Jefferson County pastor Scott Lohse is using a longtime Easter tradition from Ukraine to raise money to help refugees from the country that has been invaded by Russian troops.
Scott, 64, of Arnold said he and his family have created 10 pysanky – Ukrainian Easter eggs decorated with colorful designs – to give away as part of a fundraiser for the refugees.
He said he was heartbroken when he recently saw a video of people praying Psalm 31 in a bunker and decided he had to do something to help.
“Thinking about actually being in a bunker with bombs falling, praying that the Lord is your refuge was pretty powerful to me,” said Scott, who’s the pastor at St. Martin’s United Church of Christ in Dittmer.
He’s also the chaplain for the Cedar Hill Fire Protection District.
Scott said he learned how to create pysanky from his wife’s family, who emigrated from Ukraine many years ago.
“My great-grandpa came over (from Ukraine), and he saved money to be able to bring everyone over. There were seven kids,” said Scott’s wife, Lin Lohse, 64.
Lin’s grandmother, Julia Pregon, came to the U.S. when she was 13. Unfortunately, one of Julia’s brothers died and never immigrated to the U.S., and another one of her siblings decided to stay in Ukraine, Lin said.
A collection of Scott Lohse’s pysanky, Ukrainian Easter eggs.
She said her grandparents brought the Easter egg tradition with them to the U.S.
“They used to (decorate the eggs), and they would take them to be blessed by the priest for their Easter meal,” Lin said.
Scott said not long after he and Lin married on June 10, 1978, they were at a gathering with his wife’s family, and he was introduced to the tradition when Lin’s mother gave him a kit for decorating the eggs.
“Scott was at the table doing the eggs and my brother and I were off having a glass of wine or something,” Lin said.
Scott said after years of working on the skill, it now takes him between three and five hours to decorate an egg.
“Just depends on how intricate it is,” he said.
Scott uses blown eggs, which means he drills a small hole in the egg and drains the liquid out.
He said the process of creating a pysanka is centering.
“It clears your mind because you have to focus,” he said. “It’s very engrossing and it’s a spiritual activity. I’m thinking about those refugees while I am doing this, and I’m thinking about who might feel like they were blessed that they got (one of the eggs). It’s kind of neat to think that your work will bring somebody joy.”
Scott said the hobby is an outlet for his artistic side and offers other benefits.
“The wonderful side effect is if you sit here doing this in the evening, you don’t eat snacks,” he said.
Scott uses a tool called a kistka to apply beeswax on the egg where he doesn’t want dye to go. After applying some of the wax, the egg is dipped in dye, and the process is repeated until all the design is drawn on with the wax.
“You draw on what you want to keep and then you dip it in the dye and all that is colored is what is left exposed,” Scott said.
The last step is melting the wax off with a candle, which reveals all the colors.
“It’s just like magic,” he said. “You never really know for sure (what it’s going to look like) even as the artist, but you’ve got to get there.”
Scott said he gets the supplies for his egg decorating from a Ukrainian gift shop in Minneapolis and he likes to work with farm fresh eggs.
“The tradition is that (the dyes) were made from things that were agricultural, but these (dyes) are more like a clothing dye,” he said.
Scott said each pysanka is decorated with a lot of religious symbols. For example, the bands all the way around the eggs represent eternity, and white represents the resurrection.
Scott said the tradition is actually from the Russian Orthodox church.
“It’s a very spiritual tradition, you’re supposed to be thinking prayers about who you’re making it for as you are making it,” Scott said.
The 10 eggs to be given away to some of those who donate to the fundraising effort have different designs and colors, but all feature a sunflower, which is Ukraine’s national flower.
“We didn’t promise what the egg would look like, only that it would have a sunflower pattern,” Scott said.
Continuing the tradition
Scott and Lin’s son, Dan Doyle-Lohse, 38, of St. Louis, helped decorate some of the 10 pysanky.
“As everything that’s unfolded in Ukraine, we wanted to find a way to help them,” he said. “This is a way that kind of came to mind with our history with the region and our desire to help them.”
Dan said he feels connected to the country.
“We don’t know any of our family members who are still over there, but you still kind of feel connected to your roots a little bit,” he said.
Dan said he learned the skill from his dad as a young boy. “I find that it’s a calming hobby to have,” he said.
Lin said she is happy to see a family member continue the tradition.
“It does make me proud,” she said.
Lin said the family is also introducing the tradition to their grandchildren.
Fundraiser
The Lohses encourage people to donate to the fundraiser for Ukrainian refugee relief. A GoFundMe account has been set up for donations that will go to the United Church of Christ Global Ministries and then will be given to churches in Hungary, which will use the funds to support refugees from Ukraine and people in need who have decided to stay in Ukraine, Scott said.
“It’s sort of an interfaith international emergency fund,” he said.
Those who contribute to the fund will have their name entered in a drawing once for every $10 donated, and 10 names will be drawn at random to win one of the eggs.
To find the GoFundMe page, go to St. Martin’s UCC’s website at
stmartinsuccdittmer.com and scroll down and click on the Ukrainian Refugee Relief donation button.
Lin said the winners’ names will be picked on Easter Sunday, April 17.
“Our grandkids will pull the names,” she said.
Jack Nobles, 72, of Dittmer said he donated $80 to the refugee relief fund and plans to donate more soon.
“Ukrainian relief is something that we all need to be aware of, and we all need to support the people,” he said.
Nobles, a member of St. Martin’s UCC, already has received one of Scott’s pysanka.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful egg, but it’s bigger than being about the egg. It’s about Ukrainian relief,” he said.