Ukrainian Church Service

In 1992, I preached in a Church in Chernovski, Ukraine.  The church had Russian, Ukrainian, and Romanian ethnic members who got along just fine.  That’s just what Christians do.  They were all brothers and sisters.  As I preached, on one side was a Russian translator, in the middle was a Ukrainian translator, and on the other side was a Romanian translator.  I focused on what I was saying, and let the translators do their work.  I went to the Restroom (outhouse) after church to find no toilet paper.  Twenty squares of notebook paper were nailed to the wall.  But Granny Whitely had an outhouse in West Virginia, so I knew how to function.  I rolled a sheet of paper between both hands until it became soft and pliable.  No problem.  In the church vestibule was a clean bucket of drinking water with a dipper.  Great-Granny Epperly had a spring, and again, I knew what to do.  I got a full dipper of water, took a drink, swirled the rest of the water in the dipper and threw it out.  The dipper was “sanitized”.  Sort of.  That afternoon, I strolled around the church building and noticed the “hymnals” in the choir loft.  They were composition notebooks with the words of the songs meticulously handwritten.  That afternoon, we had the second service.  Since most folk had to walk a long distance to church, they were in no hurry to leave.  We sang every verse of each song savoring each note, and no one worried that the preacher went too long.  They enjoyed church and community.  I knew some of the songs in English (“How Great Thou Art”) and they enjoyed hearing me sing in English along with them.  Although there was a language barrier, we had sweet fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ.  My prayer for the church in the Ukraine is for all of us too: Paul said in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”  Pray for brothers and sisters in Ukraine.