Who’s going to wash the dishes?
Who washes the dishes? I remember when I was in college and my roommate and I would have our guy friends over for dinner. These were the nights when we would go all out and actually buy meat. But, there was one rule: if we buy the food and cook, you do the dishes. In my new apartment in Chicago, we do things the real American way: everyone does their own dishes (for the most part). It’s fair. But in India, it’s not how things are done. The wife, mother, or servants do the dishes. If you are in a cafeteria setting, maybe you do your own dishes, but the boss or person of authority will rarely be allowed to wash his dish.
My friend, Yuvraj is the kind of guy by Indian standards who could go his whole life without washing a plate. That would be very normal. He’s a U.K. educated upper-middle class twenty-nine year-old from a good family. But, Yuvraj is a follower of Jesus. And sometimes when people follow Jesus they find themselves in very different roles than would be seen as normal.
He has recently moved out of his comfortable family house and into a very simple cement house in the slum. Him and his wife now sleep on the floor; carry water in from a hose outside to wash dishes, and share a bathroom with at least twelve people. Why? It’s not easy, and it’s not that they have some weird preoccupation with suffering… They are real; they want nothing to do with hypocrisy. They believe that the Creator of the universe cares about the suffering people of the world, and sent his son Jesus out of love for them. The God of the universe cares about the woman who lives across the gully from them in a three-sided shack with her children. God sees this sweet lady who never asks for anything and whose children get bitten by rats while they are sleeping. So Yuvraj and Mary see her through God’s eyes, and they insisted that she accept a bed from them—so her and her children have a chance to sleep through the night without rat bites. They imagine that if Jesus were living in their neighborhood, he might do something like make friends with her.
But back to dishes—plates. So Yuvraj started this training program in which he goes into a small town or village area and teaches a group of people problem solving skills, has them get into groups and try to think of solutions to real community problems they are facing. And, when he hears the best problem—solution he has a grant that will help them start working to implement these solutions. And, each day of the seminar starts with a time of spiritual reflection. So one day my friend Yuvraj taught devotion about Jesus washing the disciples feet. Most of the participants were Christians and all of the participants were rural Indian farmers. Then they started the training for the day and at lunchtime had a cafeteria-style-wash-your-own-plate-routine. On this day Yuvraj finished his lunch first and after washing his own plate turned to the next man and said, “Would you allow me to wash you plate?” The man blinked, and stepped back, with his month open. You have to understand that Yuvraj is so well spoken in English that sometimes people think he is a foreigner. The third man elbowed him and reminded him of the teaching of Jesus washing his disciples feet. Yuvraj laughed and said, yes, but I’m not going to say like Jesus that you have no part with me, if you don’t let me wash your plate. I am only requesting that you allow me the honor of washing your plate. As the men continued to come up to the sink, some allowed him to wash their plate and others didn’t.
Later Yuvraj brought this up to me, because we were talking about foot washing—which is something I love to do in a worship service, but Yuvraj was saying that foot washing has been ritualized beyond meaning in some contexts. On Good Friday, the priest will wash the communicants feet and it is like receiving a blessing—but the ordinary yet disruptive act of Jesus washing his followers feet has been lost. In Jesus’ cultural context, you would come in the house from a day of walking around on dusty streets and either a servant would wash your feet or you would wash your own feet. It was just a normal thing, like sanitizing your hands after moving around in a crowded place, buying lunch, pouring a glass of water, or washing the dishes in your neighbor’s house.
Prayer for Calm
My Lord and my God, I do not know what will happen to me today, but what I do know is that nothing will happen to me today that you and I together can not handle. This thought is enough to bring me to face the day in peace. I adore you in your wisdom and love: I commend myself into your hands with complete trust. Amen (Taken from a Jesuit prayer guide)
Each morning for the last few months I have started my day with this prayer for calm. Last week this prayer was followed by an email explaining how one of my students had been attacked by an evil spirit the night, and began beating his wife. On Sunday a visit to the worst slum I have ever seen, followed this prayer. Our very poor friends insisted on serving us Coca-Cola. Yesterday, I prayed for calm and met one student who was so angry with another student she refused to lead the singing. Then another student had a miscarriage. Another student gave away his shoes, though he only owns two pairs now, so that a traveling Sikh God-seeker didn’t have to walk barefoot. I saw my students offer comfort to families with members in the hospitals, praying for all who asked. I saw Christian students say “Eid Mubarak,” and serve a special lunch to Muslim construction workers. That’s how my work here in India is. Everyday I am confronted with the destructiveness of poverty, and yet the joy of being in a community of hope. And each day I have an option, will I try to handle the difficult things myself, or will I trust my life into God’s hands?
Sometimes I get worried about where I am going to live and how I will earn money, but then I remember that my Father in heaven knows everything I need. I can trust him. No matter where we live or what we do; we can put our trust in God. Seek First his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:34). I encourage you to start each day with a time of silence, and perhaps a prayer for calm.
Spiritual Causality: Superstition or Spiritual in the Ordinary?
In the Western world we think that everything is physical. You get a headache, you take medicine, you feel sad for too long and you take medicine. Here in India, you get a headache in church, and the assumption is that this is spiritual. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t had enough water and it is hot in the building. You act lazy and cross for a week, and it is also a demonic attack, though in America we call it P.M.S. It is very easy to look down on the common views in the East as superstitious.
I have a very good friend named Peter who started dating a girl last year named Pooja. Peter and Pooja go to Delhi University. He is a Christian and she is a Hindu. But they got along well, and she was cute. They would travel by metro and even hold hands as they walked through the station. Peter was swept off his feet. He would talk to her for hours in the evenings and go early to college to meet her. At first he was trying to share his faith with her, and she was interested. At least she was interested since she was interested in him. She agreed to visit church, but only if he would visit the temple. He was not willing to visit the temple. I asked him if he could just go and observe the temple, and he said he would not feel right about it.
Then during a festival time when Pooja and her family were doing special daily worship rituals, Peter mentioned to me that he didn’t feel well and he accredited it to Pooja’s idol worship. Peter was so distracted during midterm exams that he did not do as well as usual. Peter called me on my birthday and I talked to Pooja too, I thought they were getting serious enough that I might get to meet her despite the fact that I was sworn to secrecy regarding her. After a few months, I asked about Pooja, and Peter said they actually weren’t compatible. It wasn’t just the religion thing. Then a few days later Peter called me over to his house, he had been crying. “I told my mom about Pooja,” Peter told me. I was surprised. Why would he tell his mother about Pooja if he was going to break-up with her anyway? His mother made him call his Aunt who is a prophetess. She asked him a lot of personal questions. Then she told him he had to end it the next day. Peter told me that something about going out with Pooja had put him in a spiritual paralysis, and he knew he needed to break-up with her but he didn’t have the strength. Now, he had a reason. His aunt and his mother were demanding that he end the relationship. The next morning his mother drove him to his aunt’s house where she prayed over him for a few hours. That night he called Pooja on the phone and broke up with her. He felt awful about how hurt she felt. But a week later I asked Peter how he was doing, and if he thought he did the right thing. He was still mourning his lose, but he showed me some marks on the bottom of his feet. “They were warts that were getting bigger, and when I broke up with her, they started to heal,” he explained to me.
So, is my college educated friend backwards and superstitious? Or is my American worldview blocking me, from seeing the spiritual in the ordinary? What if the stress of being in a relationship is how Peter was distracted from studying and the warts formed, but this was an outward expression of spiritual warfare? In the West, we are concerned with the question of how something happens, where in the East the concern is over why something happens. Here in India, as in many places in the world there is a consciousness of the impact of the spiritual world on the physical world, a consciousness that westerners could learn from. Not that we should be overly preoccupied with demons, angels, or cures but that we should understand that this spirit world is part of a biblical worldview. It is also a part of much of the historical and present cultural understandings of the world. We should also admit that we are sometimes the blind ones. What if there is not only a “Higher Power,” but many “powers” at work in the world? And, if the God of the Bible is your God, then all of these powers at war affect world events and interpersonal dynamics. However, in the end all the powers ultimately will summit to God. If you are a praying person, I encourage you to pray and ask God to open your eyes to see what is going on beyond the physical things around you, and see what happens.
Can Uneducated People Change the World for Good?
A friend of mine named Francis works as an advocate for the people of a slum in Delhi and he has married into a poor Muslim family. Yesterday he brought two of his young brothers-in-law to join our program: Shamim and Mohammad. These teenage boys have been working most of their lives. Just last week Shamim ironed jeans in a factory and Mohammad worked as a demolition laborer. They have never been to school or learned to read or write. They kept their eyes downcast as I tried to welcome them and explain to them the housing arrangements. I asked Francis if they wanted to be here, he insisted that they did. Francis looked at them and told them that they are good, don’t let anyone tell you that you are bad. In other words, do not let anyone look down on you. Then Francis turned to me and said, “you know Jesus used a small group of uneducated people to change the world once before. It was a miracle; we are just hoping He will do it again. We need a miracle. Let’s see.”
Already this morning they were clapping and laughing with the rest of the group. After we sang and danced a little, I said that our God loves us so much that it makes God happy when we enjoy worship. One of the other students told me that he never knew happiness before he met Jesus and joined this knew family.
According to the United Nations Development Programme Report of 2007/2008, India had a literacy rate of 64.1%. The United States has a 99% literacy rate and Burkina Faso has the lowest literacy rate in the world at 23.6%.
We want to help Shamim and Mohommad learn to read and write—but even more than that we want the love of God to transform them and to use them to change their world for good.
Poverty Profanes the Gospel
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with the princes,
With the princes of His people.
-Psalm 113:7-8
Last week my grandparents, whom I am staying with, had a houseguest from Uganda. His name is Hamlet. He is a priest in the Church of Uganda, a former parliamentarian, current chaplain for the Parliament of Uganda, an entrepreneur, and more than everything else an activist. Being a person with a vision for the economic and spiritual development of his people, he had so many words of wisdom for me since I have a heart for the economic and spiritual development of the people I work with in India.
He was surprised to discover that I do not have a car in India. He asked me if it was because I was afraid to drive there. I said, “yes, that’s a big part of it, but we also want to live a simple life as the people we work with for the most part do not have cars.” He said that while there is value in “living like the people,” there is also an importance to modeling social upliftment. He said that, glorifying poverty was one of the mistakes of the missionaries that went to countries in Africa. They pointed towards heaven and encouraged the locals to be content instead of working hard and trying to make their situation better in this life.
In another conversation, Hamlet lamented that so much of Europe regrets having ever sent missionaries to Africa. But, “they don’t realize that the gospel corrects itself. They don’t realize the value of the gospel,” Hamlet said to me. He went on to explain that after a generation of people grow up with the gospel, if the gospel is internalized the people start to realize the inconsistencies they were fed along with the gospel and they reject the mistakes. It is like John Wimber used to say; they “chew up the meat, and spit out the bones.” (Yes, yes, I realize that saying only makes sense in cultures where people do not chew up the bones).
In this case, one of the mistakes to be rejected in Africa is the glorification of poverty. While Jesus did come to earth, and live among us as a lowly human—he did not just stay that way and encourage us to stay that way. Instead, Jesus transformed himself through the resurrection—and encourages us to follow. So, perhaps we are not just called to live among the poor and handle our finances like the poor but we are called to model how to live a better life where we do not have to live in fear of how we will feed our children or pay our rent because we run sustainable businesses and we budget our money wisely.
I have seen the “poverty mentality” eat away at beautiful, intelligent, and gifted people. They run from crisis to crisis, never looking ahead and therefore they are unable to live to their potential. I want to be a part of helping people out of that destructive cycle. Because good news is not good news unless it is good news to the poor, and as Hamlet said to me, “poverty profanes the gospel.”
On Being a Foreigner
I am a foreigner. To call someone a foreigner in the U.S., might be rude. It is at least politically incorrect. We call people from other countries, “internationals” or we call them by various labels such as “Latino,” “Asian,” “European,” “Middle Eastern” or “African.” Sometimes the descriptor is correct and sometimes it is not. We don’t seem to notice. But in many places in the world if you do not look like the dominant population, you are deemed a “foreigner.”
As I have lived in India, I have become comfortable with that title because every day I am aware that my surroundings are foreign to me. The feeling of people pushing me each other to get to the front of what I used to thingk should be a line (or Q) to get on a metro train, the smell of masala, onions, and garlic being heating in mustard oil, and the sound of the language I have to strain and guess to understand remind me that I am the foreigner.
When I am in the U.S. there is a sense in which I am still a foreigner. I look an American, I sound like an American, I smell like an American, but I don’t always feel like I fit in. Some things in the U.S. seem foreign to me. Everyone seems to have a car, technological gadgets namely GPS and phones that go online, white babies, houses, and green grass yards. I don’t have any of those things (and I’m not sure I want all of them).
But, the truth is that I have always been a foreigner. I guess that is why, when a little girl who had just moved from Hungary and didn’t know any English joined my third grade class, the teacher sat her next to me and asked me to help her. At that age I had heard the stories about my country, I knew that we were different. I knew I would never fit in.
The country that I heard about was not Korea or Italy or even the “good ‘ol days” of America, that so many evangelical kids are raised hearing about. The country that my parents talked about as the homeland was a far away place. Though I couldn’t remember being there, we were from a place were every child was loved and lived and danced and played—and taught the adults to do the same. In our country we didn’t need a president or congress or anything like that, because Jesus was the King and that met that everything went right. It is a place where everyone was healed and every tear was dried.
And the secret that my parents reminded me of everyday was that that country–that Kingdom that was so different from America was coming–coming to here. In fact that country actually existed in us. And, as we lived that dream of the Kingdom to come–praying for the sick, loving the poor, writing to people in jail we were a part of that invasion.
All these people (the ancient people of the Bible) were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers of earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. –Hebrews 11:13-17.
The Other Wiseman
Narrator:
- You have heard the story of the Three Magi from the East who followed the great star to worship the baby king Jesus, but have you heard the story of the other Magi—the fourth Wise man—Arjan? Let me tell you his story.
- There lived in ancient Persia, in the city of Ecbatana, a certain man named Arjan. He was a member of the elite community of Zoroastrian scholars called Magi. Magi were astrologers as well as physicians who believed in the search for goodness and light.
One day a new star rose. According to the prophets this was the star that foretold of the birth of the King of the Jews. Arjan and three of his Magi colleges planed to go on a pilrimage together to search for the promised one to be born King of Israel. 
Selling everything he owned, Arjan bought three jewels—a sapphire, a ruby and a pearl. He would carry them as tribute to the King. - Thus begins Arajan’s journey. He had only 10 days to meet his three companions at the great mound of Mirod and the Temple of the Seven Spheres.
- But just before reaching the great mound of Mirod, Arajan came upon a dying man lying in the road. Should Arjan care for this man and restore his health or forget about him and meet his Magi friends for their important pilgrimage?
- Arjan stopped. Hour after hour he labored over the man. The man ate and regained some strength.
- Pressing on, now a day late, Artaban discovered that his collages had gone without him. Arjan could have returned home, but instead he sold the Sapphire to buy a caravan of camels and provisions for the journey. He would not give up his search for the great King that the stars foretold.
- He received a message from his fellow Magi that the child was to be born in Bethlehem.
But just as he arrived in Bethlehem, soldiers of King Herod were carrying out orders to kill all the baby boys of the town.
All the doors of the town were shut, but one room was open. A mother was singing a lullaby to her boy child. The woman told him that it was now three days after the other three magi had arrived in Bethlehem. They had found Joseph and Mary and the young child and had laid their gifts at his feet. Then they had disappeared the next day. - Then Artaban still seeking his King, went to Egypt to look for Mary and Joseph and Jesus.
Joseph had taken his wife and baby that same night and fled to Egypt—there was a rumor that he had been warned by an Angel to leave Bethlehem.
- Outside the room Arjan heard women and baby’s screams. Suddenly a soldier stood in the doorway of the room where Arjan stood. Arjan held up his Ruby and offered it for the protection of this mother and child, the mother thanked him .
- For 33 years Artaban continued looking for the King—but as news spread that he was a doctor—the sick and the helpless came to him every day and he would care for them. Then one day a man who had leprosy that Arajan had helped came running to him and said,
- Man who had Leprosy: “Arjan, Arjan, Look and my fingers.
Arjan: “Wow, What happened?
- Man: “I am whole. I am healed.
Arjan: “Who has done this?”
Man: “I have found the King you seek, Come”
Arjan jumped up and they ran to Jerusalem. It was Passover season. People where saying that Jesus, the man who had healed the Arjan’s friend of leprocy was going to be crucified. How could a great healer King be killed by the Romans? Arjan was confused.
It was crowded. Suddenly a slave girl being dragged by her master’s guard broke away and threw herself at Artaban’s feet. Taking the last of his treasures, he gave the pearl to the girl and ransomed her life. - There was an earthquake. Arjan fell to the ground. Artaban knew he was dying. He would not find the King. He had failed his quest. The randsomed slave girl took Arjan to a room to die in peace. For three days he was in and out of consciousness.
- There was a rumor that though Jesus, the King of the Jews had been killed
before the whole city he was alive and appearing to his followers. Suddenly there was a man kneeling by Arjan’s bed. Arjan recognized his King. - Artaban: “Ah, Master, I have longed sought you. Forgive me. Once I had precious gifts to give. Now I have nothing.”
- Jesus: “Artaban, you’ve already given your gifts to me.”
- Artaban: “ I don’t understand, my God.”
- Jesus: “When I was hungry, you gave me food to eat, when I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was naked you clothes me. When I was homeless, you took me in.”
- Artaban: “It is not so my saviour, when did I see you hungry, or thirsty, naked or homeless? And when did I do these things? Thirty-three years I have looked for you but I have never seen your face nor ministered to you, my King. I have never seen you until now.”
- Jesus: “When every you did these things for the least of my brothers or sisters—you did them for me.”
Artaban (calling to the former slave girl and the crowd)—“Did you hear Jesus say? We have found the King. We found him, and he has accepted all my gifts.”
Mary, The God-bearer.
I was asked to deliever a message the Sunday before Christmas in Delhi. Below is a copy of my manuscript.
Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34″How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
What if we were standing here, singing in this room and suddenly a huge a angel was here in the room with us–Gabriel, the most famous of angels. We would be scared right? And then what if Gabriel said that we were going to have a baby…
Then Julie spoke up and said, “How can this be, we are a small church, no?”
The angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God—nothing is impossible with God.
Then Elisha said, “We are the Lord’s servants. May your words come true.”
It might sound pretty weird to think about the angel showing up in this room and telling us that we are going to have a baby and that baby would set up the Kingdom of God forever.
The angel came and told Mary that she would give birth to the baby Jesus. But just like Mary was asked to carry Jesus into the world, we are asked to carry Jesus into our world. And, this is why Christmas is such a great celebration. We are not just celebrating the past, we are celebrating the present and the future too. We are celebrating that we have Jesus with us today and we are a part of this Kingdom that will never end.
But what do I mean that we are called to bring Jesus into our world? Didn’t Mary already do that 2000 years ago? Well yes. Did Mary give birth to Jesus is Delhi, India in 1977? No? Mary conceiving under the power of the Holy Spirit was a real historical event. She was a real girl. It was a real birth, Jesus, a real baby who cried and pooped, who grew up—was, and is, the Prince of peace.
Well where is Jesus now? We could use some peace now. Jesus is in heaven with his Father. So is that it? Have we been left to live out this mess on earth until we die and go to heaven or the Prince of Peace returns and sets things right, Someday? Yes…and No. Not exactly.
As Mary was asked to bear the Christ-child we are asked to bear Christ Jesus in our word. Jesus left us to continue his work—by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a saying that says, “you’re the only Jesus some will ever see.”
See many people in Delhi will never read the bible and find out about Jesus. They might never read a tract or watch God-t.v. They might not come to a crusade or a worship service—but they will sell you subzee (vegetables). They will work at the desk next to you. They will recharge your phones. They will be your teachers, they will be your students. They will live next door to you. They will beg from you. They will be your auto-valla. They will be your passengers.
I know a man who shares the good news of Jesus with each auto-valla who drives him. He figures he has a captive audience throughout his journey. Sometimes these guys have never heard of Jesus. I’d love to hear about more stories like this.
But sharing the message of Jesus is more than speaking words, it is doing the stuff that Jesus did. Last year when Tenu started teaching she found out that the head-mistress at her school was suffering from asthma, so she asked her head-mistress if she could pray for her. So right there in the office she laid her hands on her and she prayed in Jesus name that she would be healed! Then a few weeks later the head-mistress came to her and said, ‘I just wanted to thank you for praying for me, I haven’t had any asthma attacks since you prayed.” Tenu responded, ‘don’t thank me, thank Jesus who healed you!”
I heard a story about a statue in Italy of Jesus. There are many statues of Jesus in the old Christian world. But this one was ruined during one of the world wars and the hands and feet of Jesus were blown off. Then someone wrote under the statue—now you are the hands and feet of Jesus.
Throughout the bible God is calling a people together who will be a ‘light to the nations’ to be God-bearers, to be ambassadors of Christ. Without us, the City of Delhi will never know Jesus. Your neighborhood might never hear the good news of Jesus without you. It is our job to love people the way Jesus did and to share the good news of the life that Jesus has to offer. It is our responsibility to respond like Mary to the call to bring Jesus into the world.
God gave Mary a big and important job that she didn’t know how to do, and we have been given an important job (sharing the good news with our neighbors). And we might not know how to do it. But the Holy Spirit will empower us to do the things Jesus did as the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. It might not be easy.
Noel Isaacs, Lovey’s brother tells a good story about this He was leaving a train station with a foreign friend and they were approached by a man with leprosy. Noel’s friend hugged the man and gave him some change. Noel’s eyebrows went up, he couldn’t believe his friend had hugged that man. Noel felt in his pockets and didn’t have any money. A sense of panic came over him. This man was deformed and was missing fingers…. Noel felt like he heard God saying, ‘will you do it?’ Noel leaned over and hugged the man. As he did that Noel began to cry. The man followed him to the car and as he looked at Noel—Noel saw that he was crying too. But he looked different now—the ugliness of his face was gone. Jesus touched people with diseases.
We have a choice. We can say, I’m the Lord’s servant—let’s do the stuff Jesus did. Or we can go or own way. Our own way might be not to worship and to get caught up in trying to get wealthy or it might be to look religious and include lots of good things, but it doesn’t matter. If we are not doing what God is calling us to do, we are nothing.
Just think about it… Mary might not have looked like she was doing what God was calling her too—she was pregnant and unmarried. But she was doing exactly what God wanted her to do. I had a professor who used to say, I wonder how many teenage girls Gabriel had to visit before he found one who was willing to give birth to Jesus?
Are we willing to say, “we are the Lord’s servants,” may it be like you say? May your will be done, Lord. Will we bring Jesus into this world this Christmas? Will we share the message of Jesus, will we do the things that Jesus did? Will we love the unloveable? Will we say, “yes,” to the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit? Or will we try to do good things on our own power? I want to challenge you. At least one time this week I want you to say to someone, “can I pray for you right now?” and I want you to stop right away and pray for the Holy Spirit to come. Maybe it will be when your neighbor complains of a headache. Maybe it will be when your friend calls and is worried about something. Maybe it will be when a sick or injured person is asking money from you. If you can give some blanket or food or small money—give. But don’t stop there. Look at the person in the eye bring Jesus into their world. Offer to pray for them. You never know what God will do. This is the best way we can celebrate Christmas.
Now, if you are feeling timid and wondering how you could ever do something like this, come and let’s invite the Holy Spirit to empower us. If you want prayer for the H.S to empower you, come to the center. And, if you need Jesus in your life today, if you do not know Jesus and you want to please come over to this side and receive prayer.
Fools for Christ at the Traffic Signal
The following is written out of the struggle of how to live in a place where poverty is everywhere with the frustration of knowing many people who are so calused that they do not see the street people. Even being in my second year I find myself less apt to feed a random street kid. It is great to be with Abby who is in her first few month here, because she wants to feed and talk to almost every street kid we encounter. If we buy street food for ourselves within a few minutes we have given it away and we have to order more (luckily it is cheap enough that we can afford to buy more).
Jesus looked out at the crowd and he had compassion on them because they were helpless and harassed like sheep without a shepherd. If Jesus were here in Delhi today I think he would feel the same way. His insides would turn with love for the poor. If he were pushed by the crowd getting on and off the metro or if he were pick-pocketed in Sarojini Nagar Market—he would have compassion. But more often than not when we have to face the crowd, we are filled with anger and resentment. We shout abuses, we grumble under our breath, we see how foolish the people are.
And when we see beggars we have a whole system built up that protects us from having compassion for them. We know the facts: the government offers free education. Why aren’t these kids in school? If they would go to school at least they would have a hot meal each day. These people must be bent on a lowly life, they enjoy it. They are trying to con me. That little kid has a shirt. He is only hiding it so people will feel bad for him and give him money. He can have a shower and clean water anytime he wants, he just is making himself dirty so he can make more money off of begging. I am no fool. I know these people making a killing on their cons at the traffic signal. I won’t give a Rs.
I saw a whole movie based on this senareo, it’s called “Traffic Signal.” In the movie the people seemed happy to be living out their existence of the generosity or lack there of—of the people who stopped at their traffic signal. And, I know there is truth there in that film. I know people fake. I know people, those people make up sob stories. Homeless people in the U.S. do that too. But I also know that a few weeks back when I my frineds and I made some hot food and we went to the local traffic signal/flyover to feed the beggars, they ate like they were hungry—very hungry. Have you ever seen a hungry person eat?
If the choice is between being foolish and compassionate or being wise and compassionless—I want to be foolish and compassionate. It is ok for us to be foolish in the eyes of the world. God’s wisdom is different that the worlds. Jesus was born not as a rich King, but as a poor laborer’s son. And we can use that same knowledge that we are tempted to use to protect us from feeling obligated to help the poor, to help them. Perhaps parents of boy with the clown face and hat doing the dance does not know that going to school is free or that going to school will increase their son’s chance of going somewhere in life. Perhaps they need someone like you to help them, to do more than hand him a few coins. Perhaps you need to start with learning his name.
John Wimber once saw a street evangelist wearing a sign board that read, “I’m a fool for Christ, who’s fool are you?” He thought the guy was insane but once he gave his life to Jesus he got it. Let’s be fools for Christ in Delhi–even at the traffic signals.
Lost theology
Confession: I am addicted to Lost-the T.V. show. This evening I imagined myself as Kate en-caged by the others (yes I am in season 3), and someone comes and lets me out. But I don’t trust that person. So when that person is off guard I knock him out and run through the jungle going my own way. That weird black monster cloud thing comes and just before it moves through me, my rescuer whom I have treated like a captor stands turns the energy field on and the cloud turns away. I am back with my rescuer and am safe. After a few days, I get suspicious again, why is he so interested in helping me? There must be some other motivation. I am better off on my own. So I run away again.
“Repent and believe the good news!” What does that mean? We have Christianized those words beyond comprehensibility. We seem to think “repent” means admit that you are a sinner. “Believe” means wish something so hard that it comes true. And “good news” means “gospel” which means that Jesus died on the cross so that we sinners can go to heaven.
But we leave out the beginning Jesus’ main message “The time has come, the kingdom of God has come near.” The good news is that the kingdom has come near. On Saturday evenings my family gathers with the family who lives downstairs from us and is in fact our landlords for a time of worship and prayer. This evening my Dad read Mark 1:14-15 and he told us the contextual meaning of these words. His teacher these days is N.T. Wright. Wright talks about a story which Josephus (a first century Jewish historian) tells about being sent to put down a rebellion. When he reaches the rebels he tells them to repent and believe in him. Only those rebels didn’t hear the religious mumble-jumble we hear, rather they understood him to be saying stop trying to make your own way out, trust in me and my way.
This is just what the Kingdom of God is–the rule and reign of God. The ‘place’ where his will is done. So again I have to ask myself what that means to me. I know I’m that feisty girl that just keeps running away– who thinks she knows a better way. But I have set my whole life around entrusting my life to God, I say I believe in Jesus. Do I? Do I trust Jesus or do I think that I have a better way?
