Warsaw #2 - The Holy Wind
The Holy Wind
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Jn 3:8). Such words describe well The Outreach Foundation’s experience of being led by the Spirit in Eastern Europe to address the imminent needs created by the war in Ukraine.
One example stems from our visit to Liverpool March 11-19. During the final night, our invaluable friend David Rice (The Antioch Partners) and I spoke about relief efforts to Ukraine. Father Oleh, The Outreach Foundation’s contact in Lviv, had reached out with an immediate need for medical supplies unavailable in Ukraine. Help! David, who had served for years in Romania, sent out a request to his good friend and within hours we were able to meet the need! A flurry of activity ensued with new connections among trusted friends, and the Spirit made it possible. Four days later, a mini bus filled with $20,000 worth of medical supplies is heading from Romania to Lviv! Father Oleh is amazed at the miracle of it all, as are we.
Another example of how we are discovering and trusting the “wind-like” adventure that comes with following the Holy Spirit occurred during a simple visit with our Lviv partner, Father Oleh’s wife, Ivanka. Oleh is a priest in the Ukrainian Catholic Church and Professor of Philosophy at the renowned Ukrainian Catholic University of Lviv. As he tries to serve in the growing chaos of Lviv, Ivanka and their four children (ages 2, 6, 9, and 12) have taken refuge in Warsaw, Poland. Coordinating the visit was like a clown juggling nine bowling pins while balancing on a unicycle in a three-ring circus! So much seemed to stand in the way of a visit to encourage, have a cup of tea, and pray with this dear family now in diaspora. Still, with only 30 minutes to spare before heading to the airport we were able to meet them at their current temporary residence at a friend’s home.
Our embrace, six years in the making, was the first one since my students from LCC International University in Lithuania hugged their children while visiting in 2016. Together, in this fresh moment of incarnational mercy, we discovered yet again the Spirit’s presence in the simple act of “showing up.”
We shared few words because of language barriers, yet Ivanka’s tears signaled her pain in this time. Mark Mueller and I paused and looking back at us from the tea she had prepared she said, “This is so much to bear, but God is good.” A living testimony of Paul’s in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
As Mark and I transition to Pakistan to join a team from The Outreach Foundation among the suffering Christians who bear Christ’s light in one of the darkest places in the world, it’s good to pause and reflect, a plane ride is good for this.
There are so many people now in diaspora, scattered from home. It is overwhelming. As my friend Dariush in Amsterdam told me, let us not ask why God is allowing this to happen. Instead let us ask what God’s purpose for us is in this massive scattering of people like never before. What we experienced in Europe is that the Spirit has prepared the soil for an incredible outpouring of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we saw in Liverpool and Warsaw was Christ’s true Church declaring God’s truth boldly and showing His generous compassion to the stranger. Both come together for the Church.
So, we pray for boldness to speak Jesus’ name in a culture that says Christians must remain silent. We pray for a holy discontentment to unsettle us when we begin to look only to ourselves and serve our own people. We remind ourselves that on the cross and in His resurrection, Jesus took a sledgehammer to the dividing walls of hostility that are breaking our society and God’s heart. Then, when we wonder how to be part of this great thing God is doing right before our eyes, we thank our Lord for people like Shapoor, Yasamine, Michal, Piotr, Saul, Oleh, and Lena who can show us the way.
Grateful,
Tom Boone
Associate Director of Mission
The pictures below are of various team members active with men, women, and children newly arrived in Liverpool from their arduous journey out of Iran. The first picture is of Shapoor’s congregation on Iranian New Year (March 20).
