St. Pancras News
January
Dashing Through the Snow
For the whole five months that I have worked in London, I have not had yet a serious amout of time off. This all changed when my friend Maren (another ELCA volunteer) and me went to Austria for a skiing holiday. Our first three nights were spent in the town of Feldkirch, just a little ways from the German-Austrian border. We stayed in a hostel that was originally built in the 1200's and was used as the primary hostel for people with disease and the Black Plague (in the 14th century). Although the history of the building is not one of roses and rainbows, it was a wonderful place to stay with a lot of character that one should expect from a building of such age. It was also filled with some very interesting people whom Maren and I both had the chance to meet.
One person in particular whom we met the first night we were in Feldkirch was named Mike. Mike was about our age and was originally from Vienna, Austria. He described himself as originally an atheist, but had an "enlightenment" (as he said) a couple years ago with faith. He was in the midst of a pilgrimage from Vienna to Portugal and was very interested in both Maren and my work in England. Due to his relatively broken English, it was hard to communicate fully with him and I wasn't able to ask him more questions on his own faith journey. However, we still were able to exchange a wonderful assortment of laughs and stories of our experiences thus far. Mike remained with us for much of the next day as we explored together the sites and sounds of Feldkirch. After our wonderful day exploring, Mike wished us well and hopped on a train heading west not knowing exactly where he was going to end up that night. I admired his "off-the-cuff" spirit and openness to new things. His friendly smile and choice of living his faith through travel and adventure really struck me and warmed my heart. I wish Mike well and God's love in the rest of his travels.
After our few days in Feldkirch, we headed up into the mountains by train to the ski village of St. Anton. The village was something from a movie with spectacular Austrian architecture, incredible mountains, and 4ft of snow! We met James, the cousin to Maren's Host Father, who showed us around and made sure that we were settled in with everything. James is a chef who works at one of the restaurants at the top of Galzig Peak (one of the many in the resort). He is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland and came to St. Anton four years ago knowing almost no German. In that time, he not only has made a home here with his girlfriend, but has really become accepted by the local people.
Like a true Irishman, James started a tradition of having drinks with anyone who wanted to join after his long day of work. Thus, almost every day after the restaurant closes up, all the employees ride the cable car down to the village. They then all gather together at one local bar (or "lokal" as the Austrians call it) for a time of drinks and laughs. I was invited to a couple of these events and was amazed at the spirit of the place. I met many new people who all greeted me whether they spoke English or not. It was truly a community that was proud of their surroundings and welcomed anyone to participate in this sense of spirit.
Death of a True and Faithful Servant
A little while ago, I was doing some work in my room when an emotional Owen (the other pastoral assistant) knocked on the door. He told me that Francis, an 84 year old man who had dedicated his life to various functions in our church died at his home. Owen, in fact, was the first one to hear the news as the police who discovered the body finally came to the church because they could find no reference to any other family member. "That just explains how much the church was actually the only family left for him", Owen explained. Owen and I both remember fondly the first time we met Francis- an old, bent over man with a cane, a thick Cockney accent, and an incredible spirit. He came up to both of us new pastoral assistants, gave us both a huge hug and kiss on the top of our heads and exclaimed, " The Fathers told me that you were coming and to take care of you! So that is what I am going to do!" Throughout this time, Francis has taken care of both of us in many ways. The loss of Francis will reverberate throughout all of our four churches this week. We all will miss him greatly.
Conference in Wales
I went to a Time For God Conference (the organization that the Lutheran Church in the United States works with to place us in the UK) in Wales two weeks ago with 120 other volunteers placed all over the British Isles. It was a wonderful experience to feel the diversity of culture and expression within the group of people. We had a lot of time to sit and talk with one another and about our placements. We shared stories of struggle and stories of hope. Perhaps the highlight of the conferences was the talent show where it became quickly apparent on how many cultures and traditions were represented. We saw American Swing Dancing, Swedish Folktales, Hungarian and German traditional dances, Korean worship practices, and a Scottish diction lesson. I felt extremely blessed to be a part of this amazing group of people from all over the world.
In all the unpredictability that is happening in this world right now, this group reinforced for me the hope that cultures can come together and associate with one another. Not only can this be seen as a hope for the future, but also as a passion of mine. We all need more experiences like this to break out of our cultural boxes and realize that there is a larger world out there. By the grace of God, I truly hope and pray that our generation can see one another not as people of different cultures and race, but as human beings- all created by our Lord and maker.
Please check out my BLOG if you haven't already at: http://godandqueen.blogspot.com/
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