10/13/10

I'm famous! My picture was in the CNI daily newsletter that's being circulated every day of the conference. There was a little blurb next to it about what I said when I was interviewed about the conference. I talked about how different we all are in terms of language, culture, etc. and yet we're brothers and sisters under the skin.

Grace and I met a great guy – Santosh George – during the tea break. He works with lepers and also with children with club feet and he's very interested in helping us. He's going to organize a tour of the gurudwara in Delhi and a visit with a yogi who's interested in interfaith dialogue. He's also going to help us get phones, which will be very helpful for us.

This morning had a couple of interesting speakers, then we were invited to eat lunch with Alwin Masih and the other international visitors. It was nice and interesting but I felt desperately outranked. Everyone was the current moderator of this church or the past moderator of that church. It was an interesting discussion, though.

Reflection: Christian Witness

There is something very moving to me about meeting Christians from other countries and cultures. In many cases, we are different: we may have different ethnic backgrounds, different facial features or skin color, different cultures and ways of being. But at a really fundamental level, we are the same. We share reverence for God, hope in Christ and a similar frame of reference. More than that, I can learn from Christians from other cultures.

I am very lucky that I live in a country where I can practice my faith freely. I can go to church every week, wear a cross or other religious symbol around my neck and profess to be a Christian without any repercussions. It's not going to affect my livelihood, where I can work, if I can work, my social standing or reputation in the community. Not so in other countries and not so in India. In India, being a Christian puts a person in a minority position and may create conflict or problems in many areas. Santosh George, one of the people that we met at the CNI 40^th anniversary and who was so helpful to us in Delhi, shared with us that in his work, he has to hide the fact that he's Christian. He works through the government to bring his club foot program to people and he told us that he keeps the fact that he's Christian and that his organization is Christian hidden from those he deals with.  Other people told us similar tales, as well as stories of struggling for funding because they were cut out of support schemes due to their religious background. And yet these folks continue to practice their religion and work within the restrictions that are imposed on them by their society.