Blessed and Broken

Last night I had the privilege of joining a local pastor for a meeting he runs in a Muslim neighborhood. He was an amazing guy to talk to. Apparently his goal is to work with people of all denominations, and of course with the non-Christian population around him. He doesn't like the division of the Church through denominations, so instead of choosing into non-denominationalism like so many Americans have done, he chooses to very intentionally work with all of them. He has chosen to live his life as inter-denominational. I think that is an insightful approach that many Americans (myself included) could learn a lot from.

Rather than having a single Church that he is a pastor of, he does a variety of things. First, he is involved with many of the established local Churches. I met him when he was a guest pastor on Easter Sunday (The regular pastor was with his sick daughter at a hospital in Mumbai). The rest of the time he works in a Muslim slum. He runs many informal meetings like the one I went to out of people's homes, and I'm assuming must also work to build relationships with people in the area.

I gathered that the pastor has considerable financial means available to him because his children were well educated and moved to the United States. Yet instead of living it up, he has chosen a life marked by simplicity and love of the Gospel. The home that he has lived in for over 30 years is in this slum area, and is probably smaller than some of the dorm rooms I lived in at Harvey Mudd. Oh, plus these rooms are pretty basic. They have electricity, but you have to go elsewhere for water, or to use one of the community toilets. Each toilet, by the way, is generally shared by 10-20 families. On the plus side, he says his monthly rent is only 100 rupees (about $2.25).

Anyway, I'll get on to the meeting itself. People came and came until the room was packed. There was just barely enough room for people to sit on the floor, with a few people also on the lone bed. There were two chairs in the whole room. The pastor sat in one, and the other was saved for me. I'd say there were 20-30 people in attendance. Apparently there are usually more, but some of the kids that usually come were studying for final exams (that part actually sounds familiar). The meeting was a combination of prayer, singing songs of worship, scripture, and a sermon. The worship was largely in Bengali, but there was also a bit of Hindi and English. The only instrumentation they used was a single tambourine.

In spite of the simplistic melodies and my inability to understand most of the songs, I was struck by how genuine they were in their worship. They have so little, and yet they rejoice and praise God with more joy than any rich American I have ever known. I thought of a few of the luxuries that I currently enjoy by living in a middle-class Indian neighborhood:

• A small refrigerator
• A bathroom only shared by three of us
• A private place to take our cold, non-bucket showers
• More space per person than entire families have in the slums

It's kind of strange to think about it. Less than six weeks ago I couldn't imagine how I was going to make it living in such primitive conditions. Now I'm wondering how I can possibly serve incarnationally among the poor while enjoying so many luxuries. I can hardly imagine what it will be like returning to America, and to Santa Barbara at that!

In the midst of their having so little, they made me a guest of honor. In addition to getting one of the only two chairs, they gave me a full meal's worth of food when everyone else only received a snack. When the pastor picked me up and dropped me off at the subway station he even paid for us to take a taxi. It was certainly a short enough distance that we could have walked, but he chose to bless me. Everyone there treated me with incredible hospitality and asked when I would come back. They were all disappointed to hear that I would be gone for the month of April. I certainly plan to go to some more of his meetings when I return in May though.

All of this is seriously challenging my thoughts about giving. They need what they have far more than I need it, yet they have such compassionate, loving hearts that all they want to do is welcome me as their guest with what little they have. When I give, I'm usually worrying about the effectiveness of the giving and how much it is really needed. I'm generally not thinking about how I can choose to bless them the most or show them the most of Christ's love.

Another thought that Todd challenged me with recently was how often have I chosen to give until it hurts. Honestly, I have to answer never. I have never trusted God enough with my resources to give until I lacked. I have only given out of my abundance. Sometimes I have sacrificed luxuries by giving, but I have never given so much that I had to worry where my next meal would come from. I need to learn that type of sacrificial giving.

I am selfish, greedy, broken, and spiritually poor. How fortunate it is that I have a patient loving savior to show me my own spiritual poverty and transform my heart!