Nov
29
2007
First Steps in Romanian: Lord's Prayer
The first week of school was frustrating because I was so eager to start learning, but my Romanian language classes had not yet begun.
I decided to learn some Romanian on my own, and quickly set about the task of memorizing the Lord’s Prayer in Romanian so that on the following Sunday, I would be able to recite the prayer with the rest of the church. At this point, I still didn’t understand all the words, nor did I have a firm grasp of the grammar of the prayer. I’m sure my pronunciation was far from perfect. Still, the memorization boosted my knowledge of the Romanian language and I felt right at home in the worship services.
During my five years in Romania, I fell in love with The Lord’s Prayer. Growing up in an evangelical tradition that worships in a free-church style, I had not been accustomed to reciting the Lord’s Prayer week after week within the community of believers. Thus, what constituted ancient tradition for many Romanians was like a breath of fresh air for me.
In Romania, I taught on the Lord’s Prayer several times – in a village catechism class, through sermons, and even on the radio as a series of devotionals. Being able to say The Lord’s Prayer with the Romanians in church allowed me to take part with the congregation in worship. It felt great to be able to measure my small step of progress, both in my language skills and in my fitting in within the Romanian culture.
By reciting the Lord’s Prayer with my Romanian brothers and sisters, I felt “at one” with the Romanian Church. For those brief moments on Sunday mornings, before I had a conversational knowledge of the language, the cultural barrier came down and I could join my Romanian “family” – breath for breath, word for word, heart to heart – and ask for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as in heaven. Somehow, just by saying the Lord’s Prayer, I felt I had tasted a little of that future day.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog