10 January 2007

trying again

Back from the mountains.

Sorry that the last post didn’t work so well. Blogger isn’t letting me post an entire thought from here – probably something to do with the settings on this computer. I am going to try to post from Word, so here goes.

Back to Sunday. I preached to three churches on Sunday – a small mission church for early service (about 30 in attendance), then at Timotei’s church for the late service (he estimated that there were 1000 in attendance). That evening, I drove to Hunedoara, and preached to about 120 in their evening service. At that service, I found myself just a little weepy – I suspect the jet lag was catching up a little, but I had the strangest feeling of homesickness – not so much for Enid or the States, but for Sunday nights like I remember them from 20 and 30 years ago.

The spirit of these people is amazing – they have so very little in terms of possessions, but they have wonderful family life, and their dedication to their faith is inspiring. I think perhaps because they have so little, they rely on their faith more than those of us who possess so very much.

Monday morning we traveled up into the mountains for the pastor’s retreat. It was an idyllic retreat setting – small, intimate cabins, with a small meeting area for the group. Larry and I both commented about how wonderful their fellowship is – these pastors love one another, and enjoy spending time with one another – I think they don’t get to do so very often. We were also quite amazed at how well our different teaching areas related to the other – I talked about using spiritual gifts in building the church, and he spoke on the pastor’s devotional life. We had a wonderful two days, and are now back in Deva, waiting for evening service. I think both of us are slated to preach – short sermons – this evening.

Here’s hoping this works.

07 January 2007

musufir and hunedoara

I tried to blog this last night, and Blogger saw fit to erase the entire entry. Let's try again.

pace . . .

What you see as title is pronounced "pache" - it is from the latin for peace, and in the churches this morning, it was offered as greeting from each christian to one another as you and I would say, "Mornin'." There is an ancient christian tradition called "passing the peace," and I experienced that very thing this morning.

We left the house just before 9. Went to Timotei's church, and there we sent Larry on his way with Timotei's associate, and Tomotei and I left for the "granddaughter" church (church started out of a church that they started several years ago). There were about 30 in this little mission, and they were already underway when we arrived. We were introduced, and I brought a short message from Romans 1:16-17 - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel . . ." Then we returned to Timotei's church, and I preached to 1000 people in a rather large sanctuary. The 100 voice choir was magnificent, we shared communion (I kept my little cup - just slipped it into my jacket pocket), and then I preached a little longer sermon from Romans 8 - "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us . . ." Afterwards, I stood at the back of the church and shook hands with about 700 of the 1000 who were present. Pace, pace . . .

I am impressed by these Romanian Christians - they do more with quite meager resources than we ever thought about doing with our rather vast resources. Their's is not a faith of convenience - they really rely on their faith, their church, a word about the gospel - to dispel some of the physical gloom they experience every day. Most of these people are poor - there's no simple way to say it.

More later, it's time for lunch . . .

06 January 2007

At home in Deva

Larry and I arrived in Deva just about an hour ago. 30 hours of travel - I tried to sleep on the plane, but that's not much good. Jet lag is hitting, and I'm about to turn into bed.

There is an 8 hour differential between here and central standard time. It's 11:00 pm on Saturday here, so it's about 3:pm in Enid.

Our host and family are wonderful - such a sweet family. The plan is for me to preach 3 times tomorrow - we'll see. The good news is that I have my own bed.

More tomorrow.

03 January 2007

The Pilgrim Sojourns to Romania . . .

Friends,

I am making final preparations to leave for Romania this Friday morning. I will be traveling with three other pastors to Bucharest, and then Larry Stevens and I will travel on to Deva, some 150 miles west (in the mountains). There, he and I will preach and lead a pastor's conference with some 20 Romanian pastors for three days. We will journey back to Bucharest, and minister there for another couple of days before we return to the States on the 13th.

I covet your prayers.

I do not make these long trips casually. Partly because I do not travel well on airlines for long distances. And I miss my bed when I am gone. But I feel the hand of God in this, and I need to make this trip.

Sharing ministry with pastors whom I do not know is not daunting, except in the sense that I do not currently know their needs, or what they might best profit from as I am there. I can talk about any number of subjects - what is the most profitable for them??? There will be a distinct language barrier (although several of them speak rather good English) and they live in rather meager accomodations. But I understand their spirit is good, and so I expect to profit as much as will they.

I do not know if I will have internet access, but should I, I will attempt to post to this site.

The Sojourning Pilgrim