Moscow Journal -- 5-12-07

Moscow Journal – 5-12-07

The sound of the rain on the window above my bed woke me up this morning at 7 AM. I am staying in a room in the student dormitory on the top floor of the Seminary building, and windows have been cut in the ceiling in each room. There are no curtains on the window in my room, and at night I can see a few stars bright enough to surpass the glow of the city lights if the sky is clear. On cloudy nights, I enjoy watching the clouds glowing with a kind of golden light reflecting the brightness shining from windows of apartments, the streetlights, and the bright signs advertising businesses.

On the evening of the Victory Day celebrations I came into my room just in time to see some fireworks light up the sky outside my window, too. In the mornings, I have no need of an alarm clock, because by 8 AM, if there are no clouds, the sun has already reached a corner of my window, not very gently announcing that the day is progressing rapidly and I should get up and at ‘em!

This morning I enjoyed listening to the rain as I let go of the last dream of the night and left the world of the sub-conscious for today’s reality. I decided to make this journal entry my first priority today, because there is a lot to tell you about last week.
I had mentioned to someone that I met Pastor Lyudmila Gorbuzova in the U.S. during a Russia Initiative meeting in the late 90s. Katya Lee, one of our students, helps out at Lyudmila’s church and was told that I was interested in going with her on Sunday. Katya told me she would be glad to take me to church with her, so we headed out around 9:45 AM. The church holds worship in the auditorium of a building near Krasnagardskaya (Red Guard) Metro Station. We took three different Metro trains to get there, and at one point I was delighted to see that the Metro tracks come out of the ground to cross the Moscow River on a bridge.

The river winds its way through the city founded over 850 years ago. That is such a long time compared to our history in the US, the idea of it always boggles my mind. Since coming to Moscow this time, I was interested to find out that Moscow’s patron saint is St. George, and there is a shield-shaped emblem of the city on which there is a depiction of him on a horse killing the dragon. During the Soviet era, the emblem was not displayed, but it -- and the double-headed eagle emblem of the Russian Empire -- have been revived.

They are now prominently displayed everywhere, although the Red Star of the Soviet era remains evident on certain buildings, and even remains on the top of one of the Kremlin towers. To a large extent in the time since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the people here have eagerly recaptured much of their history that was considered unimportant, or even shameful, during Communist rule. These are exciting times when all sorts of things have been renewed.

On the trip to church, I enjoyed seeing the view of Moscow from the bridge we crossed. When we left the Metro station, we went into a bazaar because Katya had to buy some grechka (a type of kasha – hot cereal), cole slaw, and kolbasy (sausages) for the meal during the fellowship time. The worship service didn’t start until 2 PM, but we had to go much earlier since Katya was helping out with the preparations. She also bought bread and grape juice for communion since it was the first Sunday of the month, traditionally Communion Sunday in the United Methodist Church.

Katya is a big help to Pastor Gorbuzova, and it was fun to see her interact with her pastor and the parishioners. After everyone gathered together, I saw that about 10 young people were at the service, and sang in the choir. There were also eight elderly folks and about 20 others of various ages.

When Katya and I arrived in the auditorium, we found Pastor Gorbuzova at her desk down near the right side of the auditorium in front of the stage. As we came close to her, she opened her eyes wide and stood up in surprise as she smilingly said to me, “I recognize you!” I told her that I was glad that she did, and reminded her how long it had been since we had met. While Katya worked on the preparations for the service and the meal, Lyudmila and I caught up with each other. It was a joy to talk with her, and I watched her greet each person with joy as they came into the auditorium. She told me that she had been out of town, and that her parishioners didn’t expect her to be back yet, so she was interested to see who would show up.

I told her I knew what she meant because sometimes when I was away for a Sunday while serving the three churches in West Virginia, people told me that they didn’t go to church when I was out of town. It seemed to me that telling me about it had something to do with them thinking I was keeping track of their attendance record. They thought it was OK to skip a Sunday if I wasn’t there, I guess. Lyudmila and I laughed together when I told her the same dynamic operated in the US, too.

As we talked, more and more people came to worship, and soon it was time to start the service. Lyudmila asked me if I would like to help serve Communion. I felt blessed to be able to! Filled with joy, Lyudmila began the Communion Service and after blessing the elements, she gave a young man she had introduced me to earlier the chalice, and I was given half of the Communion loaf. Lyudmila first served us the bread and cup, and then I served her, saying in Russian – “This is the body of Christ given for you,” and “This is the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of your sins.”

Then the young man and I went throughout the auditorium to bring the elements to each worshiper. After Communion was over a few people came in late, and we went back to the Communion Table to get the elements and serve them. Then we all had a meal together. While eating the sausages, cole slaw and grechka, another young man came late, and I started to get up to go and get the Communion elements. But Lyudmila stopped me and said the young man, before coming to worship at her church service every Sunday went to a Russian Orthodox service in the church where he had been baptized. Of course there is Communion served at every Mass in the Russian Orthodox Church.

After the meal the rest of the worship service continued, beginning with a presentation of some gifts to both Katya and another parishioner, Vitaly Klimov, who helps Lyudmila out at the church. Vitaly was one of the people who came in during Communion and he speaks English very well, so right away he was interested in talking to me. After they received their gifts which were little pictures of Jesus encased in crystal, Lyudmila called four elderly women up to the front of the auditorium. I had noticed that two of them had military medals pinned on their dresses, and knowing that the Victory Day celebrations were coming, I thought they were wearing them proudly in order to be recognized as honored veterans.

After they came up to her, Lyudmila took out a letter and announced that it was from President Putin in reply to her letter telling him about the veterans who worshipped at her church. She read the letter out loud. In it, President Putin glorified the veterans with stirring words of praise thanking them for their sacrifices, and for those of the others who served and gave their lives for the sake of the fatherland. Vitaly leaned over to me and said that in times past it was only Stalin who was praised for the war effort, and after that the Soviet government took all the credit. He said it has just been recently that the veterans were given any official honor for their service. Then Lyudmila gave each of the veterans one of the crystal-encased pictures of Jesus, too. She asked one of the women to tell a little about what it had been like during the war.

The veteran said that the Nazis began bombing several Soviet cities on a Sunday in June. She was a young girl who had just finished school, and was looking forward to the summer vacation. While speaking about much that had happened to her and how difficult it had been, we listened intently and sympathetically.
After the veterans sat down again, Lyudmila continued with the worship service and her sermon. The youth choir sang several hymns, and later we sang some of the songs popular during the war. Only the older people knew them – the youth just looked at each other with amused looks on their faces as we sang.

When the service was over we had tea and cake to celebrate the wedding of a daughter of one of the parishioners, and she showed a video of the wedding and the reception on her laptop. Then Katya and several other folks busily cleaned up, took the dishes to a kitchen to be washed. I spoke with Vitaly; a woman named Mara, who I got to know a bit before the service began; and the young man who helped serve Communion. Lyudmila had told me that he was an orphan who came to her for help. He expressed his faith to me very sweetly and it was lovely to talk with him.

Some of the youth, Katya and I stayed around chatting with Lyudmila some more, and then we headed back to the Seminary on the Metro. I had some shopping to do at the a grocery store called the Ram Store, and Katya headed out the opposite exit of the Metro to do something else.

All together it was a blessed day and I praise God for the chance to get to know Lyudmila and her parishioners. I’m looking forward to being back there tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Vitaly has been e-mailing me, and he asked if I wanted to visit the Tretyakov Art Gallery after church tomorrow. So I agreed and am looking forward to that, too. Today two young women, Darya and Natasha, who are working on their English are coming again. I have been tutoring them on how to take the TOEFL test – people who know English as a Second Language take it as a requirement when they apply to study at college in the US. We had two sessions already, and they have both been to the US in the past. They are planning to go again this summer.

I told them I would make dinner for them this evening when they come to study, so decided to make pizza, which is very popular here. It will be interesting to see what it takes like with Russian cheese and sausage! Wish you could join us!

Blessings in the Love of Jesus -- Kathy