Month: February 2019

Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation

‘Building bridges, living reconciliation, strengthening faith’ © Ricky Yates

As I have previously written, the evening services at the Frauenkirche, Dresden, follow a theme over a period of several Sundays. The monthly English-language Anglican services of Evening Prayer for which I continue to have responsibility, are not regarded as an exception, but rather as part of the agreed theme. The themes are agreed at a meeting of the Predigerrunde/Preachers round, which is attended by several German Protestant pastors and theologians who, between them, conduct and preach at the evening services; and me!

At a meeting of the Predigerrunde last Autumn, it was agreed that in the period from Sunday 10th February through to Passion Sunday (7th April) we would preach our way through the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation, stanza by stanza, with our theme being Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation. The litany is used regularly at the Frauenkirche, in particular, at midday prayers each Friday. Its use is part of the very strong links between the Frauenkirche and Coventry Cathedral, established through the Community of the Cross of Nails.

The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation

‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive.

The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own, Father, forgive.

The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth, Father, forgive.

Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others, Father, forgive.

Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee, Father, forgive.

The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children, Father, forgive.

The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in you, Father, forgive.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’

Therefore, after Superintendent Christian Behr had begun the sermon series on Sunday 10th February, preaching on the opening verse of scripture, ‘Alle haben gesündigt und ermangeln des Ruhmes, den sie bei Gott haben sollten‘ / ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.’ (Romans 3. 23), it fell to me last Sunday, 17th February, to preach on ‘The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class’.

Frauenkirche noticeboard © Ricky Yates

In the opening part of my sermon, I explained the origin of the litany, written in 1958 by Canon Joseph Poole, and the thinking that lies behind it. As is explained on the Coventry Cathedral website, ‘While framed around the seven deadly sins, it serves as a reminder that when we pray about the problems of the world around us, we need to begin by acknowledging the roots of those problems in our own hearts.’

I also pointed out how appropriate it was to be reflecting on, ‘The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class’, when the previous week had seen the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden which commenced on 13th February 1945 and resulted in the destruction of the Frauenkirche. But it was also the 60th anniversary of the twinning agreement, signed in 1959, between the city of Dresden and the city of Coventry, a civic move towards reconciliation which had been commemorated during the German Lutheran service that morning.

For the evening service, I had to choose two passages of scripture. For the second reading, I chose the familiar story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10. 25-37). I pointed out that, whilst the expression ‘Good Samaritan’, easily trips of our tongues, to the first century Jews listening as Jesus told the story, it was a contradiction in terms. For first century Jews, ‘good’ and ‘Samaritan’, did not belong in the same sentence! Samaritans were a mixed race, they worshipped at Mount Samaria and not in Jerusalem, and didn’t keep laws relating to ritual purity.

But for the upstanding Jewish lawyer who asked, ‘Who is my neighbour? – the one I should love as myself, Jesus told this story. ‘Loving your neighbour as yourself’, includes loving those who are different from us – not hating them because they don’t behave or conform in the way we think they should.

The other passage of scripture I chose was Galatians 3. 23-29. I explained that in the life of the early Christian Church, there were disputes as to whether gentiles who had become Christians, needed to be circumcised, just like male Jews. The Council of Jerusalem, (Acts 15. 1ff) had clearly decided that the circumcision of gentile converts was not required. But there remained a ‘circumcision party’ who thought they should and it was clearly active in Galatia.

St Paul’s letter to the Galatian Churches was written partly to rebuke the ‘circumcision party’. He declares, using a favourite phrase of his, ‘in Christ’, that once someone has ‘faith in Christ’, has been ‘baptised into Christ’, has ‘put on Christ’, there should no longer be any distinctions. No one is better than another and no one should be shunned. ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek (gentile), there is no longer slave or free (no class discrimination), there is no longer male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus’.

‘Hate’ and ‘hatred’ are strong words. Maybe we don’t necessarily hate but we do very easily ‘blame’. I reminded the congregation that Hitler and the Nazis blamed the Jews. From various quarters these days it is ‘blame the Muslims’.

Addressing the issue that is currently making the United Kingdom look stupid in the eyes of most continental Europeans – Brexit – I pointed out that the vote to leave the EU was driven by politicians blaming the country’s problems on immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe for which, blame the EU. This despite nearly all of them being in work, paying taxes and often doing the jobs that British people don’t want to do.

The EU may not be perfect – it is a human institution. But it was founded in part, to prevent a repetition of the two World Wars which had laid waste the continent of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, something which the city of Dresden and my own city of birth, Coventry, know about all too well. Seventy-five years of peace have ensued!

I ended my sermon as I end this blog post, with a challenge to those who wish to re-erect barriers that divide people and nations. As Christians, we are called to the ministry of reconciliation – Versöhnung leben – Living reconciliation. We are not to be putting up barriers of whatever form to divide groups of people, just because they are not exactly like us.

For the hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class, Father, forgive.

This blog is being resuscitated…….and I am applying for Czech citizenship

Stará Oleška 44 © Ricky Yates

My sincere apologies to everybody who has come visiting my blog during the past five months, looking for a new post and not finding one. Throughout the ten years that this blog has existed, I have always promised myself that I would never allow it to die. Yet since I last posted here on 14th September 2018, that is effectively what has happened. But ‘Ricky Yates – An Anglican in Bohemia and Saxony’ is not dead. Today it is being resuscitated!

Several times over the past few months, I have written the first few lines of a new post and then ground to a halt. Part of the problem can best be described as experiencing ‘writer’s block’.

But the other thing that has discouraged me from writing is the continued uncertainty about my own situation, brought about by the behaviour of the current government of Absurdistan, also known as the United Kingdom. I have had this uncertainty for over two and a half years – I wrote about it here in July 2016. But it has become far worse as the dreaded 29th March 2019 draws ever closer, the date when Brexit is due to take place. I still have no idea what my status will be after that date because the Absurdistan government doesn’t have a clue as to what it wants or what it’s doing.

If the worst case scenario were to happen – a so-called no-deal Brexit, then the Czech government are seeking to be helpful. The following paragraph is taken verbatim from an expats website.

On January 7 the Czech government adopted a draft law protecting the position of British citizens in the Czech Republic in the event of no-deal. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said the bill will mean the estimated 8,000 Britons living in the country are exempt from normal immigration laws until the end of the December 2020. During this 21-month exemption period ‘British citizens will be guaranteed the same treatment as if they were citizens of the European Union,’ Babiš said, according to Radio Praha. However, it will only come into effect if the U.K. reciprocates and guarantees the rights of about 40,000 Czechs living in Britain.

There are two problems here. The first is that this arrangement will only last for less than two years, until the end of 2020. What then? The second is the last sentence. This legislation will only come into force, ‘if the U.K. reciprocates and guarantees the rights of about 40,000 Czechs living in Britain’. And what guarantee of that do I have?

Ever since the ill-thought out referendum of 23rd June 2016, which was won by a leave campaign which has since been shown to have broken electoral law, the Czech government have always said that their first priority is for the well-being of Czech citizens living and working in the UK. Would that a similar priority would be given by the UK government, towards the approximately 1.3 million British citizens living and working in the other 27 EU member states. Instead, we are the last of their priorities and at various times, have been referred to as ‘cards’ and ‘bargaining chips’, by ministers past and present.

Therefore I have decided that the only way to be certain of my future living here in the Czech Republic, and being freely able to move across national borders within the EU, is to apply for Czech citizenship. So on Monday 21st January, in the company of Martina, a fluent English-speaking Czech friend, I visited the Krajský úrad/office of the regional government, in Ústí nad Labem, to ascertain exactly what documentation will be required to support my application.

There is no question that I am completely eligible to apply as I have lived here for over five years and hold permanent residency. But of course, it is ‘Permanent residency as an EU citizen’. The officer we spoke to also confirmed what I already knew, that, because of being over 65, I will not be required to pass a Czech history/culture test, nor a Czech language test.

But I do have a lovely long list of documentation that needs to be put together. I have to prove that I’ve paid my taxes, both to central government and local government. That I have paid social insurance – I was assured that my papers granting me my Czech pension which I had with me, would be deemed proof of that. That I have health insurance and also owe nothing to customs!

Then I also have to show that I have sufficient income to live here and will not become a liability to the Czech state. All of these financial documents need to be no more than thirty days old at the time of submission.

As well as all this documentation, I also have to write a covering letter like an essay, telling my life story, my education, my travels, and how I came to live in the Czech Republic. I also then have to explain why I am applying for Czech citizenship. It will need more than the one word answer, ‘Brexit’!

Despite having permanent residency and holding a valid passport, the authorities also want my birth certificate. And as it is a foreign document, it has to be apostilled to prove that it is legal and then translated into Czech by an officially registered translator. So as a first task in putting all of this together, two weeks ago, I sent off my nearly 67 year old birth certificate to the Legalisation Office of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes, UK, in order for it to be apostilled. Cost, CZK 85 to send it to the UK by registered post + £30.00 for the service + £14.50 for it to be returned by courier. But this first task is now complete. My duly apostilled birth certificate was delivered back to me two days ago.

The apostille on the back of my birth certificate © Ricky Yates