Bizzaro world

Kiev, Ukraine – Monday, October 8, 2012 – 8:39pm local time

 

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you felt as if you were hovering above the scene, watching yourself, and wondering what is going on?  I just had one of those.  After arising this morning at 3:30 (ugh), Bruce and I have flown to Kiev, Ukraine.  We checked into our hotel, dropped off our luggage, and went out walking a bit to stretch our legs and find someplace to eat.  The hotel staff recommended a place not far from the hotel and said that it had traditional Ukrainian food.  I like that cuisine, so we found it and got a table.  (hint: this is where it starts to get bizarre)  The restaurant is called the Gogol Ukrainian Music Pub and they advertise that they play “jazz, blues, country, and rock ‘n roll”.  There are pictures of Guinness Ale everywhere and advertisements for beer on tap all over.  There is some Russian or Ukrainian pop music playing quite loudly.  One song ends and then I recognize the next song.  It’s You and Me by Lifehouse, song that’s played on mainstream and Christian radio.  Bruce and both kind of cocked and heads, listened, and thought, “Hmm.  That’s kind of cool that they’re playing that here.”  So, we go on talking, that song ends and the next one starts.  It’s Going through the Motions by Matthew West!  “Okay,” I thought, “Lifehouse is one thing, but Matthew West is definitely only a Christian radio type of artist.”  That song was followed by Toby Mac and then a mixture for the next hour of Russian pop and the remainder of Matthew West’s latest album.  Here we are in some traditional style Ukrainian pub in Kiev, Ukraine, and they’re blaring Christian music that I would only typically hear on my local Christian radio station back home.  It was completely bizarre and very cool at the same time!  And the potato and mushrooms dumplings were quite tasty as well.

 

I mentioned that we got up at 3:30 this morning to leave Oxford and head to Kiev.  That ungodly hour brought an end to a wonderful time in Oxford.  Over the course of the two days I had there, Bruce and I covered over twenty-five miles of the city through walks, a great, long Sunday morning run, and a ten-minute bus ride up to C.S. Lewis’ grave and house.  After lunch at the Eagle and Child Pub on Saturday, we visited the old stone church that has been converted into the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies where Bruce is doing his doctoral work and made our way back to Christ Church College Cathedral for the Evensong service.  The church is an Anglican church, and they did the full liturgical service with Scripture sung by the all-male (mostly boys) choir, readings, congregation responses, and the like.  It was fascinating.

 

The next morning, we got up early and did a ten-mile run together around Christ Church Meadow and Port Meadow, along the River Thames (much more narrow and shallow in Oxford than in London!), and through parts of town before getting cleaned up and going to St Aldates Church for worship and to here Ravi Zacharias.  What a wonderfully, humble and obviously brilliant man.  He spoke 90mph, but I could have listened to him for hours.  My only disappointment was that he never once opened the Word during the sermon.  This week is the first week of the term for Oxford colleges, and it was Student Sunday at the Church.  The intention was for him to address them and speak in a more apologetic vein, but I was still a little disappointed.  Nonetheless, hearing him in person was an absolute treat!  In the evening, I asked if we could try one of the Catholic churches as I’ve never been to a mass before and was curious.  We went to the Evensong service at St. Aloysius Church.  This one also had an all-male choir who sang the Scriptures.  There were some congregation responses but not direct readings.  Everything was sung…in Latin!  Much of the terminology and even some of the Scriptures and prayers were the same as the Anglican church but much more “woe is me; reach down to me God” than “great are you Lord and I am blessed because of you.”  Again, fascinating to watch and compare.

 

Tomorrow, we get started in Kiev.  We’ll be meeting our Belarusian friends who are also here for the conference and gathering with other participants.  The conference kicks off on Wednesday, and we’ll be doing a couple of sessions on Christian education and homeschooling.  You can see more about the European Leadership Forum and this conference at www.euroleadership.org and www.forumeast.eu.  There will be 300+ people here from all over Europe with some heavy hitters in Christian leadership and academics.  Just pray that God will use us to deliver the message He wants delivered, and we’ll see what it goes!

 

More to come…