January 2, 2006
Bible study with the Motley Crew
Friends,
Sundays at St. Columba’s Presbyterian Church in Budapest
is a time when people from many countries and many denominations
come together to worship God in English. That may be a strange
description for those in the English-speaking world, but here
in Hungary, where English is not commonly spoken, people come
to church not because it is Presbyterian but because worship is
in English! This common language has created a unique and constantly
changing congregation. We have people from Great Britain, Canada
and the United States. But we also have people from Nigeria, Somalia,
Iran, Ethiopia, Cuba, and a number of other countries. Our common
denominators are that we are Christians, foreigners in Hungary,
and we speak English to a greater or lesser degree.
This diverse congregation of Christians has become home to a
number of people who are new to the Christian faith. They came
originally because they heard that we are friendly and that we
try to help refugees. They have continued to come because they
have met God in some way here and want to know Him more. To date,
we have baptized 23 new Christians and continue to welcome new
people. As the “pastor for refugees,” I am often the
one people talk to about their faith questions. Twice a year,
we offer classes for people who want to be baptized, and every
Sunday there is Bible study after lunch for anyone who wants to
attend.
Lunch has become an important time for St. Columba’s. It
came about out of necessity, since our refugee friends come from
as far as Debrecen and Bekescsaba, two cities in Hungary that
house camps for refugees. These cities are three or more hours
by train from Budapest. When refugees come to church, they either
come on Saturday and sleep at the church in a Sunday school room,
or they leave very early on Sunday to arrive in Budapest by 11:00.
Either way, they miss their meals in the camp kitchen and have
no money to buy fast food. Their travel is free due to their legal
status. As a result, different members began bringing lunch for
the refugees. Eventually, we just began to make lunch every Sunday,
paid for by our little congregation. We feed between 10 and 30
people each week. Often the group is made up only of refugees,
but sometimes church members and tourists stay too. After lunch,
there is always Bible study.
Bible study class is a very tender time. People wait for me to
get out the Bibles, then we gather around the lunch table after
the dishes are cleared and begin the process of finding today’s
Scripture passage. This is something that many of us take for
granted, but many of the people in the class are new to Christianity.
Adding to the problem is that we’re working in four or five
languages. On a typical Sunday, I teach in English and Hungarian,
and one refugee will translate into Arabic while another translates
into Persian. Last Sunday, we also had two Russian speakers. So,
when we get out the Bibles, we have all of those languages, and
finding the passage takes time. Arabic and Persian Bibles read
from right to left, which seems backwards readers of English and
Hungarian and Russian. Sometimes people will watch me open my
Bible and do the same, but that means they are opening to 2 Samuel
rather than Mark! Eventually, we all get on the right page, with
a little help from our friends.
Three weeks ago, I did the class about the annunciation to Mary.
We read the passage in Luke about the visit of the angel Gabriel
in one language after another. I began to talk, one sentence at
a time. Then Chris, a young man from Somalia with dreadlocks,
would translate to Russian for the two older women he brought
to church all the way from Debrecen. The women are a mother and
daughter from St. Petersburg and Orthodox by history. Chris became
Christian sometime along his refugee journey and learned Russian
while he lived in Moscow. His mother tongue is Swahili, but he
also speaks English and Hungarian well. While Chris translated
to Russian, Kazem from Iraq translated to Persian and Patrick
from Zimbabwe translated to Hungarian. We talked about Mary and
how afraid she must have been. We talked about why God would take
the risk to come and live amongst us as an infant, totally helpless
and dependent on the people around him. And not only that, he
chose to be born to a young, unwed girl in a country occupied
by foreign military. Many of the people in our class had themselves
lived in countries under occupation and had to flee for their
lives. All of them know what it is to have your life under the
control of others. This vulnerability and precarious existence
is very familiar to them. We talked of Mary’s courage and
faith in God shown in her willingness to be used by God. We talked
of God’s trustworthiness and wisdom. All of this was done
back and forth through the translations of these refugees. They
had as much to say as I did.
Sometimes I am awed and frightened by the responsibility that
God has given us with these friends. They wait each Sunday for
Bible study. They are hungry for God’s word. They are disappointed
when I am too exhausted to lead a class. It is hard for me to
remember when I was that hungry to know more about God. Perhaps
that is true for all of us who have been part of the family of
faith for a long time. My faith is very much a part of me and
the Bible is imprinted in my memory. Nevertheless, I still have
much to learn and more often run the risk of taking God for granted.
Please pray for us. Pray for the motley crew that makes up the
Bible study class after lunch each Sunday. Pray for each of their
spiritual journeys. Pray for me and my journey also. Pray that
I have the wisdom and energy to follow Christ’s lead in
bringing the love of God to each of these people. And most of
all, praise God with me for this amazing thing that he has done
here in this foreign land.
Your friend,
Kathy Angi
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
181 |
