Missing the Air in the South

Alan and Sally

Sometimes you don’t know how much something is worth until it is taken away.  Living in the “Bible Belt” it was relatively easy to find spiritual nurture.  Yes, it still required work to get up early to read our Bibles and pray each morning, but the soul food that we got from Christian radio, our small group meetings, sermons, and Sunday school classes was sort of like air – it was just there all the time.  When we moved to the Czech Republic, the “air” was all gone!  

Yes, we do still go to church on Sundays, but the messages are all in Czech, there is no Sunday school, and no Christian radio.  We have started a small group, and those relationships are growing deeper, but many times the conversation and the prayers are in Czech.  “Don’t you guys already speak Czech?” you might ask.  Yes and no.  Our Czech skills are still at a pre-school level.  We often don’t get much from the prayers or conversations of our dear Czech friends, and very little from the sermons in church.

So, we are really appreciative of the ministry plan that MTW has in place to send PCA pastors to visit mission teams at least once each year.  We are doubly blessed by this plan since the pastor assigned to our team happens to be Alan Carter, the pastor of our home church in Birmingham!  In May, Alan and his wife Sally came for a long weekend and went with our team on a two day mini-retreat to the nearby city of Olomouc.  There are some pictures from the retreat posted nearby.  We enjoyed some English worship, times of extended prayer, and several encouraging messages from Alan.  Alan and Sally also took time to be alone with each of the missionary couples here to nurture and to encourage them.  It was a blessed time.

So, the next time you are bored by your pastor’s sermon, or distracted in Sunday school, or weary of the regularity of your small group meetings, please think about losing all of those things.  They are more valuable than you might imagine.  

The Slavic Epic and Moravský Krumlov

Throughout this year we have heard so much about the Slavic Epic that is located in the small village of Moravský Krumlov. Last year during camp there was a Mucha Exhibit at the zámek in Holešov. Many of the campers went to see it and I had the opportunity to go with them.  The exhibit was comprised almost entirely of Mucha’s posters and advertizing art.  But, while there I saw a video about Alfons Mucha. That is where I first heard of what he considered to be his greatest accomplishment, The Slavic Epic. I was struck by the emotion of the faces he painted in his Epic, that I longed to see his paintings in person.

Interesting symbol on the wall of a building

Moravský Krumlov

In the yard of the Zámek

Entrance to the Exhibit

So, knowing that Erin loves art, and desiring to also see this great work that we have heard so much about, we took her to the town of Moravský Krumlov to see the Slavic Epic. Alfons Mucha painted these masterpieces depicting Slavic history between the years 1910 and 1928.  This is a series of 20 huge –gianormous- paintings portraying the most important events in Slavic history, at least according to Mucha.  He is known throughout most of the world for his Art Nouveau style, seen mostly in posters designed for advertisements.  He gained much of his acclaim and popularity when actress Sarah Bernhardt hired him to design all of her posters.  The posters are unique and beautiful, but simply nothing to compare with the emotion the Slavic Epic draws from the soul.  The faces of the people in Mucha’s Epic display a wealth of human emotion: sorrow, fear, uncertainty, dismay, pain.  One of the greatest emotions that can be seen in the Epic is the powerful force of hope.



        You can see from this picture just how large the paintings really are; the artist is sitting in front.

 

The Printing of the Bible of Kralice in Ivancice

The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia

I hope that you will take the time to look at some of the others for yourself.   

To read more see: http://www.pricejb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/  follow the gallery link to the pictures, the link is at the end of the page on the Slavic Epic.  

A Sweet Treat ~ Erin’s Visit

What a sweet treat for Johnny and I to have our daughter Erin visit with us for two weeks in May. We picked her up in Vienna on a Tuesday morning and soon after settled into a nice coffee, chocolate and sandwich shop for a little needed caffeine-picker-upper. We did many of our normal life activities while she was with us; Wednesday evening prayer group, Sunday evening worship, and Czech lessons. We spent time just being together, seeing some of the local sites and visiting with friends.  

One afternoon we went to one of the small villages just down the road, about 10 kilometers away. The town is home to a glass factory, and the famous Czech slivovice factory. We did not visit the slivovice factory! There are also several small shops with handcrafted Czech items.

Our Czech teacher, Jana took us to the Shoe museum that is here in Zlin. There is quite a large collection of shoes from all over the world. Some shoes that neither you nor I would ever wish to wear! Many seemed to be almost in style even though they were decades old. You know they say fashion repeats itself. Solomon himself said that there is nothing new under the sun. I’m not sure that he was referring to shoes, although it fits….

  

Visiting in Znojmo

If Znojmo (pronounced ZNO-yee-mo) were located anywhere in the United States, it would receive millions of visitors every year. Its gothic cathedral, town tower, and picturesque squares would be plastered on postcards, calendars, and tourist brochures. Situated in Southern Moravia, near the Austrian border, this little city does entertain thousands of visitors each year; Annette and I recently added to that number when we went to visit our friends Jarek and Ema Chudobovi. We have included some pictures of the town in this post. The main reason for our visit was that I had been invited by Jarek and the other elders in his church to preach one Sunday in April.

We really enjoyed our time with Jarek, Ema, and their little daughter Anežka. In many ways, their struggles and joys would be familiar to any young Christian family trying to live out their faith in a secular culture. One thing that makes Ema and Jarek a bit unusual is that they have several close relatives who are also Christians. Most evangelical Czech Christians we know are first generation Christians with few, if any, other Christians in their families. So, most evangelical Christians here have grown up without the benefit of the example of Christian parents, without the understanding of church life that comes from being raised in a church, and without the solid foundation in God’s word that comes from years of learning in Sunday school. As a result of these disadvantages, evangelical churches often struggle to deal with parenting issues and marriage problems.

So, it was no surprise when Jarek asked me to preach on some topic related to marriage. I was encouraged by the Spirit to speak from Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. God was gracious and helped me deliver a simple message about how God’s forgiveness of us empowers us to forgive. After church, we enjoyed lunch with our hosts and another young couple from their church who work as shepherds.

Please continue to pray for Czech Christians, and especially for their pastors. They are fighting the same battles you are, but with a lot fewer resources.