Relevant Klement of Ohrid, by Scot Bower

Published: May 11th, 2007

Misty and I left Skopje less than 12 hours ago and are now lying on a Greek beach letting the sun dry our bodies after a quick dip.  I’m lying here trying to make sense of too many hard goodbyes and much well-meant gratitude and praise.  As I drift towards a welcome unconsciousness, I start to dream again, not of the last year, but for the future: for Macedonia, for Glasnost, for friends.

We have been privileged to be a part of Glasnost for the last nine months, we’ve hung out in their coffee bar, worshipped God to the apocalyptic art rock sounds of Vanity Fair, and made some life-long friendships. These months have left their mark on me. But right now I’m thinking of a local guy by the name of Klement (Clement of Ohrid) who lived 1000 years ago and the influence his example is having on me.

Klement lived towards the end of the first millennia and was part of a mission movement to spread an accessible and comprehensible gospel throughout Eastern Europe. He and his friends could see that the common man couldn’t understand let alone engage with a gospel presented in the languages of the established church (Greek in the East and Latin in the West) and so began to translate the gospel and teach using the local Slavic language. Klement and his friends spread the gospel as far North as Greater Moravia where they found themselves in conflict with the Roman Church as well as the largely Muslim population, were imprisoned, brutally beaten and eventually expelled from the country.

After his expulsion Klement founded a university at Ohrid dedicated to spreading the gospel using the Slavic language. The University was known as a Christ-centred Community, caring for the poor, teaching the illiterate, excelling in creativity and despite huge opposition flourished with some 3,500 disciples passing through and into the mission fields of Europe. My friend Lille has been reading about the life of the community and said to me before we left “do you know what we would call a community like that if they were around today? A Boiler Room.” Lille’s not the only one who is excited by Klement’s example!

Today Ohrid remains one of the most beautiful places on earth, not just physically but somehow spiritually too. The Celts would have described Ohrid as a ‘thin place’.   Somewhere where you can see/feel/commune with God more easily.  A friend of mine put it more simply whilst we were praying in the  beautiful grounds of St John church: “I can’t think here, a thought comes and its washed away”.  I know what he means. You start to think or pray, and then God gently quiets you.  It is enough just to sit and know Jesus and be known by Jesus.  On the banks of lake Ohrid, somehow, that’s easy. And knowing we have Saint Klement and his compadres cheering us on makes being there feel even more right.

I am slowly (like a very thick-skinned, small-brained man) learning to appreciate these saints.  They are those that have gone before us, mostly quietly, but occasionally leaving a blazing trail of example.  I am learning the worth of seeking out this encouragement not only from preceding generations of believers but also from the countless saints throughout history that have sought the gospel afresh.  Today, our generation worships Jesus on the dance floor and hosts gatherings in coffee bars instead of church halls.  We hold ‘Journey’ discussions in skate shops all in a humble (usually) attempt to present the Gospel as accessible (dare I say relevant) and to enable a generation to worship Jesus in a way which does not allow us to divorce Monday morning life from Sunday evening.  This was the challenge to Klement and this is the challenge in each generation: to discover an expression of church/community that they can take for themselves and in that way present Jesus to the surrounding culture.  If we are fortunate and we listen hard, we find previous generations cheering us on. This encouragement helps us to make sense of our journey, it gives us permission to go forward and at the same time keeps us humble safe in the knowledge that we aren’t alone and we are certainly not the first generation to walk this path.

Today I am dreaming of Ohrid, of Klement’s legacy, of disciples trained and released as missionaries preaching the an accessible and comprehensible gospel to a generation.  I’m dreaming of a community intent on prayer, mission and justice, a community who love Jesus and this generation.  And as I dream I am comforted and humbled.   I am not alone and I am certainly not the first to search for new expressions of a worshiping community and a gospel that glorifies Jesus in this, our, generation. 
 

Images of Lack Ohrid © Graham Suggs 2007

Scot Bower is married to the beautiful Misty. They have 2 adorable children and spent the last 4 years traveling around Europe listening to God and serving the church. Today they are located in Guildford, England and are part of the Guildford Boiler Room where the adventure continues. Scot looks after 24-7 Prayer's communication including the content on this nifty website and you can buy his first book 'Saints' on Amazon and at all half decent book stores! Scot blogs tweets and hangs out on Facebook a little too often.

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