Church

Today went went to church in Navsi. I had the opportunity to preach. On the one hand, it was interesting having to stop my sermon after every sentence in order for it to be translated. On the other hand, my sermon lasted for much longer than normal. Below I'll post the the text from my message. We also did many other things today, but they will be in another blog.



Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Trenton, Michigan. We are so excited to finally be here with you. My name is Nick Koschmann and I am the Assistant Pastor at St. Paul. The leader of our team this year is Janice Erdt. The rest of the team is Rose Robinson, Lauren Kraft, and Andrew Gronda, who was here last year.

A few months ago I spoke on the phone with Jiri. As we talked about the upcoming trip one of the things we talked about was music. We talked about the song book that would be used at the English Camp. I told Jiri that I wanted to add some new songs this year and asked him if he could translate the words of the songs into Czech. He told me it would be very difficult to do in such a short period of time.

At first I was disappointed, but then I realized the mistake I had made. You see, translating the words of a song is not like normal translating; not like what we are doing here this morning. Where I speak… then Jiri translates. Translating the words of a song is much more difficult than that.

Songs have a melody to them. As you translate the words of a song, you need to make sure that the number of syllables matches up so the melody still works. Songs also rhyme or have a certain flow to them. So as you translate the words of a song you need to make sure that the rhythm still works. On top of that, you have to do all of this, while still making sure that the original message and its beauty are kept intact. Translating the words of a song is hard work.
But here’s the thing, we, the five of us, are not here to translate the words of songs. To be honest, we’re not even here just to translate words. The five of us are here to help do so much more than that. We have come here to Navsi to help you proclaim a message to the people in your community.

Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians Chapter 5, For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Paul goes on to write, All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God gave Paul a message to share. God has given that same message to us… and he has given it to each one of you. And this message we have been given… the Gospel of Jesus Christ… the promise that, though we are sinners and deserve God’s punishment, Jesus Christ has paid our price and freely grants us forgiveness through faith in him… This message is Good News… no matter what language it is proclaimed in. When it is translated, it does not lose its rhythm. When you share it in a new language it does not lose its beauty. The Good News of the Gospel is the same for all people of all nations and we are called to share it with them.

Last night, on our way to dinner, I asked Jiri how many people lived in Navsi. After giving it some thought he said, “I’m not exactly sure, but I know that it now has five more.” When he said this, I smiled and thought about how nice it is to be welcomed into this community. Then I thought about how nice it will be to be here with all of you this morning, where the biggest thing coming between us is language.

We may be divided by language, but we are still united. United by the blood of Jesus Christ. United in our calling to be the people of God. United by our call to proclaim the Gospel to others. United in the worship of our good and gracious God. Listen to what John, the Disciple whom Jesus loved, writes in Revelation 5:9, And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…”

Now that is a beautiful song… a song that will translate into all languages… a song that I, one day, look forward to joining in.

Amen