To the Jew first....
...and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
Not many Jews around to preach to here in Madeira. We've met a few, but only one of those we know/knew is still living here. There was once a synagogue (now occupied at the street level by a dry cleaners), and the Star of David can be seen in the panes of glass of the window on the top floor.
Not many Greeks, either. (None as far as we know.) A news report a couple of months ago, however, suggested a dramatic increase in the population of Greeks on the island: 7 crew members of a ship passing by the island were arrested in the island's territorial waters when 1.5 tons of hard drugs (cocaine? heroin? I don't remember) were found on board. Madeira lies on one of the drug routes between South America and Europe, and law enforcement agencies say that cargo is transferred from one ship to another on the high seas, so that the ships arriving in Europe with the drugs are not the ones that left South America with them.
A month or so ago, one of the prisoners who attends the weekly Bible study gave me a slip of paper with three numbers on it to add to the list I update from time to time as some men leave the prison and others arrive, listing the prisoners that are to be called for the meeting. Although no names were given, I was told that these three are Greeks, and that they speak no English (and of course, no Portuguese), although one of them "speaks a little Spanish".
Ever since then, I have included a Bible in modern Greek and a bi-lingual (NT koiné Greek/modern Greek) New Testament in the assortment of Bibles I carry with me. Monday, Georgos showed up, and he is apparently the one who "speaks a little Spanish". My knowledge of modern Greek is limited to a few phrases, but at least I could help him find the Bible readings as we went through the lesson--just as I help the others find the readings in their Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Portuguese Bibles. There's also an Argentinian with a Spanish Bible, who wasn't present this week, so it's normal to have 5 (now 6) different languages on the table, and communicating even the simplest spiritual truths to men with such a broad range of cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds is something that can only be achieved with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As a minister of the gospel, like Paul, I am a debtor to announce the gospel of salvation to all peoples, the Portuguese, the Brazilian, the Argentine, the Colombian, the Nigerian, the Russian, the Ukrainian, ...and also to the Greek.
Not many Jews around to preach to here in Madeira. We've met a few, but only one of those we know/knew is still living here. There was once a synagogue (now occupied at the street level by a dry cleaners), and the Star of David can be seen in the panes of glass of the window on the top floor.
Not many Greeks, either. (None as far as we know.) A news report a couple of months ago, however, suggested a dramatic increase in the population of Greeks on the island: 7 crew members of a ship passing by the island were arrested in the island's territorial waters when 1.5 tons of hard drugs (cocaine? heroin? I don't remember) were found on board. Madeira lies on one of the drug routes between South America and Europe, and law enforcement agencies say that cargo is transferred from one ship to another on the high seas, so that the ships arriving in Europe with the drugs are not the ones that left South America with them.
A month or so ago, one of the prisoners who attends the weekly Bible study gave me a slip of paper with three numbers on it to add to the list I update from time to time as some men leave the prison and others arrive, listing the prisoners that are to be called for the meeting. Although no names were given, I was told that these three are Greeks, and that they speak no English (and of course, no Portuguese), although one of them "speaks a little Spanish".
Ever since then, I have included a Bible in modern Greek and a bi-lingual (NT koiné Greek/modern Greek) New Testament in the assortment of Bibles I carry with me. Monday, Georgos showed up, and he is apparently the one who "speaks a little Spanish". My knowledge of modern Greek is limited to a few phrases, but at least I could help him find the Bible readings as we went through the lesson--just as I help the others find the readings in their Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Portuguese Bibles. There's also an Argentinian with a Spanish Bible, who wasn't present this week, so it's normal to have 5 (now 6) different languages on the table, and communicating even the simplest spiritual truths to men with such a broad range of cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds is something that can only be achieved with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As a minister of the gospel, like Paul, I am a debtor to announce the gospel of salvation to all peoples, the Portuguese, the Brazilian, the Argentine, the Colombian, the Nigerian, the Russian, the Ukrainian, ...and also to the Greek.
posted by EP | 11:21 AM | Permalink
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