April 1, 2014

Serving God as a Multi-cultural Congregation

The Cornerstone Church of Lezhë (Guri i Themelit church), is truly a multi-cultural congregation. It spans different economic levels, different educational levels, different nationalities and different ethnicities. These cultural differences are very exciting to me since I believe strongly that God's kingdom is for all peoples.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. --Galatians 3 (NIV)

However, this typ eo f diversity can provide stree for a pastor of such a congregation and stress for the congregation as a people of God. This requires a lot of openness to each other, humility of spirit, and sensitivity to God's Spirit at work in the congregation and the setting in which they live as God's people.

I admire the Cornerstone Church for its diversity.

The singers in the worship group are girls from both the public schools in the area and from Lezha Academic Center.

the worship team singers

The Worship Team Singers (23-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

The persons playing instruments in the worship group are usually teachers at Lezha Academic Center (since there are no Albanians who play instruments in the church), but on Sunday March 16, Marko (a Christian believer from Lushnuë where he is a high school student) joined Valentina while the other teachers had taken a weekend vacation to other cities.

pianist and guitarist

Valentina on the Keyboard and Marko on the Guitar (23-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Uusually the instrumentalists are Lisa on the keyboard, Jordan with his guitar, and Justin playing the violin.

the usual instrumentalists--teachers at LAC

The Usual Group--Lisa (keyboard), Jordan (guitar) & Justin (violin) (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

During the past several months while the pastor and his wife are back in Brazil, members of the church council are filling various roles. For example, Dilë usually leads the sharing and prayer time for the whole group.

Dilë leads in sharing and prayer

Dilë Guides the Sharing and Prayer Time (30-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Dini arranges for preachers and introduces them or fills the pulpit himself. Since the American teachers mainly speak English, there is often an interpreter from English to Shqip or vice-versa.

Dini introduces Phil and Betsy Moyer as speakers

Dini Introduces Phil and Betsy Moyer while Xhorxhina Will Interpret (30-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Besnik, another council member, and his wife are youth sponsors.

Besnik and his wife are youth advisors

Besnilk and His Wife Prepare to Take Youth to the Seaside (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Norma Teles, a long time missionary from Brazil in Lezhë who runs a daycare for Gypsy children, is another council member.

Elsie and Norma Teles in church

Elsie and Norma Listen to the Worship Time (9-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Sometimes there are several young persons, who have learned about the church while attending Lezha Academic Center, worshipping with the congregation on a given Sunday morning.

a student attending church and I listen during worship

An LAC Student and I Listen to the Worship Time (23-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

At a glance, it seems like there are always some children attending the church on a Sunday morning--as high as a dozen or more.

me and some of the children who attend church services

Several Children Wanted Their Picture Taken with Me (23-Feb-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

Like most warm and caring churches, the "service" after the worship service is also an important time for persons to connect with others they have not seen during the week.

good conversaitons take place after church

The Room Hums with After-church Conversation (23-Mar-14; © Richard L. Bowman)

I pray for the Cornerstone Church because of its diversity.

Learning to respect and confide in others from different cultural backgrounds is not always easy. At times we may presume they are looking down at us or up at us. And real communication takes extra work since we may not share the same understanding of our world or the same idioms and metaphors of life.

But we praise God because in Jesus Christ all of us who believe in him are one family!

March 31 2014

Seeing the Animals about Town

During the two months we have lived in Lezhë, we have seen many sparrows and pigeons. Even some that I'm fairly sure were couting.

two pigeons courting

But we also have seen pigs, seagulls, starfish, and more here and in our travels around the Balkan countries. For more details visit my bird and animal photos blog. I will keep trying to capture more birds and other animals and even some of trains here locally.

March 28 2014

Will the Real "Peas" Please Stand Up!

Many times I have been told that Albanian (shqipe) is a phonetic language. So "salçiçe" is pronounced "sal" as in salt followed by "ch" as in chai tea, "ee" as in see, "ch" again as in chai, and finally "ay" as in hay. So in my physics classes, I was not surprised to hear the π character pronounced as "pea." However, with a touch of humor (I hope!), I corrected them by saying it is "pi" not "pea" and noted that peas are something we eat while pi is a math symbol. They were not sure of what I meant by "pea," so I went on a hunt for some pea seeds in the various shops that were selling seeds to village farmers and others interested in produce.

Peas and Pi's

As seen in the photo above, I did finally find some pea seeds, and that brings me to another story.

I looked at several seed shops for pea seeds in small packets and even in large open sacks of seeds but did not find any peas. I did not know the Albanian word for peas, so asking the shopkeepers for them was difficult. But one morning on the way to school, I stopped at two shops and asked about peas with lots of hand motions and pointing to similar seeds. In the second shop the man could speak some English. So we found some beans and then I suggested seeds that were more round. I was excited when he pulled out a plastic bag of pea seeds. He gave me the handful above for free to show my students.

Then he asked if I teach at the American school. I said I did and asked how he knew. He said he had seen us walking by his shop many morning. It turns out he has a son in seventh grade at Lezha Academic Center. He then asked why I was teaching there, and I told him because we were trying to do what God wanted us to do. So he asked if we were getting paid well. When I told him we were volunteers, he really wondered why we would do that. So I shared about Christ's love for us and our desire to share that love with others. One thing led to another, and next we were talking about war and why I did not believe that solved anything except to make enemies for the US. He agreed, and I share more about God's love for us.

Finally we exchanged our goodbye's in Albanian, and I left for the school. I hope and pray that I said what God wanted me to share.

I really enjoy these times of learning about my neighbors here in Lezhë and sharing about God's forgiveness and love for all humans.

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