Page 2: Glasnost Sketches by Richard Heald

Here are guys and girls with hard and harsh realities crowding in on them, from past, right now, and moving on from here – tough, unrelenting ‘reality’ – is that what it’s called?  Disappointments a lot of the time;  disillusion might set in hard;  obstacles and barriers at pretty much every turn, and betrayal too.  Deep, hard, non-negotiable tragedy in most of their lives leaves you groping for anything to say or offer, any sense of order or reason or sustenance in this.  Yet here are people with bright eyes, ready smiles, constant teasing and an alertness to what might lie ahead.

Here is a city bordering on the surreal – resolute, stubborn certainly, utterly improbable, ruined yet resistant, incapable of giving up.  Flattened in a massive earthquake in 1963, the brutalist communist concrete re-build of the whole place is so very much of its time – the remarkable Post Office might be a modernist cathedral!  While the restored Old Bridge linking the old and new cities signals new directions.  A people hoping for more, believing in themselves - creative, able, sharp and desperate to do something about it.  Wary – wouldn’t you be? – and sceptical of wishy, white-washy, make-it-all-better salve that leaves them diminished, side-lined or, worst of all, silenced.  Apathetic?  No.  Disorganised, dishevelled, a little down at heel? Well yeah, maybe – but what of it, and what would we be like in that same place?

Are they bowed?  … broken?  … surrendered?  Well sorry, but no – except as fighters in a ring might be, twelve rounds gone, pummelled, swollen, bruised, cut-open and now lying there with something - someone - standing over them, waiting for another move, a twitch, a stirring.  They claw the canvas, they are raising themselves, they know where their strength is, they know and rely on Him.  And right now they crouch and kneel and raise themselves and their faces, steadying and readying themselves for further fight and press and hope and trust, and believing in their lovely, living Jesus, who’s brought them this far and doesn’t look like He’s going away and leaving them any time soon.  Yeah, it hurts :  it wrenches deep inside, the scars are apparently pretty indelible, so it stings and makes it quite hard to move, to smile, to pray, to give, to share, to tell and learn some more.

So does that mean they don’t – or they won’t - do all of this and more, and more and more?  There is one way to find out …  and they would so love to see you there too!

For more information on the Glasnost community in Skopje, see their communal blog (english).

24-7 has more possibilities for mission teams this summer.  For more information, see the 24-7 Mission website.

All images in this article are © Richard Heald 2007 and may not be reproduced or published in any way without previous written consent from the artist.