Living life where Europe and the Middle East meet has been an interesting experience to say the least. Although life has become fairly ordinary now, things still occur here that were not part of our middle-class, university-town life back in Charlottesville.

Lent

Folks on this island take Lent seriously – all 49 days of it. Yes, 49-days. It started on Green Monday, February 15th and runs through Holy Saturday, April 3rd. Sundays don’t count – Lent only involves ordinary days.

As I’ve mentioned before, most holy days are also national holidays, so life stops. (Trust me work never gets in the way of life on Cyprus. It’s honestly a great way to live!) Green Monday begins the period of fasting for the Orthodox Church. There are specific days for specific type fasts, but also some general rules: no meat, no dairy, no oil (though not all the time), etc. The main food items for those that practice fasting are vegetables, shrimp, calamari, octopus (supposedly these have no blood in the “meat”), and wine. Grocery stores lay-on special stocks and restaurants even have Lent Menus. Even McDonalds – they have the Shrimp Burger. Burger King does “vegetable spring rolls.” Although not everyone fasts the whole time, a large portion of people do it intermittently, and especially during Holy Week. Admittedly secularization is growing – there are a tremendous number of baptism/chrismation, marriage, Christmas, Easter, and death Orthodox – but the church and faith still hold a lot of sway on this island. Heck, even the communists want the Archbishop’s blessing.

Politics/Economics

Cyprus also has its own brand of politics and economics. First, the economics. We’re an island of only 800,000 people and we have not one, but two airlines. Neither of which are profitable. Although combined they probably could be, but different political constituencies support different airlines. Now this isn’t to say that there aren’t people that don’t recognize this flaw…there are. They just haven’t gathered enough support (yet!) to change things. But they’re trying. More on that as things happen.

Strikes and protests here are a normal part of life. Recently we had several: the Petrol Station Owners Association was first. You have to understand, Cyprus has a semi-socialist economy. The Ministry of Commerce has a “Pricing Commission” (PC) that looks at what retailers charge based on what they paid suppliers. The PC establishes a range that retailers can charge within. Go outside that range and you risk a fine – and usually a pretty good one. Petrol suppliers have recently hiked their prices, so the owners wanted to raise prices. The PC, in their ever populist wisdom, stepped in and mandated that petrol be sold at no more than 95-euro cents per litre (roughly $4.94/gallon) – well below the European average of 1.25-euro/litre. Well the owners knowing they couldn’t make any money – and might have lost money – went on strike. About 95% of the stations on the island closed – the rest were corporate owned. Only emergency vehicles could get fuel. Let’s just say it made people uncomfortable and a bit ill-tempered. After three days, and especially after the resort city of Paphos had to shut down (there were NO open stations in Paphos) the owners suspended their strike – they realized people were now more angry with them than they were originally with the stupidity of the PC. Two days ago, the Ministry of Commerce/PC also lifted the price limits. Petrol prices rose a bit, everyone is driving and happy. And no one has heard much from the Minister of Commerce of the Chair of the PC recently. Hmmmm?

The next protest had something to do with the owners of Mazda RX-8s. We were headed to the gym on Saturday and there were multitudes of them parked in front of the Presidential Residence, and the owners were handing out flyers. There were police and news cameras, lots of chanting. No clue what they were protesting – my modern Greek isn’t quite that good yet. (You use 2,000 year old seminary Greek and people look at you like you’re nuts and/or speaking a foreign language.) Think the protest had something to do with how the cars are classified and taxed. That or they were tired of getting speeding tickets on the autoway. (Speed limit is 80KM/HR; no tickets until you hit 120KM/HR – usually, but sometimes the Astynomia (police) are a bit quicker with the siren and pads than people like.)

Our next Protest is this Saturday. It’s a protest to modernize divorce laws on Cyprus – which to be honest are a bit archaic.

CytaNet is our semi-privatized telecommunications provider on the island. At a recent review of their compensation packages by the House of Representatives, it was revealed what employees get bonuses for: coming to work on time, remaining at work the entire day, taking work home…one of the REPs asked: Do they get a bonus for sitting in their chair too? Needless to say folks were not happy but there wasn’t a lot they could do to stop it. (So you understand, a government retirement here makes anything in the US look paltry. They get a huge readjustment allowance on retirement and then collect 70% of their salary. People here are not happy with that or the fact that it’s rife with nepotism.)

Citizenship

Cyprus is one of a handful of countries that allow you to “purchase” citizenship through investment. If you buy a residential property worth 300,000-euros, put 10-million Euros in a Cypriot bank (not any bank on the island, specifically a Cypriot bank), and live on the island 6-months/year, you get a Cypriot passport – or permanent resident status (your choice) – when you go to immigration. So if anyone has 10,300,000-euros to throw my way, just let me know.

Genuflect

As some of you know, many in my congregation are dual-hatted: they still attend/are part of an orthodox congregation but come to hear the preaching of grace. Often they forget that I’m not orthodox or a bishop. I occasionally have some that come and not only genuflect, they do the sign-of-the-cross, and kiss my hand…as well as call me “Father Burns;” along with the druggist, my chiropractor, and my nearby Italian restaurant. Although I’ve tactfully explained to them this isn’t necessary it still occurs – so needless to say, there are some Sundays that I’m a bit unnerved, especially if it happens more than once.

As for “Father Burns,” I need to get used to that. If I use the term “pastor” in Greek or English, they think I’m a shepherd – sheep and all. So I have to use the term “pappas” (Father – priest). When my local Italian eatery found out that I was a priest I was asked to bless the restaurant and the kitchen. (Always glad to bless a place that makes/uses fresh pasta.) My prescriptions from the pharmacy/chemist are marked “Fr. Burns”

Needless to say you have to learn a whole new mind set ministering in the Mediterranean. Especially when you pastor a LuthAngloOrthoMethoBapTyrian congregation – with a hint of non-denominational evangelicalism thrown in. You have to understand Nicosia Community Church serves people from 11 different countries, all of whom use English since it’s the common denominator. That’s also 11-different Christian traditions…so we make it easy: accept the Nicene Creed and you’re in.

Pregnancy Care Centers

I recently got to visit with the ladies that run the Nicosia Pregnancy Care Center. It’s just off Ledra St. in the old walled city (remember we have a 16th century wall and moat (which is now a parking lot). They minister to the young women legally and illegally brought to Cyprus to work in Cabarets (night club/brothel). Some come willingly on 2-year contracts to make money to care for their families back in Egypt, Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka – you get the picture. Others were lied to – enticed by false ads to be nannies or interpreters. If they try to escape their “employer” holds their passport or beats them. The PCC does a great low-key job of ministering to these women and giving them the Gospel. They also work with other NGO’s to battle human trafficking – which is a huge issue on Cyprus. If you want to help these folks I can put you in touch. If you want to pray – DO IT!

Have to admit I still love this place though, and love ministering to people here. You can continue to pray for the church:

Prayer Requests

Stable attendance – we’re about 70 people tops, but we have so many NGO members that are in-and-out because of travel, and so many that still attend Orthodox services, that I don’t know who or how many are going to show up on Sunday. And during the summer, my Cypriots vacate the island because of the heat (average July and August temp is 110F and above – August can be 120F easily). We’ve been praying for a good solid core group. Normal attendance runs 35-45 (and usually not the same people)

Finances – see above and you’ll understand why.

Leadership – We’re doing vision planning and looking at how to redesign our website. Providentially, one of my deacons is VP at a big ad agency on the island, so he’s really good at Imagineering. But we don’t want our imaginations to lead the way…we want the Holy Spirit to lead the way.

Outreach – Let me tell you, EE doesn’t work here and never will. Nothing they teach in the states does. My ad-guy is helping us think through things that might. One thing we do is pray…God is sending us new people here-and-there…so PRAY!

We have great church fellowship as the weather warms up – about 85% of folks stay a good half-hour after the service just to chat and have refreshments. Attendance at our monthly potlucks is even better. Pray that this continues!

Our women’s bible study just started up again. Please pray for their discipleship.

We have 6-8 teens at each youth meeting. We’ve been going through a couple of books by Steve Smallman.

We need to think through how to minister to our seven university students when they return from the UK for the summer. So please pray about that.

Our men’s group is going to a family owned orange grove the end of the month to help harvest oranges and do some tree work. Great time of fellowship and an opportunity to reach out.

Cindy (my PhD bearing, Seminary grad wife) has been a HUGE help – prayers of blessing and thanks.

Pray that I would be faithful in sermon prep and pastoral service, and would clearly preach the Gospel of Grace each Sunday. Also, special prayer as I prepare services for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. Would also like prayer for God to bless my prayer times and draw me closer to him.

One special note – we have three “members” (for lack of a better term) that are battling cancer, so please pray for them as well.

Well that’s about it from here. I’m going to go enjoy a sunny, early spring day – it’s 20C (68-69F) and gorgeous out. There are days I’d love to be financially independent and living on this island – and there are folks that are. (Did you know that Maserati and Porsche make some really cool looking four door sports cars? I’ve seen ’em…wow!!! Our flat is right next door to the Cyprus stock exchange. Brokers here drive nice cars too.)

Blessings and Peace

“Fr.” Burns

Terry Burns is a PCA minister and member of the Presbytery of the Blue Ridge. He is ministering WAY out-of-bounds as the Pastor of the independent Nicosia Community Church in Cyprus. He writes an occasional dispatch for the folks back home.