My...it's been a while, hasn't it?

on second thought, here's a rough version of my thoughts...it's kinda long...

Twin Cities Immersion Trip Journal: Day 1, Site One

We started off the day at St. Matthew, Columbia Heights, Rev. Bill Hugo. Not a “normal” service for the congregation; they had a “music mission” group there from a former “Lutheran Youth Encounter” Group (they’ve dropped the “Lutheran”…good thing) called “Captive Free” that travels around for a year doing music mission in churches, prisons, nursing homes, etc. (Perhaps upload an order of service scan?) The form of the service was fairly normal, although Rev. Hugo had to do a real absolution after we had received (the still good and helpful) Gospel message during the “Confession and Absolution.” (But I’ve been to plenty of services when the pastor just did an “announcing” of grace like we read for ourselves in that service, so we probably would have been “alright.) The songs weren’t much to write home about (so I won’t), but they were your typical “contemporary worship” songs (or as Bill Trowbridge has termed them for us “7/11 songs”). The “message” was just a testimony of someone who believes they had an “inner call” to do this ministry. I’m sure he had this great desire, but who knows if God actually “called” him to this? The whole service just seemed kind of disorganized, like “contemporary” ones usually seem to me.
Afterwards, we didn’t get to view/participate in a Sudanese service like we thought we would (they were worshipping at a different location that day), but one of the Sudanese women served us a traditional meal for us: a sort of flat wheat bread, lamb, goat, cous-cous and spinach. Very good, very sacrificial, very service-driven. All of us were in awe of her and her faith in service in the midst of her situation (she had lost her husband, the leader of the Sudanese group, in a car accident two years ago). We also got to talk to Rev. Hugo about his struggles and ministry opportunities. It seems that the Sudanese mission isn’t really taking off like he would like, and he also is “frustrated” with other community things, most of all, a growing mosque just one short block up the street (you can see it from St. Matthew’s front door). It’s doubled in size in a few short years, and it’s not just immigrants that are going there; white people are “gracing” its doors. He says they’ve tried to establish contact, but it always seems like they take two steps forward, then one big one back (i.e. a Muslim man coming in during a midweek service and groping a young woman of St. Matthew’s) that keeps the people from really trying to actively pursue a relationship with the Muslims there.
The meal setting and afterwards really set forward a disconnect of sorts for me. After we were done eating (us, the Hugos, and Sarah’s family; we sem students had been eating with Pastor) Sarah remained seated by herself while us guys kept talking amongst ourselves. Pastor would sometimes look at her and ask her to tell us something, but didn’t invite her over, until the very end when we said a prayer. About ¾ of the way through this “experience,” though, I remembered that many African societies are very male/female divided, so that not a lot of socializing goes on between the genders, so she would have never dared to pull up her own seat, and my urge to ask her to come join us might not have been proper, and might have been rejected anyway. I really sensed the tension between definitions of “propriety” in cultures and how the proper way to act in one may be totally inappropriate or at least very uncomfortable for another culture.
Rev. Hugo did make a good statement about making sure to teach immigrants true Christianity first, and then, if they want, some things about American culture and way of life.

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TCITJ: Day 1, Site Two

We then went to Trinity First Lutheran Church…their building, anyway. We attended a service of the Ethiopian congregation (Addis Hewot=”New Life” Ministries) that meets there, led by Rev. Francis Stephanos, who was the third president of the Ethiopian Lutheran Church, which is the largest Lutheran Church in the world (?? I’ll have to check my facts on that one, but I wouldn’t be surprised). (For more on the ministry, go to www.addishewotministries.com) He’s been in the US permanently since May 2003. The service began with a quick introduction, and then about 30 minutes or even more of singing (all this done in Amharic, so wouldn’t understand a word, except their words for “Jesus” and “Hallelujah” were obvious. I think I picked up on their word for “God” or “Father,” too). There was a man at a piano and a young woman with a superb voice leading the 20 or so Ethiopians who were there. That was all. They just sang. They all knew the melodies (sweet, strange, uplifting, melodies), they all knew the words, so they just sang and praised. The emotion was palpable. We all got the feeling that, even in their status as poor immigrants, they were praising God and/or asking Him for help. But more likely, it seemed, praising Him and singing about His mighty acts. The leader mentioned that they sang because the Psalms said to, so I believe their songs were very Psalmic in their content. I should have asked; maybe I’ll get the chance at a later date, as we’ll be at that church often in the next few days.
After the singing, the pastor brought the children forward, prayed over them, and sent them off with a teacher, while the Scripture reading and sermon were done. I’m not sure how I feel about “children’s church,” but this seemed like kind of a right way to do it; it seemed like they knew that the object of it was for the kids to grow in their faith so that they would be ready and able to participate in and understand the rest of the service as they grew and matured. Although I couldn’t understand a lick of the sermon, I knew the text (Luke 9:57-62) like the back of my hand, having just prepared a sermon of my own on it for class. Thus I was able to meditate on it and other Scripture while Rev. Stephanos was preaching. I was also able to see that he really connected with the people there, that he understood their situation and how to bring them Law and Gospel, how to make them understand what the text could say to them. He looked at them, used helpful hand motions, and laughed with them at points. All in all, the Ethiopian service was perhaps the most uplifting point of the day (except for receiving the Lord’s Supper at St. Matthew’s).

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TCITJ: Day One, Site Three

After a great dinner of soup and egg rolls at a Vietnamese place near Trinity First, we went to an “emergent”/”emerging” church called Solomon’s Porch (www.solomonsporch.com). That was interesting. This seems to be a very close-knit community of…Law-oriented Christians (to give them the benefit of the doubt with that last term). On their web-site and in the special service they were having tonight on slavery in the modern world, with a special focus on the sex- and war-trafficking of kids and adults of all ages (which makes this not a good representation of what they do in general I believe, on some levels, but a very good representation of what they’re about, on others).
You walk into this older church building that has all the pews removed and replaced by couches and recliners/chairs facing the center of where the pews used to be, even up on the old altar area (the cross was still left up there, however). This center area is where whoever the speaker is speaks from (probably usually mainly just the “pastor”) Off to the side was some food and some artsy-type things based on the “slavery” theme (the art, not the food). There were screens on both sides of the sanctuary, and the band was in a corner. At least they weren’t front or center, since they weren’t in the center, and there really was no front.
This service, at least, was very theologically and spiritually poor. Yes, slave trafficking is a horrible thing that needs to be dealt with, and the church needs to be there to help people on their way out of it and help get them out of it, but a “worship” is about Law and Gospel, God coming to us and us responding with thanksgiving. There were Gospel-bits, but they were few, far-between, and not nearly as developed as they could have been. If the “pastor” had expanded to the Gospel for, say, 5 more minutes at two separate places during these other presentations, it wouldn’t have come off nearly quite as bad, I don’t think. We needed to be reminded that we are still struggling with slavery to sin and the old Adam, that we are still in bondage to ourselves and need to be bound to God in Christ. This was a very “they”-oriented service. I think that something like this (minus the attempt at a Lord’s Supper where there was no consecration of the elements or Words of Institution in general, or confession and absolution), would be a great thing for a church to do on a Sunday night to help their members think about how to live out the faith and relationship with God that is theirs in Christ and which they acted out and participated in during the worship services that morning. There may even be a way to “Gospelize” this form as the only worship service. And again, this was probably a bad sample, as usually it seems like there’s at least something we would kind of recognize as a “sermon.” In their statement of what the communion was (nothing more than a remembrance and expression of community), they did mention Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the disciples at Pentecost, but there was not idea of all of that being “for you” and being the assurance and comfort that now I stand right before God because of what Christ did, so that I am now at least in part a good tree that can bear good fruit. I would be interested in going to a more “normal” service there, but I bet this kind of thing might be more prevalent than I want it to be: focusing on the Law, even it’s “third use” on helping us live the “sanctified life” without much direct mention and application of the Gospel/justification in the narrow sense which is where God truly makes us holy. Too much focus (tonight at least) on horizontal righteousness, not enough on the God-given righteousness, especially when it so obviously could have been brought in to a much higher degree. One of our group mentioned that it was just a bunch of people who thought they were already good people coming together and talking about how to be better. That may be an accurate description, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone in-depth. For as “friendly” a place as it may claim to be, only the “pastor” really went out of his way to try to engage us before the service or during its “interactive” parts.
That all being said, I am no one to judge other people’s faith. I can notice outward warning signs, but I am no judge of the heart. That is in God’s hands, and I pray that God is gracious to them, just as He has promised to be to me, through Christ.

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TCITJ: Day Two, “Site” One (Monday)

The day started off with a brief “tour” and talk with Rev. Jacob Gillard of Trinity First Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. We basically talked about our backgrounds, and more specifically, his background in getting into cross-cultural ministry. Other than an over-seas call, he says that this call is his ideal call, in a neighborhood that has lots of language groups (at least 50, if not closer to 100) and obviously almost as many “cultures.” He talked about being “risky” in that you almost expect that 80% of your ministry/outreach ideas will fail, but that the ones that do succeed will be so much greater than you ever planned or imagined.
After about an hour, we met with Rev. (soon to be Dr.) John Mayer, a religious demographer here in the Twin Cities. Basically, he goes out and finds out and tries to understand where religious groups are located and what their presence in the community is (www.cityvisiontc.org). He is basically someone that church leaders, lay people, and anyone else in the Twin Cities can contact and get information on the people and religions in their area, and helps them begin formulating outreach plans to the people groups that a church is well-positioned to work with. He reiterated that it is important to be involved in this sort of mission work in a way that is suited to the strengths of a congregation, rather than using it as an area to work on weaknesses. Otherwise, frustration will happen to the point of turning people off from the whole enterprise. Their will be joys and failures with any approach, but if you are working with your strengths, it is easier to pick yourself back up again after a failure.
We went on the South Minneapolis Urban Tour, which was VERY eye-opening. It is a different experience to actually have someone point out all of the ethnic places of shopping, eating, doing business, places of worship, and even homes (you could often tell an immigrant home/complex by virtue of their having satellite dishes to get all the stations from back home, whereas whites would often just have cable). We saw mosques, Hindu temples, Mormon churches, African-American churches, a community center where various groups have worshipped before (Nation of Islam, various groups of witches, etc.), a Norwegian Lutheran church, homosexual churches, homosexual-friendly churches, a Native American sweat lodges, as well as a few of your Protestant denomination churches in various languages, as well as a Hispanic Catholic Church. We drove by Hispanic markets and Somali (Muslim) markets. We even ate lunch at a Somali place (VERY good food, a LOT of food, for only $10…you do not understand how much food there was) that had a small mosque attached at the back. The diversity was inescapable, humbling, and almost mind-boggling as my mind began to wonder what sorts of similar situations I was missing in and around St. Louis and St. Charles. I know there is a large Hispanic population in St. Charles, fairly close to Immanuel, my home congregation, that I believe they are doing almost nothing about. And they’re probably not, on the whole, just going to the Catholic Church. There are plenty who are completely unchurched. The urban situation in St. Louis must be staggering, too.
This is a list of the largest and close-to-largest population in the US that the Twin Cities have: Somali, Hmong, Liberian, Korean, Burmese, Aromo Ethiopian, Tibetan (2nd), homosexual (5th). And I think all urban centers, and the entire U.S. in general, is growing more and more like this, where you are increasingly isolated if you only take note of things relating to your own ethnic group and culture.
Now, there are Christian groups, including Lutherans, who are making good inroads into this place, but we face stiff competition, especially from Muslims, who are converting people at an astounding rate, and to a lesser extent (although just as dangerous to people’s souls), Mormons. Part of the idea of this tour is to show what we’re up against, but when we see Satan hard at work, we know he’s hard at work for a reason: to keep the Gospel out. This area and others like it may be very ripe for the Gospel, and we need to pray that God would break through Satan’s grip on places like these that the Gospel message may get through. But that only gets done if people are out talking to other people, and not just any talking, but, at least as an end, talking about the Word of God. We can love people to death, but then in the end they are still dead. We need to love people to life in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
One of the group members mentioned how humbled he was by the trip to the Somali Muslim restaurant, how his whole attitude towards them was changed. There were ten of us who went to the restaurant (at which Rev. Mayer had eaten a few times previously), and we were served unlimited drinks, and it seemed unlimited food, until we told the owner to stop bringing us food. We were stuffed. Plus, he gave us salads and soups that weren’t even on the menu. And then, he only charged us $10/person, when it probably cost us at least $15/person menu price. Obviously the hospitality does not make their religion anything approaching the right one, but it sure does raise questions about how we act, treat, and think about Muslims. Would we do the same for them, if they were good repeat customers? Would we lavish food and drink on them until they gorged themselves? Would we give them a discount? Or would we be more likely to always be watching them? Would we make darn sure they paid the check in full and left plenty of tip? Would we give our truly best service to them? If most of them really treat people like this, it is no wonder that people are flocking to the religion, no matter how messed up their theology and religion. I think the experience will lead to a lot of thinking on my part as to how I live out my active righteousness before men, as something flowing from the passive righteousness I received from God.
One more helpful thing from Jacob afterwards. We were talking before we helped with their “Tiger Club” at Trinity First, and he talked about how to beat the normal rise and fall of a congregation. To keep the momentum going, the pastor can never let them get to the plateau at the top, he and the congregational leaders must always be pushing the congregation on ahead, never letting them truly get fully comfortable and plateau. To continue to do effective ministry means to be looking ahead and seeing how somehow expand the ministry of the congregation, whether it be by buildings, new ministries or programs, or church plants/new mission outreach. A church resting on its laurels will begin dying very soon, and will soon be in need of “life-support,” rather than continuing to grow in faith and service.
What a morning!

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TCITJ: Day 2, Site Two

In the afternoon, we spent three hours at the “Tiger Club,” and after-school Christian outreach ministry that Trinity First runs. The kids have snack, talk about their day in small groups (led by some of the older students there), pray together, hear a short Bible lesson, play outside, do homework, and play games. What a joy they are! They reflect the diversity of the neighborhood (with the exception of the Somalis, who don’t send their kids to Christian schools in the US), but they’re still just kids, who may happen to live a rougher life than we might remember. This is an inroad into their lives (I know that contact is still maintained by some teachers/the principal with former students) and the lives of their parents, and perhaps their parents relatives and friends. This is a new ministry that the school has run really only over the past year on top of the school, to help those who may otherwise have to go home to empty houses, increasing the risk of getting into trouble or danger, eventually joining gangs, and perhaps not getting any homework done at all. I’m going to assume that you have all spent time around K-5th grade aged kids, so you pretty much know how that side of goes. They seemed to love having us “volunteers” there, as there is normally only one paid person pretty much running the whole thing, but it seems like volunteers are a pretty normal occurrence. We’ll be there throughout the week, so perhaps I’ll have more on this later.

As a man with a history degree, I find this story fascinating: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070507/ap_on_re_eu/russia_history

Basically, Russia doesn't want former Soviet states to remove Soviet monuments, especially ones that commemorate the soldiers that fought and died in World War II against the Nazi threat. My first thought is that nations like Estonia are being just plain ridiculous. I realize that the Soviet era meant repression, oppression, and economic depression for 50 years, but they would have been under NAZI rule if not for the Red Army, in part.
I would agree that you can tear down general Soviet monuments or monuments to Soviet rulers, but a monument to the soldiers, who were probably treated just as badly in their time of service as the people of Estonia and other nations were for 50 years? That does not make sense; their sacrifice should be remembered for the beast of Nazism that it kept back, even if it happened to solidify Soviet rule.