Recently we all were shocked with the tragedy happened to the Polish people with the Polish president and many other high officials dying in a plane crash in Russia. As often is the case, the news value is over, and the world turns to different matters. Still I would like to share with you a message I received from a dear colleague and friend of mine from Poland. I am very deeply touched by what he wrote and would like to share it with you. I would like to ask you to continue to keep the Polish people in your prayers!
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.nl/dvdweerd/GreetingsFromPoland?authkey=Gv1sRgCKe_gae1gfaKTA&feat=directlink
Dr. Wojciech Szczerba [mailto:w.szczerba@ewst.pl] writes (27/4/2010):
Dear Friends,
I do hope you are all doing fine. We pray that our Good Father blesses you in every possible way in you/our pilgrimage to him. In the last days in Poland we practically discovered (again) that difficult experiences may very well serve to help us to perceive reality from different than normally perspective, more spiritual one. No matter how skeptical and how rational we are in our perception of the world, when we encounter things inevitable, so much greater than what we are, think of, dream of and plan, we – just naturally – fall to our knees. What else can we do? Where else can we find help? These experiences serve somehow as a mirror of what we truly are. Not necessarily the strongest ones, not necessarily the brightest ones, so fragile and perishable …yet we are loved by Him. What a mystery!
The last few weeks were truly surreal in Poland, almost like a sequel to the Job story. As the Evangelical School of Theology we had such great expectations as to the Festival of Protestant Culture. We had spent months on planning, inviting, organizing, writing proposals, printing materials, etc. We were able to invite all the important Protestant communities in the area to organize and participate in the Festival. For the first time ever here Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists and Free Evangelicals worked closely together on something that they all claimed to be their baby. True ecumenical work. The Mayor, General Consul of Germany, Lower Silesia Governor took patronage over the Festival. Media wanted to participate in and record the event. The exhibition of Wroclaw’s Protestantism was supposed to be on the Rynek (Downtown) a week before and week after the Festival. That was our dream and – as we thought – nothing would thwart our plans. Just waiting for the success remained…
Well, the reality was much more cruel. Two weeks prior to the Festival the Presidential plane crushed in Russia near to the place where 70 years earlier more than 20.000 Polish officers were executed by the Soviets. 10 April 2010 almost 100 key people for our country died in a few seconds. Instead of the joy of coming Spring, the whole country sunk in grief. The reality froze for a moment. One week of mourning was declared by the Parliament. All the cultural event were cancelled. Our Festival was planned one week after the end of the mourning period, but it was obvious that there was no sense to go on with our Protestant events. It was clear that it would take long time to identify all the bodies and then funerals will follow. Few of the politicians were from our city, very popular here. We knew that there would be special celebrations for them. Our plans crashed together with the plane…
In this context we decided to call off the Festival of Protestant Culture. We were afraid that otherwise we, as Protestants would be the only group celebrating something in the whole country. It would not be the best testimony. Instead we thought we still could organize an ecumenical, mournful service and a concert with a reflection on reconciliation. At least we could do that much to show our grief, willingness to serve and prayers. We waited for our international, invited earlier, guests to show broader scope of the care for our nation.
…and then volcano erupted. All the flights across Europe were cancelled instantly. Our plans failed again at least when it came to our special guests from abroad. With all the posters, fliers, phone calls and the whole promotional action done in an extremely difficult environment we thought what now we could possibly do. Cancel everything? Well, we decided to go on with our plans. We modified a bit the service and asked this time a director of “Krzyzowa foundation” (http://www.krzyzowa.org.pl//index.php?lang=en_EN) to lecture on Polish-German relationship. We found beautiful poems of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that would suit the atmosphere and asked our musician friends to play German baroque music (Telemann, Bach, Schutz). Again, with all the hard work done within a few days everything seemed again to be well planned… well in the context.
…and then the Lutheran Bishop from Warsaw was killed in a car accident. A key figure, next to the newly chosen leader of the Lutheran Church in Poland, probably the most respected one in the country at the moment. He was driving back home from the main memorial service in Warsaw. Was hit by the car driven by a drunk person. Died on the spot. It was a real shock for the Lutherans and other protestants in the country. One of the key Lutherans was killed in a plane crash, the other in a car accident while going back home from the service organized to commemorate the tragedy. What was even worse, the funerals now were planned exactly when we planned our two events. At this point it really seemed to us like a Job story. Regardless of our hermeneutics it was difficult not to ask questions: what does it mean? What should we learn? What would be next? In this surreal context we could not help it. Should we call off everything? We prayed, we talked to people, we thought of the situation in the country… and we thought that still a voice of Protestants was really needed then. A voice that would show our tears, our pain with the rest of the country but at the same time our hope in the Almighty… Good Father.
So, we invited pastors, priests, leaders from various churches, officials, Presidents of Universities, politicians and everybody else. We just wanted to be together, pray together, think of the situation and refer in our grief to God. Together. About three hundred people came for the service, including Catholic cardinal, Easter-orthodox priests, various pastors, Muslim Imam, vice-Mayor of Wroclaw, Presidents of various universities, officials etc. The service went great. It was like a beautiful song to God, like our offering to him, showing our unity and our hope in Christ. The Lutheran Bishop preached on theodicy, the Free Evangelicals sung and I had a speech on the Bonhoeffer’s quotation “Nothing is worth living except love”. With pictures of those who were killed, short testimonies of their friends, beautiful music… I could not think of anything more wonderful at that time. Please, take a look at the attached pictures.
Then there was the concert at our school in the exact day when the funeral of the bishop was planned in Warsaw. We knew that the Wroclaw’s bishop with others had to go there, so we were not sure how many people would show up. We just waited and thought that any number would be fine. Well, the whole chapel was full. Our students, invited guests, people just interested, …so many of them came. We were all amazed. The title of the event was a controversial thesis of Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Not the other world but this one counts” and it suited the context perfectly. I could reflect on philosophical and theological foundations on reconciliation and explain Bonhoeffer’s idea of the “non’religious” Christianity. Then the Director of the “Krzyzowa Foundation” gave a beautiful and touching lecture on Polish-German reconciliation process since the fall of communism. Finally we could listen to Bonhoeffer’s poetry and the music… ah the music! Heaven! Candles, beautiful flowers, two sopranos, fiddle and positive organs. Amazing! For a while we could just forget all the tragedy around and sink in the poetry and music. If only the moment could last!
The last three weeks in Poland… what a difficult time! Like in a bad dream. Like in a surreal movie. We tried to do our best in this difficult context. We tried to be best possible witnesses of hope. Even if there are no immediate answers to questions, tears and grief. There is still hope.
Now it seems that the country is slowly waking up. Almost all the funerals are already behind us. The investigation is still in process. The election of the president of the country is coming soon. The politicians who are gone are already replaced by the new ones.
A tragedy happened. We remember it and we try to learn from it. But we have to go on in our pilgrimage. As faithful as possible. Now – at least for the moment – realizing better that our strivings here may end any time.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Thank you for being with us in this difficult moments. We thank God for all of you.
Yours in Christ,
Wojciech Szczerba
Tienduizenden mensen vieren val van Muur
