Critical Presence

"Walk a mile in my shoes" - it is an overused phrase, but it contains much truth about relationship.  There is often much discussion about whether it is better to go to an emerging/developing country, or to send money to provide assistance.  Our Global Ministries department speaks always of the need for "critical presence", which is sometimes financial and resource assistance, but sometimes is simply what it says, PRESENCE.  I first understood this fundamental premise in Honduras, on a mission trip build houses for those displaced by a hurricane.  Time and again, people expressed amazement that we had taken vacation time to come to their country and work.  More than our money, or even our labor, our willingness to stand beside them in their time of travail was what mattered to them.  I was humbled.  We are so used to valuing things in economic terms, but they taught me that the real value is always in human terms.  The most profound example of presence I have ever heard came from David Vargas, co-president of Global Ministries.  He recounted a trip with the bishop of the Lutheran Synod in El Salvador years ago during the war there.  They were stopped en route at a road block, and papers were checked.  Seeing that David was an American, they were allowed to proceed.  As they went on, the bishop said simply, "Thank God you were here today.  If you had not been, I would have been killed."

A primary goal for our trip to Mbandaka is to be able to enter more fully into the daily life of our Disciples partners during our sojourn, to be present in their lives, to experience their stories in a way we cannot do with words only.  Two days ago, we received a proposal for activities during our sojourn.  Each of us will have some time to connect with those to whom we can best relate - pastors, women in Bible study, theological students and faculty, high school students learning English, youth leaders, church leaders, farmers, and most of all, fellow Christians.  It is humbling to see how carefully they are trying to arrange things so that we can truly walk beside them for a week.  The trip is officially no longer theoretical - it has its own life and purpose.  It is time for me to turn my thoughts again to what it will mean to be "present" at all times - to leave my mind empty of all thoughts so that I can hear the truth they will teach me by their very living.