1 Woche in Österreich - Sonntag bis Freitag

First week in Austria - Sunday to Friday

Well, this has been an incredible week to say the least.  Before sitting down to write this blog, I was overwhelmed at the amount of space I could take up just talking about the things I've seen and experienced and the massive cultural divide between small town New Hampshire and Vienna.  Lucky for me I remembered that my mission statement for this blog is to "remember the former things" - the things of God.

So, keeping in my mind that my only purpose here is to document the spiritual track God is taking me down, I am much less stressed about capturing every detail of my week.  Let's just say that Vienna is the most amazing place I've ever been and I've enjoyed every minute of it, and have been making every effort to fill my large amounts of free time by integrating into the culture here.

I have been reading my Bible and praying every night, which is a good change from the last few months where I was not doing so well.  The key is to find God here, and to know that He is the same God that He has always been in my life.  At this point I have no specific direction or guidance from the Holy Spirit as to what my purposes are here other than to grow in my relationship with Him, so I am trying to take that seriously.  It is difficult when there are no other Christians to associate with, however.  The country is predominantly Catholic (mostly non-practicing), with only 4% Protestants, the vast majority of which are highly traditional Lutheran or Helvetic believers whose structure and practice is only a tiny jump away from traditional Catholicism.  I have nothing against them and was in fact planning on attending a Lutheran church, but discovered that both of these closely-linked denominations have shown support for same-sex unions, which is simply a deal breaker for me because it so clearly breaks Orthodox Christian beliefs.  I have found two Baptist churches, however, one German-speaking and the other English-speaking.  This Sunday I plan to attend the German service and hopefully begin finding a temporary family there, at the very least to pray and worship with.

My key verse for the week has been John 5:39-40: "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."  Christ has made it clear that it is not through study of the Scriptures that we have life, but through Him.  Despite being of absolute divine origin and entirely infallible, His word is simply a gateway to finding new life with Him.  This verse is quite easily expanded to include all forms of religious actions, especially but not only those done with an insincere heart.  I have stressed "not only" because this thought has been shaping me over the last day or two.  Sincerity of heart and desire to find Christ will not change the outcome of our religious actions (our devotions, daily readings, prayers, even listening to worship music).  It is only when we heed His simple command, "Come to me to have life," that we find life in Him and in all of our peripheral activities, both the externally religious and the seemingly mundane.  This is a truth that was a "once upon a time" truth for me.  I knew it so well and practiced it as best as I could in the past, but have all but forgotten it in practice lately.  To be reminded of it has been huge.  Putting it into application will not be any easier simply because I know, but this is an excellent first step.

This topic is powerful and I believe these verses from John 5 are very compatible with Paul's thoughts found in Galatians 5-6.  I encourage anyone to read these two chapters and contemplate the fact that the law and, thus, religiosity have no value in either direction in the life of any believer.  Rather, as the last half of chapter 5 explains clearly, our life and actions are motivated by our relationship to Christ.

Again, my goal here is not so much to talk about myself or experiences but rather to encourage and provoke the thoughts of all my Christian friends back home as well as maintain accountability for myself.  Please take these truths to prayer and ask yourself what areas of your life are religiously or "Law" motivated and not relationally or "Love" motivated.

Viele Grüße aus Wien!

-Corey