My first sermon in Ukrainian

When Hans, the previous Bishop of Eurasia, first invited me to Kyiv for a breakfast conversation some winters ago - I was all kinds of nervous.  I could have taken the overnight train to Kyiv and made it to the hotel he was staying at for breakfast in the morning.  But, the problem with the overnight train is that you can't brush your teeth on the train.  The water isn't potable, and it's not safe for brushing.  It seems that the entire trainfull of people waits in line for the bathroom at McDonald's.  I usually skip this step and just chew some minty gum - but that didn't seem appropriate for having a meeting with the Bishop.

In the end, I arrived in Kyiv the night before and stayed with friends.  I know a group of artist who live in a commune - and somehow, spending the night in a commune seemed more appropriate than chewing minty gum before meeting with the Bishop.  I nervously brushed my teeth for about twenty minutes.

Bishop Vaxby immediately calmed my nerves.  He asked me to call him Hans, introduced me to the group he was visiting as one would introduce an old friend, and excused us to a second dining room.

His news was all good.  He shared that he would be asking the General Board of Global Ministries to invite me to work in Lviv.  It was really a dream come true.

Hans said that he had heard me speaking Russian and Ukrainian, and this was one of the reasons he wanted to invite me.  He said, "You are young, and within a year of language study you will be preaching in Ukrainian and Russian."  I was shocked to hear that my Bishop had more faith in me than I did.

I'm not quite there yet.  I've had to sacrifice my Russian skills to make true progress in Ukrainian.  At preaching club, I preach impromptu sermons in Ukrainian.  They are all 3-4 minutes long, and the small group is very encouraging.

Tomorrow, I will preach my first full sermon in front of a congregation in Ukrainian.  At the student center, the sermons will likely always be in English - as students feel very comfortable with that, and many people enjoy the practice of interpreting.  At the United Methodist church here, however,  we wanted sermons to all be in Ukrainian.  This will be the first time I preach at the church since the accident, and it will be my first sermon in Ukrainian.

I wrote a rough guide of what I wanted to say, sad down with my Ukrainian teacher and went line by line of how I would say it in Ukrainian.  She showed me in each line, how the grammar should fit better and which words might make more sense.  It really could almost be a children's sermon - and it certainly isn't my most impressive theological treatise - but it makes my heart happy to know that tomorrow I will push and stretch myself a little bit more - and to know that maybe I should have as much confidence in myself as my bishop does!

Below is the Ukrainian and following that is the English. From the text Luke 2:21-38.
 
Це історія чекання.

В давнину єврейський народ вмів довго чекати. Сорок років вони чекали в пустелі. Століттями вони чекали на відбудову стіни. Тисячоліттями вони чекали на Месію.

У мене нема терпіння. Я не вмію чекати. Коли я жив в Росії десять років назад, був тільки один магазин, який продавав екзотичні фрукти взимку. Там завжди була неймовірно довга черга. І коли приходила чиясь черга, він довго і нудно роздумував що він хоче купити.  Перший раз щоб купити мандаринки я прочекав пів години.

Пізніше мені потрібно було зареєструватись і я прочекав в черзі два дні в держустановах на різних кінцях міста. Я написав своїм батькам листа, (який йшов до них десять днів, і ще десять днів я чекав їхню відповідь), отож я написав їм в листі про ідею чекання. Я не знав як пояснити їм цю ідею, бо я ніколи до цього не чекав довше ніж п'ятнадцять хвилин. Ми жили в маленькому місті і там не було достатньо людей щоб утворилась черга. Я думав що вони не зможуть зрозуміти як довго я чекав на свою реєстрацію і мандарини.

----

Мої батьки ніколи нам не розповідали як довго вони чекали на мій і моєї сестри народження. вони ніколи не розповідали про бажання, надію, молитву і очікування дітей. Моїй мамі було тридцять два роки коли я народився. Я ніколи не зауважував що моя мама старша ніж мами моїх однокласників. Після мого народження моїй мамі було потрібне переливання крові. А в цей час це було дуже небезпечно через часті випадки зараження ВІЛ-СНІДом.  Мама ніколи не розповідала про те як боялась переливання крові і як потім чекала на негативні результати тесту.

Сьогодні ми читали історію про чекання і я думаю, що навіть для нас ця ідея чекання є не зовсім зрозумілою. Єврейський народ тисячоліттями чекав на Месію. Симеон - старий  віруючий чоловік. Йому було обіцяно, що він побачить Месію. Коли він тримав це дитя на руках, він знав що його час вже прийшов.

Але мене найбільше цікавить Анна, стара жінка, яка не отримала обіцянки побачити Месію перед своєю смертю. Коли я вперше прочитав цю притчу, я не зрозумів чому Анна така важлива в цій історії. Отож , чому вона така важлива в цій історії? Вона така важлива в цій історії, тому що вона провела весь свій час в храмі, в молитві. Про що вона молилася? Вона молилася про прихід Месії, обіцяний в Святому Писанні.

Найцікавіше про Анну є те, що її вважали нічого не вартою.Вона була старою жінкою, вдовою, і бездітною.Вона була нічого не вартою в своїй культурі , але  в очах Бога вона була безцінною. Господь послав їй свого сина. Бого почув її молитву і відповів на неї.

Ми не зовсім розуміємо поняття молитви. Багато з нас не вміють молитися як слід. Ми не знаємо як діє молитва. Але ми знаємо, що Бог відповідає на наші молитви. Хіба це не цікава думка, що Бог почув молитву Анни і відповів їй?!

Бог слухає нас.

Бог відповідає на наші молитви.

І навіть в час тяжкого горя і болю, Бог чує наші молитви і Бог чекає нас.  
 
------

І на завершення, пастор Адам Гемільтон написав: "Різдвяна історія закінчується на хресті і в пустому гробі. Господь зазнає найбільшого зла, на яке спроможні люди. Його  бичували  і розіпяли на хресті, він помирає в агонії. Але це не кінець історії. На третій день  гріб спустів і Христос воскрес. Воскресіння показує нам, що ні смерть, ні ненависть, ані зло ніколи не візьмуть верх."

Наші молитви можуть мати різні відповіді - не тільки ті, на які ми хочемо, але в цей самий час ми розуміємо, о Господні шляхи це вищі.Чекаючи на Різдво, нехай Господь нагадає нам, що Він чує наші молитви і відповідає на них.

Амінь

This is a story of waiting.

The ancient Hebrew people were good at waiting.  They waited forty years in the desert.  They waited for the wall to be rebuilt.  They waited for their promised Savior.

I'm really terrible at waiting.  My lack of patience is frustrating even to me.  When I lived in Russia 10 years ago, in the winter there was only one store that sold exotic fruits during the winter time.  There was always an extravagantly long line at this store.  As each person stepped up to the counter, they began the slow process of deciding what they wanted.  The first time I went to the store I waited for 30 minutes just to buy some mandarins. 

And it was shortly after this that I went to register and stood in line for two days in government offices on opposite sides of the city.  I wrote to my parents (by way of a letter that would take ten days to reach them followed by another ten days before I received a reply!) to explain this idea of waiting.  I thought about this letter for a long time, because I couldn't find a good way to explain to my parents this idea of waiting in a line.  I don't think I had ever stood in line for anything for more than thirty minutes.  If there was a line, we had always decided to come back later.  We lived in a small town, and there weren't enough people to really make a line anywhere.  I just thought that they also couldn't understand how long I had to wait for my registration and my mandarins.

----

My parents had never shared with us how many years they spent trying to have my sister and I.  They never shared about wanting, hoping, praying, and waiting for children.  My mother was 32 when I was born, but I never noticed how much older she was than my classmate's moms.  My mother needed a blood transfusion after my birth - it was the height of the AIDS scare and they had no way to test donor blood.  She fought having a transfusion until she couldn't anymore.  She never told us about waiting weeks for the results of medical tests to see if she would be another innocent victim.

This is a story about waiting, and I think, even for us, the idea of waiting isn't something we understand very well.  The Hebrew people had waited for centuries for their savior.  Simeon, an old and faithful man had been promised that he would live to see the Messiah.  As he held this baby in his arms, he knew his time had come.  

But it is Anna who catches my attention most.  An older woman, but she had received no such promise of seeing the savior before her death.  At first I didn't understand the point of her being included in the story.  But, here's the thing.  This woman spent all of her time in temple praying.  What was she praying for?  What do the scriptures point to over and over again?  She was praying for the savior.  She was praying for the promises made by God through the prophets.  

What is even more interesting about Anna, is that she was considered worthless by her culture.  She was a woman, an old woman, a widow, and she had no children.  She was worthless in her culture, but in God's eyes - she was worth sending his only son into the world.   God answered her prayers and sent the Savior.  

And we don't know mu ch about prayer.  Most of us are pretty bad at prayer, fitting in a few lines before meals or before bedtime.  Sometimes we feel more and pray more.  Sometimes prayer is hard and we pray less.  We don't know how prayer works.  What a tremendous idea, that perhaps Anna is included in this story because God heard her prayer and answered it.  

God listens to us. 

And hears our prayers.

And even through the hardest circumstances and pain, God listens to us and God waits for us.

---- 

In closing; Pastor Adam Hamilton writes, the Christmas story ends at a cross and an empty tomb. God becomes subject to the evil humanity is capable of. He is tortured and hung on a cross and dies there in agony. But this is not the end of the story. On the third day, the tomb is empty, and Christ is risen. Easter declares that death and hate and evil will never have the final word.

Our prayers can have different answers - not exactly the answer we want, but we understand that God's ways are higher.  As we wait for Christmas, may we be reminded that God hears our prayers and God is answering our prayers.    

Amen.