Bethlehem Lutheran Church

I am pounding away on an ancient keyboard in an internet cafe in Pondicherry. It was once a French colony, and now is a tiny state - part of Tamil Nadu - and yet with some degree of autonomy. We are meeting at a Roman Catholic retreat center, St. Xavier's, and we have three churches represented here: the Arcot Lutheran Church, which Bethlehem knows well through LPGM (Bishop Gideon sends his best to you!), the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded by Swedish missionaries and the India Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded by Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod missionaries. They have had little to do with each other over the years, so it is good to have the younger leaders meet, work, and get to know each other. The seminar we are leading provides the perfect opportunity for just such sharing.

Who needs an umbrella?The monsoons have started. This means copious rains with intermittent thunder for hours at a time! But it has little impact on the people here unless it floods. They simply wrap themselves in plastic and continue on. I am missing my umbrella, and have not found one to buy, but of course, I won't melt. Earlier today, I watched two girls from St. Xavier's School, maybe ten years old dancing in the rain, and one finished with a flourish in a huge puddle. It was hilarious; they were having such fun.

I depart for Chennai tomorrow and start my journey home. If all goes well, I should see you in church Wednesday night and Thursday morning as we gather for Thanksgiving. I will be giving thanks for my Norwegian friends. Who, other than God, would have thought that Lutherans from different countries would meet at a Baptist church in California and then wind up working together in India, of all places!!?? I will be giving thanks for (among other things) the faithful witness of Indian Christians, and for renewing old friendships and beginning new ones here in this wonderful country. And I will be giving thanks for a congregation that sees the importance of reaching out and sharing what we have learned over the years, helping other congregations become more effective in their own ministries and contexts, even halfway around the world. That would be you, brothers and sisters at Bethlehem! It will be good to be home!

Keep me in your prayers; of course you continue in mine! Thanks for your partnership in the Good News!

Chris