Dear Friends of Eastern Europe Renewal: 

The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

It has been 10 weeks since I wrote and this will probably be the last EER letter of 2008. We celebrated the American Feast of Thanksgiving here last week with an American friend living in Montreux. It is right to be thankful and our hearts are often filled with so much else.

What do Bjorn, Abi, Daniela, Gulab, Werner, Raphael, Puia, Marco, Brigitte, Kim, Apelhu, Darlyne, Christian, Keltum and Chun have in common? They were all at a YWAM school in Hurlach where I taught in November. Can you guess which names belong to men and which to women? When teaching worldviews it is a challenge to discover that more than half the students have never heard of Bach. Carrying cultural baggage and seeing through cultural glasses becomes more obvious in such a group. Please see some photos in a separate mail.

The last 10 weeks have been busy. There is not space to tell you about the visit and teaching in Swiss L’Abri, in Moscow at a seminary, Christian School and the Russian American Christian University, the regular weekends in the Church in Lausanne, where we have just finished Hebrews and will begin Philippians, Lord Willing. I must rush through telling you about meetings with Christian leaders in Vienna, preaching in a Church there, moving on to Prague for lectures in schools and a private home. The days in Bulgaria were very rich, lecturing in a rented movie theater on Spirituality and Art in the evenings and meeting with Gypsy leaders in the morning to talk about apologetics and evangelism. The weekend in a Lutheran Church in Germany was very encouraging, partly because the students were so keen they didn’t want to take coffee breaks. In England I gave a lecture and a sermon in a Church in Brighton, which must be lovely when it is not raining with a biting wind. At English L’Abri I could give a lecture and talk with students at meals and privately. They let me cast, direct and produce a readers’ theatre production of "Lettice and Lovage" by Peter Shafer. The students loved doing the play and the discussion lasted until late in the evening.

Tomorrow morning I will leave early for the US, where I will teach in The Culture House (see their website) in Kansas City for some days and then go on to Wyoming to visit my sister and her husband and my nephew and great nephew. Living in Switzerland I get very little family contact and so look forward to this very much.

From the middle of December I will home much more for the next few months. Please pray that I will make good use of this time. Thanks.

The Preaching Class has grown again. 4 students from our own Church in Basel will have a chance to preach in the first quarter of 2009. I am as excited and nervous as they are.

A few letters ago I told you about some teaching I have been giving about approaching the Bible as "Well" and "Story". Several of you expressed interest in this and I have been doing some more thinking about it. I’ve added several items under the headings "Well" and "Story", which I think flesh out the concept and apply it more broadly. Hopefully the email will keep the columns in order:

Well /Story

Freedom /Form

Diversity/ Unity

Mystery /Definition

Right Brain /Left Brain

Subjectivity /Objectivity

The Testimony of Jesus /My testimony

Share the Faith /Share my faith

It seems to me that both sides are real and necessary. How many problem develop from over emphasizing one side or the other? Any thoughts?

In these times of worldwide financial difficulties, we are very thankful to be paying the bills, even while working in some places where salary and honorarium are not possible. Thank you all very much who participate in this work financially and in prayer.

Mary had a minor surgical procedure done recently, which has had a very good effect. She feels and looks better. We are thankful.

May I wish you an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the Lord bless and keep you.

In Christ,

Ellis 

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Copyright © 2008 Ellis Potter.