letter from Latvia
My first visit to Latvia in the Spring of 1993 coincided with the arrival of an abundance of bananas in Riga.
Up to then they had been the preserve of an elite few; now everybody could buy them, and they did! It is the first time that I have thanked my host with a bunch of bananas as well as the usual flowers.
My most recent arrival there coincided with the opening of the first Lidl stores in Latvia (pictured). Some people starting to queue 24 hours before the official opening! One of their opening offers was on bananas: 29c a kilo. One major competitor immediately dropped their price to 39c a kilo, and the other marked their price down to 29c as a price match.
Since independence in the early 1990s Latvia has experienced rapid change. It has had three different currencies, more than one financial crisis, and has joined the European Union. The latter has brought Latvia lots of inward investment that has funded massive infrastructure transformation, particularly in Riga.
Political, cultural, and spiritual change has been rapid. There was phenomenal interest in Christianity in the 1990s. This soon died down, but there are still encouraging signs of openness to the gospel. The openness of the church to the outside has been a mixed blessing. New spiritual trends can promise the earth, but can easily disappoint, steal identity and fuel cynicism.
One of the things to pray for Christians in Latvia is wisdom. Take supermarkets – when you are used to a corner shop, entering a supermarket with 20,000 separate lines on sale is bewildering. When a nation has spent 50 years being told what to do, it takes great wisdom and discernment to navigate the abundant marketplace of ideas, with its kaleidoscope of seductive offers. It requires great wisdom to sift through new theological trends, evangelistic strategies, and ethical proposals. Pray for the shaping of clear Latvian voices that can think Christianly about these issues and address them in a way that sensitively warns and patiently instructs the church, so that Christians can be confident in the public square.
