Bethlehem Lutheran Church

It was just a week ago that 39 sojourners returned from Cuernavaca, Mexico, and only days before 15 depart for Channai, India.  It is no surprise that Bethlehem takes its call to share the Good News of Christ with the whole world and actively does so through a variety service learning trips and cultural exchanges. 

This has been an internationally focused year, with trips to Argentina, Palestine/Israel, Mexico and India.  We are certainly blessed to be a blessing!  It has also been a paramount year for youth in global missions.  It is the first time a large group of Bethlehem students, led by Director of Student Ministries and other pastoral staff, has made international locations their mission focus.  We have learned a lot, and are excited about the future partnerships that have been built.  As they returned from Mexico, the youth asked me if the following could be guaranteed to happen yet this fall: 1) host a drive from the orphanage we worked with in Cuernavaca (many items are greatly needed, like storage units to keep produce fresh and away from cockroaches, swimsuits and other items for household wear, and books and media items for continued education, 2) host a cultural exchange using the CGE pedagogy of "see/learn, understand, reflect, act and celebrate" for the high school and college students of Cuernavaca's Christian Base Community, and 3) support the Cuernavacan Artisan's Cooperative with a "Direct Trade" fair, offering handmade crafts that support and advocate for Mexican and Guatamalean families and artists (many indigenous and practicing centuries old techniques).

Our time spent in Cuernavaca and during our reflections (as will be true in India as well) focused on not just service but social justice.  In Deep Justice Journeys, the authors challenge all those engaged in community service by offering a bold comparison, "While service tends to focus on meeting people's immediate physical needs, social justice asks the deeper questions about why these needs exist."  To do this, the context of history, political and social environment and personal stories of local citizens must be heard and respected, reflected on and connected with our own context and personal stories.  It is only when this mutual sharing and difficult and honest examinations happens that we can recognize "who" our neighbor is and how God calls us to enter into relationship with this beloved neighbor.

This fall, Bethlehem will embark on an exciting and enriching journey by looking at how to, "Become a Good Samaritan."  After all, this is a story about neighbors who encounter each other in a situation of need.  A situation that calls for risk-taking, honest assessment, fervant action and follow up that continues again and again.  This is also the Biblical narrative that provides the foundation and step-by-step skills-based curriculum for Peer Ministry.  It is powerful and calls us all out to not only listen to our call to reach out in neighborly love but to do so with conviction and courage.  For we do not go alone.  God is with us, and has blessed us with the resources and tools necessary to bring about change in a hungry and broken world.

I ask for your prayers, both for those traveling to India next Monday and for those who have just returned from Mexico.  And as you pray for safety and transformation, prepare for this fall, seeking to Become a Good Samaritan.

(Also from Deep Justice Journeys) In many ways, culture is like the social air you breathe: Most of the time you don't notice it much and probably don't think about it too ard, but it deeply shapes the ways you think about yourself, others, God, and pretty much everything else.  Take some time to think about "who" you are and "how" your own culture and experiences shape you:

• I was born in....
• I have lived in...
• I now live in...
• My family is made up of...
• My parents grew up in...
• My ancestors came from...
• I describe my ethnicity/race as...
• My house/apatment is like...
• My parents work as...
• We have __ cars in my family.
• My family likes to eat...
• My favorite food is...
• I spend most of my time...
• When I can choose, I usually spend my free time...
• My favorite place to go is...
• The music I listen to is...
• The clothes I wear are...
• My clothes come from...
• I spend money on...
• I get money from...

How might "who you are", including your culture, affect the way you love and serve others?

What are some of the differences that tend to divide people in your world (at school, family, work, community, church, etc)?

Why do you think it is so difficult for people to see past those differences and be unified?

A Prayer for Becoming a Good Samaritan:  God, I thank you for creating me to be in relationship with others.  I confess that I often do my own thing, seek my own interests, and miss the blessing of sharing I unity with others.  Hep me dpend on You and offere myself to others.  Unify our congregations, oh Lord, and make us a witness to your love for the whole world.  Show me Your heart, Your desires and Your ways, that i may find union with you through Jesus Christ.  And let Your Spirit work in me and through me as I serve, becoming a good samaritan to my worldly neighbors.  Amen.