JOURNEY INTO SMALL-TOWN SOUTH INDIA

With furniture quotes for our yet unfurnished Hyderabad rental home sent off to the ELCA Global Missions offices, there suddenly was not so much to do at this point other than wait. So, when my brother-in-law Sam suggested that we trade our hostel room for a few days for a room in his family's new home in the nearby town of Tenali (located in the adjacent state of Andhra Pradesh) we gladly accepted.

But now the problem of transportation arose. Most people do not own cars; so trains and buses are the primary long-distance modes of travel. I quickly learned that there's no way to book seats on an AC train compartment at a day's notice. Non-AC travel - with its crowded and unhygienic conditions -  wasn't an option, I had learned from past experience. Bus travel - for reasons that I do not understand - got ruled out as well. This is when a friend of my in-laws offered to drive us in his car. Could you imagine this in the US to happen? Someone dropping all  of his work commitments to drive people whom he hardly knew for some 6-7 hours, then returning home, so that he would make it back home in time for a very important business meeting the next day? I am still overwhelmed by the warmth and kindness we keep encountering. Ties of friendship and kinship are strong here; in fact, they often are the only thing that helps things function in a context of heavy demand, yet limited resources. 

For about half of the distance, we traveled on pleasant highways with -  thanks to many toll road stretches - fairly light traffic. Had it not been for the car's manual transmission, even I might have managed driving the car. Once we descended from the Deccan Plateau, we drove amongst small towns and farmland. We must have passed at least 1/2 million of sheep and goats, some of which shared the highway with us. There were the obligatory cows, non-perturbed by the traffic and contently munching on plants growing on the elevated road divider. Green fields, fertile soil, and the occasional outcroppings of massive rock flew by. Eventually, urban traffic congestion caught up with us again in the city of Vijayavada. 

Finally, we arrived in Tenali, where, off and on over the past 17 years, I have spent many weeks combined, as this is where my late mother-in-law resided. Tenali - with its mere 200,000+ residents, is considered a small town by Indian standards. I saw some familiar sights - familiar market stalls and the obligatory statues of political leaders. While Hyderabad is working on a new metro system in time for the next statewide elections, in Tenali bicycle rickshaws still to exist and continue to serve as important means of local commercial and passenger transportation. 

AELC Pastor, Rev. Mary Virginia, presiding at house blessing in Tenali, India

Once we arrived at our destination, I was informed that a neighboring Lutheran pastor and his young wife had moved into his new apartment earlier that day. They were getting ready for a house blessing ... and Anna and I were invited to attend. When we got there, the small living room was filled to capacity by guests sitting in a circle of plastic chairs who were singing Telugu hymns. Their leader was an AELC (Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church) pastor, clad in a white alb, who had been among the first group of AELC women ordained to the pastoral ministry some 12 years ago. Now, I learned, there are 14 AELC "lady pastors," called mostly to specialized ministries and expected to remain unmarried. 

I had met Pr. Mary Virginia previously, but never seen her function in a liturgical context. We quickly made eye contact and the connection between us two women clergy seemed palpable. There were prayers and speeches, references to my late mother-in-law, her deep faith, and her exemplary spiritual leadership. Occasionally I was able to catch a word or phrase of Telugu or a familiar name - for instance when one of the guests reminisced about having taught my husband in Sunday school class. When all else failed, body language or giggles sufficed to convey meaning. As might have been expected, this guest from faraway lands got asked to say a few words, to which I happily complied. The event concluded with the Lord's Prayer (in Telugu), a benediction, and a pot of milk made to boil over on the kitchen stove ... symbolizing the blessings for which we had asked in prayer before.

Everywhere I went since my arrival in India, expressions of faith seem to abound. Many organized religious groups in the U.S. ponder the rising numbers of "nones," those who declared "no religious affiliation" during the latest US census. In stark contrast, "nones" appear to be in short supply here in India. I participated in conversations among other HMI hostel guests about this topic. To the people that I talked with, a life devoid of worship or god makes little sense. Some expressed their utter astonishment at poorly-attended worship services in grand historic European and North American sanctuaries and the conversion of sacred church properties to cultural centers or  commercial real estate. 

In contrast, here in India religion is everywhere. It is in the cows that claim their space on highways, intersections, market stalls, and even train platforms. To Hindus they are imbued with divine qualities. Religion is in the noisy Hindu processions that hold up traffic and blast chants over loudspeakers. Religion is in the ubiquitous Muslim calls for prayer. Muslims make up around 10 percent of India's population (much, much more in certain Hyderabad neighborhoods), but mosques are everywhere. Religion is in Christian hospitals, schools, and house-church prayer gatherings. Religion is in ways of dressing, in colorful powdery marks adorning foreheads and hair partings. Religion, faith, and worship are what appears to make life bearable, what offers solace and hope in the face of scarcity, uncertainty, or despair. Religion is what gives personal and collective identity and meaning to one's existence. Yet, it is also the source of conflict and violence, as we know just all too well. 

More than ever, this excursion into small-town life is making me curious how Henry Martin Institute and its motto ("The goal peace. The lens justice. The instrument reconciliation") do fit into this culture and how I might accompany the organization in its mission and be of service in a small way.

OUR NEW HOME - HYDERABAD

We safely arrived in Hyderabad on July 31. The contrast between the postings of other ELCA new missionaries who arrived at their new homes and ourselves is rather stark. We have more jetlag. More bureaucracy to get things done. Way more people everywhere. Cows on the road. Peacock sounds and snakes in the garden. No cute medieval, renaissance, or baroque architecture. Not even an apartment with a fully-equipped kitchen that's waiting for us nearby. Big contrast between hi-tech palaces, humungous private villas, and shopping malls on the one hand and roadside slums and roadside stalls for household items and food on the other.

Everything takes MUCH longer than in the US. It took virtually all day to visit our new home, eat lunch, and visit 3 furniture stores. I was told by two of Kumar's nephews that in order to get to an appointment elsewhere in the city one has to leave 2 3/4 hours before (!) to get there on time. They said one can manage to run one big errand a day. No more.

At the same time, though, we have survived thus far because of the kindness of relatives and their friends who drove us around, arranged "post-paid" cell phone service, and because of the delicious food at the HMI hostel and the hostel rooms that were waiting for us. The really scary part will still come when all the relatives and friends are gone and Anna and I will stay at the house by ourselves, ready to begin work at Henry Martyn Institute and school at the International School of Hyderabad.

NEW MISSIONARY ORIENTATION - WHAT DID WE STUDY?

So what do future ELCA missionaries study during their week-long orientation? Kumar and I are close to finishing our predeployment training as ELCA missionaries. These are some of the sessions in which we had the opportunity to participate:

We, first of all, learned about the fundamental concept that guides all ELCA global mission activities: accompaniment. Accompaniment is a concept that has come to the ELCA by way of Latin American Christian liberation theologies. Liberation theologians have taught us that any Bible study or Christian ministry ought to begin "from below," that is with the analysis and awareness of one's own social location. Likewise, missionaries are called to act with an awareness of their own and their companions' social location.  As a result of this awareness, some important attitudes and values that guide the practice of accompaniment are: vulnerability, mutuality, interdependence, inclusivity, empowerment, and sustainability.

Our group of future missionaries was also introduced to the org chart of the ELCA global mission unit and the identity of ELCA missionaries.

We had the opportunity to meet with global mission personnel deployed to our own geographic region (i.e., Latin & Central America, West & Central Africa, East & South Africa, Europe & the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific Region) in order to strengthen regional relationships and friendships among soon-to-be-deployed and isolated mission personnel.

We participated in several sessions about cross-cultural dynamics, cross-cultural skills, power, privilege, & money, and interfaith engagement, as well as self-care.

Finally, there were sessions devoted to logistics (primarily about reporting expenses and getting reimbursed for work-related expenses), IT, payroll, personnel policies and expectations, and safety & security. The latter one was by far the strangest and scariest of all training sessions, as our group discussed the creation of contingency plans that might help us in situations of kidnapping, hostage taking, social or political unrest, terrorism, or pandemics.

Tomorrow, we training will conclude and we will be commissioned and sent out for service.

ZIP LINE MEDITATION

The basic ingredients to a typical zip line setup are a starting point on an elevated location, a destination on a lower plane, and a steel cable that links the two. In some setups, participants have to climb up a tower, a ladder, or a building to reach the starting point.  In other circumstances, the starting point is at a naturally higher elevation that the destination.

Before beginning the activity, participants put on a harness. Again, the types of harness vary widely. Some permit sitting and flipping, some merely strap in the lower half of the body, some the whole body, legs to shoulder, whereas others are designed to turn people into human flying squirrels.

A key component of zip lines is the trolley – the wheel that glides over the steel cable. The trolley is connected to the harness via a lanyard that is securely clipped into both the trolley and the harness and to which one can hold on.

At the Loyola Retreat and Ecology Campus, participants in the zip line challenge course climb stairs to reach a platform from which they take off. The destination is a point above a moveable ladder. Once participants have come to a halt – after gliding back and forth – the ladder is wheeled in place, the trolley is removed from the zip line, and the trek up the hill to the starting point begins.

After climbing the tower and listening to instructions, I clipped my trolley lanyard to both my harness and the zip line. At that point, the back of my harness was safely secured to the tower via an additional rope and the door into the abyss in front of me was closed and locked.  I was given the option of standing on the wooden floor or stepping onto a wooden box for shorter folks. Standing on that box resulted in more slack on the lanyard, whereas standing on the floor resulted in a tauter connection between trolley and harness.

The difference between the two was remarkable for me and let to some reflections of a spiritual nature. Standing on the box, I felt  connected to the above, but not so much to ground underneath. Immediately, I felt fear creep it.  Stepping off the box made me feel more secure: standing on lower ground, the tension between the above and below was just right. With the connection between the above and the below in right balance, I felt secure.

Feeling secure, I was able to sit down into my harness and to let my harness, lanyard, and trolley transport me safely down the zip line.  When the door was opened and the rope holding me in the back was disconnected, I simply glided from sitting into flying, enjoying every bit of the ride. Sitting down into the harness gave me the assurance that the connection to the “above” was strong and would hold. 

So what is helping you feel connected to the Spirit above and the ground below?  What is helping you feel secure and lift off to the adventure that lie ahead?

There you have it! Those are a few things that came to my mind while waiting for the action to begin.

A NEW MISSIONARY

I am writing these thoughts on board of the American Airlines plane that is taking Anna, Naomi, and myself have from San Jose to Chicago. From tomorrow on, we will attend ELCA’s annual Summer Missionary Conference and the subsequent orientation for new mission personnel (Kumar will join us for the New Missionary Orientation during week two). 

Had anybody suggested in the past that I ought to consider serving a foreign missionary, chances are that I might have reacted rather surprised. Skeptical, doubt-ridden, progressive me? You are kidding, right? I might have pointed out that, by and large, modern Christian missionaries have caused more harm than good through their often arrogant participation in a colonial enterprise, an enterprise that aimed at bringing peoples in the Southern hemisphere in line with Northern European values, culture, and faith, an enterprise that contributed to the overall economic and cultural exploitation of those peoples. Would I ever want to participate in such enterprise? Not likely!

Yet, here I am, just a few weeks away from taking up residence in Hyderabad and joining the staff of Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad, India, as ELCA global missions deployed staff. What has happened?

I now understand my own rather negative view of missionaries simply as a naïve, uncritical extension of the mainstream European and North American view of missionaries. Take for example, as a case in point, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. There, a missionary is defined as “a person who is sent to a foreign country to do religious work (such as to convince people to join a religion or to help people who are sick, poor, etc.).”

This definition is problematic on several accounts, as it implies a sense of superiority of one’s own religion over the faith tradition of others and reflects a colonialist view of others (the “sick” and “poor” residents of faraway countries).  It does not reflect the fact that the global majority of Christians now live in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

I often describe the Lutheran expression of the Christian faith with words like grace, love, mercy, humility, reconciliation, forgiveness, solidarity, and justice. If those are the core spiritual gifts that guide our life and faith as Lutheran Christians, how do we then can we understand the work of foreign missionaries?

ELCA accompany their brothers and sisters in the faith. They support and assist them where they can. They don’t assume to have ready-made solutions and easy answers. They help build capacity for local witness, local pastoral care, local service, and local leadership. They are patient and open to living with their own and others’ differences, idiosyncrasies, and fallacies. They are willing to be flexible and able to adapt to different cultures and different ways of doing things.

Will I be able to be such person? Will I be able to go where the Spirit calls me? I wonder how my views might change over the next four years while living and working in India.

I ask that you hold my family (Anna, Naomi, and Kumar) and myself in your prayers – that we may be kind, patient, loving, and open to new experiences and that we may remain healthy in body, mind, and spirit throughout this journey. 

For those among you who are adventurous and open to visiting with us in Hyderabad – our home will be open to you.  If you can’t come and visit – please stay in touch.