Slovakia live - news from the heart of Europe

May our good Lord give you a restful time through this holiday season! May you enjoy His love, joy and all kinds of peace that He gives. May this beautiful song from Rasto and Miriam be a delight to your ears and may it bring some smile to your face. Enjoy!

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Here are a few pictures from two of our December activities. The first set is from our youth group (that meets on Fridays) that was creating and making “hand made” Christmas cards. These were later sent to some of our members and friends as an invitation to our Christmas party and our December assemblies. As we were creating these simple “pieces of art” we were reminded that all our creativity comes from our good Creator. Even though for many of us this kind of work was new, we still enjoyed it a lot. We also enjoyed the thought that maybe some of the recipients of our postcards will feel some warmness and the love of Jesus and His church!

(Click on one of these two pictures and gallery will pop up.)

The second set of pictures is from our Christmas party. It became a good tradition here among the Christians in Bratislava to meet together, share some good food, talk and listen about Jesus, sing a couple of songs and then share some gifts. As we were unwrapping the gift we were reminded of the mutual love we share together as well as God’s generosity that is visible and reflected in and through our brothers and sisters. So, here are a few smiles from the event!

(If you want to see the rest of the pictures, just click on one of these two pictures and gallery will pop up.)

Another way in which we were reminded once again about our life-sharing and giving purposes was when some of the Nitra Christian students went to donate blood. When we watched our own blood to flow from our bodies to the bloodstore-containers the thought of being here for others and being in the life-saving-business for Christ was truly reinforced! I am grateful to Marcel and Xenia for this great idea and their invitation to do this together with them.

Our Lord Jesus said: “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (John 10:10-11)

The church in Bratislava has a new web page. The new web page is done in a blog style.

The primary reason why we changed our old, static web page for this new blog style webpage is that we want to show seekers that the church is active and alive.

So the main information that we present at the webpage is about our activities and upcoming events. Also we regularly add our sermons in the audio section.

Thanks goes to Rado and Lukas who did a great job in working on this project!

If you can read some Slovak, or at least can appreciate the new style and pictures, feel free to visit our new blog. We’re open for any ideas, good comments and suggestions.

As the new school year started at the end of the September, we have experienced also more visitors and students coming to our classes and activities. Most of them came through their friends they have in the church. It is very exciting that Christians in Bratislava love Jesus and His church so much that they desire their friends to join us in our adventurous life with Jesus!

Knowing Christ and walking with Him daily is truly adventurous! Listening to His words from the sermon on the mount and thinking about its radical application in life is breathtaking. Is this really what Jesus wants us and calls us to be in this culture of growing and life-taking materialism? Oh, yes it is! The good thing is, it can be not only breathtaking but also enjoyable in spite of the pain that often goes with it. We’ve learned this while listening to Jesus’ words in the “beatitudes” and discussing it at our Friday youth group in the last couple of weeks. The toughest of the “beatitudes” are still ahead of us, but many of us cannot wait till the coming Friday when we discuss our being ‘peacemakers’ and those ‘persecuted for the sake of righteousness.’

Seeing the brothers and sisters applying Jesus’ words by the power of His Spirit in their lives is even more enjoyable. Seeing others grow in Christ likeness increases our own desire to be more like Christ and vice versa. Serving is one of the areas where we tried and are still trying to increase our involvement. Many from the church are helping their own family members that are elderly. Some of those that don’t have these opportunities in their own homes increased their interest in the nursing home that has been visited a couple of times already (two Sundays ago some of us went there and had another singing concert for a good group of cheerful older ladies). One brother started visiting children diagnosed with cancer that are staying for their treatments in the hospital. All of these things make every one of us more and more aware of the many opportunities that we encounter on a daily basis while living around other people.

Above is the picture of our “singing group” after the last concert we had in the nursing home.

Above is another picture that will redirect you (after clicking on it) to our gallery. This set of pictures is from one of our more relaxed activities that was primarily relationship-building oriented. Some from our Friday youth group went to a nearby castle ruin, Devin. This wasn’t only a good opportunity to see some piece of our history, but also a good opportunity to talk and share our lives together. As Braňo was talking to Marina about the church and its purposes, one lady, a Castle guide, listened to the discussion. She started to ask us questions and got very interested about what we said about Jesus and His church. So the very next day - on Sunday, her husband came to our assembly and spent time with us in worship and discussion afterwards!

Thanks to our good Lord for these wonderful opportunities! May He bless us with more and more occasions to speak about Him and serve the people around us!

Recently I thought about the many ways Jesus embraced the pain of other people. Have you realized in how many different ways Jesus showed His love to people? And by how many human senses?

Jesus often touched the pain.

For example, when they brought a blind man to Jesus, they asked Him to touch him. And Jesus “taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes, and laying His hands upon him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” (Mark 6:23) The rest of the story we all know very well. The blind man was in the end able to see everything clearly; he was healed. What captured my attention is the fact that Jesus didn’t avoid any pain, disease or filth. How did it look when he was leading this blind man by hand out of the village? For many people it looked unbelievable. Pharisees and Jews considered the blind to be wretches, trash. To one of these they said: “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us! And they threw him out” (John 9:34). Jesus was touching everything that was wounded and hurt (for example he touched Peter’s mother-in-law, when he was healing her - Mark 1:31), but also everything that was in his culture considered unclean and inferior: he took by the hand the dead daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:54), he touched the leper (Mark 1:41), he took the children in his arms (Mark 10:15).

But Jesus showed his love also with words. It was possible to hear his love.

When some were indignantly complaining about the amazing act of worship that the woman with an alabaster jar offered and when they were speaking harshly and rebuking her, Jesus said to them: “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Mark 14:6-9). Jesus defended this sincere, humble woman. His words surely penetrated the hearts of these rebuking grumblers and touched their conscience. And at the same time His words were like a balm for the soul and ears of this woman. How much she needed to hear Jesus’ commendation and defense in this moment! And because Jesus was sensitive to the needs of others, he wasn’t silent, but showed his love in words.

It was possible to see His love in his eyes and in the expression of his face.

When the young rich ruler came to visit Jesus, and inquired what to do in order to inherit eternal life, Jesus didn’t give him only some accurate answer. Jesus did more: “Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21).

When He saw the impoverished crowd, that they were like sheep without a shepherd, he felt compassion for them (Mark 6:34).

A short while before raising Lazarus, “when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.” (John 11:33-35)

When he was on his way to a town called Nain, he met a mourning crowd that was accompanying a widow, whose only son died: “when the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” (Luke 7:13)

The eyes of Jesus were eyes of love. They were able to kindly and compassionately look at others and perceive their needs.

It was also possible to smell and taste Jesus’ love.

When he saw the hungry crowds he couldn’t stay passive: “I feel compassion for the multitude, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way” (Matthew 15:32). And so he multiplied the bread and fish and satisfied the whole crowd. And as the hungry were eating the tasty fish and bread, on their tongue and in their nose they tasted and smelled God’s generosity and care.

Or just remember how many times we see Jesus dining and fellowshiping! At the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, where he turns the water into wine (John 2:1-11), with the tax-collector Matthew and his friends (Luke 5:27-32), with Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10) and many others. Jesus embraces and touches many with his love by simply fellowshiping and eating with them and enjoying their company.

Is it not inspiring to look at Jesus and see in how many ways we can show our love to other people? Even we can embrace their pain. Even we can be people of all senses.

Of course, not all of us have been blessed with all functional senses. But every one of us can love with his or her whole being. Love with everything that makes us humans. Humans created in the image of God!

Please, let us embrace their pain! Let us be people of all senses!

Here are a few pictures from the wedding of Peter and Zuzka. Just click on the picture below and the gallery will pop up. Enjoy!

Here are the results from the survey that we took in May and June among the University Students in Bratislava. (You can read more about the survey at this link.) This was an “open-questions” survey without answers to pick from. So the students had the opportunity to give multiple answers. For example: a person answered on the first question with three words: love, money and health. All of these answers were counted. We counted how many times each word was given by all of the students. Then we calculated what percentage it is from all of the students we talked to. Therefore, if you would add up all the percentages in the first question, you will not end up with 100%. So, here are some of the questions and results:

What does a man need in life in order to live it meaningfully?

47.17 % Love
43.40 % Friends
32.08 % Family, happy family, good family background, background
20.75 % Money, material things and values
16.98 % Health
13.21 % Boyfriend/girlfriend, partner, someone with whom I can share                   everything
11.32 % Happiness
09.43 % Faith
09.43 % Goal, purpose, passion for something

What is worrying/troubling you in life?

22.64 % School, studying, tests, not prospering in school
20.75 % Relationships among people, in the family
20.75 % Injustice, arrogance, indifference, individualism, selfishness,                       unwillingness to help, wars and cruelty
15.10 % Finances, money for an apartment to live in
07.55 % I don’t have a girlfriend/boyfriend

What gives you joy in life?

39.62 % Relationships, friends, people
18.87 % Success, everything that I achieve by my own strength, success               in school
15.10 % Nature, good weather, living in beautiful Slovakia
13.21 % Boyfriend, girlfriend
11.32 % Family
11.32 % Love, knowing that someone loves me
09.43 % Helping others, when I can help someone, when I can be useful
07.55 % Entertainment

Are you a believer?

58.49 % yes
32.08 % no
09.43 % sometimes or syncretic

Those who considered themselves believers, we also asked:

What do you like about a church?

16.13 % God, I found God there, faith in God
12.90 % I was raised there
09.68 % Fellowship, family atmosphere
09.68 % I found peace there
06.45 % I found meaning for life there

What do you dislike about a church?

19.35 % Too institutional, too far from people and their struggles
19.35 % Hypocrisy
12.90 % Too much talking about politics
09.68 % Preaching morality without preaching Christ
06.45 % Affairs, celibacy, paedophilia
06.45 % I didn’t feel welcomed, I didn’t create relationships there
03.10 % Not enough self-sacrifice

So, how are we going to use the results? How are they going to help us in our youth and University ministry? Well, there are at least a few things we can do:

First, the results serve us as a reminder that we really can be and need to be genuine, honest, loving, caring, forgiving and trustful friends to those who come to our assemblies, our classes and various activities.

Second, when we teach about Christ we can show Him especially through these subjects that are so crucial to these young people. We can talk about true love, genuine friendships and humanness according to God’s image (seen so beautifully in Jesus), etc. They need to see Christ in us, in all our actions.

Third, we can learn their “language.” Young people are not shallow and they are able to “name” some of the problems around us calling them with the right names. We can learn how to use their “language” (some specific expressions they use) to communicate the gospel to them.

We’ll be thinking and praying about other ways that we can use the knowledge about these young people. May our good Lord lead us in doing so. If you have any good idea, please let us know!

Great thanks goes to Miriam for being courageous enough to go with me and ask these students questions in our survey. And also the greatest thanks especially to our good Lord. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Oh, and by the way, what would be your answers in our survey?

We are used to seeing so much pain and suffering on the TV or on the Internet that we become somewhat desensitized to it. I guess we need to get more in touch with suffering. I am not speaking here about some masochism or self-afflicted pain. I am speaking here about being more sensitive to other people’s hurts.

I am speaking here about our realization and comprehension that other people might be hurting and suffering more that we are even able to imagine. Is it not our privilege as well as responsibility to bear each others burdens (Galatians 6:2)? Not just rejoice with those rejoicing, but also to weep with those that are weeping (Romans 12:15)?

Sometimes I think that we people of Western culture have become too comfortable and somewhat indolent - unwilling to go through much of self-sacrifice and self-denial anymore. We have everything that we want and that makes us sometimes not very attentive to those in need.

And there are literally thousands and thousands of hurting people around us: mistreated children who might be now grown adults, but are carrying their wounded and injured hearts deeply hidden in their souls; neglected orphans who never learned how to give nor to receive love; abandoned wives by their booze, gambling or porn addicted husbands; despondent ladies with low self-esteem who are driven by compulsion of overeating or anorexia; effeminate, timid young men whose passive and often absent fathers never had a word of encouragement nor acknowledgement for their sons; deserted and abandoned grandfathers and grandmothers whose children and grandchildren have no time nor mood to meet and cheer up their own relatives; all those that are struggling with their chronic illnesses in their homes or hospitals. And the list can go on. We just need to look more carefully around us. All of these people need to be embraced and healed.

Is it accidental that we see Jesus meeting so often with beggars, sinners, blind people, lepers, children, outcasts, widows, sick people, etc.? Is it accidental that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write these words:

“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

Or that James wrote these words:
“This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27)

One of my desires for the church in Bratislava is to be more attentive to people like this. We need to embrace their pain. We need to let Jesus touch them and heal them.

More on this next time. Till then let me know what you think.

Dear Peter and Zuzka!

Your Day is here! What a wonderful moment.

May God bless your beautiful union and may your life as ONE be always filled with His love, joy and peace. May the new life you‘re beginning be full of adventure and mutual friendship that will grow into eternity. May the words of William Cowper be your words to each other:

“There is not room enough for friendship to unfold itself in full bloom in such a nook of life as this. Therefore I am, and must, and will be, Yours forever.”

Dear Peter and Zuzka, I wish you that your mutual friendship may last forever and beyond! May the people around you see your wonderful Savior through you always!