Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
I recently went on a trip with the Northern Illinois Synod of the ELCA to India to visit the Arcot Lutheran Church. The NIS is a companion with the ALC and this was a chance for the delegates of the Northern Illinois Synod to witness to the ministry of Lutheran Church Body in a culture and context very different from our own. (This will not be the last post about my takeaways from this glorious experience.) While witnessing to the many ministries of the Arcot Lutheran Church the group received a lesson in the Indian custom of hospitality. Everywhere we went we were officially welcomed with a formal gesture to honor us as guests. Sometimes we were given a flower garland like when we first arrived in Chennai. Sometimes it is a necklace or flower in the hair. Most of the time it was a shawl and a flower. Receiving these formal welcomes helped let us know that we are guests and that we are most certainly wanted. The informal welcomes from many of the school children was also quite moving. This got me to thinking about the love practice of hospitality. What we received was a lesson on how to show God’s love through welcoming the stranger. It was a lesson in following Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
In being so genuinely welcomed by the Arcot Lutheran Church we also felt wanted and as if we were important in the lives of our hosts. Interesting enough this welcoming gesture is done so in the name of God. This welcoming is done on behalf of and through God’s love for them. Therefore, the loved they shared with us through formal welcomes was not their own but Christ’s love. So the feeling that comes away is that God loves me. God wants me. God thinks I am important. This is the clear message shown to the whole world when Christ died on the cross. It can be reintroduced to us through this lovely practice of hospitality. This is especially so for strangers. Welcoming the stranger is not only biblical (Deut 10:19, Lev 19:34, 3 John 1:5, and Heb 13:2) but it also opens us up to the larger picture of what Christ did for us. It opens us up to share God’s love and to see God in others. Points to Ponder:
1 Comment
Cheryl Erdmann
3/1/2018 11:48:45 am
Great job!! thanks!
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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