An evening in the "Cultural Capital"

A friend and I went to a concert in the Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Paul. It's one of those familiar buildings on Nevskii Prospect that you may have walked by several times, but never entered.

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Or you may have peeked inside, but did you continue up the winding staircase into the sanctuary?




During Soviet times, churches were remodeled to serve secular purposes. This one was a swimming pool, as is still evident from the bleachers. It was restored after the fall of the Soviet Union, and gets plenty of use as a church today. Some of my friends were married here.

Oh, and the concert. It featured a combination of brass and organ, with such composers as Bach, Stanley, Telemann, Pachelbel (you can guess which piece), and Vivaldi. Lots of old favorites.

The path of life

If the LORD delights in a man's way,
he makes his steps firm;

though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

-Ps. 37:23,24

Faux pas

Some of my Russian friends recently brought up the topic of reading your Bible in public transportation. Apparently, in Orthodox culture, it is frowned upon.

Various arguments:
-you are doing your spiritual works “before men” (as the Pharisees)
-you are not giving proper respect to the Word of God, by opening it in such a place
-you have clearly not set aside a separate time for reading and meditating on the Word, since you are reading in while in transit

I was a little surprised by the discussion, but I realized that Americans are very casual in general about such things. I never think twice about where I place my Bible, how I write in it, when/where I read it, etc. Obviously I think about what works the best for me, but it is rare that I consider how it looks to others or to someone from another culture. I was chastised once by a Russian friend for putting my Bible in the bag with my change of shoes on the home way from church. Oops! more/-

It’s possible that Russian Orthodoxy is closer to the Jewish culture in this regard. But in American Protestant churches, ritual purity is rarely observed.

I was riding in the metro recently and the man opposite me opened a book and was reading intently. As far as I could tell, it was a Muslim calendar or book of prayer. “That’s it,” I thought. “If the Muslims can do it, so can we.” And I decided that I was going to read my Bible after all. Why shouldn’t I use the time to receive a little edification?

Today I was reading 1 Timothy 4 and came across the following (verse 13): “Give attention to public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and reading.” AHA. I opened up my Russian Bible to the parallel verse, and found…it says only “reading.” According to Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon, “Anagnosis” does in fact mean public reading-but in the synagogue.

I am not sure what I learned from this little exploration, but at least I dusted off my Greek NT. :)

Otherwise occupied

I was going to write an interesting post today, but I had a visit from a friend who has been absent much too often lately! So I wouldn't have traded it for anything...


We are making a surprise for someone. Shhhh....

Russian language help

I was doing a search recently for something related to St. Petersburg, and ran across a Russian language podcast.

It features a 20-minute lesson with background, vocabulary explanation, and a short dialogue (transcript included).

The podcast host speaks real-l-ly slowly, but at least she's a native speaker and her intonation and pronunciation sound natural. If you are at an intermediate level in Russian, this is for you. The topics are practical and if you are disciplined enough to practice the vocabulary, you just might see some improvement!

Check out the site.

The wrong exam

I prepared for the wrong exam.

But to rewind a little bit...recently, I was thinking about how happy I am. I feel almost guilty about it. My life isn't perfect, but what do I have to complain about, really?

The funny thing is that nothing has happened the way I expected. I had imagined a different kind of life for myself. I went through life gathering little bits of wisdom for myself, intending them for a certain plan. It was a kind of American Dream...maybe not in the sense of wealth, but it still had the elements that young people often dream of.

And then I found myself in Russia and realized that the things that I had learned weren't necessarily helpful. more/-

In studying for exams, Russian students normally prepare answers for a number of topics, and then on exam day they choose a "ticket" containing the question that they will answer. It just so happens that I drew a ticket that wasn't on my list. In life, I mean. It's not that I want to exchange it, it's just that I got something I wasn't expecting. And I find myself pondering questions that I would have never thought would be relevant to my life.

I had to learn a new set of basic skills:

-how to dress warmly
-how to not be killed crossing the street
-how to find (and prepare) food
-how to greet people
-how to count change

And then of course there are the deeper questions, relating to the moral decisions, and the relationships, and everything that relates to the heart and spiritual matters.

But the nice thing is that God doesn't change, and if I can just lean on Him, I will hopefully be prepared for whatever comes along. :)

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. -Ps. 16:11

Beautiful fall

We had about 4 days of stupendous weather! I felt like I was in heaven. No, it wasn't warm (it is November, after all), but the sun was shining!

Active and Passive

This isn't a grammar lesson. It is, perhaps, a life lesson!

I was talking with a friend about ways to avoid depression. I know I've mentioned it before, but one of my methods is to write things down. It forces me to identify just what it is that's bothering me, and give it up to God. And of course I write letters to people, too. Or blog posts.

And then I asked my friend...You don't feel sad when you're in the midst of DOING something, do you? Talking to a friend, going to church...

No, she didn't.

Loneliness is certainly a part of the equation. But when I thought about how writing helps, I remembered my teacher-training, and the various skill areas that we talked about. +/-

-Writing and speaking are active skills.
-Reading and listening are passive (and here you could include watching TV, browsing the Internet, etc.), in that we receive input.

The passive skills are an important part of life. But let's be honest...they leave room for idleness. We can lose ourselves in a television program, and perhaps even forget about our problems for a short time. But in the end we have not done anything productive, and our problems are still there. When we receive helpful information, we have to do something with it in order for it to be effective.

Writing and speaking activities let us get those feelings OUT so they won't bother us anymore. This comes easier for some people than for others. :)

Have you ever noticed how staying busy helps you to flee from certain temptations? This is a part of perseverance, which is right and good. But if there is an ongoing problem, it should be addressed, as actively as possible!

That is all.