18 July 2012

In this issue of Voice, read about:

Installation ceremony for Pastor Troy this Sunday  Pastor's weekly reflections Summer break for the choir Louise's announcements  IN THE KNOW  Rainer's next walking tour  VCC turns 55 this month Message from the Meinardus Foundation Forest fire devastates the Karnes' home   VCC last Sunday

The Rev. Prof. Otto Friedrich August Meinardus (1925 - 2005) was sent by the National Council of Churches in the U.S. to look into the possibility of founding an English-speaking church in Vienna.  He was a German Coptologist and pastor who wrote numerous books and articles about Coptic Christianity in Egypt.  

The first (VCC) interim Board met in 29 July 1957, and was tasked to draw up a constitution, to find the money, and a suitable place to hold regular worship services.

[Source: The Vienna Community Church: international ecumenical life in Vienna ; international gelebte Oekumene in Wien / Heinz Werner Pickart and Louise Ann Pickart Wien: H. W & L. A.  ISBN 978-3-200-01495-4]

                                                                                               -- VCC Voice Editor

Message from the Meinardus Foundation

Dear members of the Vienna Community Church,

Congratulations with the 55th anniversary of the establishment of your church by Rev. Prof. Dr. Otto Meinardus. Rev. Prof. Meinardus also served from 1957 to 1967 as pastor of the Maadi Community Church in Cairo, Egypt where I have been living for many years. About this time he made a statement that also applies to the Vienna Community Church:  "When everything has been said about the Maadi Community Church, there still remains that, which cannot be pressed into words, the mystery of the fellowship.  For thousands of people, who have served in Egypt, the Maadi Community Church has been a spiritual home, a fellowship that provided meaning to the meaningless, a fellowship that made all the difference to their assignments in this land." I am sure he could have said the same about the Vienna Community Church; highlighting the mystery of the fellowship, being a spiritual home for all who have assignments in Vienna

.

I am glad you are remembering Rev. Meinardus with whom I shared so many excursions to locations of Coptic Egypt. It was for Dr. Meinardus always important to be in touch with the local church, engage in activities to get to know local church and culture. From your website I see that you are organizing a walking tour on July 29. That is typically in line with how Dr. Meinardus would have acted [emphasis added by Voice editor]

Meinardus name is strongly associated with the study of contemporary Coptic Christianity. He was also a member of the board of Arab-West Report that advocates mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. The Egyptian revolution of 2011 was followed by a growing Islamist influence. Coptic Christians, also in Vienna, expressed fear for the future. Yet, Dr. Meinardus would have advocated dialogue, not to hide fears or difficulties but only through dialogue we may be able to establish bridges between different communities through which the sharpest edges may be taken away. This is where community churches can play a role. Meet with Copts and Muslims also in Vienna. Prof. H.J. Feulner and Prof. R. Prokschi recently have given an excellent example through organizing a visit for students of Vienna University to Egypt, meeting Egyptian Christians and Muslims of all backgrounds.

I would wish you could follow their footsteps, the same footsteps Dr. Meinardus set 55 years earlier on his way from Vienna to Cairo. Discovering that Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt are far more diverse and complicated then generally reported. Much reporting supports existing stereotypes but with a visit to Egypt one learns that the stereotypes that we are often not even aware of, do not hold.

Cornelis Hulsman,

Editor-in-chief Arab-West Report, Cairo, Egypt

http://www.arabwestreport.info

Member of the Otto Meinardus Foundation

Forest fire destroys the Karnes' home

Disasters do happen to real people. Almost every day, we see some disaster or other reported in the news and their frequency dulls their impact. But occasionally, disasters strike closer to home, to those we know and love. Those who have been associated with the VCC for a number of years will recall the time when the Rev. Lowell Karnes was the interim pastor some years back.  He, with his Russian wife, Svetlana, spent six months with us.  Although retired from full-time ministry, he has continued to assist churches throughout the world as the need arose.

Their retirement home however is in Colorado, precisely in one of those areas affected by the recent forest fires.  Nothing survived the fires fury except Lowells laptop and their wedding photos, which they took with them when told to evacuate. They didnt take more thinking that evacuation would be a temporary measure, but a sudden change of the wind took the fire to their home.  Its hard to imagine how one would feel losing all of those things, sentimental and otherwise, that are such an integral part of ones life.  The word devastated cannot fully capture ones feelings. Recovery from the impact is a slow process.  But disasters do often bring out the best in people the local church, neighbours, even the insurance companies have been very supportive in their own ways.

Lowell and Svetlana are now living in rented accommodation with a minimum of furniture provided by the insurance companies. Through the Voice, we send them our love and deepest sympathy.  Please remember them in your prayers. They gave us freely of their time while they were in Vienna; the least we could do is to bring them before God in our prayers.

We do not give out e-mail addresses in the Voice for obvious reasons, but if anyone wishes to write to them, please do so through the editor and your messages will be passed on to them.                                                  

                                                                                                           -- Tony Wrixon

Click here for photos of the fire devastation

[sent in by the Karnes]