowledge of the presence of the Holy Spirit. So I praise God for the Lord's grace and faithfulness.
Several people wrote and commented on my descriptions of the food here, so I will tell you about lunch today. We had one of my favorite Russian foods -- pilmeni, which are kind of like the Italian tortellini (little ravioli). They are served either in soup or with a big dollop of sour cream on top. Actually often people put sour cream in soup like borscht (beet soup) or shchi (cabbage soup), too.
I was just about to send this and I realized that it was time to meet with two of the students for some English conversation practice. We started doing that a few days ago, and sometimes there have been four of them. It's always fun to teach English. In this case, I am also able to brush up my Russian as we go back and forth between the languages.
After the English conversation practice, I was invited to have some tea in another student's room with three students and three young people who are visiting. It was fun to be with them all, and I enjoyed hearing their jokes and laughter, and in taking part in their joy. We had tea, bread, fried eggs and Ukrainian sausage. (Actually that was one of the jokes, though . . . it wasn't really Ukrainian!) Though now that I have written it, I realize that I guess you would have had to be here to get it . . .
*grin*
Most of the young people eventually left to head out into the beautiful "Podmoskovniy Vecher" -- Moscow Evening. There is a song called "Evenings in Moscow" that everyone has heard on muzak in elevators. If you realize the music you hear is from a balalaika orchestra, it just might be that song!
I was just humming it as I came back to my room after visiting with the student who hosted the evening tea party also known as a vecherinka. I was blessed as we talked and found that she and I have some similarities in our spiritual journeys and our calls to ministry. And I was touched that she would share with me as she did.
How lovely to find new sisters and brothers in Christ!
May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.
With Love -- Kathy
His Eye is on the Sparrow
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29-31
Kathleen Ware Harris © 2010
kwharris777@gmail.com
