6th day July 14th Visit to the 'Canoe Pastor' of Libis and Prague

Once again, the morning sun woke me up from the tent. In the morning idyll by the Elbe, I made breakfast. But this idyll didn't last long because a large and, above all, deafening lawnmower, along with its driver, kept driving up and down next to my camping spot. Sometimes it rattled by just a meter away. That's why I quickly packed everything together and set off to Libis, where an Evangelical village pastor of the Bohemian Brethren lives. Although I arrived at the church (photo) over half an hour earlier, I didn't have to wait long because the pastor soon spotted me. He apologized for the untidy parsonage with all sorts of paddling gear, as he had recently returned from a youth canoe trip. That immediately made him likable to me.

He reported that his small rural community consists of only 175 members that he is responsible for, spread across the large village of Libis and the surrounding villages. About 20 worshipers come every Sunday. They usually stay together at the church cafe for over an hour. Sometimes they also have lunch together because community and being together with various activities is very important to them in this strongly secular environment. In his community, there are also 3-4 volunteer organists. He also has a second place of worship nearby, where only 5-6 people come. Approximately 1/3 of his parishioners are families with children who have moved to this area from the nearby Prague. Through them, he establishes contact with young people and offers canoe trips for them and their friends. Sometimes, some young people become interested in faith through this and get baptized. During Christmas time, he rehearses a play with some of the young parents and performs it in the large hall of the parsonage (photo).

In addition to the traditional church work, the pastor also has an official commission from the church leadership of the Bohemian Brethren for the Evangelical Czech citizens in Ukraine. In central Ukraine, there are several villages where numerous Czechs live. 2-3 times a year, he goes there, holds worship services, performs pastoral acts, and also helps with practical matters. That is also part of his church work. However, this spring, due to the war in Ukraine, it was not possible to visit, so the telephone contact is all the more important.

After this interesting conversation, he showed me the parsonage and opened the church, which is called a "tolerance church". To conclude, he showed me the seat with a bronze plaque of the famous Czech student Jan Palach (photo), who came from his community and set himself on fire in protest against the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1969, thus setting an example worldwide. I was deeply impressed.

Afterwards, we said goodbye and I cycled to the Vltava River and rode on the Vltava Cycle Path to the Golden Capital of the Czech Republic - Prague. I set up my tent on the banks of the Vltava River next to the white water canoeists and immediately continued cycling, past modern residential buildings on the Vltava riverbank (photo), towards the center of Prague. At around half past 5, I arrived at the world-famous Charles Bridge (photo) and walked through the crowd of people to the "small town" side of Prague.

Later, I had an interesting phone conversation with the pastor of the German-speaking Evangelical Foreign Congregation in Prague and learned about the special challenges of their church work. In another phone call, I reached the pastor of the Evangelical Salvador Community of the Bohemian Brethren, but because he was away, I couldn't arrange a visit for the next day. I walked around the historic Old Town a bit, past the John Lennon Wall, grabbed a snack, and returned to the campsite. There, I crawled into my little "house made of fabric", which withstood the heavy rain of a thunderstorm late in the evening.