Jesus Will Reign Where Ever the Sun....

There have been so many experiences here that give voice to the hymn that forms the title of this post: Jesus shall reign where’ere the sun does his successive journeys run.  On our first day we visited two shrines dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, who came to India only 20 or so years after Jesus died. He first came to an established Jewish community on the west coast, but within another 20 years had reached Chennai, on the east coast. The Christian church that he established has 65 million adherents today, including several hundred adults and children whom we have met on this trip who are being cared for, or being employed by the Bethania organization in India.

In our visits to the programs of Bethania, we have seen so much Christian love and compassion in action, and have had an opportunity to sit with children and adults who do not look like us, or speak the same language, or even view the world in the same way.  We sang and prayed with them, watched them dance and sing, introduced them to Jenga and card games, read a story about snow, all the while knowing that we are all held in the love of Christ that does not recognize the boundaries that often draw around ourselves.

On Sunday, we attended church in the chapel of Kodai International School, an institution attended by Gene Hennig (a Bethania founder and fellow member of Mount Olive), and by the mother of one of our group when she was a “missionary kid” in India.  We worshiped in a English Norman-style church in the mountains of India, led by a Hungarian pastor, accompanied by an organ built in America that was played by an American man and a Korean woman.  We used a liturgy that would be recognized by countless generations of Christians, and reminds us that no matter where we are, the liturgy practiced across centuries of Christianity always brings us home.  


And we are home when we gather with our Brothers and Sisters around the world.  The food may be strange, we may miss things like hand towels and forks, the traffic may be insane and we may thank God every day that our driver returns us safely to our hotel at night, but we are home, because we are all in Christ.





Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 12, 2019 at 4:54 PM

    Thanks so much for sharing your "transforming" experiences, Carol! The love of God surely shines in the eyes of the precious children of Bethania Kids!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark J. SpitzackFebruary 4, 2020 at 9:40 AM

    So nicely said.

    ReplyDelete

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