Monday, August 6, 2012

A Ukrainian in America

I was sitting at work today when a young man came walking into the store. He seemed out of place as he walked the stretch of carpet from the front of the store to my desk. I work for a local mattress retailer and this young man came in carrying a blue cardboard box and wearing a green backpack, not the typical style for a mattress store customer.

"How can I help you?" I asked. He began telling me how he was from the Ukraine and was traveling around the state of New York raising money to help lower the divorce rate in his country. He opened his blue cardboard box to reveal a treasure chest of sorts. There were necklaces, rings, and bracelets, among other little knick knacks.
He was a part of a group of Christians that come to America from the Ukraine every year and travel around the country raising money for their mission.

I've encountered people doing something similar before. Last summer I was sitting outside a Panera Bread having a drink with an old friend when a young girl approached our table wanting to sell some window ornaments to raise money for her church in Mississippi. This girl was a "Christian" but she didn't believe in the trinity. It was a little strange.

So Yuriy (that's the correct spelling of the man's name) and I began talking while I looked through his blue box. He and I began exchanging questions to try and learn about each other's Christian cultures in our home land. He was connected with a church out of New York City where the group from Ukraine was staying for the summer. They were traveling through in a van when their transmission blew and they found themselves stuck in Syracuse.

He told me that divorce was a huge problem in the Ukraine. He said his was the worst country in the world for high divorce rates and America was the third highest among the nations. His group was raising money so they could fund counseling centers and such to lower their country's high divorce rate.

I found a simple ring that had the Lord's prayer inscribed on the metal. It was fifteen dollars and I felt compelled to buy something from him, so I made the purchase.

This was a truly unique experience for me, one that made me think for a time after Yuriy left the mattress store.

He asked me some very profound and challenging questions. First he asked me to describe the church in America. I was at a loss for words, which if you know me, is hard to imagine. My first response was that the church in America is very materialistic and has issues with consumerism(I think I read that in a book one time). It's funny that I said those things because as the words flowed from my lips I pulled out my iPhone to check a text message. I also told Yuriy that the church in America is very concerned with Sunday mornings. That we have a hard time understanding Christianity is about so much more than church services. He told me that most Christians in the Ukraine only attend church a few times each year, that they spend more time living their beliefs.

Yuriy didn't explain in detail how things are different in the Ukraine among the Christians there. However, in the language he used I could only sense or assume that, to Yuriy, his faith was centered in living out a loving relationship with Jesus and with his community. That relationship was more important than anything else in his life. At least that's the sense I got from him speaking, not so much that he said those exact words.

He asked me what my church was like and if I worked for the congregation. I told him about Community Bible Group and how I just started leading that group. As we walked to my car so I could retrieve my wallet, he asked what the age group was in CBG. I told him it was all people older than myself. He was very shocked and laughingly asked if it was challenging to lead a group of people that were older than I. I awkwardly laughed because I wasn't sure how to answer that question.

I gave Yuiry the money for the ring I purchased and he thanked me for the support. As he walked away he wished me well with leading CBG and with life in general.

What's very American of me and very, very sad, is that I wondered for a brief moment if what had just happened was a complete scam. What if Yuriy walked out the door and became Steve, the guy from Rochester that came into town so he could hustle some money from unsuspecting mattress salesmen.

Whatever the story of Yuriy, the protector of marriages in Ukraine, I learned a lesson about myself through this experience.
I'm pretty ashamed of the church in America. I feel stupid saying "the church in America" because my experience is so limited as to say "the church" as if I've been a part of all the churches in our country.
However, I do speak with a lot of people from various backgrounds and churches and I've heard their complaints with "The Church".
What makes me so ashamed of the church? I could probably release ten thousand words about my 'issues' with the church, but I think that's a problem.

So, for Anthony Tringale, it's time for me to sit down and take a look inside. I need to figure out why I have such a strong resistance to the church in America.


- Cheers

Anthony J. T.

No comments:

Post a Comment