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 But every movement, not only the Ecumenical, needs some refreshment not to go out of date: That’s why we have to raise new questions and new fruitful ideas for the Ecumenical movement.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!

Sibiu, the Assembly & the Stewards

I must say hello to all of our readers from the small, but full of significance city of Sibiu, Romania. I am here for some days, but the schedule is so full that we don’t have time to do many things in the same time, thus there is no time to blog as much as wanted.

The city received us very well, as well as the other staff members which were already here before us. I manage to come in August 30th, as we had to finalize the preparations for the Stewards Programme.

Speaking about the Stewards Programme, I must confess that I am impressed and not being the only one impressed here, I must tell the whole world my best thoughts about this stewards and the work they are doing.

How can’t you be impressed seeing the stewards singing in different languages and also playing the guitar at 11 p.m. in a dirty place next to the garbage bags? They had only the reaction on the community they were building and the joy of being together and sharing the same ideals, building the ecumenism.

Although the conditions here in Romania are not at the most high western standard and some of the reconstruction works were not yet finalised, I couldn’t hear a steward complaining about anything. They were just a great team, working according to the schedule by their own. They not just worked in the requested groups, but also requested by themselves more groups in order to protect the environment and recycle used things.

Did you know that important persons like His Eminence Metropolitan Ghenadius of Sasimma started as being a steward? And quoting him, I can add that we can know for sure that in some years (probably many) some of the today’s stewards will be the church’s representatives and/or leaders.

After the Orientation Programme of the Stewards, it now starts the real work timetable and I am certain that all of them will just be better than expected.

This is a vision of an inside person and I must add that seen from outside, the great job that steward do even organizing themselves can be easily misunderstood. Hope to see many of us, stewards in the next editions of such historical meetings.

Sibiu: we'll meet for the future

Hello,
I am very happy to see that blog. It helps me to see that we are some young people who will participate. I have never been in such a meeting, but I hope we will meet and that friendships will grow amoung some of us.
And I believe it will help us in the future to improve in the way of unity of christians.
I am sure that God sees all of this and that he already rejoices himself.
so, see you tomorrow,
Pierre

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!

On the way

It is now two hours till the plane from Helsinki to Bucharest takes off. All things packed (hopefully) and printed. Little bit of excitement sneaking in also... The Finnish delegation will be spending one night in the capital of Romania and tomorrow we'll take a bus to Sibiu.

I'm really looking forward to meeting all the youth delegates & stewards and seeing how the preparations for the youth actions have gone. Hopefully we'll meet at the opening ceremony tomorrow and in the youth cafe afterwards.

Have a safe journey everyone, Godspeed!

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.

Greetings from Sibiu!

Not much time to post now, but the stewards' programme is well-and-truly underway. We've had a busy, interesting and fun time so far and we look forward to welcoming the delegates in a few days time. I'm sure one of us will post in more detail when we have some more free time!