Tuesday

After a good night’s rest and a wonderful breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, homemade bread, pineapple jam, and hot tea (it all hit the spot – trust me!), our group had a busy day of activities. Our first appointment was with the Bishop of the Church of South India, Thomas Samuel, and it was a very enlightening conversation of over an hour. The CSI is a federation of protestant churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran), and has had a presence in this region for decades. Bishop Samuel was very forthcoming in sharing what challenges they face, but also what good interfaith relations they hold in Kerala with Hindus and Muslims. We also found out he was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, so Rex Espiritu and I had a picture taken with him, and we’ll send it in to the PTS Alumni journal! After our visit with him, we went to the city to see Thirunakkara Ambalam, a Hindu Temple in Kottayam. What was helpful for me about that visit was to see the stark contrast between it and what we had experienced in Ahmedabad. The Swamanarayans are a reformist movement of the last 200 years, and what we saw in Kottayam would be an example of what they reformed from. The temple was much more basic, much more tribal, if I can say it like that – a greater sense of mysticism about their practices and setting. We returned to SEERI for lunch and a brief rest, and then headed out in the afternoon for another tour of some church sites in the city. The Syrian Orthodox Church is the oldest Christian presence in this region, and so we visited two of those congregations. We also visited an Islamic mosque, which from the exterior looked nothing like a mosque – an example of how architecture truly reflects the region and culture. Late in the afternoon, we visited the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kottayam, and met with Father K.M. George, the principal of the seminary. That, too, was a very fruitful conversation, as he shared about the challenges they face in preparing men for leadership, but also his strong convictions about ecumenical relations and how that is key to our future as the Body of Christ. He was a faculty member at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey in Switzerland, where Debbie and I were our first year after seminary. We then stayed for evening prayers with the students and faculty, which was all done in Syriac, so we didn’t really understand what was going on. But the entire service was sung or chanted, and those men can sing!! We returned to SEERI for dinner and an evening program, but I was exhausted and I confess, slept through part of the program (Lord, forgive me). This morning (Wednesday), I had the chance to talk with Debbie and the girls through Skype, and that meant the world to me. It was wonderful to see their faces and hear their voices, and to feel like we weren’t that far apart after all. As I write this and prepare for our own group’s morning prayers, it is raining – the first time of our whole trip. There is a peace about hearing it come down which is refreshing, I must tell you.