Impressions of India
CHAPTER 10
One thing God has made clear to me through my time as a Volunteer Missionary here in Hyderabad, India is that the Christian Church is truly a global church and family. This fact has come to me through the visits of many people and groups to the Henry Martyn Institute from the U.S. and other countries and the worship services that are conducted in the many languages of India. However what really emphasizes the global reality of the Christian Church for me are the hymns which connect me with the Bethel family back in Cupertino.
Three coincidences made this realization dawn on me. The first, was reading Pastor Walz’s article in the "Glimpse" about the "Message of Our Hymns" after having the song "All Glory Laud and Honor" going through my head the week leading up to Palm Sunday. The second, happened on Palm Sunday as the Lutheran Church of Hyderabad sang "All Glory Laud and Honor" and I realized that it would be sung again twelve and a half hours later as part of Bethel’s Palm Sunday Processional. The third and final coincidence happened on Easter Sunday when at the same church as Palm Sunday we sang the hymns "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" and "Thine is the Glory" (which was not listed in the program) and I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit connecting with the people of Bethel once again because they would sing those hymns twelve and a half hours later in Cupertino.
Now through the visits of people and the hymns that we sing in church even though I am half the world a way I know that I am connected through the Holy Spirit to the Bethel Family and the larger worldwide Christian Church.
In Christ’s Service,
Rich