A Slight Taste of Pentecost

We had the privilege of worshiping with two congregations today: the International Church at 11am and then the Turkish Church at 1pm. I couldn't help but hear and feel the echo of Pentecost, when many different people heard "the works of God" being told in their own language. By the end of the second service, we had heard a German pastor pray over the children (in German), a Russian pastor preach the sermon (in adequate English with a decidedly Russian accent), an American Pastor (in English) dedicate a Ugandan baby (who undoubtedly cooed in Swahili), a Turkish young man lead the worship in Turkish, another American paster (me) preach (in English), and a Swiss pastor translate it into Turkish. At one point, I was even informed by one of the Turkish church members that my English was not English English, but American English. And I loved it all.

In the International service, all the songs and hymns were sung in English - I knew what I was saying when I worshiped. In the Turkish service, all the songs were in Turkish. I didn't know what I was saying (though I could pick out certain words) but still, I felt like as I was worshiping as I sang along with them. I felt enlarged as a believer in experiencing such a sense of connection and identity with the body of Christ - so far from home...far from my own culture...and so much a part of the universal Church that is the fruit of Christ's Great Commission to go into all the world.

I felt a great responsibility preaching before the Turkish Christians. I know their lives and the challenges of their faith have both a great similarity to mine...and a profound dissimilarity. How would my words be received? I could only do my best to preach the Word as it is - the Word of God - and trust that it is sufficient in itself to touch people's hearts...and trust that the Holy Spirit would do His job. I preached on the story of Jesus turning the water into wine, a sermon I had previously preached in my own church as part of my preaching through the gospel of John. I shortened it and recast many of the sentences and phrases to make it more translate-able. I enjoyed trying to make the story come alive for them, and I was grateful for the response, both as I was preaching and afterward.

Following worship we went to lunch at Pasa Bey with some members from the Turkish church. We had a good time, which resulted in a very good time for everyone, when Ron interpreted my comment to pay for "all of us" (meaning him, Peggy and I) to mean EVERYONE at the table! They were pleasantly surprised and grateful for the gift...only now we have to hope we didn't set a precedent! :)

One point I made in the sermon about the servants filling up the jars with WATER...and drawing the WATER from the jars...and taking the WATER to the master of the feast - was that they must have felt ridiculous doing it since they were supposedly trying to solve the problem that the wedding guests were in need of wine, not water. How surprised they must have been when by the time the water got to the master of the feast, it had become WINE. Then I quoted from an Anglican bishop these words about this story, "Duties are ours. Events are God's," and then applied it to our lives saying, "Our job is to fill the water pots; God's job is to make the wine." I didn't say this in the sermon, but I was struck in my preparation that this story is our story here in Turkey: In coming to Turkey we are filling the water pot; while we are here we are trusting God to make the wine. And I guess if I'm honest, my prayer is that Jesus does what he did at Cana - he makes some really good wine!

Faithfully,

Charlie