By Erik Tryggestad/Vienna.
The Lord’s Supper isn’t just a time of remembrance, says Arshia, age 18, as he delivers a communion devotional for the Danube Church of Christ. It’s also an invitation.
“True life begins when we let go of our fear, of our past, and then something new comes,” Arisha says in German as missionary Jake Haskew translates his words into English.
It’s not easy to forget past mistakes or “thoughts that won’t go away,” says Arisha, an Iranian Christian who made the dangerous journey from his homeland to Vienna two years ago. But when believers take the bread and wine to remember Jesus, “it’s as if he’s saying, ‘I know where you are, but regardless, you are still invited.’”
Photo by Erik Tryggestad
Arisha, right, leads a communion devotional for the Danube Church of Christ.
New beginnings abound in the small congregation, which recently moved to a facility in central Vienna near multiple universities and the city’s U-Bahn subway. Despite conflicts among their nations, the church functions as a multinational, multilingual family — evidenced as four church members read Ephesians 2:1-10 in their native tongue.
Stefan Krassnig, a longtime minister in Vienna, reads in German. Jonah Wilcox, a student in Oklahoma Christian University’s study abroad program, reads in English. Amir, another refugee from Iran, reads in Farsi. And Artum Budzhak, an immigrant from Chernivtsi, Ukraine, reads in Ukrainian.
Photo by Erik Tryggestad
Artum Budzhak reads Ephesians 2:1-10 in Ukrainian during Sunday worship at the Danube Church of Christ in Vienna.
In the passage, the apostle Paul tells the church in Ephesus that they once were dead in their sins. But God, because of his great love, “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions … For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
After the readings, Arisha says, “I think that tells us everything that we need to know.”
Before taking the bread and the fruit of the vine, the Iranian Christian asks his brothers and sisters to consider a question: “When was your beginning? What did it feel like? Or has it begun? How can we encourage others to start their new beginning?”
