SINGING WITH THE GYPSIES.
Last Sunday afternoon, 10 of us went up to Usti Nad Ladem, in the Czech Republic. A girl who is part of our movement in Prague and involved in a community that is starting up there - new believers and some who were kicked out of fundie churches. When we got there, we saw that they were mostly Roma (gypsies). Very cool. The city of Usti became infamous a few years ago when they erected a large fence to divide off the Roma from the more elite area of Usti. Now we were in the Roma area, in someones apartment.
So this gypsy guy pulls out a guitar and says "I dont know any 'faith' songs", and starts to play the Stones song, "I cant get no satisfaction." Being a global song, and yet not a common worship hymn, we all sang along (in English and Czech) and soon the guitar was passed on and we sang all kinds of songs. We also talked about Jesus and how he hung out with the margin dwellers. I talked a bit on the tax-collectors and how the Kingdom shows up in ordinary places (homes, market place, on the way). Sasha, who heads up The Way in Prague, did most of the teaching and told them that they were are real church, even if the institutional folk dont see them as such. They were really excited, and people kept coming in to the apartment. After a while, one guy went out to buy some wine and bread for communion. We broke bread, lots of people cried, we hugged. It was great. I felt a bit like the Pentecost dudes going out to the smaller towns to bring the blessing out and connect it to what God was doing on the fringes. All very cool. Next month we do it again in the town of Brno, where some people also are starting an organic church and want to tie in with us. I LOVE THIS JOB!
Last Sunday afternoon, 10 of us went up to Usti Nad Ladem, in the Czech Republic. A girl who is part of our movement in Prague and involved in a community that is starting up there - new believers and some who were kicked out of fundie churches. When we got there, we saw that they were mostly Roma (gypsies). Very cool. The city of Usti became infamous a few years ago when they erected a large fence to divide off the Roma from the more elite area of Usti. Now we were in the Roma area, in someones apartment.
So this gypsy guy pulls out a guitar and says "I dont know any 'faith' songs", and starts to play the Stones song, "I cant get no satisfaction." Being a global song, and yet not a common worship hymn, we all sang along (in English and Czech) and soon the guitar was passed on and we sang all kinds of songs. We also talked about Jesus and how he hung out with the margin dwellers. I talked a bit on the tax-collectors and how the Kingdom shows up in ordinary places (homes, market place, on the way). Sasha, who heads up The Way in Prague, did most of the teaching and told them that they were are real church, even if the institutional folk dont see them as such. They were really excited, and people kept coming in to the apartment. After a while, one guy went out to buy some wine and bread for communion. We broke bread, lots of people cried, we hugged. It was great. I felt a bit like the Pentecost dudes going out to the smaller towns to bring the blessing out and connect it to what God was doing on the fringes. All very cool. Next month we do it again in the town of Brno, where some people also are starting an organic church and want to tie in with us. I LOVE THIS JOB!
