Sunday, July 30. 2006

Today at St. Columba’s Church in Budapest, Hungary, at 11:00 a.m., seventy people gathered to worship God—more than a dozen are refugees from different parts of the world. This small congregation of English speaking people is a place where small miracles happen.

Over the past three years, close to thirty refugees have been baptized at St. Columba’s. The largest group is from Iran. Three to four times a year Iranian pastor Sadeh Sepehri and social worker Aziz Sadaghiani come from Berlin to teach Christianity, provide social support and help keep their spirits up. It is not easy being a refugee. Sadegh and Aziz work with new Persian-speaking Christians in Germany and like us are supported by PC(USA). Because they speak Farsi (Persian) and know the culture they are able to spot problems we might miss. We really appreciate their help.

There are also three visiting groups attending church today. They are all teaching English and spreading the word of God in Hungary or adjoining countries. One group is from Scotland, one from the United States, and one from Canada. The first two are on their way home after several weeks of teaching Hungarians and refugees. The third group is just starting and they will visit Ukraine, Romania, and Croatia before returning home.

Most Hungarians do not understand why someone would give up their summer and spend a lot of money to come here and help people. Kathy and I continue to find that forty-five years of communism has left its mark on people here. There is much mistrust of strangers and each other and volunteer work is looked down on. During the summer though, sometimes magic happens. Education in Hungary tends to be severe and dry. The lighter style used by the visiting teachers, including singing, skits, and laughter, helps people to open up. Students share things with the teachers and ask questions about America. Why did they come? Who paid for it? Sometimes even questions about God come up. In the end they often find that people from far away are a lot like them, and that such meetings can be of benefit to both sides. We have much to learn from each other.

We also have children at the service. There is Kai, a four-month-old whose mom is from the United States and dad is from England. Victor is fourteen months. He proudly showed us how he learned to walk this week. His mom is Hungarian and dad is Scottish. Kijan is four weeks old. His mom and dad are both Iranian refugees and new Christians. His dad works at two jobs to keep Kijan living in the style to which he is accustomed. Anna-Morag who is nine months with a mom from Scotland and a dad from Hungary couldn’t make it today, teething you know. Then there is Abel, four, whose mom is Hungarian and dad is Scottish. All of his life he has been coming to this church. This is his church. His best friend at church is Daniel who is also four. Daniel’s mom and dad are refugees from Ethiopia.

Last year Daniel’s family was living illegally in Italy with a relative. EU law states that you must live in the country in which you were granted your refugee status. For Daniel’s family this was Hungary where it was almost impossible to get work that would support them, and housing is even more of a problem. Daniel’s father, Meles, was detained by the Italian police and sent back to Hungary. Here he was without his wife and son, without a job or a place to live, and no hope. Meles could not ask his wife to join him until he could provide for her and Daniel. He came to us for help. Kathy and I work with a great team at the Refugee Mission of the Reformed Church of Hungary. They have a program that helps with job hunting and provides housing for refugees for up to ten months. With this help, Meles is now working and the family is together again.

The church family enjoys a meal together after the worship service

When the refugees first started to come church on Sundays three years ago, we had a problem. Some of the camps where the refugees live were four-hour train ride away. They would travel on Saturday and sleep at the church, and attend the service on Sunday By the time they would catch a train after church and get back to camp, they would miss all of their meals for 24 hours. In response, the congregation began to provide lunch for them. Sometimes members of the congregation or visitors would stay and share the meal with them. This has now become our Sunday afternoon meal for anyone who wants to stay. A different person or family cooks each week. This week it is Daniel’s family. We are having Ethiopian food today, injira with meat sauce. Our visiting teams are staying for lunch. That makes about thirty people. Somehow there is always enough food.

After lunch, around two or so, Kathy has Bible study for the refugees and or other guests. Bibles in Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Hungarian, and English are available. How do you find a page number when your Bible reads from right to left? There are many questions, debates (with or without translations), and laughter.

This is what our Sunday is like today. Next week, who knows?

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 181