19% Believe in God

On the plane heading back for Mara's wedding, we picked up a copy of the Prague Post (they give it out free on Czech Airlines). After flipping past the articles about Prague's booming porn industry (fortunately no photos of that or the trade exposition on such held here recently), I found a very interesting article about the state of Christianity in the Czech Republic.

The Czech Church: Not Dead Yet
http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/1006/opin1.php

The European Union recently conducted a study of religion in the Czech Republic. It turns out that 19% of Czechs actually believe in God. The 2001 census put the number of professed atheists at 60%, up from 40% in 1991. It's not that Czechs are of some other religious persuasion, they are mostly of none at all.

However, most of the article was actually about the growth of the evangelical church in the Czech Republic. While the established churches (Roman Catholic, Czech Brethren, and Hussites) have been losing members, the evangelical churches are about the only ones growing. Of course, only about 1% of the population is in those churches, so . . .

All this is not to say that Czechs have no spiritual dimension, the same survey that showed that only 19% believe in God also showed that about half believe in "some sort of spirit or life force." According to the article this is called něcismus or somethingism. Hmmm. This is the world in which we live.

My sister's married!

Jenny and I are back in Prague after our brief jaunt to Ohio for my sister's wedding. It was a great week back there. The jetlag mostly cleared up just in time for the wildness to begin. We were staying at my parents' house, so the house got fuller and fuller as the day drew near. My sister and her matron of honor arrived on Wednesday, then things really got rolling.

I should mention that I performed the ceremony. It was a great thing to be able to do that. I did part of my brother's wedding as well, so it was quite an honor to get to be such a part of this big step in both of my sibling's lives. Thanks Mara and Dev!

When the doors opened for Mara to walk down the aisle, I got goosebumps as the full impact of the moment hit me. I had a similar feeling when Robyn started down the aisle to marry Devin. To be that close to them as they made their vows and started this new life together is something I'll never forget. The picture is of me dancing with Mara at the reception. See more pictures at http://www.thomasfamilyweb.net/photogallery/MarasWedding/index.html

On bird flu

You may have been hearing in the news again about bird flu. It has made its way into Eastern Europe (I think in Turkey, Romania, Greece, and Macedonia now). Please be assured that all is fine here, but here's some info in case you're interested.

Check out a BBC News story on bird flu and Europe or a Prague Post newspaper article.

The Czech government has instituted measures to prevent the spread of the disease. They have banned poultry imports from affected areas and some farming practices here. Even though the virus doesn't easily infect humans, they are also one of the governments who are buying stocks of Tamaflu, the anti-viral drug, just in case.

ESI is tracking the situation. We've already been contacted by our in-country director and the folks stateside with information. Not that it would probably ever come to it, but ESI has emergency evacuation plans in place for anything like this, and we have the details.

Finally, the seminary the seminary is arranging flu shots, so we should be getting those soon. I'm sure all those in the affected countries would appreciate your prayers.

On Psalm 46

This week the psalm that the Czech team is reading is Psalm 46. Here are some thoughts from reading it:

This psalm reminds me of the flood story in Genesis 6-9. The psalm begins with flood images like mountains falling into the sea and waters roaring and foaming. Unlike the flood, however, the psalmist trusts God in the midst of this flooding. God is the protector from the flood, rather than its cause.

Toward the end, the psalm speaks of God breaking bows and spears and burning shields. God is the one who "makes war cease to the ends of the earth." (v. 9) In the story of the flood, the reason God gives for sending the flood is our violence (Gen. 6.11-13). Our violence grieves God to the point that God decides to wipe most of humanity out and start over. In Psalm 46, God is the one who ends war, but also the one who protects us from the flood (of violence).

I can't help but read and write this thinking that another hurricane, Wilma, is working its way through the Caribbean. I have relatives who were spared the full wrath of Rita (and other relatives in Florida), but I can't imagine what it's like now along the Gulf Coast (or Indonesia or southern Thailand). Perhaps it's good news to those who were not affected that God has promised never again to destroy the world in a flood (Gen. 9.11), but for many people their world has been destroyed. Others would love to see God destroy the instruments of war, stopping the flood of violence.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Let it be true.

My Old Seminary's on the Move

Today we went to my seminary alma mater, United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. This week we're here for my sister's wedding just happens to be the week that the seminary is symbolically making the move to their new campus . We attended a "Leave Taking" service at the old campus's chapel. It was a really moving, well-thought-out service. We then went to the new campus to look around and attend a dinner celebrating the new facility.

The best part for me was that I got to see several of my professors, including one who was a classmate of mine who now teaches there (Go Lisa!). The whole day was a real blessing.

Birds Beware!

Well, they have finished with our floor and have moved on down the building. Here's some photos:

Top: The finished product, the needles are on the ledge: Birds Beware!

Middle: Here's a shot of the man at work.

Bottom: So you can see the setup they used to access the ledges.

Final note: They're just about done now, but a little bit ago I looked out and he was taking a little smoke break while hanging around.

Anti-Bird Patrol

So, last night our landlady stopped by unexpectedly to tell us that some men would be coming today at 7:30 am to do some work on the building that they could only get to through our flat.

This morning we found out more of what's going on. There is a ledge outside our kitchen window where the pigeons like to perch, and poop. Two men are here to install these needle-like things that keep the birds from perching and, more importantly, pooping. In the picture, the ledge is straight ahead and our kitchen window is on the right.

After examining the situation from our window and installing a rod in the wall near the ledge, the men are now up on the roof of the building preparing to repel down (in a little seat, I think) to install the needles (the box says "Bird control systems"). The problem I see is that the roof overhangs about 8-10 feet from the ledge that they need to get to. We'll see how it goes. The landlady left for work; she has a meeting scheduled. So, I'm here with the men. Presumably, I should only need to give them access to our kitchen window.

Haircut for the Wedding

This morning I ventured to a local Kadeřnictvi (hair salon/barbershop) for a haircut. My sister, Mara, is getting married a week from Saturday (Oct 15), and I'm performing the ceremony, so I thought it would be a good idea to get my hair cut.

Getting my hair cut here is always a bit of an adventure. I've made up a cheat sheet of Czech words related to hair cuts, because it's not likely that anyone there will speak any English. Today, there was a young woman working there who did, so I was able to tell her that I wanted a haircut and find out that one of the women could do it in about 15 minutes.

The woman who cut my hair was very nice. She did a good job, and I was able to think of enough Czech to tell her that I was getting my hair cut because my sister is getting married next week (that was my big accomplishment of the encounter). She asked me if she was getting married here, but of course she's not. Jenny and I will be going to Ohio for the wedding for about a week. I didn't try to explain that.

Bible and the Practice of Prayer Conference

The past three days I attended the conference at the seminary on the Bible and the Practice of Prayer. On Thursday, I presented my paper on "Honest to God Good News: A Look at the Psalms." I had hoped to record my presentation and maybe even post it on the website, but due to technical problems, we weren't able to record it :( Even you can't hear the presentation, you might be able to read it someday soon. The plan is to publish the papers from the conference as a book. (My first European publication.)

On Friday, I actually moderated the conference. The head of the Biblical Studies department asked me to moderate, I think the day before the conference. He said he partly asked me so that folks could get to know me a bit. There really wasn't much to moderating, mostly just something like emcee-ing.

The conference was smaller than I expected: only 15-20 people in total, but it was quite good. It was a good mix of scholars and students from various countries: Germany, Poland, Egypt, Russia, etc. There was a lot of good discussion and many interesting papers. They hope to have a conference like this each year, and we discussed possible topics for the future.

Svatý Václav and the Horse

Wednesday was a national holiday in the Czech Republic: St. Wenceslas (Svatý Václav) Day. Jenny was off from school, mostly working on a paper she's trying to get published in a book on teacher research in Europe.

I was on my way home from some shopping when the tram really slowed down. I hopped off one stop early and walked from there. There was a procession down the middle of the street, hence the slow tram. At the front was a boy on a horse, dressed as Sv. Václav himself. They processed up to the church on our square (the church of St. Wenceslas, pictured above). In front of the church, someone gave the boy a sword, and he raised it. The crowd cheered.

There is a Czech legend that St. Wenceslas' sword is hidden in the Charles Bridge until the hour of greatest need. Then, a child will be able to pull the sword from the bridge (ala King Arthur) and defeat the Czechs' foes.

After the boy dismounted, the crowd filed into the church for a special service. Just think, if I hadn't been coming home from the store right then, I might have missed the whole thing.