I have enjoyed doing the short series of four sermons on the life of Hannah, which I called Life with Hannah, based on 1 Samuel 1 & 2. There are many lessons to learn from her story and experience and I don’t want to repeat the sermon series here! The one lesson I would like to focus on is how Hannah gave up much, but gained so much more. Hannah was willing to give up her precious son, Samuel, but gained so much more from it, not least the fact that this son became a major instrument for change in God’s plan for Israel.
As I reflect on the more than five years of ministry in Bratislava at our church, I am full of gratitude to the Lord and his people for allowing me this privilege. Being involved in the lives of (mostly) internationals have some real benefits, such as rubbing shoulders with and learning from other cultures, discovering family I didn’t know I had! Our church is a true “family away from home”.
Most of us would feel that we have gained much from being in Bratislava, meeting different people, being exposed to a “world out there” we didn’t know before. All of the interactions, people from other parts of the world, different food tastes, opportunities to travel to parts of the world I have only heard of – all of these are wonderful “gains”, privileges and gifts received from the Lord and his people.
But it is also true to say that these “gains” have come at the cost of “giving” – giving up what is familiar to us. For most of us, even those who left home elsewhere in Slovakia, it is a big sacrifice leaving what is familiar to us (language, home, culture, food, family) in exchange for being enriched by a different country, world, culture and foreigners.
The great benefit of belonging to a church like ours is that we can continue to worship the Lord, seek fellowship with other Christians and belong to our “family away from home”. Thank you for being part of this family and for being our family!
