From the January-April 2012 Issue
LIFE WITH GOD IS AN ADVENTURE
Jan and Lucie Habl
In the summer of 2011 my family and I underwent quite a radical life change. After ten years of pastoring a church in Nove Mesto nad Metuji – a small and quiet town in the eastern part of Czech Republic – we moved to Usti nad Labem, which is a large industrial city in the north. I was born in this city and lived here until I was twenty-five. Nevertheless, the tenyear break in a peaceful, conservative and agricultural environment, with a relatively strong religious tradition, brought about something of a culture shock.
DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT Usti nad Labem is part of the socalled Sudeten, the area from which all German people were pushed out after the Second World War. The new post-war population consisted of all kinds of strange individuals. Some came to live here only because of the easy gain of possessions which the Germans were forced to leave behind. Some were forced to populate the empty area by the communist regime (often people were simply commanded to live in a certain town or city). You can imagine what kind of society would be formed that way. The lack of roots can still be felt today. Everything is affected by it: the lack of neighbourhood relationships, the lack of care for the environment, the lack of interest in public issues, the lack of historical identity, the amount of corruption in politics, and also the amount of godlessness. Interestingly, I needed the experience of ten years of life in another part of the country to see that.
Why would anyone want to live in such a region? Why have we moved to this place? For two reasons: One, both my wife and I were born here and have aging parents with quite serious health problems. We knew we should be close to them in the final stages of their lives. Two, I was offered a position in the University of Usti. Now, you must know that my heart has been beating for mission amongst students for years. Being trained as a teacher I desire to exercise a Christian influence in secular academia, especially among students who are to become teachers. I consider teachers to be a very important group in society, but the number of Christian teachers is desperately small in Czech Republic. That is why I was very excited when I received the invitation to lecture at the Department of Education at Usti University. I believed it was a confirmation of God’s calling. I happily helped the elders in Nove Mesto to find a new pastor, bade farewell to the congregation (with some tears, to be sure), took my leave, then took a mortgage, bought a flat in Usti and looked forward to the new period of my service.
CHANGE OF PLAN However, God in his nature seems to be an adventurous being. Interesting things have happened within the last few months. First, the consequences of the economic crisis have eventually reached the area of education in our country. Universities had to reduce expenses, and so my position was cancelled at the beginning of 2011. The problem was that I had already started to pay off the mortgage, but I had no prospect of work or income. But then another thing happened, the pastor in the Usti church announced that he would retire in the summer of 2011. Naturally, the church asked me to take the pastoral position in Usti. There was no other way, I had to take it. God practically forced me to take it.
NEW CONGREGATION In spite of my original confusion and reluctance, I must say the congregation is great. It is quite large (about 200 people, including children and visitors). It is very active and alive. The agenda of this congregation is incomparably greater than the one I had known so far in Nove Mesto. Virtually every day something is happening on the church premises – educational meetings, men’s meetings, mothers’ meetings, seniors’ meetings, youth meetings, etc. Part of the commitment is also a chaplaincy service at the local Oncology Hospital, which I started to do in September.
LATEST SURPRISE But that is still not the end of our adventure. I think it was the third Sunday after I started in my new place, when a lady came to me after the service and said that she liked my way of speaking (she is a newcomer, I learnt later) and that she would like me to meet with her boss who is the head of the Adult Education Department at Usti University. “They are looking for professors”, she said. I met with him the other day to find out to my amazement that he is a Christian (of a Protestant confession) and that he deliberately seeks Christian professors for his department. He offered me more courses than I could manage. What is really interesting about all this is that this offer came after – and only after – I was “forced” to take on the pastoral work. I wonder what God wants to communicate to me. It seems to me that He wants me to maintain a close link between my pastoral and academic engagement. I am open and pleased.
Life with God is an adventure. Practically, it means I have three occupations at the moment – pastor, chaplain, teacher. None are full time, but all together they make quite a load. I will appreciate your prayers, for the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.