After-School program

A few days ago I went with a few other students to the refugee shelter. The shelter is basically a place where one of the missionaries holds an after school program for children and teenagers who are refugees fro all over Europe and even Africa. While we were there we basically just interacted with the kids there. I will admit, I am not very good with kids. I tried to help a little girl with her homework and she blew me off. She was cute though and spoke a little English. I think she was just showing off. A lady missionary named Reggy works so hard to put this thing together. She is from Texas so the whole place has Texas Longhorn memorabilia on the walls. She has taken a few of these kids to live with her in her own home. I think that is such a demonstration of God's compassion through her. The rest of the time we played cards with some of the older kids. They spoke great English and were excited to be around us. It is so great how these kids can be separating themselves from the secular Europe and engross themselves in Christian fellowship. I dont know if they have a choice in the matter whether or not to come to the program, but I did catch a glimpes of one of the teenager's ipod and it was full of Christian music. That lifted my spirits. I never thought I would see that in Europe. We barely see that in the Bible Belt. When I left I was talking to a friend of mine about how I would much rather be doing Bible studies rather than fellowship with kids. She told me a story of how her favorite childhood memories were the VBS's the American missionaries put on (she is from Canada). She said they are the reason she even came to a Christian College. I was struck by that and began to think about the Christian influences I received as a kid and I give them a lot of credit to my adult Christianity. I no longer feel that fellowship is a "waste." I really felt like we did some good that day.

Church in Wien

This morning we went to the church where a team from Memorial Road Church of Christ is working. The service was nice because many parts of it were in English inclduing the sermon. It was translated to German for the members. The worship songs were recognizable so there were two languages singing the same tune. It reminded me immediately of the Tower of Babel. I usually always come back to that when I hear a foreign language. It is very fascinating to me. That God would confuse the languages of people to humble them. It does make it very hard now in the mission field, however. After the service, I was talking with a few of my friends to Amanda who is a member of the MRCC team. We began the conversation talking about the German language and how hard it is to learn. We were curious if it gets easier after time. The team has been there just over a year and she just recently understood her first full sermon, (most of it anyway). They had tried to prepare themselves before they came with an intensive German course that lasted 3 hours a day, 4 days a week, 2 hours of practice, and 2 hours travel time. With kids, she said, it was hard to accomodate. Her husband, Scott, led a few songs and his German seemed to be coming along, but you could tell he still struggled a bit.
Another aspect of life for a foreign missionary was transportation. This couple purchased a Jeep from a previous missionary because public transportation was wasting too much time.
All in all the couple seemed to be adjusting okay, but when asked how she liked it, she seemed to have a few doubts still. Though optimistic about the future, she said the culture shock was hard to adjust to.
I asked her about other mission efforts they are involved in and she said they have strategy meetings and German prep services and they attend the church one Sunday a month. Other Sundays are for the German prep and English services. The prep is to get them used to leading in the German language without ebarassing themselves at the beginning. Their ultimate goal to to plant a church, which should happen in the next 5 years.
This gets me more excited to visit with other missionaries during the upcoming mission trips we have. I wonder if I could or would ever be so willing and dedicated as to one day be a foreign missionary long-term.

Evensong

On our second official day in Europe, our group attended an Evensong service at St. Paul's Cathedral. I had never really heard of Evensong until I saw it on our itinerary. Evensong was very interesting to me, though. It was my first experience at a church in Europe, and also my very first encounter with the Anglican church. St. Paul's was actually the first cathedral built for the Church of England. It is breathtaking. There is a dome at the top, which is unusual for any church other than Catholic. Christopher Wren, the architect, wanted a dome all along, but skeptics did not want it to took anything close to Catholic. The dome was added after Wren's death.
So many things were different about Evensong service than what I have been exposed to. The service started at 15:15 on Sunday and began with the entrance of a boys choir. They entered in a line with their hands folded in front of them. Such discipline. I have never seen 10 and 11- year-old boys act with such poise. It is no wonder since they rehearse over 20 hours a week I learned. Most of the boys go on to recieve music scholarships and become professionals. THey wore the cutest robes too! They sounded like women. Like women with beautiful voices singing higher than I can by far. One helpful aspect was a program that had instructions on when to stand, sit, kneel, respond, or sing along. The first song we sang with the choir and only one person I could see actually knew what he was doing. He knew the tune and sang with enthusiasm. Seeing this man made me curious. How many people were "regulars?" Did they have members? or were we all tourists just desperate for a closer look at the sanctuary without having to pay the entrance fee and a tour guide? This is when it got awkward.
The reverand, an older man, got up to give a welcome. He prayed first, and then had an announcement. "This will be my last service in this cathedral," he said. He was taking his wife to Christ's Church someonwhere else. I looked around the "audience" for some sad sighs or any sign of sorrow. None. That answered my question. We were all tourists. No one knew this man who had dedicated his life to this cathedral for 40+ years. No potluck dinner. No slideshow. No farewell party.
Is this how God intended his church to function? An extravegant cathedral with open doors, welcoming in strangers. I can understand that. Reaching out to the curious, hoping to attract lost souls who are lured in by the lavish outlay. But the church. The congregation. The community was not there. Maybe that is how this particular service is. Maybe other gatherings are more personal. Maybe not. I feel sympathy for them though. To not have a family to rely on. I thought the U.S. was individualistic, which is true, but London is as well, and there aren't many strong communities of believers there. Sad.
I did enjoy Evensong. I was uplifted and encouraged by the reverand's words and by the beautiful repsonses (repeating praises) and songs. Maybe that is a ministry in itself. I know it is a good effort, but there just didn't seem to be any that stick around to see what its all about.