Pastor Babayco

Last Friday, I was to meet with the person who would be in charge of the school at which I will be volunteering. He and Madhu, the man with whom I went to the meeting on religious tolerance, came over to my house so we could discuss it. After we finalized times and what I would be doing I told Madhu, who is also pastoring a new church, that i would love to come and visit his church. Without hesitation he said, "Oh yes, you come and give the message." Not wanting to be rude I politely said, "Okay." but in my mind I was thinking, "YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING." Jane Marie had told me that it was not uncommon for guests to speak at the church they were visiting. I had a measly 24 hours to prepare a sermon.

The next day I prepared the sermon. I felt pretty good about it. I had been thinking about Matthew 19 and the story of the Rich Young Ruler so I decided to use that along with my testimony as the subject of my message. I was feeling pretty calm until later that evening I called Jane Marie and she reminded me, "You'll be fine. Just don't tell them to give up everything and follow Jesus because a lot of them already have." (Christians in India are still persecuted, especially in non-urban centers, by various different groups.) Well if any of you have read the Rich Young Ruler, you will know that dropping everything to follow Jesus is somewhat of the... oh, I dunno... main theme of the passage.

I started freaking out. It was 10:30 in the evening. Then I realized that I knew relatively nothing about the congregation? What backgrounds did they come from? Where in India were they from? What denomination? Would I say anything culturally inappropriate? Needless to say, I had a time of serious self-doubt. I didn't want to come across as an ignorant, know-it-all American telling the Indian 'heathens' how to be Christian. If anything, I have things to learn from them. I decided to tweak it a little (looking at it now in a more, how shall we say, mentally stable state, the sermon was fine all along) but I still went to sleep dreadfully nervous.

After a night's rest, I was much calmer. I went to the church which was held inside a classroom. There were about 30-35 people there. It was wonderful to see such a diverse group. They were from all over India. In that room alone, they spoke over 40 languages. The common language, strangely enough, was English. The worship was wonderful and heartfelt. When it was my turn to give the sermon, I delivered it. It turned out to be fine. I didn't end up saying anything culturally inappropriate. In fact, one of the women came up to me and said that the message was what she needed to hear. Thank God for His infinite wisdom that despite my own bumblings and insecurities he can work through it all!

I went to have lunch Madhu's house with him and his family. The food was good, the conversation great, and the hospitality was the best. Many invited me over to have a meal with them at their home sometime. To be in a community of believers was wonderful and this community seemed to welcome me in to their fold. I look forward to going back. It also makes me long for the day when we will all be together with one tongue to praise God. This last Sunday gave me a little glimpse of that and it was truly fantastic.

I also look forward to not having to preach!