Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy

We are happy to have Pastor Ivan presiding at worship/communion this Sunday 5/1 at 3:30 and we look forward to seeing you.

This Sunday:

We continue to gather to pray and worship in all circumstances and this week we welcome Pastor Ivan who will provide communion for us this Sunday at 3:30.

A little about him:

Pastor Ivan has Finnish ancestry and for the generation of his grandparents, the Christian faith was a huge part of their life. His life in the church started in 2006 when he was blessed as a youth leader in the Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Volgograd. After his graduation from Volgograd State Pedagogical University in 2009, he went on to the theological seminary in Novosaratovka for theological education.

In 2012, he graduated from the seminary and shortly after started hus pastoral service as a vicar in the Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Yaroslavl where he also was ordained in 2013. Now he is continuing his theological education at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and will graduate in the Fall of this year with a Master of Theology degree. His theological concentration focused on Systematic Theology and Ethics, and He is especially interested in liberation theologies, the concepts of suffering, and human beings as co-sufferers with one other.

Welcome, Pastor Ivan!

Lenten Prayer
Nastia, Russia

Lord, forgive us! Forgive our weakness, forgive our blindness, forgive our fragility. The whole nation chose the motto of the country “In God We Trust”. The whole world knows these words. But we don’t really do that!

If we did, we’d have no stress, worries or fear remembering that everything happening in this world is Your LOVING will! Love cannot hurt. It can only heal. We would be able to enjoy each moment of this life as the most precious gift from You. If we really trusted, we’d never like to take revenge on anybody remembering Your words “Vengeance is mine, I will repay."

We have successfully forgotten that You had a plan of salvation for EACH of us from the very first moment of creation. And each person has a free will which way of salvation to choose: the way of loving God and following His rules or the way of following the ego which leads to great pain and grief. But as for me, I truly believe that whatever path we choose in the end each of them will lead to the Lord. A human cannot bear the pain of sins infinitely. One day each of us decides not to suffer any more and understands that the only way to avoid it, to heal ourselves, is to start living with the Lord, doing what He told us to do.

Remembering this, we would never blame, but would have a compassion on our neighbors, understanding that the person has chosen the way of pain. Our main aim in situations when somebody sins against us is to give the person as much love as is possible because the person does not really understand all the consequences it will have.

Loving God, let us always remember the words of Your Son who said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Help us become those who always forgive, trust and have power to love, no matter how hard it is. Help us to become worthy of Your trust and Your belief in us!

Amen!

Lenten Devotional
Pastor Bradn, United States

How does this passage from 2 Corinthians relate to the gospel today? Both speak about trials. And both inspire us to understand that "now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6.2b). Lent can become such a time for us, when we look to Jesus as an example of what it means to live a life that preaches the Good News. The Apostle Paul asked that the congregation in Corinth to live in way that proved that grace had not been given to them in vain. His advice to them could also be advice to us – do nothing, in whatever trials we find ourselves in – that might hinder the Gospel. I ask each of you to seriously think about what might be in your words or actions that prevents people from coming to church? Most of us have family members, for example, that are not active in any religious community; the same goes for our neighbors. Our loved ones and we ourselves will be better off if we are ready to live like Paul and Jesus, true servants with patience and fortitude, showing kindness and genuine love to people. In this way, we will know what it means to be alive. Amen.