7 Quick Takes

October 23, 2020 by Amy Welborn

—1 —

I started reading the book The Lost Pianos of Siberia. Fairly engaging so far, although I am always wary of the exploration of a phenomenon via the lens of a personal journey. If the latter overwhelms the former, that is usually boring. So far, the balance is good, so we’ll see.

Anyway, naturally the books sends me down various rabbit trails. First was this website presenting an amazing panorama of the scenery of the Trans-Siberian Railway that was displayed at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900.

— 2 —

Secondly – an offshoot of that trail – concerns the Russian Orthodox chapel cars on the railroad. From a website, quoting from an 1896 newspaper article:

The missionary railroad car, invented by an American clergyman, has been taken up by the Russian church authorities, and four of these peripatetic disseminators are now regularly used in Siberia.
The Scientific American illustrates the style of cars used by the Greek missionaries in the bleak plains of Siberia. The car is moved from station to station, and the Siberian peasants liberally take advantage of the chances thus offered for attending services.
The Russian cars are fitted up with much of the rich barbarity and splendor of oriental art. The interiors of the walls are covered with painted images, and the car is provided with an altar, a tabernacle, candelabra, and the trappings pertaining to the ritual of the Russian Greek service.
Access to this traveling church is had in the usual way. At one end of the car is a chime of bells, and the top is surmounted by Greek crosses.

“…the rich barbarity”

Well, at least it’s not “papistic idolatry.”

— 3 —

And here’s a very thorough overview of the brief history of chapel cars from all denominations.

It’s a good read, not just because it’s a corner of history you might not be aware of, but also because it might shed some valuable insight into the ways and means of evangelization – and what it means to be flexible, read the signs of the times, and adapt.

It’s also from a website of which I wasn’t previously aware, and looks to be good for many more rabbit trails down the road.

— 4 —

As the article describes it, railroad chapel cars began with the Orthodox in Russia. An American Episcopal priest picked up the idea, thinking that it would be very good for reaching folks in the American West. The Baptists were next, and then finally, the Catholics:

St. Anthony began its travels in Kansas and would later continue its service across the country, including stops along the East Coast. When St. Anthony set out, the normal routine was to stay in a town approximately a week. Each day there would be a sermon and Mass in the morning, instruction in the afternoon for children, and a sermon and benediction in the evening (Kelley 1922:90). The priest and attendant also distributed literature during stops, which proved to be a successful missionary strategy (Kelley 1922:70). Crowds were large and baptisms were common during chapel car stays. As Kelley had hoped, St. Anthony proved to be a positive addition to the Catholic missionary cause. He later wrote about chapel cars in The Story of Extension, saying:

The most wonderful thing about the Chapel Cars is their ‘pulling power.’ They discover their own congregations. When a Chapel Car comes to town everyone knows about it and Catholics begin to spring up all around it. People who had never before been known as Catholics suddenly show interest in the Church, and come to the services…The beauty and the up-to-dateness of the Chapel Car give [fallen away members] a sense of sharing in its glory; and they begin to boast, amongst their surprised neighbors, of the Church they had never before claimed as their own (Kelley 1922:97).

— 5 –

Also read this week – a novel called Let Him Go. I’d seen a trailer for an upcoming film starring Kevin Costner and (the beautifully, naturally aging) Diane Lane, and I thought, well let’s see what the book is like. It was free on the library app, so I spent a couple of evenings reading it. Eh. Written in the present tense with no quotation marks, it was a fast read, but ultimately unsatisfying essentially because the motivations of the Bad People remain unexplored and random – but not powerful enough to serve as metaphors for The Mystery of Evil either. I mean – it was better than spending time scrolling through social media, that’s for sure, but nothing great.

And the trailer seems to indicate that the movie sticks pretty close to the book.