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ОТПУСТИТЬ—aht-pooh-STEET—to let go, forgive

Matthew 18:15 " Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

I chose this month’s word because it is a key word in our translation of “Go Down Moses”—as in “let my people go.” I make much use of that song in evangelism, so it was part of the program for the English language camp we held in Viborg, a border town west of St. Petersburg and home of a Lutheran Congregation already in the 1550s (when the territory was part of Sweden, which is was until Peter the Great liberated it in the 1700s). The song is one of freedom, and shows the parallel between the physical slavery of Israel and our spiritual slavery to Sin, death and the devil. The closing celebration of the English camp (to which the children’s parents and unchurched friends were invited) happened to also coincide with Russian Independence day June 12, so singing a song of being made free was most appropriate, and it also gave a great opportunity to witness to the Gospel (as explaining the history of that song as a Spiritual written by American slaves who saw their lives in parallel to the Exodus story in the Bible segues very naturally into a discussion of our slavery to sin and Jesus as our Savior).

This Russian word also has liturgical significance as the same root is used to mean “absolution,” as in “confession and absolution.” When we confess our sins we give them to God, and He lets them go—we are forgiven—which means we are now freefrom those sins. When sins burden us, when our self-esteem suffers from guilt and shame which is a result of our sinful choices. God calls us to healing through a very simple process—repentance of our sins, confession, and the clear announcement of His forgiveness of those sins.

I have often wondered why God asks us to confess—He already knows my sins, so why do I need to tell Him what He already knows? Still, He clearly calls us to confess to Him. Simply read through the Old Testament and we see how God time and time again calls out to His people Israel to repent, to return to Him. Israel is likened to His bride, and it is as if He sends the prophets as love letters, begging them to repent and return, yet they do not listen. Ultimately, of course, when Israel doesn’t repent, there are consequences—consequences that God time and time again warns and begs His people, His beloved bride, to avoid by simply humbling themselves, returning to Him with their hearts and repenting (remember the “Prodigal Son”).

If this is the model God shows us in His word, then His calling us, begging us, in fact, to repent and confess, has to do with building and restoring our relationship with Him—our relationship with Him and then our relationship to others.

I remember back in college taking a course on “Interpersonal Communications”—one of those boring gen-ed requirements—and learning that the basic way to build a relationship, to build trust between two people, was to take risks in opening up. To admit our sins and confess is risk, at least in our minds, even though we know in our heads that God has promised to forgive us. Still, as far as our relationship to Him, by confessing, we are taking a step in trust, we are opening up our hearts, exposing our shameful acts, acknowledging our responsibility (instead of blaming others), and coming to God humbly. When we are then forgiven, our trust grows, and our faith in His love grows. Confession is for us more than for God, so we can hear of God’s freeing grace and love.

As far as our relationships to others, this model can also heal our broken earthly relationships. When we have sinned against another person, we may be ashamed, we begin to find ways to justify our behavior, avoid taking responsibility, shifting blame, etc., and we become slaves to shame, imprisoned in guilt—thus eroding our self-esteem and destroying our relationships. When, however, we face ourselves, take responsibility, and confess our sin to the person we have offended, although we risk rejection, we also “risk” receiving that person’s forgiveness. If that person does forgive us, our relationship is restored. Risky, yes, but it is the only way to heal our relationship with God and each other—the truth setting us free.

As Christians, then, we can see this principle of “confession and absolution” operating in three ways: that we confess and receive forgiveness from God; that we confess to those we have offended, asking for their forgiveness, and that when people have offended us, we forgive them as freely as God forgives us. I dare you: find someone against whom you have sinned, someone with whom you share a broken relationship—take a bold, yet humble step: ask forgiveness (specifically and concretely for the wrong you have done). If they refuse to forgive you, forgive them, and know that God your Father is pleased. If they do forgive you, you have gained a brother or sister (sort of being on the other side of Matthew 18:15).

Jesus Christ truly came to free us from our slavery to sin, and not to make us slaves to some new law, but rather to make us children and heirs to His Father’s kingdom. This is true freedom—not only from our sins, but freedom from guilt and shame in this life and freedom to live eternally! His forgiving us is the center of the Gospel, and living it is central to our response to His great gift. People need to hear this Good News—especially those outside the Church—but also many within the Church. Jesus has come and LET us sinners GO; He has freed us and all people. Those who are still enslaved need to hear the greatest emancipation proclamation of them all: Jesus Christ has come, taken our sins on Himself, paid our debt, so the devil must LET US GO so we are free to live as God’s children—free NOW in this life, and free to live eternally!

A Bit of Lutheran History in Viborg

Acts 2:8 "And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?

As we were holding English language camp, I noticed a crew of workers feverishly putting up a monument next to the church—a monument to Michael Agricola, the same Agricola who was a student of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon (not to be confused with either John or Stephen Agricola). Michael first studied in Viborg (which at the time was part of Sweden) before going to Wittenburg to study. After studying in Wittenburg, he returned to Sweden and was sent to Russia as the ambassador to Ivan the Terrible. During this time—and I didn’t get all the chronology—Michael Agricola transposed spoken Finnish into a written language. It is his linguistic work that has earned him the current monument in Viborg—but what was the purpose of his encoding the spoken Finnish language into a written alphabet? The purpose of all our work as Christians—as a means to further the cause of the Gospel, for as soon as he had created the written language, he translated the New Testament into the Finnish language (translation in to the vernacular is, after all, a well established Lutheran tradition)

Prayer Requests

Pray for all the Gospel seeds planted this month through the team that came from St. John’s in Viborg and those planted by the EEMN team that held camps in Petrozavodsk. Pray for the Russian team’s follow-up, watering and harvesting those seeds planted. Pray for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria and her partners as they continue to spread the Gospel in Russia. Pray for the financial needs of the Church here. Pray for the up-coming annual men in mission camp (to be held July 17-19). Continue to pray for my family, and pray for all those considering mission service.

St.John’s English Camp

A group of seven volunteer English teachers, several of whom had no previous teaching experience, accepted God’s call, and in trust traveled to Viborg to hook up directly with the Lutheran congregation there. A team in from that congregation did all the arranging with a local school and did all the advertising, and later partnered up with the American team for help in translating and keeping good order in the class. Over 45 students, ranging from 7 years to 20 attended. The camp was structured so that as part of the study, each class would learn a skit to present as part of a final program held at the local Lutheran church to which parents and friends (and as I also reminded—enemies) could be invited. The program began with some singing, then the skits, and then singing “Let My People Go” in both Russian and English (which necessitated a serious Gospel presentation couched in a history lesson). Many parents attended. This camp has already born some fruit—one of the US team members is a scout leader, and we have already discussed doing such an evangelism camp with the Russian scouts. The Viborg congregation is also very excited about the possibility of continuing such camps as a yearly evangelism event, and the local people were favorably impressed. If any congregation is interested in organizing a short term group, I would be happy to help (I also know that LCMS World Mission is organizing a small group to go to Koltushe and EEMN does several camps—so there are those opportunities as well for anyone interested).

Nastya’s quote of the month:

So we were hiking around Viborg in one of the parks—rounded granite bluffs and rocks. I thought I would take a short cut, and then saw another possibility. I said, “look, another short cut.” Nastya looked and saw how the path led right of the edge of a bluff and quipped, “Daddy, that looks more like a short cut to God.”

Now Let us all sin’s bondage flee (let my people go)

And let us all in Christ be free (let my people go)

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

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Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the Camp’s work and life. These photos will not remain here indefinitely as Flickr is no longer a free service for me. The most recent 200 St. Paul photos will be displayed. -LW.

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. 12^th

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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