unified in Him

The weeks here are beginning to feel like days, as the squares on my calendar seem to be filling up with “x’s” rapidly.  So, I want to say that time is passing quickly. When I look back on it as a whole though, it is as if time has tricked me, and has not passed at all. I have only been here a month, but it feels like much longer. I do not really know whether to say it is flying by or dragging on. Time is as indecisive here as it is everywhere else, in that some days are fleeting while others seem endless.

Last week I finally got connected with a church here in Moscow. Ten a.m Sunday morning we headed out, and after eight metro stops, two changes, and one attempt at asking for directions, we found the church. The small Russian woman who helped us was sweet and gave us candy (yes, I took candy from a strange lady on the street). When we told her we were American students, she responded with excitement and a lot of talking, smiling, and pointing. I sure wish I knew what she was saying. “я не понимаю” I kept saying ( “I don’t understand.” ) She smiled and laughed, and then continued on in Russian, smiling and pointing. So, I went back to smiling and nodding. Finally, we got there. On the third floor of a Planet Fitness building, we found people from all nations worshiping and praising the God I know and love. Hands of different colors were raised in praise to Christ.  How big our God is! There were students from Ghana, Nigeria, Korea, China, India, Russia, all over the States and more. When we walked in, the choir was singing about searching and finding none like our Lord. “I searched all over, and found nobody like You” she sang. She may have literally been all over, I thought. Hearing her proclaiming truth through her song brought me peace and comfort, and I joined her in worshiping our God. When we came back to the hostel we told some of our friends and they too may join next weekend. This week has been one of the fleeting ones I was speaking of, since it is already Sunday again. I look forward to my second visit to this church.

I am also realizing how much I took the Rings convenience for granted. I am by no means saying that my love of my church is limited to the fact that it is convenient. I am noticing, though, that it is easier to be committed when you know all of the people, it’s a 5 min drive or walk in pleasant weather, and is just familiar overall. Maybe my commitment to the church was based on the actual church, rather than God. I want to love the church (capital C) because HE is committed to and loves the church. Good music, good people, convenience, and a cool pastor are great things – but, by themselves, are empty.  I want to be part of any church that shares in my beliefs because it is part of a movement; a part of His plan. The foundation of my love for the church cant be because I think the service is awesome. It must be because Gods will is awesome, and being part of whichever church I am attending at the time is part of that will. It is going to take a new kind of commitment I think, but I am going to have a lot of weeks to work on it. I will keep taking it one day at a time.

Days like these are wonderful and are the ones that fly by, but the longest days are those that I feel most like a foreigner. Every giggle at my speech, every second glance from passing people, and every judgmental stare on the metro is intensified. It is on these days that I miss the bliss of my usual naïve self; days that I miss my natural reaction of assuming that everything people are saying in Russian is a good thing and they all love foreigners. They say ignorance is bliss, and I must agree with this unknown “they”.  I often can’t sleep at night and so I am allowed too much time to think of these things. This is the case again tonight. As I sit here writing this, I can look out over Moscow from my window. The converging streets, the colorful blinking lights of buildings, and the smoke from all-night roadside food stands are all in my view. I can see others out there who are awake as well, and I feel no different from the people of Moscow. They, like myself, never sleep, are watching the same blinking lights, walk the same streets, eat from the same vendors, and are under the loving protection of the same God. We may speak different languages, wear different clothes, and perceive each other differently, but we are not so different after all. We are ALL created in His image, and in that we have unity. We are connected not by our cultural traits, but by the One who gave them to us.  Whether I wake in Louisiana or Russia, I still wake to see the sun He created for us. It is the same sun Abraham, David, Christ and all those before me woke to see, and is the same sun that those after me will sit under. It is a reminder of His eternal love and glory that connects all life. My home is wherever He is – I am home.

 

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat. 

Psalm 19