This afternoon at our church, we hosted a special presentation about Israel (and some end-time stuff) by a man from a nearby town.
I arrived about 10 minutes before the meeting was to start to make sure that the video projection & such was all going to work properly and Milos (one of our elders), who had arrived early to set up the video stuff, introduced me to Mr. Ostrolucky. Mr. Ostrolucky was thrilled to meet me (chairman of the elder board) and to have the opportunity to speak to our church body. He heartily grabbed my hand and as he pulled me to himself to kiss me, he said, “As brothers in the Lord, we can greet each other this way, yes?”
I panicked! I was sure that he was going for a kiss on the lips, so I turned my head to the side to get kissed first on one cheek and then the other.
Whew! I sat down shortly thereafter to regain my composure and convinced myself that I had probably over-reacted and that he probably wasn’t aiming for the lip-to-lip greeting. But I couldn’t shake the sense that he really was going for the lips.
Following the meeting, I said goodbye to my “brother” (as we call all men in our church - although in reality I am bad at this because I don’t ever recall calling my in-flesh/blood brother Mike, “brother” - I can’t figure out why we want to emphasize this in our churches - my bad, I guess). Brother Ostrolucky again grabbed my hand, pulled me towards him and - yes, I’m sure of it now - aimed for the lips!
I’m sorry, but I don’t kiss anyone on the lips these days except my children and my wife. I suppose if I lived in Russia that I would learn otherwise, but -- thanks be to God -- I DON’T live in Russia and I don’t have to kiss other men (or women) on the lips in a greeting, so I don’t!
I’ve been here for 11+ years and this is the first time I’ve experienced this. Guess the Lord is still teaching me -- and I’m still learning.
By the way, the presentation about Israel was quite good. I’m encouraged as I see things taking place that seem to point to the very-soon return of our Lord Jesus! WOW!
Blessings to you!
I arrived about 10 minutes before the meeting was to start to make sure that the video projection & such was all going to work properly and Milos (one of our elders), who had arrived early to set up the video stuff, introduced me to Mr. Ostrolucky. Mr. Ostrolucky was thrilled to meet me (chairman of the elder board) and to have the opportunity to speak to our church body. He heartily grabbed my hand and as he pulled me to himself to kiss me, he said, “As brothers in the Lord, we can greet each other this way, yes?”
I panicked! I was sure that he was going for a kiss on the lips, so I turned my head to the side to get kissed first on one cheek and then the other.
Whew! I sat down shortly thereafter to regain my composure and convinced myself that I had probably over-reacted and that he probably wasn’t aiming for the lip-to-lip greeting. But I couldn’t shake the sense that he really was going for the lips.
Following the meeting, I said goodbye to my “brother” (as we call all men in our church - although in reality I am bad at this because I don’t ever recall calling my in-flesh/blood brother Mike, “brother” - I can’t figure out why we want to emphasize this in our churches - my bad, I guess). Brother Ostrolucky again grabbed my hand, pulled me towards him and - yes, I’m sure of it now - aimed for the lips!
I’m sorry, but I don’t kiss anyone on the lips these days except my children and my wife. I suppose if I lived in Russia that I would learn otherwise, but -- thanks be to God -- I DON’T live in Russia and I don’t have to kiss other men (or women) on the lips in a greeting, so I don’t!
I’ve been here for 11+ years and this is the first time I’ve experienced this. Guess the Lord is still teaching me -- and I’m still learning.
By the way, the presentation about Israel was quite good. I’m encouraged as I see things taking place that seem to point to the very-soon return of our Lord Jesus! WOW!
Blessings to you!
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