MONDAY MUSINGS

June 16, 2008

Heart-hunters

Last evening we hosted the India Children’s Choir on their 10 month American tour.  These children, twelve girls and ten boys, enlivened our sanctuary with their songs of Christian faith.  They traced the transformation of their Hmar tribe in northeast India from a reputation as fierce headhunters to a Christian community of heart-hunters.  In 1910 a missionary named Watkin Roberts mailed a copy of the Gospel of John to a Hmar chief and that led to an invitation to come and explain the Scriptures.  These children are the heirs of those who first believed in Jesus Christ.

This is a vast and complicated world, filled with amazing diversity and complexity.  As Christians we have brothers and sisters of the faith in virtually every country of this world, giving us friends in Christ no matter where we are.  When we baptized Keeghan Ross Tichenor into the Christian faith yesterday morning, we welcomed him into this world-wide community.  Although he was oblivious to what was going on around him, he can count on Christians all around the globe embracing him as their brother, as he can embrace them.

I think we who live in the USA are at a considerable disadvantage to those who live in much smaller countries.  Our country is so large, and our place in the world community is so dominant, that we can smugly surmise that we are the center of the world and everything ought to revolve around us.  This often makes us less curious about others with whom we share this world.  We seem less interested in learning about others and therefore have less appreciation for the diversity of our world.  Instead of diversity being a gift, God’s gift, it represents threat and danger. 

Many of us had tears in our eyes as these children made their way through the congregation, giving us hugs.  Suddenly our hearts were touched by these who didn’t look like us but who were genuinely part of our Christian family.  If they came to hunt for my heart and fill it with Christian love, then they accomplished their mission.

We send them on their way to touch others before they return to India in November.  We ask God’s blessings on them as they seek to warm other hearts and draw us together in Christ.  Peace.  John Krueger