Christ is Born! Let us praise Him!
January 9th, 2010 Posted in General UpdatesGo to Facebook or www.benandkristy.com/pictures/gallery2 to see more photos!
The title of this blog is the traditional Ukrainian Christmas greeting. Where we say “Merry Christmas” in the States (which, to Satan’s delight, is offensive to many), the Ukrainians, at least in the western part of the country (different sides of the country have different customs), praise the birth of the King of Kings. All over Lviv are big nativity displays, and posters that celebrate Jesus’ first coming. Go figure – this country under severe communism and prohibition of religious practice for many decades is proudly announcing Christ, and our country, so proud of its freedoms and tolerance, must keep such expressions subdued. (Now we just have to get these dear Ukrainians to live for Christ with their lives, not just believing that the Messiah was born 2,000 yrs. ago, w/o any affect on their lives today. It has all the significance in the world! In this life, and more importantly, in life to come.)
I left off blogging just a day or two ago, inundated with homework for the new quarter, and not sure how we’d end up spending the Orthodox Christmas. All changed after our Christmas morning 1/7 church service, when a bunch of our youth with no family traditions on that day, grabbed their left-overs from Christmas Eve on the 6th, and had Christmas Lunch at Yulia’s house. Wow, it was Ukrainian and awesome. We even played Family Feud in English while waiting for lunch to be ready. At 5pm, we left for what ended up being 2 full evenings of Christmas Caroling, a big tradition for the youth in our church. We bundled up, wore matching hats and scarfs, and sang our hearts out to countless apartments and houses in the neighborhoods around the church. You can imagine the sight – there were over 20 of us each night! Many families were actually waiting and hoping that our group would come, all prepared with donations (common for good carolers to make a few hundred bucks) and snacks for our group. We even caroled at the widow of Chornovil, a famous Ukrainian nationalist with a giant monument in Lviv. It was freezing and snowing, but the mood was incredible. At each house, we sang 3-5 songs and recited 3 poems. (Ben and I tried to stay in the back with some of the “tough, cool guys” because we only knew the lyrics well to maybe half.) I can’t really explain it, but for sure the Holy Spirit went before us as we sang about Jesus and asked Him to fill those houses those 2 nights. I kept thinking about the youth of Lviv, and how it is that generation that is going to bring joy and hope to this area of the world. It was really a privilege to celebrate in such a way with the kids and church that we care so much about.
Last night was especially fun because we convinced the group to carol to one building in the center, where they thought our language tutor lived. It was actually our new apt. building, and we started at our place, inviting them into this dust-infested shell of an apt. They were confused, because we hadn’t really let people know about our place yet. When we told them that we bought a place, there was much rejoicing. But we were even more encouraged when we went down to the 2nd floor and caroled for both neighbors, who were actually home that night! They were excited to meet us (we’d met one and not the other), and I am praying that God will use such an introduction to not only foster good relations with the 2 other residents in our building, but also that they would know about our work for Christ in this city.
