This Bible study
took place in a Catholic church not far from my office. In fact,
the gathering was an ecumenical event, with many churches participating.
In particular, it provided Catholics and Protestants with significant
opportunity for cooperation, one expression of which was the march
from one Prague church to another. Processing from the Catholic
Salvator Church to the Protestant church of the same name, the
pastor of the Protestant Salvator Church was led to remark that
the distance between Protestants and Catholics was not so great,
after all.
On Saturday afternoon, Joyce and I attended a presentation on
mission and evangelism and learned about various forms of outreach
and service that churches are carrying out, both within these
six countries and beyond their borders. Some of the afternoon’s
other topics were: “Neighborliness in Central Europe”;
“Fortress Europe—Europe and Poverty in the World”;
“Congregational Partnerships”; “The Local Church—God’s
People, a Living Fellowship, the Salt of the Earth?”; and
“The Future of the Family—the Family of the Future.”
Saturday night was known as the “night of open churches,”
with many churches hosting concerts that lasted late into the
night. One of the most popular concerts was a presentation of
spirituals and gospel music. Other presentations included organ
and choir concerts, with a choir from Silesia singing some songs
in Hebrew. Portions of Handel’s Messiah were presented,
and there was even a chamber opera about Martin Luther.
Probably the climax of the whole gathering, however, was the
outdoor worship service, which took place Saturday afternoon in
one of Prague’s squares. It lasted about two hours and was
broadcast live on television. In an informal fashion, it was led
by representatives from all of the churches and nations involved.
It featured a large brass/woodwind band, which played beautifully
and accompanied the singing (with worshipers using a special songbook
that had been prepared in the five languages of the participating
countries). The most moving moment for me came when we prayed
the Lord’s Prayer together, each person in his or her own
language. Though the words were different, we were all praying
the same prayer, taught to us by our Lord. Christian fellowship
and unity were deeply expressed by our praying that prayer together.
The experience of unity was repeated the next morning when we
met for Sunday worship in the church in our neighborhood. Present
were guests from congregations from Slovakia and Silesia. The
older women from the Silesian congregation were dressed in “kroj,”
that is, in their regional costume, which is very colorful. The
sermon was given by the bishop of the Silesian Protestant Church.
After the service during a time of fellowship, I discovered that
the people from Silesia have a very unusual language, which possibly
only 50,000 to 100,000 people speak. Consisting of Czech, Slovak,
and Polish words, with elements of Russian grammar and strong
German influence, it is quite different from the Slovak I speak.
The Sunday afternoon departure of the congregation’s guests
signaled the end of the gathering. It was a full weekend, one
that many people had worked hard to make happen—especially
the church’s Ecumenical and Foreign Relations Department
and the leadership team, which consisted of leaders from the participating
churches and nations. It is an event that will be repeated in
three years, next time in neighboring Slovakia, when Christians
from central Europe will again gather to celebrate and nurture
the unity, which is Christ’s gift to his Church.
With gratitude for the gift,
John and Joyce
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
177 |
