An Oriya Prayer
Last night in church we heard a pastor from India pray for us. We don't really know what he told the Lord about us or what he asked the Lord for us because he prayed in Oriya, the language of O----a state where he lives. This pastor was from P----i, the district in that area where persecution of Christians has escalated most alarmingly during the past months. Many Christians have left their homes to go into hiding in the forests; others have had their homes destroyed, and still others have lost their lives.
The man who prayed for us was present in a small gathering of pastors in India. The group had come together for a time of learning from each other and encouraging each other. Among them was a Brethren in Christ pastor from Canada, who is a native of India. He had traveled there for the gathering.
In past years, around this time of year, a team of men from our church has traveled to India to conduct a seminar for a group of pastors. The pastors travel in from surrounding villages to one of the larger towns and arrange to stay and have their meetings in a "hotel" in the city. This year, however, because of the danger it might have presented for the Christians there to be seen with Westerners, the men from here decided not to go. Counsel from the Indian brothers weighed in on the decision-making process.
What our church did instead was send V----, the Indian pastor from Canada, whose appearance would not generate suspicion. This was an appealing choice since V---- has accompanied the men from our church for the past few years and has helped in the seminars.
The people from here who have been in India in the past arranged for our last night's prayer meeting to be transmitted to India. I think somehow a cell phone was plugged into the church's sound system. In India, a speaker phone made our prayers audible to the gathered group. I don't know if it was interpreted or not, but several people were present who could have done so. Before the prayer, Lowell read here the names of the pastors who had gathered, and told us briefly where they were from. (He has been there often enough to have established personal friendships with many of these people.) Then four brothers from our church who have been there in past seminars prayed for various aspects of the suffering brothers' situation.
We thought that would end the contact, but V---- asked if he could talk to our church people over the same connection, so we tried it. Lowell told him to talk as loud as he can into his phone, and then he held the phone right next to the microphone in our auditorium. The sound came through clearly! He told us a bit about the setting of the gathering in India and asked us to pray for the persecutors, reminding us that the apostle Paul was one such persecutor who came to the Lord in the middle of his persecuting activities. Then he said the pastors want to pray for us as we have prayed for them. So that's how it happened that, for many minutes, last night we and the Lord heard an Oriya prayer from India for the people in our church in the middle of Kansas.
The prayers were sandwiched between two songs: "There is Beyond the Azure Blue. . . " and "I Would be True." Hearing the words through the "ears" of persecuted Christians gave them deep meaning.
I sensed that everyone present, both here and in India, was blessed and encouraged by the experience of solidarity in coming together into the presence of our Loving Father.
***********************
Several other neat things happened in church last night. Three people spoke who were asked ahead of time to share something that the Lord has been doing in their lives. The three who spoke were Daniel, Joseph, and Ollie. (Ollie was a last-minute replacement for Menno, whose wife is hospitalized, recovering from unexpected surgery.) Daniel is single and in his early 20s. Joseph is in his late 20s and has four and a half young children. Ollie is in his 70s and has grandchildren.
Daniel talked about his growing awareness of how young people (he and his peers) often communicate by using playful (?) jabs. He began to notice that such a communication style often does not affirm and encourage others. It is, in fact, likely to be a veiled criticism of something they see that they aren't willing to deal with in a less comfortable way, i.e., actually bringing it up in a personal, serious, and redemptive context. When he asked, the audience responded with a number of ways to be affirming and encouraging in communicating with others.
Joseph talked about several "random" things he's been learning--patience in dealing with others, taking time to enjoy life in the middle of a busyness--those are the things I remember at the moment. Then he said that he learns a lot by reading, and he's going to share a bit from what he's been reading. Before he read a quotation from David Bercot's The Kingdom That Turned the World Upside Down and Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew he told us he's been thinking a lot about politics, especially because of the recent election. He said he's come to understand that it doesn't work very well to legistlate morality from the top down, but it works much better when hearts are changed, one at a time, and change follows, from the bottom up. He cited one example: supporting the local Crisis Pregnancy Center, where women can learn about salvation, besides receiving support and encouragement to bring their babies to term and offer them life instead of death by abortion.
Ollie talked about forgiveness, and referred to how his father had helped him understand early in life how important it was that he forgive others. His father did this by refering to the Scripture that says that anyone who wishes to be forgiven must forgive others. Ollie told us briefly about many of the early Christian martyrs, beginning with Stephan, who displayed a forgiving spirit, even in the face of death.
Evenings like last night remind me why I hate to miss being in church and how blessed we are to hear and learn from others with whom we share the journey of faith.
The man who prayed for us was present in a small gathering of pastors in India. The group had come together for a time of learning from each other and encouraging each other. Among them was a Brethren in Christ pastor from Canada, who is a native of India. He had traveled there for the gathering.
In past years, around this time of year, a team of men from our church has traveled to India to conduct a seminar for a group of pastors. The pastors travel in from surrounding villages to one of the larger towns and arrange to stay and have their meetings in a "hotel" in the city. This year, however, because of the danger it might have presented for the Christians there to be seen with Westerners, the men from here decided not to go. Counsel from the Indian brothers weighed in on the decision-making process.
What our church did instead was send V----, the Indian pastor from Canada, whose appearance would not generate suspicion. This was an appealing choice since V---- has accompanied the men from our church for the past few years and has helped in the seminars.
The people from here who have been in India in the past arranged for our last night's prayer meeting to be transmitted to India. I think somehow a cell phone was plugged into the church's sound system. In India, a speaker phone made our prayers audible to the gathered group. I don't know if it was interpreted or not, but several people were present who could have done so. Before the prayer, Lowell read here the names of the pastors who had gathered, and told us briefly where they were from. (He has been there often enough to have established personal friendships with many of these people.) Then four brothers from our church who have been there in past seminars prayed for various aspects of the suffering brothers' situation.
We thought that would end the contact, but V---- asked if he could talk to our church people over the same connection, so we tried it. Lowell told him to talk as loud as he can into his phone, and then he held the phone right next to the microphone in our auditorium. The sound came through clearly! He told us a bit about the setting of the gathering in India and asked us to pray for the persecutors, reminding us that the apostle Paul was one such persecutor who came to the Lord in the middle of his persecuting activities. Then he said the pastors want to pray for us as we have prayed for them. So that's how it happened that, for many minutes, last night we and the Lord heard an Oriya prayer from India for the people in our church in the middle of Kansas.
The prayers were sandwiched between two songs: "There is Beyond the Azure Blue. . . " and "I Would be True." Hearing the words through the "ears" of persecuted Christians gave them deep meaning.
I sensed that everyone present, both here and in India, was blessed and encouraged by the experience of solidarity in coming together into the presence of our Loving Father.
***********************
Several other neat things happened in church last night. Three people spoke who were asked ahead of time to share something that the Lord has been doing in their lives. The three who spoke were Daniel, Joseph, and Ollie. (Ollie was a last-minute replacement for Menno, whose wife is hospitalized, recovering from unexpected surgery.) Daniel is single and in his early 20s. Joseph is in his late 20s and has four and a half young children. Ollie is in his 70s and has grandchildren.
Daniel talked about his growing awareness of how young people (he and his peers) often communicate by using playful (?) jabs. He began to notice that such a communication style often does not affirm and encourage others. It is, in fact, likely to be a veiled criticism of something they see that they aren't willing to deal with in a less comfortable way, i.e., actually bringing it up in a personal, serious, and redemptive context. When he asked, the audience responded with a number of ways to be affirming and encouraging in communicating with others.
Joseph talked about several "random" things he's been learning--patience in dealing with others, taking time to enjoy life in the middle of a busyness--those are the things I remember at the moment. Then he said that he learns a lot by reading, and he's going to share a bit from what he's been reading. Before he read a quotation from David Bercot's The Kingdom That Turned the World Upside Down and Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew he told us he's been thinking a lot about politics, especially because of the recent election. He said he's come to understand that it doesn't work very well to legistlate morality from the top down, but it works much better when hearts are changed, one at a time, and change follows, from the bottom up. He cited one example: supporting the local Crisis Pregnancy Center, where women can learn about salvation, besides receiving support and encouragement to bring their babies to term and offer them life instead of death by abortion.
Ollie talked about forgiveness, and referred to how his father had helped him understand early in life how important it was that he forgive others. His father did this by refering to the Scripture that says that anyone who wishes to be forgiven must forgive others. Ollie told us briefly about many of the early Christian martyrs, beginning with Stephan, who displayed a forgiving spirit, even in the face of death.
Evenings like last night remind me why I hate to miss being in church and how blessed we are to hear and learn from others with whom we share the journey of faith.
posted by Mrs. I at
4:10 AM
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