Now is the favorable time: Update 29 from Prague

“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Dear family and friends,

As we celebrated Ash Wednesday as a family in our living room (the service at our church started too late on a school night), we were encouraged by these words from one of the readings: to not receive the grace of God in vain, that now is the favorable time. After our re-entry into life in Prague, the university, school, friends, church, and ballet; we are seeing so many moments of grace that we want to share with you. We are seeing grace with students and faculty opening their hearts, with our kids encouraging their friends here, reconnecting with Ukrainians and other friends, and within our family.

Part of our mission with Global Scholars is not only to live and teach as salt and light in the university, but to integrate faith with scholarly work. Josh just completed a book chapter entitled, “‘One also has to know how to lose’: The Role of Suffering in Milada Horáková’s Spiritual Leadership”. Horáková was a Czech women’s suffragist, Senator, Nazi concentration camp survivor and the only woman executed under the communist regime. She was, most importantly, a faithful follower of Christ, who had a profound encounter with God in a concentration camp. She said that in her tiny cell she “came to know what God is, and I felt that God accepted me.” Josh is interested in what makes suffering a transformational force in leading others. One of the lessons from Horáková was that her suffering led her to a

deeper communion with God so that she saw her life as "on loan" to serve others and actively identify with their pain. She ‘watched with Christ from Gethsemene.’ We share this especially at Lent when we as followers of Christ can identify and deeply empathize with suffering in the world because of the suffering of Christ. The chapter will appear in the book Inspirational Women Leaders: The Challenges and Rewards of Religion, Spirituality, Purpose, and Calling in Leadership, set to be published in March 2026.

Anna’s classes are in full swing. She just finished one of her favorite units with her 6th graders on Jesus’ parables. They looked in depth at what Jesus’ parables say about who Jesus is and what the Kingdom of God is like. Anna will walk her class through the drama of Holy Week this next week. Pray with us that her students, from all different countries and faith backgrounds, will experience God’s love for them and will respond, like the centurion at the foot of the cross, “Truly this was the Son of God!” In her English literature classes, students just finished reading, discussing, and analyzing novels with themes of hope and perseverance in the midst of suffering (Sudanese refugee novel), and the power of seeing others as images of God regardless of the labels society puts on a group or nationality (a WW2 novel). Anna is meeting with a dear co-worker next week to continue to plan a summer camp for the Ukrainian community and brainstorm programming for next year.

Recently one of Josh’s students told him, “completing this assignment has really been healing for me.” In one of Josh’s leadership courses, he has an assignment that asks students to tell a story about a high point, low point, or turning point in their life from the vantage point of some insights about themselves they have gained in class. He teaches about the psychology of redemptive versus contamination stories we tell about our lives and how redemptive stories open us to generative ways of relating to others and the world. Stories are powerful, and the stories we inhabit (like God’s story in the scriptures) offer meaning, direction, and purpose. Many of Josh’s students haven’t considered this. This student said she experienced healing because she learned to tell her story from a different perspective, which helped her realize patterns of thinking and behaving she had developed out of a painful experience. Josh reflected that this is one of those ways we experience the grace of God: His love opens us to face ourselves and our pain.

Josh was just given the honor of emceeing the 35th anniversary Gala at AAU, attended by 500 students, faculty, alumni, and honorary guests. We know that the favor Josh has at the university is a grace from God, and increases opportunities to share Christ’s love. AAU was born out of the fall of communism to be a space of free expression and deep, rigorous thinking. Josh was nominated for Professor of the Year, and was asked by another professor (who is a friend and prays with him) to deliver his speech if he

won. That professor won, and Josh read the opening lines of his speech to many chuckles: “First, to Josh Hayden: Better luck next time…”. We saw so many former students, including a Russian student who came for dinner several times and shared her appreciation for how formative her experience was. We even got to thank a Nigerian AAU graduate, who now leads Collier and Caleb’s weekly youth group, for his impact on our kids’ faith.

Abigail just finished two weekends of ballet performances in Snow Queen with the First International School of Ballet. Her brothers have been very supportive and encouraging. Collier and Caleb are in a school play, Alice in Wonderland, in a couple weeks as well. All the boys have been getting ready for a Spring Dance, which is today. They’ve been taking dance lessons, which often carry over into our apartment. Pray they have a great time at one of the most fun events at their school. We’ve been really impressed lately with Caleb bringing friends who have little to no Christ-centered influence at home to Youth Praha, the youth group mentioned above. We were also really blessed by our dear friend Elizabeth visiting last weekend, by our time together in fellowship, and how well she loves our children.

Our family is now entering the part of the semester where hospitality to students and

faculty is our spiritual discipline. We want to be, as Paul and Timothy encouraged Christ followers in Corinth, people whose hearts are “wide open,” who put no stumbling block in anyone’s way and who offer a space where students and faculty can widen their hearts. Students from Josh’s two courses along with four thesis advisees will be coming for 6 upcoming dinners. This is a great way to deepen our relationship with these students and we find that the conversation moves to the next level when we host them in our apartment. The prayer for this week in Phyllis Tickle’s Divine Hours (we are using for morning prayer) starts, “O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread,” and this is our prayer as we break bread with students over the next weeks: that Christ would be made known.

May you all experience the Shalom of Holy Week as you journey toward the cross and encounter the risen Jesus in new ways!

Josh and Anna