Letting GO of the Past
Filmed March 2004

 Montenegro is a small republic of the former Yugoslavia emerged from the disintegration of that once great nation as a land of disillusioned people with no hope for the future.  Church has become little more than tradition among the people and they rarely think about matters of eternity or a personal relationship with God. 

 The Picture on the DVD Case Cover and DVD Label represents much of Montenegro with a decaying church in the foreground, beautiful mountains in the background and, in Kotor Bay, the legacy of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches – each on an island unto themselves.  …On the island to the right is the Benedictine Monastery of St. George - a resting place for dozens of sea captains.  Later, local people built the small island nearby (on the left) and dedicated the original chapel of Our Lady of the Rock Orthodox Church in 1630. 
 

   Visit Montenegro!    11:37  Montenegro is a small country of rugged and densely forested mountains, hills, and valleys. It is a land decorated with cities, towns, and small farms as well as fast flowing rivers and streams and an occasional fort high on a hill. The scenery is spectacular, the history enlightening and the culture representative of a proud and independent people.  Come and experience life in this forgotten land of the Balkans in an unforgettable corner of Europe! 
   Dubrovnik   5:30  The city of Dubrovnik is located at the southeastern tip of Croatia and only a short distance from Montenegro.  Dubrovnik is like many Mediterranean seacoast cities with the hills in the background, the red tile roofs of the buildings in the foreground, and the islands offshore.  Shops, restaurants, and craftsmen are plentiful.  Visitors can walk on top of the thick walls surrounding the city.  When you come to Montenegro, be sure to include a visit to Dubrovnik. 

 These two chapters primarily focus on the tourist aspect of Montenegro and can be used for secular audiences in a variety of ways.
 

   Graveyards   6:37  Two rivers merge high in the mountains of Montenegro.  At the junction of these two rivers is a graveyard that is different than others.  Bodies of the past are broken but not decaying.  All around are the remnants of a time long past.  Other graveyards sprung up as time moved on.  Perhaps the saddest graveyard of all is that of the churches.  Religion was important to these people but today there is indifference to the Gospel message. … Pray for new life that is eternal and will not crumble and fade away. 
   Why Are the Bells Ringing?   9:35   Listen – listen, the church bells are ringing!  Will anyone hear? Will anyone come?  The doors are locked.  The people must be somewhere else.  Across this beautiful country are hundreds of churches.  Many are centuries old. The people of Montenegro have long since stopped attending the churches.  To a Montenegrin, regular church attendance is considered to be one or two times a year. The bells, however, continue to ring. … There are a few in Montenegro that hear a different kind of bell - a bell of Truth.  But their numbers are so few.  As of 2005, there were only three churches in all of Montenegro for evangelical Christians and a total of only about 120 followers out of the nearly 700,000 people in the country. 
   Windows to Heaven?   5:50  The Eastern Orthodox Churches of Montenegro look much like other old churches.  There is the church, the steeple, and inside the people but the people are paintings and statues of saints who have long since passed into another life.  The well-organized and intricately crafted depictions of these saints are an essential part of worship.  The faithful followers believe that these statues and paintings, called icons, are a window to heaven.  It is through these windows that communication to God is made possible.  The windows are now little more than a tourist attraction. The people of Montenegro have become a people without a true allegiance to the church of any kind.