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Russia Travel/Study Seminar Trip Reports |
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Faith Walk
by Gary Payton
Note: This reflection on the anniversaries of terrorist attacks was written
as part of the covenant made by the participants in the travel study seminar.
You and I are in the season of anniversaries of terrorist
attacks. Five years since 9/11 — attacks killing more than 3,200 people from
90 countries in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Two years since Beslan,
Russia — attacks killing more than 340 people including 186 children.
Newsmagazines, television, newspapers, even the theater box office, bring us
the images and rekindle emotions once again.
It is right for us to remember. It is right for us to grieve. And, it is also
right to reflect on what motivates our personal responses today as the anniversaries
and memorial services unfold. [Read more] |
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August 11, 2006
Our travel study seminar on "Terrorism in the
World Today: the Response of the Church and the State" formally ended Thursday
evening with a farewell picnic that blended the best of Russian and American
traditions. We shared music and song. We shared soccer, badminton, and volleyball.
And, we shared Russian "shashliki" or
kebobs and American "s'mores." (Getting the marshmallows, graham crackers,
and chocolate bars to the other side of the planet was a feat in itself!) But
before we said our "good-byes" we had two final days of discussion
and reflection together.
Wednesday, our group focused on the short novel Hadji
Murat by Leo Tolstoy. The novel, written between 1896 and 1904, tells the
tale of a Chechen warrior caught between the clash of an expanding Russian empire
and his Islamic traditions nurtured in the mountains of the North Caucasus. Hadji
Murat is the story of two peoples who talk past each other, who cannot
find common ground to live peaceably, and whose lives are caught up in a spiral
of ever escalating violence. This hundred-year-old novel speaks to us today of
the price of empire and the clash of peoples when religious extremists hold sway.
Our
conversation continued with Brandon Hunt's presentation on "State-Sponsored
Terrorism and State Terrorism." This controversial topic moved us beyond
conversation about 9/11 and Beslan and moved us into the emotional area of violence
wrought by governments or government proxies in our names. Where do such actions
as the fire bombing of Dresden, the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
or the military actions of Russian contract "soldiers" in Chechnya
fall in today's understanding of terrorism?
Our seminar ended Thursday morning
with a discussion of the covenant we had each entered into with each other. As
with so many cross cultural groups brought together in travel study seminars,
we will work hard to stay connected and to tell our stories in both Russia and
America. Our last session concluded with lifting up the final paragraph of the
2004 General Assembly resolution on Violence, Religion, and Terrorism:
"...in dealing with terrorism there is a need for a heroism of patience
that is just as demanding as a heroism of action, for a prudence of steadfastness
that is just as important as the pursuit of expedient strategies, for a willingness
to approach others in trust that is at least as important as the need to defend
one's self. We are called to a discipleship that trusts God even more than to
exercise a shrewdness that is founded only on what seems humanly prudent."
May
the Peace of Christ be with you,
Gary Payton |
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August 8, 2006
Participants in the travel study seminar from the United States and from Russia engage in a discussion of terrorism. Photo by Kurt Esslinger. Our time in Russia is drawing to a close. Monday, our seminar included three
very important sessions, perhaps the most important of our time together. We
heard a presentation from our Russian colleague, Alexander, on Christianity,
Islam and Terrorism. Our afternoon sessions included two presentations on the
PC(USA) resolution
of 2004 on Violence, Religion, and Terrorism (Gary) followed
by a presentation by our host, Marina Shishova, on the Russian Orthodox social
policy and a June 2006 statement on terrorism by an international, interfaith
gathering of religious leaders in Moscow. The PC(USA) presentation included a
video on our Interfaith Listening project.
Throughout, the pronouncements on terror ran parallel. The gravity of terror
was brought home dramatically with a Russian video on Chechnya and the heroic
efforts of one priest, Father Anatoli, in particular.
Today (Tuesday), we changed the pace for the entire seminar by touring the
Museum of the Siege of Leningrad and the historic palace and grounds of Peter
the Great, Peterhof. The violence of war cannot be made clearer than through
a visit to the museum remembering the 900-day siege from 1941 to 1944. We each
departed thinking of Israel/Lebanon and Iraq and the plight of innocents in time
of war.
We have become close friends with our Russian Orthodox partners. Sharing meals,
talking together, playing with and holding the six-month-old son of two of our
participants, have all served to build bridges and create understanding.
As I tell all the groups which visit, "No, we are not all alike. But
we share many, many things together each as children of God." Russia has
been shaped by historical and cultural forces that are very different from American.
Wisdom comes when we know these things and still seek the common humanity we
do share.
Yours in Christ,
Gary
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August 5, 2006
We have completed two full days of our seminar here in St. Petersburg. Our
Russian young adult partners are a fine and engaged group: a young adult deacon
in the Old Believer's Orthodox Church, his wife; a nationally known singer who
is a psychologist; a psychologist student in university, and a young man who
aspires to be a priest. We are led ably by our PC(USA) partners at the Interchurch
Partnership, Father Vladimir Federov, Marina Shishova, and Yaroslav Morozov (the
young deacon).
Our ice breakers on the first day were very interesting.
After exchaning brief bio information and pictures, we talked about "Russian Stereotypes of Americans" and "American
Stereotypes of Russians." A very good exercise. We have continued this
Saturday with reports and conversation on the history of terrorism in Russia
and in the United States. We concluded with a wide-ranging discussion of the
definition of terrorism, guided by the 2004
GA resolution on Violence, Religion, and Terrorism — made available in Russian
and in English.
Yesterday, we began our time together with a reading of a Psalm of assurance.
Today, fitting the topic, we moved into a reading of a Psalm of lament. It set
the move to discuss terror, but to be lifted up in the love of God in the final
verses.
Tomorrow, we worship in a Russian Orthodox Church with
the liturgy led by our friend Father Vladimir. Then, we visit the Leyse Peace
Park, a place where the artifacts of the 900 day siege of Leningrad in World
War II are still being unearthed: helmets, bayonets, shells, and bones. It will
be a very sobering visit. We conclude our evening at the home of Garth and Lyuda
Moller, mission coworkers here in Peter whose ministry is a Christian School,
grades K to 11 — the
full school program in Russia.
Thank you for your prayers. Lives are being changed in this seminar and understanding
increased daily.
Yours in Christ,
Gary |
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Exploring the Impact of Terror • August 4, 2006
We arrived safely this morning in St. Petersburg. Our last day in Moscow was
full and important. We visited the terrorist attack sites at the Nord Ost Theater
and the Puskinskaya metro station. Our afternoon included an important 2 hour
conversation about Beslan with Baptist, Orthodox, Anglican and Presbyterian participants.
Today, we arrived in St. Petersburg and have been warmly greeted by our Interchurch
Partnership partners. Our morning included an introduction to the Partnership.
And, this afternoon we have been introducing ourselves and our work. Tonight,
we have a big dinner — 10 people, Russians and Americans.
We are off to a very
good start. More soon.
In Christ,
Gary Payton |
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Arrival in Moscow • August 2, 2006
We arrived safely in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon after an
uneventful, long flight from Chicago and Frankfurt. Checked into our Hotel Warsaw
in downtown Moscow, showered, and headed out to explore the Arbat section of
the city. We really wanted to stay awake and the best way was to stroll. We enjoyed
a dinner in a shaskik restaurant specializing in Caucasus/Central Asian food.
Our highlights were an evening of ice cream and conversation with Ellen Smith,
a PC(USA) mission coworker here in Moscow. She planted many seeds among the group
for future work with children in orphanages or children with Downes. We concluded
the evening with a quiet Lexio reflection on a psalm and on our upcoming encounter
with the violence of terrorism.
Today is a day of simple orientation and of adjusting our body clocks from
the 11-hour time difference from the west coast. We will visit the Kremlin to
understand Russian power, the relationship of church and state under the czars,
and then spend time at Christ the Savior cathedral of the Orthodox Church. Our
evening will conclude with dinner with a young Russian woman who is studying
at a theological institute and who is deeply involved in the humanitarian work
of Sant Egidio, an ecumenical peace community of the Catholic Church, but with
chapters worldwide. We will end our day with a Lexio on Beslan and a psalm of
lament.
We are well. Temps are good in the 70s. And, we are filled with energy and
a wonderful cooperative spirit.
Reporting for our Travel Study Seminar.
Yours in Christ,
Gary Payton |
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