One of the biggest blessings
during my semester has been the opportunity to visit the sister church to my
home congregation. Finding traces of home half way across the world really made
me reexamine what constitutes a family. I was a bit nervous before arriving; I
had never been to Sacele and I also had not met in person the family I was to
be staying with. Although I was only in town for several days, I was able to
experience the feeling of unity in a place that often seems detached from my
home town.
The family that hosted me were ethnic-Hungarian
Lutherans, a “double minority” described by Pastor Laszlo, the father of the
family. Much of my time spent there was visiting Saxon and Hungarian Lutheran
churches and schools that have endured the hardships of oppression. Being apart
of the Lutheran church in America, I have never felt marginalized. I don’t
think I realize how grateful I should be this. Back in Sacele they struggle the
most with funding and not receiving help from the government to upkeep their
churches. They also have troubles with claiming buildings that were originally
Hungarian owned before communism. What I understand from Pastor Laszlo is that
in general they really have to be active in order to stay a float.
I probably write too lightly of the hardships of what it means to
be an ethnic-Hungarian Lutheran in Romania. The silver lining of it all has so
far been the relationships that have formed in order to keep the Lutheran
church in Sacele up and running. I think that the beauty of a sister church in
Romania is that through the works of God and his shared love for us, we can
connect to others almost effortlessly. That has been the core of my experience
visiting the folks out in Sacele. It definitely shrinks the world just enough
to find familiarity and comfort thousands of miles away.
-Jenna King
Fall 2012
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