Russia WILL Be Abaze!

From my inbox this morning;

December 6, 2007 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 82
World Mission sponsors tour to Russia
LCMS World Mission is sponsoring April 22-May 5 an Ablaze! tour to Russia and the Baltics, where the collapse of European communism brought the Synod in touch -- and in partnership -- with fellow Lutherans who remained steadfast in their faith through decades of persecution.
Hosting the tour will be LCMS World Mission Executive Director Robert Roegner and his wife, Kristi; LCMS First Vice President William Diekelman and his wife, Carol; and LCMS World Mission Regional Director for Eurasia Brent Smith and his wife, Jennie.
The tour includes visits with partner-church representatives and LCMS missionaries, a first-hand look at their Gospel ministries, and stops at historic and other sites in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; Riga, Latvia; and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Cost of the trip, including round-trip airfare, is $3,779. The price also covers lodging, breakfast and dinner daily, tour guides, intra-European travel, all gratuities, taxes, and the Russia visa fee.

I would love to be a fly on the wall when our folks speak to the Russian churches and tell them that although they have a long liturgical tradition, and although their hymnody is clearly one that the church has always sung, they will need to implement something more dynamic to attract the over 50 crowd.

I would love to be there when folks from our synod walk in and declare that their churches not inviting enough because they don’t pass out jars of jelly as welcome gifts.

Yeah, I would almost like to go on this little trip, you know, schadenfreude and all.