Czech Republic
20 April 2008
IBTS
Nad Habrovkou 3
Jeneralka, CZ – 16400 Prague 6

Dear Friends and Family,

Roger and I were pretty occupied during the early part of the week getting prepared to cook for the CATS on Tuesday evening. We fried six chickens and made 10 lbs. of potatoes into potato salad. We also prepared a large coleslaw and two fat trifles. The students were pleased. We actually made the potato salad here in our flat, but I fried the chickens in “G” building where they have a large industrial size stove for cooking. It was fun! That’s our “last hurrah” for them, so we went all out. Everybody likes fried chicken. We made sure they understood that the chicken was South Carolina fried chicken not Kentucky. That evening Alex and Phil Alexander led the group in a very meaningful sharing of the Lord’s Supper. They took the whole hour for this, using scripture and prayer, candles and some sharing with readings so that everyone was involved. This time they arranged the tables into one long trestle table so that all of us were around it for the meal and the “supper.” It was lovely.

But by Wednesday we had to get busy getting ready for the Sunday Service for which I was responsible to lead. I have known for some time that I was expected to organize the Sunday Worship for today, so I got some help. In fact, I had long ago asked Kevin Rubesh to lead the singing. He chose the hymns and songs for us based on the theme, “Living Stones.” And, as it happened, a PowerPoint expert was here who took care of organizing the slides for the reading and songs. So it turned out that I had not much to do, so the service went very well. Actually, I have to admit that I was very nervous about the leading and felt that I wouldn’t have been so anxious if I had been preaching. Organizing and leading – being creative – requires some planning and coordinating. There were actually nine people involved at one point or another in the service, not including the pianist and guitarist or the person who handled the PowerPoint. I always feel better if those who lead can get out of the way and let the Spirit take care of His work during that time on Sunday morning. I believe He did this morning. We used the readings from the lectionary, all of which focus on The Lord our fortress, Christ the cornerstone, and believers like us also as living stones being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. Our professor Peter Penner preached on the passage from 1 Peter 2:2-10. He usually does something of a Bible study, and this morning was no exception, but I really like it when a preacher uses the assigned scripture in its context and with a step-by-step explanation. At least I appreciate it more than the use of some scriptures to simply “prove” a stated point. I believe Peter treats the scripture with great respect.

One of the songs Kevin chose that I really love was a song called, “Faithful One.” Because we were emphasizing community, we changed all the “I”s and “me”s to “we” and “us” and “our” which actually made the song even more meaningful. If you haven’t heard it, there is a beautiful version at this web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ycmPO6m7I&feature=related

Of course we also sang some traditional hymns, for example, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” and “Give Thanks.” Also, there was a duet of “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” Kevin mixed it up so that everybody could participate. I think after this I have more appreciation for those who plan and organize worship services!

This afternoon I went with Nancy and Bill Lively on a walking tour of some parts of Prague where we had never walked before. There were beautiful parks and gardens – now all bursting with spring blossoms! And we visited two huge churches, both Roman Catholic but architecturally very different from each other. One of them, Ludmilla (named for St. Ludmilla, grandmother of “good” King Wenceslas) is a large gothic building with red stone façade. There are two tall towers with identical clocks. Inside, the church’s walls, pillars and vaulted ceilings are painted as if wallpapered with busy, intricate designs of red, cream and gold. The amazing stained glass windows filtered colored beams onto the heads and shoulders of the gathered congregation. We visited at 4:15 just before the service began at 4:30. Maybe there were 35 people gathered to celebrate mass. The church could hold 500 people.

The other church is called “Our Lady of the Snows.” Charles IV started building this church to mark his coronation in 1347, but the construction was halted during the Hussite Wars. It was never completed according to plan, but became part of a monastery in the 15th century. It is also a Roman Catholic Church, but although the architecture seemed Romanesque from the outside, the inside was full of Baroque to Rococo statues of saints in fantastic poses dressed in elaborate ribbon like riffling clothing and starburst halos. There are spiral carved columns of pink marble, gothic pillars and vaulting painted to resemble fabulous peach and yellow marble, and a three-tiered altar piece crowded with more saints topped by a crucifix attached to a pin of the vaulted ceiling towering 110 ft. above the floor. As you might have guessed, the Baroque is not my favorite style. But the outside of the building is beautiful. On the wall over the entrance to the church there is one of the most graceful mosaics I have seen in Prague. Actually, I thought I had taken a photo of it, but, sadly, I hadn’t. This has happened to me before. I suppose I had only focused the camera and hadn’t really taken the picture.

So this was our Sunday. From a small, unadorned chapel full of loving people, we went out to visit enormous museum-like structures full of the artifacts of the faith, on the same day that the Pope held a mass in Yankee Stadium. It is not my plan to make a judgment of the contrasts, but there is in all of this the truth of our living God, of His love and care for us as a good shepherd, and of His presence with all who confess Him as Savior and follow Him as Lord.

I hope you met Him today – in chapel or cathedral, in church or in assembly hall, may you have talked with Him today and may you walk with Him tomorrow.

We love you,
Janice and Roger