Quotes of Sibiu

I collected some quotes of delegates - here they are:

* Catholic delegate in the age around 50 about the passive participation:

„I’m back in school here“

* Protestant who was already a delegate in Graz:

„Nobody asked what happened to the commitments of Graz - not at any time in this week. Probably, nobody of the church leaders want to listen to, because then it’s obvious that they didn’t perform their homework“

* Young delegate about EEA3:

„If you did a conference similar to this in your own youth organisation, nobody would come a second time“

„What will you tell people, if you come home?“ Facial expression: Nothing.

* Methodist delegate about his experiences:

„I learned a lot here. Especially, how to make contributions in an undemocratic assembly.“

Pictures from the Alternative Forum

Finally, I've found a scanner to publish the artistic outcome of the Ordained-women-Working Group of the Alternative Forum:

Success

Our St. Maurice Statement will be attached to the Assembly Message as an appendix. This was what the drafting committee said at the presentation of the Assembly Message.

I think, we can be a little bit proud of us. Because our work in St.Maurice was ennobled by this assembly. This shows that it is worth to work hard on such documents, argue about all small words and nuances.

But nevertheless, the Assembly Message wasn't developed in a democratic way. We couldn't vote on it; we couldn't decide anything, we had to accept the decisions of the drafting committee. This thing we shouldn't forget.

Press release: St. Maurice Statement

Young delegates of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly
Sibiu/Romania, 4.-9.9.2007

Press release

Sibiu, 7th of September 2007

Youth Statement of St. Maurice presented during the EEA3

Today, 7th of September 2007, three young women, Julia Maria Koszewska (Roman-Catholic, Poland), Petra Schnabel (Lutheran, Germany) and Jooa Vuorinen (Orthodox, Finland), presented the Youth Statement of St. Maurice which was written by 40 young delegates and stewards on their EEA3 preparatory meeting in St. Maurice, Switzerland and approved during a hearing of the young delegates during the Assembly.

The young delegates stressed the importance the Statement should be given to in the Assembly Message. Different delegates of the Assembly supported during the reactions on the official first draft of the Assembly message. The statement of the young delegates should be taken as a ideal example for the Assembly message. One of the delegates even announced: „We should take the Youth Statement as the Assembly Message.“

The statement of the young delegates avoids having only superficial, but stresses on concrete commitments the European churches should engage in. So, the young Christians ask for an inter-religious dialogue process, which shall come to a similar result to the Charta Oecumenica, asking for the churches’ engagement for the establishing of an European Peace Agency and name the protection of Human Rights as one of the main tasks of churches. Particular importance is laid on the evaluation and further implementation of the results of the EEA2 in Graz 1997 and especially of the Charta Oecumenica.


For interviews and questions, please contact:
Christof Otto, +49 / 173 / 582 15 60
Tobias Traut, +49 / 163 / 820 86 00
Or just ask us. We are the people with the yellow caps :-)

Press release: Alternative Forum

Young delegates of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly
Sibiu/Romania, 4.-9.9.2007

Press release

Sibiu, 8th of September 2007

Alternative Forum during the EEA3

An alternative forum took place in the afternoon, uniting around 100 delegates from all parts of Europe and media representaties who took the opportunity to discuss the first time openly with each other. The organisers promised that there won’t be „any lectures, no words of greetings, but real discussions“ only. The issues discussed covered also „taboo matters“ that had been categorically excluded by the organizers of the official Assembly, e.g the ministry of ordained women in the Church.

The focus of the working groups established was on the implementation of the results of the EEA2 in Graz 1997 and possibl improvements for a 4th Assembly in the future.

Different forms of presentation included also the joint search for an „Ecumenical Miracle“ and an artistic way of presenting the vision of a „dancing ecumenism“.

The participants asked to call for a Forth European Ecumenical Assembly, taking place within the next 10 years that must be based on the equal involvement of women and men and on the participation of grassroots movements in the preparation process and the design of the new assembly, as some participants felt like „delegates in a prison“. A further discussion and implementation of the Charta Oecumenica was demanded as well as the start of a new process of inter-religious dialogue that could lead to a similar document as the Charta Oecumenica signed in 2001.

The Alternative Forum proved the strength of the European ecumenical youth movement, involving young delegates from every denomination. However, especially Orthodox young delegates expressed their wish to be better informed by their Churches about ecumenical activities and up-coming events.

As a conclusion, a vision of the Ecumenical movement in 2020 was presented which included the expectation that „Churches live in a reconciled diversity“and recognise each other as churches.

For interviews and questions, please contact:
Christoph Otto, +49 / 173 / 582 15 60
Tobias Traut, +49 / 163 / 820 86 00
Or just ask us. We are the people with the yellow caps ;-)

----

Appendix – Results of the Alternative Forum

Working group: Comparing Basel, Graz and Sibiu

We ask churches to commit themselves to organise another European Ecumenical Assembly within 5 – 10 years. It should be organised in a more participative way, with a prepatory committee to ensure that grassroots Ecumenical groups are included. A consultation process should be carried out to produce topics for discussion throughout the EEA4 journey. This journey should comprise national Ecumenical assemblies, with themes of justice, peace and integrity of creation at their core. At EEA4 we would examine and discuss the past, present, and future of practical implications of the Chara Oecumenica’s commitments.

Working Group: Ecumenical Miracle?

Is there life after Sibiu? What is the ecumenical miracle we need in our ecumenical journey? Like Goethe was quoted previously in the assembly, we need big visions, which can make our heart move.
The „Miracle“ group was heading for a brighter future, a big vision we Christians share. What would be the state of churches in 2020 and what would be the way there?

Church 2020:
Churches live in a reconciled diversity. We tolerate different theological views between the churches and also among our own churches. The essential basis of faith is common for all of us.
Churches got one voice in a society in fighting agains injustice, for peace etc. Christianity shows itself strongly in our societies and the lives of individuals.
We live in Christian happiness, joy of faith, and love to our neighbours.
Lay people have a big role in a life of churches. People bare responsibility and every person is a full member and represents its church.
Churches shoгld tear down fences between different groups of people. There’s no need to separate people on basis of age, gender, etc.
While we recognise members in different churches to be full Christians, and therefore see the prospect of joining the same table in heaven, why not joining the same table in this life? This may not happen in this very moment, but theological discussions must be emphasized and slow movements towards common eucharist must be taken, implementing common eucharist occationally in ecumenical event, churchs days, etc. special days. The Christ is the one who is calling us to holy communion.
On a way to the miraculous vision we need etc.
- self-commitment in our churches to the aims
- theological agreement on etc. justification
- consiliar process
- common ecumenical events
- recognition of each others churches
Waiting for parusia and doing something already before that.
A small miracle for EEA3 would be, that the final message would be composed on the basis of the message from youth pre-meeting instead of the draft of the drafting committee.
Collected by Topi Haarlaa

Working Group: Youth

· The group agreed on the aim of improving the communication between young Christians interested in the Ecumenical movement through strengthening Ecumenical youth networks and Ecumenical youth organisations.
· The group developed the idea of an European Ecumenical youth meeting to get to deepen the knowledge of other denominations and to inspire young people’s enthusiasm on Ecumenism.
· Especially, the Orthodox members of the group wished to be better included on the European level. Also, they wished for more support by their home churches in their involvement in Ecumenism.

Working Group: Ministry of ordained women in Church

Drawing: „Without title“

The stewards' 2nd blog

The stewards who work in the press office now write in the EEA3-blog of Jane Stranz.
Take a look: Grace, Rita, Andrea, Natalka, Christelle, Eva-Liisa, Monica

!!!Attention!!! Party venue changed!!!

Julia from Poland found another club which still better serves our needs. It is
"3 stejari", pub of the local brewery. You'll find it at the crossing Str. H.Oberth - Str. Serbota - Str. Balea.

How to get there?
You go the Bulevadul Corneliu Coposu (starting at the Ramada/Teatrul) along the city wall. After 5-10min, there will be a big roundabout, there you turn to the left into the Str.H.Oberth. At the next bigger crossing, there is the "3 stejari".

Please give this information also to the other young delegates who don't use the internet.

Three steps away

One remark still from yesterdays presentation of the final message draft which took place in the end of the morning's plenary. First of all, the draft papers were not distributed before the draft was read, which made it a bit difficult to comment on the draft. The floor microfone was opened to short comments after the presentation. I rushed to comment the draft paper with two notions:

1. The Light of Christ is not a dim candle some where, it is a radical and revealing light that demands a transformation. Therefore the final message should have concrete proposals and bold recommendations for the churches.
2. The language of the draft paper was very exclusive. It was written only to theologians and people deep in the Ecumenical slang. In order for the paper to change anything, it should be written in as "normal" and concrete language as possible.

I was the 14th delegate on the queue and the moderator cut off the discussion on the 11th person. That was the closest I (or any young delegate) could get to the microphone.

Now I'm writing this blog from the plenary tent and listening to the comments on the second draft. There are about 50 people in the queue to comment the draft paper. I have to say that the final message commitee improved a lot on this new version and has much more concrete things. Now also many people are for attaching the St.Maurice statement as an appendix to the final message. I hope we will see that happen!

Aktuelles aus dem Plenarsaal

Ich sitze gerade im Zelt, es gibt eine Podiumsdiskussion zu den Themen des heutigen Tages (Gerechtigkeit, Frieden und Bewahrung der Schöpfung). Unter anderem sitzt der orthodoxe Metropolit Gennadios auf dem Podium.

Nun gab es eine Frage zu den Menschenrechten im Osten Europas. Er hat die Frage total abgebügelt: Dies sei eine Frage zum Thema Europa, und keine Frage zu den heutigen Themen. Deshalb werde er das nicht beantworten.

Dem stimme ich nicht zu. Die Wahrung und Stärkung der Menschenrechte ist eine ganz wesentliche Voraussetzung für Gerechtigkeit und Frieden. Ohne Menschenrechte wird keine Versöhnung möglich, ohne Menschenrechte profitieren nur wenige von den von Gott geschaffenen Reichtümern, die wir auf dieser Erde nutzen dürfen.

Gennadios hat nur eine Ausrede gesucht, um nicht antworten zu müssen. Sehr schade fand ich, dass viele Delegierte sogar geklatscht haben.
Positiv war jedoch die Diskussionsleitung durch Bischöfin Margot Kässmann (siehe auch ihr Interview auf SPIEGELonline. Sie betont, dass die Menschenrechte wichtig sind, und sie durchaus der Meinung sei, dass dies hierherpasse. Heute mittag werde es diskutiert werden müssen.

Leider konnte ich die Inputs zu G-F-BdS und die Diskussion nicht ganz verfolgen, weil wir unser Alternativforum vorbereitet haben. Eindrucksvoll war jedenfalls der Film, in dem Menschen in Afrika von ihrer schwierigen ökonomischen Situation berichtet haben.

In English:
I wrote on the plenary session today morning about justice, peace and creation. There was a panel discussion with Gennadios of Sassima who rejected a question on human rights - this would be a part of the Europe-topic, but not of justice/peace/creation.
I think, he is not right: The protection of human rights is a prerequisite for justice and peace!

Iona Experience

Prayers are the salt of the meeting. Yesterday I attended evening prayer of the Taizé community and tonight was Iona community's turn. Both were held at the beautiful Lutheran cathedral of Sibiu and both were really nice.

Iona community is an ecumenical Christian community in Scotland. They had prepared an evening prayer on the topic of Israel-Palestine 'fence'. The people attending were divided into two groups, one in the choir (front) of the church and the other in the normal benches. The prayer had some songs from Israel and texts that went through the history of the Israel region, showing that there has always been someone putting up fences. During the readings people built a wall in between the two groups of people out of boxes. This was really efficient, because everybody would have wanted to see the other group which was on the other side of the wall. In the end of the prayer the wall was left there, because the 'fence' still exists between the Israelians and Palestinians.

This was a really concrete way of making people open their eyes on the issue and in a way that showed how sad the situation is for the people living on both sides, not just from the view of one side. Thank you Iona, I appreciate.

Concerns and pains

No, I will not write in Russian, noone reads in this case.
First, I want to agree with two inputs from my friends Benoit and Tobias. I wanted to write it myself but they were more rapid. One is about "checking" every morning - and it is visible that people are discriminated - for example I never seen any Orthodox priests being cheacked, but in the same time young lay people are checked really detailed.
Second is Greetings from Russia by Rabbi Zinoviy Kogan. It was something I couldn't really stand to hear. It was about Chechnya and its very good President Kadyrov and very new beautiful city of Grozny. It is new because it was ruined! I was really shocked! While question of human rights and religious freedom in Russia and Belarus are hidden in this Assembly, some "guests" are preaching such things! How is it possible? Do KEK and CCEE really concerned about human rights and religious freedom issues?
Sorry for a lot of emotions, people. But what can I say more? At the same moment while I spend very pleasent time at this safe and silent assembly my friends in Belarus are arrested, prosecuted by KGB, fined only for praying together, reading Bible together at their flats, my spiritual father is banned from serving because he raised his voice for religious freedom in Belarus. What can I say? Input from Rabbi Kogan sounds like a mockery.
Of course, Chechnya is not a problem any more. Of course, Belarus is not a problem.
You speak about Christian roots and European identity, but closing eyes while you brothers and sisters in the same continent suffer has nothing in common with Christian roots and European identity.
And I will return from this marvellous event and I can be checked at Belarusian customs much more detailed than it is here. Moreover, the laptop I write you from can be confiscated from me in the train at night 11.09. - it is very usual practice in the country. Here I presented myself as Syndesmos regional representative for Central Europe, but I can be arrested in Belarus because of that: acting on behalf of unregistered organization is an offence. When I want to share with my brothers and sisters in Belarus about the results of the Assembly and invite them at my place to drink some tea together, I can be fined for having unregistered religious event in private house. And then when I look from my window I will see "New Life" Full Gospel church building which is being withdrown from the community because it is former cattle-farm. You know, I can't sleep well at night, when view from my window shous me suffering of my brothers protestants. I am concerned. It is very near. I hear their voices.
European Christians, maybe you can look from your window and see your neighbour Belarus? Maybe you can tune your ears to hear voices of prosecuted Christians? Only then I will believe that Christ of light shines upon Europe and Christians Churches still are able to see this Light.

Strange greetings from Russia

Today we had a strange greeting of Rabbi Zinoviy Kogan, chairman of the Russian Congress of Jewish Congregations and Organisation.

He lauded the situation in Chechnya, especially it's president Ramzan Kadyrov. I couldn't believe it. One of the most martial persons is mentioned on this Assembly as a good guy, although there are such a lot of valid accusations of human rights abuses made by Kadyrovs personal guard, the Kadyrovcy. Sorry, it was really awful to sit there.

I don't understand, why this person was invited. Still more, I was told that he always says the same stuff on Chechnya. Why they didn't invite a Romanian rabbi, as there was a Romanian mufti representing the Islam? A lot of things on this Assembly remain mysterious.

Endlich mal

Die meisten Beiträge der Delegierten hier sind ja relativ kritisch. Mir geht's ganz ähnlich. Aber manchmal gibt es dann doch noch schöne Erlebnisse. Gestern war ich im Forum "Witness" (Zeugnis). Die Foren sind dazu da, bestimmte Themen "zu vertiefen". Oft sind das auch nur Vorträge oder Podiumsdiskussionen, gähn.
Bei uns aber gab es Kleingruppen zur Diskussion. Endlich mal inhaltlich diskutieren und einen echten Dialog führen. Endlich mal nicht nur wohl abgewogene diplomatische Positionen von der Bühne hören, sondern auch mal "unfertige" Gedanken. Bei mir waren Menschen aus Schweden, England, den Niederlanden, Frankreich, Deutschland, Zypern und Ghana. Besonders beeindruckt hat mich, wie offen unsere Gruppe miteinander diskutieren konnten und wie wir versuchten, uns auf gemeinsame Formulierungen zu einigen. Das war:
"1. There are many forms of witness.
2. Witness is already in our being.
3. Witness is about asking appropriate questions at the right time, with god's help.
4. There is a witness which does the church do as an institution to society questions."
Was damit passiert? Keine Ahnung. Immerhin aber habe ich selbst auch mal etwas mitnehmen können.

“Wehe wenn sie losgelassen”

Der erste Vormittag war sehr spannend: Nach dem Gottesdienst gab es Reden, Grußworte und sonstige Auftritte von Personen. Alle mussten ihre Zeit kräftig überziehen, weil es soviel zu sagen gab (Kommentar einer jungen Delegierten: “Wehe, wenn sie losgelassen.”) – die Plenumsdiskussion fiel dafür ins Wasser. Keiner konnte etwas beitragen. Dabei hatten wir jungen Leute extra einen etwas provokativen Beitrag vorbereitet.

Neues lieferten die Beiträge eigentlich nicht, hatten wir alles schonmal gehört. Es kam nichts groß heraus. Dafür hat aber die Presse wieder was zu schreiben: Kardinal Kasper hat wieder die katholische Position betont, dass man ein eigenes Kirchenverständnis habe, aber trotzdem an der Ökumene interessiert sei, Metropolit Kirill (Internet spinnt, Link folgt) betonte die (russisch-)orthodoxe Kritik an der Postmoderne und dem in vielen Ländern vorherrschenden “Säkularismus”, dem man die aus der Wahrheit entspringenden christlichen Werte entgegensetzen müsse, und der deutsche Bischof Wolfgang Huber betonte das evangelische Interesse an der Ökumene und vergaß auch nicht zu erwähnen, dass bald 500 Jahre Reformation gefeiert werden.

Die Befürchtung, dass es nur wenig Partizipation geben würde, hat sich voll bestätigt. Wichtig Kirchenleute reden, die Delegierten sollen halt zuhören. Man kam sich eher als Dekoration vor.

Man hat den Eindruck: Hier gibt es nur Monologe, nicht jedoch einen Dialog oder Auseinandersetzungen um heiße Themen

Wenigstens eine kleine Sache haben wir erreicht: Wir (das heißt, ein paar junge Delegierte) treffen uns morgen mit dem Komitee, das die Abschlussbotschaft ausarbeitet. Ihnen wollen wir ein paar unserer Vorstellungen mitgeben. Dazu treffen wir uns gleich zur Vorbereitung. Mal sehn, wie’s wird. Bis dann.

Assembly message?

The opening plenary is now over and all the delegates are recovering from a heavy Romanian three-course lunch. We heard interesting opening speeches from church leaders and many important aspects on the assembly themes. One of the most interesting imho was Cardinal Walter Kaspers' speech in which he dealt with the issue of the recent statement of the Roman Catholic Church:
(a brief quote, see eea3-assembly page for the full version)

In a recent document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith my Church, the Catholic Church, set out differences that unfortunately exist and, in doing so, reminded us of the task that lies before us. I know that many, especially many of my evangelical brothers and sisters, felt hurt by this. I am not unaffected by it, either; I, too, had problems with it. For the hurt and pain of my friends is my hurt and pain as well. It was not our intention to hurt or belittle anyone. We wanted to bear witness to the truth, just as we expect other churches to, and just as other churches already do. The declarations other churches make are not all to our liking, and nor does what they sometimes say about us. But what are we to expect? Cosy ecumenism and fake ecumenism, which are all about being nice to each other, do not get us very far; the only way forward is dialogue in truth and clarity.

So, we are not dealing with easy issues here. But hope and unity were called for in almost every speech held.

At the end of the plenary the Assembly final message draft group was introduced. Supposedly the final message has already been sketched to some extent forehand, but this group has a great influence on it trying to extract the important matters discussed in the fora. Anyway, for the big disappointment, none of the appointed members were of the youth delegates. Though the moderator told that youth delegates should contact these people for their message to be heard, I think a far more better solution would have been to select at least one young member on board. After all, this is supposed to be an "youth assembly" and we lack 350 youth delegates of the quota of 500 that was called for from the member churches.

Now back to the rainy Sibiu and the assembly tent where the Forum on Unity is just starting.

Точка кипения

Множество всего происходило в дни, которые можно было бы обозначить тэгом "pre-Sibiu", но интернета не было и не было возможности ничего написать тогда, а теперь началось уже "Sibiu", и в этом "Sibiu" моим местом будет Press-Office, здесь циркулирует информация и документы, здесь в воздухе беспроводной интернет и слухи.
Сегодня я буду участвовать в Торжественном открытие Ассамблеи, наверное, мне надо будет пройти со свечкой из одного конца сцены в другую. А дело было так: в какой-то момент мне пришло письмо, в котором меня благодарили за согласие учавствовать в молитвенной жизни Ассамблеи и пригласили явиться в определённое место в Палатку. Вечером оказалось, что этим письмом все адресаты, которые его получили включаются в работу Богослужебного Комитета. Это было неожиданной и не очень приятной новостью - ведь получалось, что в Комитет меня включали насильно. Про это писал Тоби раньше. Но в конце концов, оказалось, что эти письма касались исключительно Торжественного Открытия.
К сожалению, работа в Пресс-Офисе не позволила мне участвовать в регистрации делегатов, а это значит - видеть их списки. Но как оказалось, на регистрации полные списки нигде не присутствуют, они разбиты на части в соответсвии с тем, куда прибывают делегаты. Странно, почему списки участников такая тайна...

English: Tobi already wrote about forcing stewards to be in Prayer Committee. But in the end it was misunderstanding - some stewards were allowed to choose another job.
I work in Press-Office and will be able to update my blog regularly.
I am wondering - someone saw any list of the Assembly participants???

Is participation something active or something passive?

Looking into the detailed programme of the Assembly, written in the delegates’ handbook, you can find that at the end of the week there shall be an Assembly message with the general outcomes, with objectives the European churches want to achieve in the next years and with plans for some concrete action. Naturally, such a message should be developed in a democratic way. According to Colin Williams, the General Secretary of CEC, this will happen: The process leading to the message will be “as democratic as possible”.

The handbook where all necessary information is written down (unfortunately not available on the internet) gives another picture:

1. The Assembly has no rules of procedure. Written rules are already common in commissions with 10 members to guarantee an outcome. But how to manage an Assembly with more than 2.000 members? How is it possible to agree on a Assembly message, if nobody knows, in which way? It’s a mystery. OK, it’s not that easy. It’s impossible that every delegate can express his position on the stage. It’s impossible to satisfy every delegate and to consider every individual argument. But: If there is the aim to incorporate delegates contributions, we should know, in which way.

2. The only thing we know is that there will be a message committee. That’s all. All other important information are unknown: Who are the members of the committee? Are there some delegates within? May we elect the members, or may we at least elect some additional members? If we had this information, we could prepare some committee candidates, or we could address to the members some contributions. But we cannot.
My conclusion: The whole process is behind a veil of ignorance. Intransparency rules, and not transparency as one of the main conditions for participation.

3. On Saturday evening one part of the programme (approximately 15 minutes) will be the “Presentation of the Assembly Message”. No decision, no voting, no affirmation. In combination with missing rules of procedure, there is only one possible conclusion. The delegates will not be asked about the final version of the message. This prognosis is even strengthened by the information, we got at the Assembly office: “There’s no voting, because there will be no decision.” But if we cannot vote – who are the decision makers? A small circle of people will decide on the contents of the message. Nevertheless, the message will be presented as a position of the whole assembly.

What is then participation? Is it about sitting there and listening speeches, lectures, greetings, addresses, and in the end they present you the result? Or is it far more? That was my main question when I saw the detailed programme.

In the foreword of the Assembly’s handbook, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima and Bishop Vincenzo Paglia describe participation as “sharing, experiencing and enjoying the Assembly ecumenically”. Contributions of delegates or open discussions don’t find their place in this definition. Is the EEA3 then only a show which was already scripted before?

No, it won't, because this depends on the efforts of the delegates with an interest in higher partipation. I think that there are a couple of possibilities:
- Asking for more time of open discussion
- Asking for an election of the members of the message committee
- Asking for a voting on the Assembly message
- If there is no way to express the position within the programme, finding other places for opinion making and discussion (as for example this blog)
- Not waiting, but starting now to act
- ...

I’m sure, this will be a very interesting and spirited assembly.

The yellow caps

The yellow caps are the distinctive mark of the young delegates. At our preliminary meeting in St.Maurice (Switzerland) we thought that it would be very useful to have something common. Voilà, here they are:

The verse from the Holy Scripture in Jer. 1,7 is God’s request to us young people to take active part in the world and also within the church:
“But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.”

So we shouldn’t be modest in terms of staying quiet and leaving all of the discussions to the church leaders and the well-experienced Ecumenists, but raise our voice, if we have some new aspects, if we wand to direct the attention to other main focuses or if we think, some critical statements are needed to give the Ecumenical discussion a boost.

Young people often have a little bit different view on things as others have, just because we have less experience and still more vision, where the way of “ouikoumene” could go. But every movement, not only the Ecumenical, needs some refreshment not to go out of date: That’s why we have to raise new questions and new fruitful ideas for the Ecumenical movement.

The yellow colour very good represents that task. It’s similar to lemons, which are very fruitful and at the same time with a sour taste. But it’s the lemon, which gives a lot of dishes (as fish or Schnitzel) the special taste and which is needed, if you want to enjoy your meal.

So: If you are in Sibiu and see people, walking around with yellow caps – they are young delegates or show their support to the work of the young people at the EEA3.

Let’s have a delicious successful sweet-and-sour Ecumenical Assembly!

The stewards' tasks

Yesterday evening our small delegates group met the stewards at their Romanian evening. It seemed to us that there is a good atmosphere within the stewards group, as the laughed a lot. We heard a lot of information about religion, culture and food (inclusive drinks!) in Romania and could get a very spirited impression of the country. Definitely they’ll make a good job and will contribute their attitudes and their enthusiasm to the Assembly.

One thing was a little bit irritating: They started to assign the different tasks since there are a lot of different jobs the stewards are responsible for. Yesterday some people already were chosen to be the “worship stewards” – unfortunately some of them didn’t remember that they had declared to do this tasks - some “misunderstanding”? Maybe.

Today the rest of the stewards will get to know what will be their main function during the Assembly – dependent on the different gifts and interests they have.
Best wishes to them and their work!

Germania – România by Bus

Die erste Vorhut der Delegierten ist gestern in Hermannstadt angekommen. Einige sind geflogen, ich bin mit dem Bus gekommen. Stuttgart – Hermannstadt in 25h. Hat viel Spaß gemacht – nach mehreren Stunden kommt man mit Leuten ins Gespräch, hat es sich gemütlich gemacht, schaut Filme auf Rumänisch (trotzdem versteht man alles wichtige, irgendwie). Ein ganz bunter Haufen von Leuten fährt mit: Die rumänische Studentin, die völlig begeistert ist von moderner deutscher Literatur, die gebürtige Rumänin, die jeden Sommerurlaub in ihre Heimatstadt in Siebenbürgen zurückkehrt, der deutsche Bergsteiger (wer gerne wandert oder klettert, scheint in den Karpaten echt richtig zu sein), der Busfahrer mit ziemlich unheimlichen Storys von Neppern/Schleppern/Bauernfängern.

Ob man kaputt ist nach der Fahrt? Nee, ich war ziemlich fit nach der Fahrt: gemütliche Sessel, genug Pausen zum Beine vertreten. Die Landschaft in Ungarn und Rumänien macht es auch kurzweilig: Puszta, kleine Dörfer und Städtchen. Manchmal aber auch Adrenalinschübe: Wenn der Bus vor unübersichtlichen Kurven überholt. Jedenfalls kommt man richtig in Stimmung und hat einen ganzen Tag Vorfreude – anders als mit einem Flug, wo man einfach einsteigt und aussteigt und nichts von der Distanz mitbekommt.

Jetzt sind wir zu viert in einem kleinen süßen Hotel am Stadtrand und bereiten die Tagung vor – Dienstag abend geht’s los. Bis dann...

In English: Going by bus to Sibiu – much more great than the short flight by plane.