Today’s reflection comes from David Grise:
The warmth of our welcome almost exceeded the Central American heat. We felt an immediate bond with the small congregation at the Light and Truth Baptist Church. This perplexed me, for our lives could not be more different. Calvary is an imposing structure in perhaps the most powerful city on the planet in perhaps the most wealthy country in the world. Their church is a concrete block structure without windows on a mostly dirt road in a small village. Those who are lucky enough to be employed may earn $5 for a 10-hour day. We did not speak the same language, did not eat the same food, and my skin-tone made it obvious that the sun and I were not yet acquainted.
During the service, the Pastor called us to prayer. Everyone began to kneel on the bare floor — a thin stiip of linoleum covered the concrete. I was still pondering whether to risk one knee when the oldest member of the congregation, a 99-year-old woman wearing a bandage around her ankle, knelt beside us. If she could do it, then so could I.
It was on my knees, praying with her for the basic needs of all humanity, that I began to understand our immediate bond. Despite our many cultural and personal differences, what brought us together was far more powerful and important than what separated us. In John 17, Jesus prays for all belivers that will come after him. He prays that they will be “one.” On October 11, 2009, I took the tiniest step in that direction.
Beautifully said, David. Thanks for (once again) putting into words what many of us were feeling.