WELCOME TO OUR NEW SISTER CONGREGATION
Yaroslavl, Russia. I’m sure most of you have never heard of it. It’s a city with a population of approximately 600,000 about 160 miles northeast of Moscow. Most importantly, it is the home to our new sister congregation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter and Paul in Yaroslavl.
Let me introduce you. This is a photo of the pastor of our sister congregation Ivan and his wife Olga. Ivan and Olga were Ron and my gracious hosts for 3 days in March during a portion of our synod trip to Russia. During our time in Yaroslavl we explored the town and its history along the banks of the Volga; we visited the nearby town of Rostov and its monastery; and worshiped on Sunday with the congregation in Yaroslavl.
The congregation currently has about 50 members. On any given Sunday there are about 20-30 worshipers. One of the families we met at the service travelled with their baby an hour and a half to get to church since this was the only Lutheran congregation in the area.
The biggest struggle with the congregation is their building. Under communist rule, the church building became owned by the Soviet government and then, when it was no longer needed, was left to fall into ruin.
With the help of partners in Germany, they have managed to bring back some of the building to a useable state. In the last couple of years they have updated the windows and floor, painted the outside of the building and built a small, glassed-in room in the front of the sanctuary where they can bring in portable heat to worship when it is too cold to worship in the main sanctuary. This is where they worshipped when we were there. There is no heat in the building to enable them to worship in the sanctuary year round. Easter Sunday should be the first week where it is warn enough to worship in the regular sanctuary. They have also recently acquired and dedicated an organ donated to them by their German Lutheran Church partners.
Besides the lack of heat in the building (which is rather tough for a town so far north) their other main issue is a lack of any kind of water/plumbing system. There are no sinks or bathrooms avialable. This issue, by law, prevents them from being able to minister to the childeren in the community. Coffee and tea time after service has to rely on members bringing whatever is needed from home. It’s tough to imagine a Lutheran congregation without the abilty to make a pot of coffee.
I want to emphasize that the most important thing that we learned on the trip was the warmth of these people and the love they have for others and for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Several of the members, along with Pastor Ivan and Olga, spoke English. Some of it was rather broken, but the effort they put forth to make us feel welcome was amazing. It was hard to imagine that we were in a country that was once (and some say still is) our sworn enemy. And yet these people showed us nothing but hearthfelt love and caring. How can you feel anything but love for them in return.
As a symbol of the love for Jesus Christ that is central to both of our congregations, I presented this carving of a hand holding the cross to them during their Sunday service. This carving was hand-made by Wade Faries of our congregation. It is to represent our passing our love on this congregation and our new relationship.
From the Pastor and his wife, to the congregational president and other church leaders, to the young boy Phillip who friended me on Facebook Messenger so he could talk to me, they are our friends, our partners and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Political borders and ideology cannot change that.
I hope you will join me in welcoming this new congregation into our Bethlehem Family. If you’d like to know how you can participate in furthering this relationship with them, please contact me, as I’m working on bringing together a group of people to further this cause. If you’d like to know more about this congregation and our synod’s trip to Russia, join us the evening of June 9th where we will be serving a light Russian meal, Ron and I will be sharing some of our photos and experiences, and we will have the glorious blessing of listening to a Russian men’s choir. Details of this event will be coming soon.
In Christ’s service,
Mary and Ron Muller