February 18, 2007
Greetings from Prague on a sunny Sunday afternoon!
“Between a rock and a hard place!” When that colorful
phrase leapt into my mind without apparent provocation the other
day, I realized that it may give apt expression to the way John
and I sometimes feel as we attempt to nurture beneficial relationships
with the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, while simultaneously
keeping interested individuals and congregations in the United
States informed about our endeavors in the Czech Republic. Indeed,
insofar as we were involved in 67 separate events of interpretation
while we were in the United States in 2006, I am still trying
to complete updated mailing lists and thank-you notes. (If you
haven’t yet received a word of appreciation for your kind
hospitality and steadfast support, please be assured that a personal
greeting from the Czech Republic will eventually arrive in your
mailbox!)
Meanwhile, here in Prague, plans are underway to host more groups
having strong interest in developing connections with the Czech
church than has been the case since 9/11/01. For instance, in
2008, I will be involved with a visit by participants in the Presbyterian
Women’s Global Exchange, while John will assist with an
investigatory trip of Czech Mission Network Members that has evolved
from Betty McGinnis’ long-standing ties with several congregations
here. Likewise, we will host a group from Covenant Presbyterian
Church in Columbus, Ohio, later this year, and in 2009, it is
likely that Prague will be the location of an international conference
of Reformation scholars led by one of the professors whom we met
in Danville, Kentucky, last fall. In addition, the possibility
of holding a seminar for ECCB and PC(USA) pastors who want to
engage in serious theological dialogue is being explored. When
I add my desire to finish translating an essay by John Amos Comenius
before a June celebration marking a landmark anniversary of the
founding of the Unity of Brethren, while simultaneously working
with Jakub Trojan’s controversial new book on the atonement,
I sometimes have a strong sense of being caught between a rock
and a hard place.
However, even as I write these words, I realize that I do not
really have a clue about what that phrase means. The demands that
I feel are superficial and, to some extent, self-imposed, but
many people here have had living encounters with deep impositions
and forceful oppression. I have only to remember this morning’s
sermon, in which the pastor quoted some penetrating words written
by a leader of the Czech Academic YMCA while he was imprisoned
in a Nazi concentration camp. I have only to recall the urgent
look on the face of the elderly woman who once stopped me on the
street to declare that the present generation must not forget
the atrocities that happened during that era. I have only to consider
the legacy of the Czechoslovak political activist, Milada Horáková,
who challenged the Communist Party in ways that could neither
be ignored nor silenced. In November, while hosting Jon Chapman
and Burkhard Paetzold from PC(USA), Eva Grollová of the
ECCB’s Diaconia took us to a memorial to Horákova
and read the farewell letter that that heroic woman wrote to her
family shortly before the communists put her to death. In light
of these examples, I know that it is a luxurious presumption for
me to declare that I am between a rock and a hard place here,
where many people have had the experience of being trapped by
unassailable powers and destructive ideologies and where the snare
of rocky places did not end with communism’s collapse.
Memories of the glorious age of liberty that the people of Czechoslovakia
cultivated between the world wars made the Czech lands fertile
ground for democratic forms. However, some people were ill-equipped
to make wise choices as new possibilities flooded the liberated
society in 1989. Young people were especially vulnerable, as the
availability of drugs and stress on personal freedoms collided
in ways that were detrimental to individuals, families, and revered
traditions. Yet, elderly people, who have become easy targets
of “professional thieves” in this capitalistic society,
have their own struggles. Moreover, homeless people are an ever-present
reminder that the current social structure is not flawless. Neo-orthodox
theologians surely anticipated what Czech society reveals: no
human societal pattern is inherently and unambiguously good. Notwithstanding
its positive features and life-affirming values, democracy invariably
opens the door to new difficulties, and people who are “free”
politically may nevertheless find themselves caught between a
rock and a hard place.
Are we thus condemned to a morass of hopelessness? The elderly
woman’s words seem all the more significant in a broad range
of contexts: we must never forget the horrors of oppression and
the degradations of totalitarian rule. Yet, hope may abound even
(or especially) in the midst of ambiguity, as we turn respectful
attention toward prophetic voices which call us to come before
God and our neighbors with self-critical humility. Exercising
vigilance, cultivating meekness, and challenging injustice are
necessary components of all well-intentioned attempts to fashion
a world in which no people in any place perpetually find themselves
between a rock and a hard place. That is a gracious realization
if our hope truly lies in the one who “has filled the hungry
with good things and sent the rich away empty” (Lk 1:53).
So, take heart, and be strong, dear friends!
Truly,
Joyce and John
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
178
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