Sign of the Times 1. You have just tried to enter your password on the microwave. 2. You have a list of 17 phone numbers to reach your family of four. 3. You call your son's beeper to let him know it's time to eat. He e-mails you back from his bedroom, "What's for dinner?" 4. Your daughter sells Girl Scout Cookies via her web site. 5. You chat several times a day with a stranger in South Africa, but haven't spoken with your next-door neighbor this year. 6. You check the ingredients on a can of chicken noodle soup to see if it contains Echinacea. 7. Your mother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your kids so she can create a new screen saver. 8. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home. 9. Every commercial on television has a website address at the bottom of the screen. 10. You buy a computer and 2 months later it's out of date and now sells for half the price you paid. 11. Leaving the house without the cell phone you didn't have the first 20 or 30 years of your life, causes you to panic, turn around and go get it (only to return again a few minutes later because you also forgot your PDA). 12. Using real money, instead of credit or debit, to make a purchase is a real hassle and takes planning. 13. Cleaning up the dining room means getting the fast food bags out of the back seat of your car. 14. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is that they don't have e-mail addresses. 15. You consider second-day air delivery painfully slow. 16. Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet. 17. Your idea of being organized is multiple-colored Post-it notes. 18. You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person. 19. You get an extra phone line so you can get phone calls. 20. You disconnect from the Internet and get this awful feeling, as if you had just pulled the plug on a loved one. 21. You get up in the morning and go on-line before getting your coffee. 22. You wake up at 2 AM to go to the bathroom and check the new posts on DegreeInfo on your way back to bed. 23. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. 24. You're thinking how true all of this is. 25. What’s even worse, you're probably going to forward it to someone.
This one is the most realistic and frightening of all--The DegreeInfo Obsessive Compulsive. Pass the Paxil please!
14. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is that they don't have e-mail addresses OK, so I live in Estonia. Contacting family is hard enough without email... Of course, I tended to neglect them before I got here... ha clint
Clint: so this now comes as a reval-ation??? Sorry. Pun was too good to miss. Hope all is well with you. I remember you going to Tallinn but I don't remember why. Are you connected with the university? Always found the history of the Baltic States fascinating--used to get materials from the Estonian consulate in NY in the terrible years.
My family is part of a missionary team to Tallinn. We are hoping to establish a self-sufficient congregation here that will take on the task of reaching the whole nation for Christ. Only about 10% of Estonians are involved in any meaningful way with Christianity (the number only goes up slightly if you add in any religion). So thats why we are here. For sure, the history of this place is fascinating. For instance, the Danish flag was originally developed here in Tallinn (whose name means "danish city"), during a battle in the 1200's (I think thats the approx date.... my memory fails). There are lots of problems between the Estonians and the Russians who live here. It is understandable, though... Anyway, things are great. It has snowed for a week straight. Its freezing. (snow began on Oct 5, this year...). This is slightly different from south Texas - ha But we love it clint
God bless your ministry, Clint. My prayer is that you will be instrumental in engaging the Estonian culture for our Lord. Every blessing,
Clint: "...the task of reaching the whole nation for Christ." John: Hmmm. I hope you'll let them keep their Kupalo, the lively, spirited, and in its way, spiritual summer solstice pagan festival. (My wife and I were a part of it two years ago, and had a glorious time.) From the 'program notes': "Kupalo is the Summer Solstice festival. There is singing, dancing, outdoor festivities, and divination. Women go to the forest, find a birch tree, bring it to the festival, strip the lower branches, fix it in the ground, and decorate it with garlands. No men can touch it. Under it, they put a straw idol of Kupalo, dressed in women's clothing and adorned with ribbons and necklaces. At night (called "Kupalo's Night"), people dance in circles and jump over bonfires, sometimes in couples, carrying an effigy, and wearing garlands of flowers and girdles of holy herbs. Wheels of fire are sent down hills to represent the sun declining. On this night, the trees walk and speak to each other. On the next morning, people bathe in rivers and the "dew of Kupalo." At sunset, they perform the funeral rites of the god, when the idol is drowned or burned. Midsummer is the time to gather herbs for magical uses. The fairies are powerful on this night."
Sign of the Times 26. Every thread on DegreeInfo, regardless of how serious, innocuous or humorous, sooner or later broaches the subject of religion, theology or more specifically, Christianity.
As best as I can remember, the last time I looked at the stats... I think George Barna listed 71% of Americans as unchurched. In other words, they were not involved in a Christian church, sect or organization in any real way. I believe "meaningful way" would be someone who is a true member of the group, not one who only shows up for weddings, funerals and the occasional Easter service to keep their mom happy. I have no idea what happens to that percentage if you add members of other religions to it. To Russell: Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. I also enjoy reading what you have to say on this board. I appreciate what you offer here. As to Dr. Bear's request.... I don't know much about the Kupalo. We did see a wonderful Estonian national dance program back in July. It wasn't the same as what you described, though. However, even if I thought getting rid of the Kupalo was in order (which I don't), I think it might take a few more days for me to reach the level of influence that would be necessary to make that happen. ha clint
Re: Re: Sign of the Times When the subject of religion/theology is addressed, it is only natural for the dialogue to move toward truth, which specifically brings one to ummm, errr, ahhhh, well Christianity.
Gus: "26. Every thread on DegreeInfo, regardless of how serious, innocuous or humorous, sooner or later broaches the subject of religion, theology or more specifically, Christianity. -------------------------------------- Jesus H. Christ, Gus, there you go again.
Vladika Russell: The Estonian Lutheran Church has been "engaging the Estonian culture" for Christ since the mid-1500s. So there is some precedent. After 50-odd years of communist tyranny and persecution/inhibition of the historic churches, there appears to be plenty of work for anyone engaged in that endeavor. Clint: did you know that Harnack was from Tallinn? His father was professor at the university (and was no liberal). Good luck to you in your work. Dr Bear: LMAO!
Uncle Janko, I wasn't implying that: 1) there was no precedent for engaging Estonian culture for Christ, or 2) that all Estonians are pagans. If Clint sought to reach the "whole nation [of America] for Christ," my prayer would have been the same.
I know that, Vladika. There are, however, some protestant Americans (not Clint and his entourage, needless to say) who have the rather odd idea that there were no Christians in central or eastern Europe until this or that American denomination began mission work in the last few years. This idiocy even occurs on occasion among Reformed and Lutherans, who of all people ought to know better. For that matter, try explaining to the garden-variety Latin-rite Roman Catholic that Byzantine Catholics, Maronites, etc., are as much a part of the church headed by the Pope as he is.
Thanks for the confidence in me and mine.. ha No there are actually some very strong and faithful Christians here. We have tried to make contact with them, when possible. One pastor in southern Estonia has written an excellent little book about the Christian ethic impacting a post-marxist, post-modern society. Our language class originally was composed of only members of our team, but about half way through the course, we had a new member transfer in from another group. Turns out that he is the metropolitan of the Estonian Orthodox Church, (hence he is metropolitan over the entire countrie's EO folks). He is a pretty nice fellow. We have been invited to his house for a meal. But, all in all, your obervation is correct about the impact of the soviet occupation. Most folks here do believe in some sort of god or God, but most have made no attempt to act upon that belief. btw, we do have a web site. Its small, but we just started to learn what we are doing... www.teamtallinn.com It has a few pictures, etc. You can see the snow, or my family or whatever... Also a few links to Tallinn and Estonia, for anyone interested. kõik head clint
