December 2005 —St. Petersburg, Russia   A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

(Click on St. Paul Photo Albums to see photos of the Camp’s work and life.  This month’s are here.  More info at the bottom of the page.)

 

ИМЯ—EEM-ya—name

John 14:13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

      This year New Year’s day falls on a Sunday.  It is an old Liturgical Church tradition that on New Year’s Day we celebrate the circumcision and naming of Jesus (8 days after Christmas which would have been in keeping with the Old Testament Jewish ceremonial law).  Jesus Name itself means “God Saves,” and this is a Name above all other names (Phil 2:9), so that who ever believes in His Name will be saved (Acts 4:10-12).  The Old Testament parallel passage to this one in Acts is in Joel 2:32—the Name of the LORD referred to is YHWH or Jehovah (“Je” being the shortened form from which Jesus’ name is derived).  Since there cannot be two names by which we are saved, we Christians see in these passages the Trinity and the equal Divinity of Jesus the Son. 

      In this age of ever encroaching political correctness which seeks to “peer pressure” and legally pressure Christians to dumb down their witness and forget their right to free speech, it is all the more important that we Christians remain in our prayers, in our songs, in our preaching, in our speech and in our lives Christ Centered.  For how can they know—those who do not believe—unless they are told?

      So we begin the New Year in THE NAME that saves us from sin, death and the power of the devil, the Name of Jesus our Lord and Savior.  More so, however, we pray in His Name.  Let us begin every day this coming year in His Name.

Kolpani

2 Chronicles 34:10 Then they put it in the hand of the foremen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD; and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the LORD, to repair and restore the house.

      Kolpani is an old Ingrian settlement outside of St. Petersburg.  Back at the turn of the century—not last century, or even the one before that, but right before 1800, the Tzar’s son was lost in the swamps in that area and saved by the local Lutheran villagers.   For their aid, the Tzar gave them permission to build a church—which they did out of local limestone blocks.  That church served that community until the communist oppression—most of the villagers were deported to Siberia and the church building was turned over to a local factory to be used as its heating and cooling plant.  In the 1970s many of the deportees began to return with their families, and in the early 90s, the re-established congregation received permission from the government and the local factory to use the old Sacristy of the church to hold services (a room about 60 square yards).  And thus the congregation has existed until now—the factory opening its gates on Sunday morning to let the parishioners in for worship.

      Last summer when I was planning work in this area with the district Probst (like district president) Pastor Arvo Soittu, I asked him if he didn’t want to get that building back completely.  He smiled and said, “Of course we would not refuse it, but I hope we do not get it back too soon, we cannot afford to fix it up and maintain it—just as we can not afford to lose it if it is offered. 

A little bit before Christmas his wishes and worries came true: the factory announced plans to build a new heating and cooling plant, and has offered to give the building back to the congregation.  On one hand, this is a great gift and blessing, but on the other, it puts an immediate financial burden on the congregation.  The law is this—when the government returns a building to a parish, the parish must then assume full maintenance for the building and restore the building back to its pre-communist state.  Of course, if the congregation refuses the building, then they forfeit all rights to use it. 

Last month Pastor Arvo Soittu called me and we arranged for me to come to Kolpani to present on stewardship.  So on the 11th of December via metro, bus and a hike through the snow, my wife and I went to Kolpani.  Due to the weather only part of the congregation was able to stay for the presentation, so the pastor (Arvo Soittu’s son, Alexander) asked if I can return to do the presentation again.

Reflecting on the Last Year

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The approach of the new year always gives us a chance to reflect on the last year.  God has blessed us this year, and for that we are most thankful—not only for the material blessings we have received, but for the blessings and gift of the ministry He has provided and the fruit of that ministry.  The stewardship seminars are progressing slowly but surely—and for the on the whole well received.  Since the best time to do them is Sunday morning during worship, Arvo Soittu suggested that when possible that I do my presentation during worship in place of the sermon—since it is mostly a Bible study.  Of course, it is twice the length of a usual Russian sermon (about an hour), but this would allow for the whole congregation to participate.

On the Pro-life front, we are still waiting for the remodeling to be finished in the central offices so we can set up our “pro-life” literature nook, but the delay is actually a blessing.  In handing out the literature at the pastoral seminar on bio-ethics, several pastors mentioned some translation quirks in some of the brochures, so we will edit these once more so they will be ready for distribution. 

English worship has also been a real blessing this year.  I have learned a lot from my “parishioners” and I think they have learned a lot from me.  As the “congregation” changes every year, this has also been a challenge, but a blessing as well, as there is always new people to get to know.   Leading the English worship has also kept me in place to help out at the Russian worship service at St. Michaels—I did two services in Advent, and am scheduled for January 1st (we will be holding a joint Russian/English service) and Epiphany.

Some other ministry opportunities might be opening up as well—which is a concern as to how to manage my time, especially since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to take some formal Russian lessons to hone my language skills.  For teaching at the congregation level and even at pastoral conferences, my language level is acceptable, especially since we Lutherans do understand grace and forgiveness.  For non-Christian academic and public forums, however, especially in St. Petersburg which pays very much attention to grammar and “literary” language, I need to hone my language skills if my words are to be at all respected. 

So again, I pray in His Name for the gift of tongues—Russian—so that the Good News of Salvation in His Name may be heard.

Prayer Requests

In his lectures on John 14: 12-14 Luther underlines the power of prayer and the necessity for Christians to pray—he says that it is as impossible to think of a Christian without prayer as it is to think of a living person without a pulse.  So this month, again, I ask for your fervent prayer on our behalf and on the behalf of the Church here—I also invite you to send us your prayer needs (and if you would like for us to include them in our weekly prayers during English worship, please say so).  Please pray for our kids school—lately there have been several serious injuries to students as a result of fights and “accidents” (which were a result of pushing and bumping).  Also pray for strengthening the marriage of Ira and Dima, for opening doors for more “congregational” seminars to strengthen the faith of the laity in our churches here (Pastor Alexander Schmidt has this idea of starting a congregational Bible school—and I think the time has come!), for strength of faith and guidance for Bishop Arre Kugappi, probsts Arvo Soittu, Sergei Tatarenko, Sergei Shannon and Daniil Sobolev;  a prayer of thanksgiving for the birth of a baby to pastor Albert and his wife Sasha in Irkutsk, pray for Daniil Sobolev and his wife Santa as they are expecting their first child, pray for the parish in Kolpani as they assume the responsibility for the building there, pray for that God grant me the energy to strive for the spiritual gift of tongues—in other words, that He help me find a good teacher and the time to study Russian, also pray for us as we begin the application process for a 5 year living permit (we now have a temporary living permit—the 5 year permit allows for more stability), say a prayer of thanksgiving for this last year of ministry and pray that God continue to bless and guide us in this next year. 

Family News

Karl and Nastya are on Christmas break—which in Russia is actually “New Year’s break” since that is the big holiday here.  In our Christmas card Karl and Nastya were dressed in costumes, this is the Russian New Year’s tradition and they had their “New Year’s” pageants at school (complete with New Year’s trees, grandfather frost—New Year’s version of Santa—and so forth).  Zhanya and I did the costumes and Zhanya was busy with both the school pageant (she is on the parents’ committee in both Karl and Nastya’s home rooms) and the Sunday school pageant (she organized materials and helped with the food end of things).  Zhanya has been busy gathering material for the pro-life nook and translating my sermons for me for the Russian services. 

An Old Joke:

Back in the days of Yeltsin and Clinton, the two presidents met in Washington.  After the official meetings the two wanted to go out and party, and Yeltsin asked, “but on what funds will we be able to enjoy ourselves?”  Clinton pointed to a bridge and said, “see that bridge?” Yeltsin answered, “yes.”  Clinton then said, “we budgeted 2 million for that bridge, but we saved half a million on its construction, so on that half-million, we can go and party.”  So they did.  A few months later the two met in Moscow.  And again after the official meetings they wanted to party.  This time Clinton asked, “but on what funds?”  Yeltsin pointed to the river and said, “see that bridge?”  Clinton said, “no.”  Yeltsin then said, “on that money we can go and party.”

 

Jesus! Name of priceless worth to the fallen sons of earth

For the promise that it gave, Jesus shall His people Save

 

Jesus! Only Name that’s given under all the mighty heaven

Whereby man, to sin enslaved, bursts his fetters and is saved.

 

TLH #114 verses 3 and 5

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

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Click on St. Paul Photo Albums to see photos of the Camp’s work and life.  This month’s are here and descriptions are below:

 

Pictures:

·         eKoltOrd--Nov 29 through Dec 2 LCMS World Mission and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia hosted an ablaze/mission seminar.  LCMSmission coordinator Brent Smith presented on Ablaze for the Russians, then there were some group activities and so forth.  The Ingrian Missionary committee asked that I coordinate one group discussion on stewardship and mission.  At the end of the seminar there was an ordination service--this is a picture of all the pastors that stayed for that (you can make me out standing behind the bishop in his full regalia--he told us to take a picture because he rarely gets all dressed up in all his robes.

·         eKoltPL--as part of the seminar I was allowed a short presentation on the Pro-life initiative and to distribute literature.  Here a pastor is picking up some of the brochures.  Several pastors at the conference have offered to help edit the brochures and possibly gather new material.

·         estewardshpkolpani--my presenting on stewardship.  I have now included power point in my presentation, some pictures but also all the Bible texts so that the people can read them for themselves.

·         eStMaryChristmas1--each year the Ingrian Missionary committee hosts a Christmas pageant at St. Mary's Church in St. Petersburg.  I was asked to help with some technical support this year--projecting some appropriate images during one of the musical numbers.  Over 350 people attended, many not Lutheran.

·         eStMaryChristmas2--Karl came along to help me set up the projector and so forth.  Not all mission work is "in front"--in fact, much is simply support and behind the scenes.

·         eyStMikesSSfeast--Zhanya getting the kids settled down to have their Christmas treats after Russian Christmas service.  Zhanya's contribution was gathering the appropriate Christmas poems for the Children to recite for the Christmas service.

·         eKolpani and ekolpanipipes--these are two pictures of the Kolpani factory heating plant from my archives

 

 

CONTACT ADDRESSES Feedback, questions, whatever are most welcome.

Our Russian home address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp

18 line V. O. dom 43 Kv. 7

St. Petersburg, Russia, 199178

 

Stateside contact address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp,

C/O Marli Camp

902 N. 12th

Melrose Park, IL, 60160

Russian Lutheran Church Address:

Ev. Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia

Bolshaya Konyushennaya dom 8

St. Peterburg, Russia, 191186

 

Telephone: after getting an international line by dialing 011, dial 7- 812 (our area code) 321-1508(our phone number)

Note—Between St. Petersburg and central US time, the difference is 9 hours.  Stateside contact telephone: 708-344-4472

 

E-MAIL:  lzkcamp(at symbol)mail.ru & leif.camp(at symbol)elci.ru.  Prolife web site with Russian materials you can down load: prolife.elci.ru.  Other websites: Lisa Stapp has set up a website which has some of our last newsletters (with their cover letters and pictures):  http://www.worthywomanpage.com/camp/index.html.  Also my mother's home congregation has our newsletters--the latest can be downloaded from: http://www.stpaulmp.org/camp/  a second site archives our past newsletters since 2002 http://www.stpaulmp.org/archives/ .   Please feel free to share this newsletter with your Church, friends, or enemies if it might help (just please do not quote things out of context or edit my words in such a way as to change their intent).  If you would like to receive a copy via e-mail, simply email me directly and ask!

 

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