A KALEIDOSCOPIC EXPERIENCE
A sharing from our delegation to St. Petersburg, Russia June 1998
A
KALEIDOSCOPIC EXPERIENCE
A sharing from our delegation to St. Petersburg, Russia June 1998
Eva Mader
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omen and children prayed in earthen caves. Bible stories were told. Small groups of believers gathered in secret communities. A 14 year old boy risked attending a Christmas Eve Worship. His Father was picked up and killed for it. A son-in-law was crucified. |
Most of the dead were refused a cemetery burial, they were simply committed to the earth. In secret the Lord's Prayer was whispered at the graveside.
Early Christian communities suffering persecution under the Romans? No. German / Russian Lutherans under Stalin, displaced to Kazakhstan, Siberia, Central Asia, living the Diaspora, isolated from each other.
Stalin, Molotov and Kaganowitsch decreed in 1937 that 258,950 people, branded "enemies of the people" were to be shot or put into camps.
In the camps they held fast to God's Word and looked for others who walked their painful way with them. Handwritten hymnals, bibles and sermons have been found in prayer houses. The letters to the Corinthians provided courage and fortitude in the face of immeasurable hardships. "Instead, in everything we do we show that we are God's servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships and difficulties. We have been beaten jailed and mobbed, we have been overworked and have gone without sleep or food. By our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness we have shown ourselves to be God's servants, by the Holy Spirit; by our true love, by the message of truth and by the power of God. We have righteousness as our weapon both to attack and to defend ourselves. We are honored and disgraced, we are insulted and praised. We are treated as liars, yet we speak the truth; as unknown, yet we are known by all; as though we were dead, but, as you see, we live on. Although punished, we are not killed, although saddened, we are always glad, we seem poor, we make many people rich; we seem to have nothing, yet we really possess everything. " II Corinthians 6:4-10.
Hardships remain in Russia, much suffering continues. And still, many of these Christians can say, ... as you see, we live on.
What if we were put to the test? Would that we, who lead comparatively carefree lives, might see that indeed God is our sole anchor in this ever-changing world and find true peace as they did in II Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak."
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