To say that my trip to India last week was formative would be an understatement. The work that God has been doing through White Oak and Christhia Seva Mission (which means, Jesus Saves) for 45 years is extensive and praise-worthy. Thousands of people have come to experience the love and grace of Jesus. Dozens of staff and pastors work to minister to the people. More than 14 communities and hundreds of villages are served and reached by CSM every week. One phrase continued to stir in my heart and head the entire week our White Oak team was in India: I am not worthy.
On February 14th Kurt Caudill, the leader of White Oak’s Global Impact Team, myself and my son, Peter, arrived in India. We traveled there to see the ministry that we have been intimately partnered with for more the four decades. We wanted to be an encouragement to Mathew and Mary Mathia who helped to establish the ministry on behalf of WOCC so many years ago. We also traveled there to be present and as an encouragement to Mathew’s staff and to the church. Though I had traveled to India for a similar visit in 2016, this trip hit me differently.
It was the two-hour-long worship services with the church gathering that struck me the most. It wasn’t the length of the service that made the impact. It was the elements and the quality of the faith of the people that did so. Worship through song often lasted every bit of one hour. The people sang at the top of their lungs clapping their hands enthusiastically the entire time. When the pastors would pray over the congregation the prayers (which I couldn’t understand due to the language barrier), the prayers lasted several minutes. To my American taste, the worship and prayers were long. Really long. When the congregation came to remember the Lord’s Supper they came forward and kneeled at the front of the church to take communion. Mathew said one of the reasons they do that is so that worship of Jesus and remembering his sacrifice doesn’t become too comfortable or convenient.
After each service we were a part of during the week hundreds (and I do mean 100s) of people would flock to me, Peter, and Kurt asking us to pray for them. We couldn’t understand them, but they would take our hands and bow their heads, hold up their children for us to pray over, and point to parts of their bodies which were in pain and in need of healing prayers. One pastor told us that the mob of people crowd around us for prayer because they are so spiritually thirsty!
It begged the question of formation of me: Am I that passionate about worship, prayer, and Jesus’s sacrifice? Am I so spiritually thirsty that I value prayer desperately?
I think of the words Jesus spoke in Luke 7. Two hearts were formed in this story. Simon the Pharisee was being malformed by his convenient and comfortable religion. The woman was being formed by Jesus in humility, dependence, and grace. Take a look.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” -Luke 7:44-47
Suffice to say, whoever has been forgiven and loved much, loves much! The woman who poured out this tremendous affection toward Jesus realized how unworthy she was. She knew the stain of her sin. She recognized the mercy, love, and power which Jesus offered to her. Her response? Unhindered worship and praise.
I’ve always learned that poverty is a stumbling block for people to come to know the love of God. It’s why the Church is called to acts of justice and mercy to the poor so that those barriers are removed. I’ve also learned that western American affluence is a stumbling block to experiencing the awesome power of Jesus’s grace. We have our stuff, our plans, our comforts, and our religious beliefs to act as blinders. Oh, that we would be formed by Jesus! My prayer is that I would cling to Jesus desperately. I don’t want to be distracted by my many things and plans. I want to know Jesus fully. I want us to be a community that sings loudly, prays endlessly, and kneels before Jesus in worship and gratefulness! We have been loved much. May we in turn express that love back to God and toward others with abandon.
Humbly,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor