Who is your neighbor--and fellow citizen?

This is an on-going debate, both in North America and in Europe. Take, for instance, the situation of Romany in Hungary. The European Roma Rights Center published the following 10 FACTS ABOUT HUNGARIAN ROMA to remind everyone that Hungarian Roma are an integral part of Hungarian society. As you read, think about your own (long-term) neighbors.

Roma have been living as part of Hungarian society since the 14th century. Today approximately 750,000 Roma live in Hungary. That is 7.49 % of the population. All Hungarian Roma speak Hungarian and only 17% of them speak Hungarian as a second language. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49 the Roma sided with the Hungarian cause, and many repaired weapons or worked as cannon-casters or camp musicians who assisted the county-level recruitment campaigns. Numerous Hungarian Roma participated in the Revolution of 1956. One of them was Ilona Szabó, who was shot dead at the age of 17 by Soviet forces. Regardless of the shared history and shared struggles Roma in Hungary face neglect, discrimination and oppression. Thousands of Hungarian Roma were killed for being Roma during the Holocaust. Later the Roma worked largely in sectors which went bankrupt after the democratic transition of Hungary in 1990 (mining, heavy industry) and they have not yet recovered: today, only 26% of working-age Roma are employed. The areas where Hungarian Roma live are mainly disadvantaged areas and small villages where there are no job opportunities. The average life expectancy for Roma in Hungary is ten to twelve years less than for non-Roma. Between July 2008 and August 2009, six Romani people, among them a 5 year-old child, were killed, and 55 others injured, in a string of racist attacks in rural Hungarian villages. The openly anti-Roma radical right-wing populist party Jobbik secured 20.54% of the votes during the Parliamentary elections of 2014. Hungary’s Supreme Court recently declared that the segregation of Roma children in church schools is legal.

Finding ministry opportunities

   A few weeks ago Shane and I traveled to Chisinau, Moldova to attend the annual Gypsy Lore Society meeting. It was interesting to hear papers and discussions about work among Roma from a completely different perspective. It was good to look at the situation of Roma with new eyes and be reminded that we always need to be open and willing to learn. You never know when you might meet a new co-­worker.


   Potential collaborators can appear when and where you least expect them, like in a conversation with an atheist researcher who studies Roma public health issues in Slovakia or with a young Spanish woman studying medicine as an exchange student. You might make a connection with an embassy worker or even the ambassador himself at a meet and greet which will later open the doors when you need to push for the repair of the roof at a local Roma school. Volunteering your time at a local school or library and sharing your story can put you in position to receive and share gently ­used clothes, books or furniture items. Attending a training or conference can open new doors to share ministry ideas over a dinner of pancakes and tea.


   Ministry comes in all shapes, sizes and forms. We just have to watch for opportunities through the right lenses.

How to Make Your Own Mayonnaise

First measure about a cup of oil.

 While American volunteers were teaching Romanians to quilt, this new Romanian friend (Georgiana) was teaching me to make mayonnaise. It really is very easy!
Just make sure to keep the mixer on the bottom, without moving it until the oil and egg have suddenly transformed into creamy white mayonnaise.

2. Break in an egg.

3. Add a bit of salt.

4. Mix. Keep mixer on bottom.

5. Crush garlic.

6. Chop mushrooms.

7. Mix mushrooms & garlic.

8. Fold in mayonnaise.

10. and watch it disappear!

9. Offer it to your friends . . .

Us, Them and the "Love" Test

Last Sunday in our Dutch church the youth band led the congregation in singing, in English, Chris Tomlin’s song, Our God. It is a good song, but it led my thoughts to “us” and “them” as much as it did to God.

The chorus is:
     Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other.
     Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God!
     And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
     And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.

As I was singing I couldn’t help thinking that by repeatedly claiming God as “Our God,” and “Our God is for us,” that we are not just praising God. We are also, in a way, claiming that he is ours, and not those other people’s; that he is on our side, not their side.

I have always found it interesting that when we divide the world between “us” and “them,” God always ends up on the “us” side. I remember reading years ago the quote, “God made man in his own image, and man returned the favor.” (A quick Google search shows it attributed to many writers, but no one seems be able to actually pin down the origin.) Some atheists have taken it to mean that God is a product of human imagination, but I think that a more accurate interpretation is that we try to weigh God down with our own frailties and prejudices. If we care about skin color, then God must also. If we care about gender, then so does God. If we say that the Rio Grande is the border, then that must be where God divides the Mexican “rapists” from the God-fearing Americans.

When I was small child, my favorite Sunday School song was “Praise Him. Praise Him, all ye little children; God is love; God is love.” When I was 13 and started to develop a personal theology, I was very drawn to the fourth chapter of 1 John: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” At the time I was trying to understand the difference between agape love and the adolescent emotion of being “in love,” so I rationalized that the phrase “God is love” did not define God, it defined love. God, obviously, is much more than just love. While God is loving, he is also powerful and he gets angry and he punishes those who do wrong. And God chooses sides: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He is a personality, just like I am. He is a “he,” just like I am.

What if I was wrong? What if the two terms are equal, like a mathematical or logical equation where the one term can be substituted for the other? Love is powerful, love demands justice, love rebukes wrongdoing but never seeks revenge.

What would happen if we took every statement made about God, and substituted the word “love”? Would the meaning of Chris Tomlin’s song, be any different?
     Love is greater, Love is stronger, Love is higher than any other.
     Love is Healer, Awesome in Power, Love! Love!
     And if Love is for us, then who could ever stop us.
     And if Love is with us, then what could stand against us.

But would every statement we make about God hold up to the “Love” test? Which of these would we agree with: “Love gave us this land.” “Love wants you to vote Republican.” “Love wants you to vote Democrat.” “Love doesn’t hear the prayers of Jews.” “Love Hates Fags.” Ridiculous statements, aren’t they.

Keith Holmes

Old Friends, New Friends

My old friend Tammy Stocks invited me to join her, 12 Romanian women (many Romany), and 5 American women for a quilt workshop. The workshop is held at the Naomi Center in Bucharest, Romania. This is an off-shoot of the Ruth School/Providence Foundation there. Children in the local neighborhood can attend the Ruth School. Women can sew, learn, and support each other at the Naomi Center.
And that's just what we've been doing so far this week. The American women have been leading a quilting workshop. The local women have been helping each other and befriending us. In fact, tomorrow one of my new friends is going to teach me how to make mayonnaise. She herself puts butter on her sandwiches because, she says, it's healthier and better for her children. Would you agree?

P.S. The name Naomi means "pleasant." Very apt choice for this women's center!
P.P.S. Guess who's birthday we celebrated today (September 1).

First Day of School

T successfully passed his entrance exams and is preparing to leave home in a couple of weeks to attend school.  He will move a couple of hours away from his family to begin his studies as a healthcare worker.  To help him gather everything needed, we took a trip to a nearby town so he could get photos made for his identification card that will be his pass to the dormitory.  As we were getting ready to head back to the village, I asked if there was anything else he needed to get ready to move.

"I do not have a suitcase." he said after carefully thinking through the long list of things he needs to bring.

It never occurred to me that among his limited possessions, that he would not have a single bag - a backpack or satchel or gym bag - he could use.  Of course we stopped into a store and picked him up a new travel bag.

T moves into the dorm on 1 September and school begins on the 2nd.  Dianne and I talked about how we both felt a little anxious and also a sense of pride that we were able to assist T.  Thanks to the financial support of faithful donors, we are able to provide T with a scholarship that will pay for his room and board as well as travel expenses.  We will also buy shoes, clothes, and toiletries to go along with that suitcase.

When we were having lunch, T and I spoke about how miserably I fail at taking pictures of the things we do so that other people can see for themselves.  He smiled and said he understood.  Perhaps then he will understand when I ask to take his "first day of school" photo in a couple of weeks.

Miracles through Different Means

We saw Lena* for the first time in several years on Sunday at the conclusion of the Children's Program in a Roma village in Moldova.

I gave her one of the little booklets of Peter & John healing a lame man. She looked at the cover, where we had printed the title in Ursari and Romanian. She puzzled over the words and turned behind her to ask Silvica about the meaning.

"A Beggar Is Changed," she repeated, rereading the words for herself. Then she turned to me with a 800 watt smile and said, "That's me."

Lena* was born with some eye problems. It used to be easy to see that one eye did not function properly. I learned more about this later in the week when Lena and her husband invited the entire team over for supper. While we were eating, she asked me whether Dennis was still alive. I didn’t know who she was referring to. He is an American, she explained, and he had cancer in one eye and always wore a patch over it. Eye problems are very close to Lena’s heart. Even when she was just one years old, one of her eyes was very sensitive to light. Often, she couldn’t really open that eye or stand to go outside. The light hurt her.

Nine years ago she told us, when Ion Matveev was pastor, he wrote several Christians he knew (including Dennis and Keith) about the possibility of Lena getting an eye operation at a hospital in Odessa, Ukraine. Altogether, they contributed the $2-3,000 needed for her passport to Odessa and her operation there. Her eyes were completely healed.

Luba thanked us all. 

“God takes care of us in a big way,” she said with that big smile of hers. Both eyes beamed.

*Name changed to protect her privacy.

P.S. It turns out that Dennis is connected with For God’s Children International, the foundation which supports a home for foster children in Nisporeni. And social media search showed that yes, Dennis is still alive.